One of the most memorable moments of any King or Queens reign is when they are coronated.
It is supposed to be a huge celebration however there have been many in English and British
History which have gone terribly wrong.
These were believed to have brought a significant amount of shame on the people who were organising
the coronation, but what happens when a King or Queen’s huge day goes wrong, and when
has this happened throughout History.
To begin we’ll head back to the year 1066, when following the Battle of Hastings William
the Conqueror had defeated Harold Godwinson and he was awaiting his coronation.
He was the first King coronated at Westminster Abbey, and he made sure he had guards all
around the abbey as he was worried about the protests and he feared assassination and rebellion
as they English did not want to be ruled by a Frenchman.
When these guards heard shouting from the Abbey, they mistook this for a riot and they
then set fire to nearby houses to distract rebels who weren’t there.
The entire congregation made a run for it, to help put the fires out and others also
went to loot some of the houses.
It was not a good start for William the Conqueror.
But then in 1216, King Henry III was just 9 years old when he was coronated but he was
not given a crown, but instead was crowned with his mother’s tiara.
This was as his father King John had lost the real crown of the realm in a bog in Lincolnshire,
but imagine that, a King being crowned without a crown!
When Elizabeth I was crowned it was a long time coming for the youngest daughter of King
Henry VIII, and she was known to be someone who complained a lot.
Even at her coronation she could not help herself, and when she was being anointed,
which is the most important and sacred part of the ceremony, she complained to the Archbishop
of Canterbury saying that she thought the holy oil had spoiled or gone off as it smelt
awfully according to the nose of the final Tudor Queen.
But in the years after the Tudor period, there were more serious problems.
During Stuart King Charles II’s coronation, there was a fight and a brawl during the post
coronation feast as the royal footmen and nobles were scrapping over who got a piece
of the valuable cloth canopy that they wanted to keep.
The knights wanted to make some money off their royal duties.
Music is also a prominent part of the coronation, and when George II was crowned the King’s
wife Caroline was wearing a dress which had been covered in very heavy jewels, and a pulley
had to be used to lift the dress when she was required to kneel.
Handel wrote the music for the ceremony, including the song Zadok the Priest, which has been
performed at every ceremony since, but this was sung in the wrong place in the proceedings
during George II’s big day, as the choir got confused.
His successor George III also had a bungling crowning, as the sword of state which was
meant to be handed to George during the ceremony had become lost, and the Lord Mayor’s sword
had to be borrowed during the ceremony.
The handling of the other royal regalia did now go well, and the King himself even had
to administer a telling off, and put things right.
Following this was George III’s coronation banquet, and during this Lord Talbot was meant
to ride through Westminster Hall on horseback and pledge allegiance to George, but his horse
had been trained to walk backwards, and Talbot’s horse carrying him had to process through
the famous building backwards as it wouldn’t walk towards the newly crowned King.
Following George III’s death, his eldest son George IV became the ruler, and he had
been the regent for some time during his father’s absence due to mental illness.
But George spent a huge sum of money on his coronation, but it was a complete shambles.
The 59 year old George waited 11 years for this moment after being named Regent, and
he wanted to best his rival Napoleon’s coronation.
George IV’s ceremony cost around 25 million pounds in todays money, and his robe was based
upon Napoleons.
But George was a very heavy man, and a large chap who it was said cut a ‘disgusting figure’
as he entered Westminster Abbey.
The spectacle got worse as George insisted that as he stepped in the Abbey, Handel’s
Hallelujah Chorus was sung, and many at this laughed.
Being a larger man, the King was also sweating a huge amount during the ceremony and he went
through 19 different handkerchiefs and when nobles swore allegiance to him he pulled faces
to those who he did not like.
The coronation banquet also went wrong, as Lord Anglesey was supposed to ride up to the
King’s table and uncover the royal meal.
But Anglesey only had one leg and he needed two different artificial legs to ride and
walk.
But he forgot his walking leg so he was stuck on the horse.
Also 2000 candles that had been brought into the hall dripped wax all over the guests fine
clothes.
The King’s guests also fought over leftover food and it wasn’t the most savoury banquet.
But George IV’s most shocking moment would come when he barred his wife Caroline who
was very popular from the ceremony.
She even walked up to the entrance of the abbey, but the door was slammed in her face.
After George IV’s fiasco, his brother William IV tried to not have a coronation.
But he was talked into it, and the ceremony was long winded and was botched, and the Lord’s
Prayer was recited three times in the abbey, boring many of the guests.
But one of the most influential Queens to have ruled Britain was Victoria, the Empress
of India who during her reign expanded the British Empire.
When the 19 year old Queen was crowned, she became very distressed and she was feeling
rather sick.
There was no proper rehearsal, and no one really understood what they were meant to
do or where they were meant to stand.
The Queen also had to be taken back after the ceremony to complete a part of the coronation
as the Bishop of Bath and Wells accidentally turned over 2 pages of the order of service
missing part of it out.
Victoria said the bishop of Durham was also hopeless and she later wrote that no one had
a clue what they were doing.
The Archbishop of Canterbury put the coronation ring on the wrong finger, nd gave her the
same orb twice.
There was also a mad scramble when a noble threw silver coronation medals into the congregation
and fights broke out.
But then also a 82 year old Lord Rolle fell down the steps whilst he was paying homage
to Victoria.
He was not hurt, but Victoria moved forward to stop him doing this again and this endeared
the Queen in the eyes of her subjects, showing her as kind and gracious.
Also interestingly the newspaper the Sun printed a coronation edition which was made from gold
ink, and it sold 250,000 copies.
But the ink in this paper was made from brass and it was actually poisonous, and those printers
that did this had their hair stained green by the ink and they also experienced horrible
illnesses.
Moving into the 20th century, you would have thought that things went a lot smoother with
the coronations as documented evidence would show how the coronation would take place.
But there were still mistakes.
On the 9th August 1902, Edward VII was crowned, and no coronation had occurred for 64 years
following the reign of Queen Victoria, and there were no rehearsals.
The nobles involved forgot their roles and what they had to do, and there were traffic
jams and the heralds did not know their place in the procession.
Also the Archbishop of Canterbury was so frail that he took three times to kneel at the King’s
feet, and he also put the crown on the wrong was around.
This also happened during George VI’s crowning.
There were tests across the loudspeakers in London that occurred at 3am, waking the King
himself up.
He wrote at breakfast that ‘he had a sinking feeling inside.’
But when George got to the abbey, a priest fainted and there was more delay.
But then the Dean of Westminster tried to make George wear a coronation surplice the
wrong way around, and when it was time for George to make the coronation oath, he held
his thumb over the writing so George could not see it.
Also his crown was placed on the wrong way around, and also a bishop stood on his robe
with the King almost falling over.
So throughout over 1000 years of history, there have been a number of huge problems
that occurred with the coronation.
Some were crowned the wrong way, and other members of the monarchy looked completely
pompous during the proceedings.
But it will be interesting to see in the following centuries if this sacred and important ceremony
runs much smoother.
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