Evening star., 1937-04-25
George VI Predecessors
Set Coronations Vogue
Fourth in Hanover Line Startled World of
Royalty by Scale of Rites at
Westminster
Westminster.

him, too, as he was unmarried. His
subsequent admirable alliance a year
later with the Princess Charlotte So
phla OF Mecklenburg provided still
another glamorous ceremony upon the
occasion Of her later coronation.
Her appearance as Queen consort
and bride at this her first state func.
ton, with hair dressed low and with
out artificial effect of any kind. in
contrast to the high and elaborate
coifrlres which appear to have been
considered de rigeuer at the French
and English courts, apparently caused
great excitement in sartorial circles.
commentator Of the time saws:
Despite the example of the Queen,
the ladies of Great Britain continued
to wear a high toupee."
1t was during the first year of their
marriage that King George III bought
Buckingham Palace for his Queen,
thus establishing it as the royal resi-
dence for England's future reigning
soVerelgns and their families. From it
the coronation procession of his Sue
| cessor, George VI. and that of his
Queen Consort Elizabeth will start
forth on May IL.
Lost Colonies by Blunders.
To Americans the reign of George III
Will always be of especial interest,
AT its beginning the 13 English colo
MES were possessions of the Crown,
discontented perhaps, but loyal in the
main. Before its conclusion, because
OF the blundering policies of Lord
North and his i'll advice to his sover-
elgn, they had become an independent,
prosperous country, successfully de-
feating the British Redcoats in two
wars that changed national destinies
and England's own Colonial policy for
all time.
The coronation of George w, last
OF the immediate succession of Georges
of the House of Hanover, did not take
place until July 10, 1921, although his
father had died in 1920 and his in
heritance of the throne had appeared
imminent, because of his fathers
malady, for over 80 years.
Beginning to reign at an age more
| advanced than that of any English
sovereign. and with the pleasures of
his inheritance greatly dimmed by the
pyScopathic behavior of Caroline, his
Queen, he directed that the prepara.
tions for his coronation be most elabo-
rate and, as closely as possible, follow
the precedents of James H.
For the coronation banquet in West
minister Hall, which was the last ever
to be held for a British sovereign, a
wooden flooring was put down above
the stone one, with tiers of flag
draped, wooden galleries along the
walls for spectators About dining
tables, placed the length of the hall,
the bishops and peers were seated.
At the south end, upon raised plat
form, canopied in scarlet and gold, the
King was seated with his royal dukes
upon his right and left. At the north
end, facing this royal platform, was
a high, triumphal Gothic arch, above
which the Kings musicians were To-
Gated
Westminster Abbey itselef was, if
possible, even more completely trans
formed. It's west aisle was filled with
galleries, boxes and benches swathed
in crimson cloth. Seats in these gall
leries were sold at an advantageous
price, and not even the choir itself
was exempt from having seats for
spectators placed in its confines The
north and south transepts, fitted with
benches, took care of the peers and
peeresses, with the minimum in the
way of space allotted these personages.
Boxes for the royal family were placed
in the abbey's sacarium, focing which
were accommodations for the foreign
Ministers. Nor were accommodations
for the gentlemen of the press over
looked in the general scheme of these
seating arrangements. From even the
most casual review of these plans. it
is plain to be seen whence have been
derived the ideas which prevail in our