The definitive history of coronations and the Royal Family, from
acclaimed writer Roy Strong.
'What is the finest sight in the world? A Coronation.
What do people talk most about? A Coronation.
What is delightful to have passed? A Coronation.'
Horace Walpole, 1761
As a boy of sixteen, Roy Strong watched the grand procession carrying
Queen Elizabeth II to her coronation. The spectacle was considered the
greatest public event of the century. But now, so many years later, many
people have little notion of what a coronation is and are unaware of the
rich resonances of the ritual, or its deep significance in terms of the
committal of monarch to people.
This book is the first of its kind - a comprehensive history that sets
each coronation into its political, social, religious and cultural
context. The story is one of constant re-invention as the service has
had to respond to all the changes in fortune of the monarchy or the
country: everything from legitimising usurpers to reconciling a Catholic
rite to the tenets of Protestantism. It even had to be recreated from
scratch after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. In this way, Strong
tells the story of the British monarchy since the tenth century, and
looks forward to the coronation of King Charles III. The musical history
alone is one of extraordinary richness - involving Henry Purcell,
Handel, Edward Elgar, William Walton - plus the celebratory poetry, the
art and the spectacular engravings published at coronations are all
explored, as is the more recent role of photographers. The book
particularly concentrates on post-1603 developments, including the
incredible story of the Stuarts, when the crown jewels used for hundreds
of years at coronations were melted down as symbols of the hated Divine
Right of Kings.
As Charles III succeeds to the throne and preparations are made for his
coronation, Strong speculates as to the revisions now called for to its
ritual and pageantry to meet the changes in the role of the monarchy in
the twenty-first century.
