Evening star., 1937-04-18
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.


stage where all official government
functions are set for the nation at
large. A born and bred Londoner,
like Washingtonian, has always ex-
celled in loyal demonstrations for an
incoming regime and been the happier
II 1t were inducted into power with
more than usual pomp and circum-
stance.
When William and Mary II of Eng
land assembled to the throne, London
and the visitors from England's
farthermost borders and from beyond
her island confines, beheld the unusual
spectacle of double coronation.
Mary, daughter Of James II and Anna
Hyde, was unique in coronation cere-
monies because she was a Queen
Regent, not a Queen Consort AS
the Princess Mary at Is she had be-
come the wife of William, Prince of
Orange, president of the Dutch Re-
public. After the Glorious Revolu-
ton" OF 16S8 which brought about
the dethroning of his wife's father,
William, in accordance with his wife's
claims to royal birth and the invita-
ton OF certain of England's powerful
mobiles, agreed to cast his destinies
with those Of the island kingdom as
her ruler.
In 1889 they were crowned as joint
sovereigns with the understanding
that the administration of the king
dom's affairs should be vested in the
King. Actually, however, their rule
proved to be Joint affair, Mary show
ing herself capable of acting as sover-
elgn with judgment and courage when
William was necessarily absent from
England. Neither did she ever develop
a governing complex upon her own
account, waver in loyalty to her hus-
band, or seem anything but properly
relieved when her liege lord returned
rom his overseas errands and resumed
the reigns of royal office. Pious,
modest and charitable, the dread
scourge of smallpox cut short her
career five years after her accession.
her husband living, so many historians
believe, to become the best English
sovereign since Elizabeth. The Bank
Of England was organized during his
reign to finance the wars of Englands
sea forces against the French
Unfortunate Circumstances.
Many unfortunate circumstances at
tended the double coronation of Will
liam and Mary.
The selection of April H. which was
Ash Wednesday proved an offense to
many Of their subjects and Sancroft,
the Archbishop of Canterbury refused
to ofhciate in the coronation cere-
monies Mary thereupon chose her
own governor, Compton, Bishop of
London, for this duty. He it was who
drew up, revised and modified the
form of coronation service which has
ever since been used, its wording be-
ing subject to lengthy debate in the
House of Commons before it was ac-
cepted 1t was at this time that the
oath to establish the Protestant form
of religion as established by law was
introduced, as we'll as the ceremony
of the presentation of Bible as its
emblem.
That royal personages as well as
their subjects are subject to grievous
vexations was likewise proven at this
famous coronation Mary was torn
emotionally because she was to oc-
cupy the throne against the wishes of
her dethrened father James II, who !
reminded her that the curses of an
angry father would fall upon her as
we'll as those of God who command
ed obedience of a child to its parent"
Neither was her coronation day made
happier by the arrival of the news
that her deposed parent was that day |
landing in Ireland Her sister Anne,
tortured. so she declared, by "pangs |
Of conscience" forbore to attend the
ceremonies. although her absence was
attributed to spite by many of Mary's
well-wishers.
William and Mary went separately
to their coronation ceremonies, per-
haps to give the populace double
pageant or perhaps to indicate their
double sovereignties. Williams con-
veyance was royal barge, which left
Whitehall for Westminster at 1O:l5 in
the morning; Mary's sedan chair in
which she departed three quarters Of
an hour later by a land route for
their pre-arranged meeting In West
minister Hall. Here, no sooner were
they seated and presented to the
Keeper of the Crown Jewels, than 1t
was discovered that belted earls are
as prone to administrative mishaps as
the rest of humanity, for the Earl Of
Norfolk, as earl marshall, had some
how neglected to summon the dean of
the chapel at the proper moment in
the ceremonies.
The result was that the royal process
N could not proceed until this
formality had been properly met. Nor
was this the only delay. When the
time came for William of Orange to
make the customary offering OF a
pound Of gold as the value of a roll
Of silk, it was discovered that the
royal purse had either been stolen on
the way to the abbey, or, as seems
more likely, had been forgotten by
those who were attiring their mon
arch for this momentous occasion.
The dilemma was met by Lord Dandy
lending his sovereign 20 guineas.
Burnet's Fanatical Sermon.
Despite the fact that it was nearly
1 o'clock in the afternoon before the
sovereigns were actually crowned, Gill
bert Burnet preached fanatical SER
mon lasting nearly an hour immedi-
ately following the administering Of
the holy communion. When the long |
ritual was at last over, the treasurer
Of the Kings exchequer threw about
coronation medals for which every |
one scrambled" Their worth is in
dicated as being from to 5 shillings.
The King and Queen, in purple vel
vet and ermine robes, then returned
to Westminster Hall, where a great
dinner had been prepared with i'm
pressive pomp and ceremony. How
ever, the unfortunate Earl Marshall,
the Earl Of Norfolk, was again doomed
IN comnlicate the coronation proceed.