Today we digress to talk about the Liber Regalis, a medieval coronation instruction manual

A Coronation instruction manual

The Liber Regalis is pretty much as the title suggests: a medieval coronation instruction manual. It shows the Christian order of service for crowning new monarchs and has been the reference for coronation services for hundreds of years.

Even though it dates all the way back to 1382, these days it calls the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey home. And it’s here that you can wander in to see it for yourself if you feel like a day out.

While what’s written in the Liber Regalis may not be strictly followed in the modern coronation service, it does show us the core parts that do continue to be followed. Because a lot has changed since the Liber Regalis was written, allowances need to be made for the procedure of the coronation ceremony, and modernisations need to be allowed to be included, such as the service changing from Latin to English so that everyone could know what was being said.

There are 34 folios that make up the Liber Regalis manuscript, and they demonstrate how to crown a king by himself, a queen consort by herself, and then a king and queen together, there’s also a little bit at the end about the funeral of a king but we won’t get into that bit in this episode. And to accompany the text, are some beautiful full-page illustrations of the act of crowning, which are quite the treat if you ever get the chance to rest your eyes upon them in person.

Translated from the Latin, the Royal Book was created to help organise and carry out a coronation. Because coronations have been taking place at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066, I imagine there came a point, most likely around 1382, that someone thought writing it all down would be so much simpler than trying to remember what they did for the last one each time a new monarch needed to be crowned.

Because the basic running of the ceremony remains largely the same as it was back in the 14th century we can look to the book to get an idea of what will be happening at King Charles’ coronation. The Liber Regalis tells us

…the ‘script’ for coronations – the order of the prayers, the step-by-step of the ritual used to crown a new monarch…

We don’t know exactly which monarch the Liber Regalis was made for, but some do lean towards the coronation of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. But it’s a difficult thing to tell, largely because there are no dates associated with the book.

While the Liber Regalis is important for historical purposes and keeping the coronation ceremony itself rooted in tradition and history, there is another booklet that is just as important.

The Coronation Order of Service is the order of service for an individual ceremony. You can even see the text of the Coronation Order of Service for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. About the size of a booklet, the Order of Service outlines the structure and content of what happens during a service. You can usually find these at everyday services, like weddings, especially funerals, but you will also find them for very special services, like a coronation.

The job of the Order of Service is to tell the congregation who is to speak, what they are to say, what hymns to sing, what readings of the Bible will be spoken, all that kind of stuff. It’s basically a running order of what’s going to be happening during the service itself.

It can be pretty fascinating to see the Coronation Order of Services of the past. It’s through these documents that we can see what are the things that have changed, what has stayed the same, and the parts so rooted in history that they will likely never change.

What is a Coronation?

While we know there’s a book that tells us the main beats of a Coronation service, what actually is a coronation? What is its purpose?

While the extravagance and pompousness of a coronation may not make a whole ton of sense in today’s modern world with inflation at an all-time high, it is to the past we must look for its relevance.

A Christian coronation, like that which we will see Charles III undertake in the very near future, is basically a Holy Communion Service that the monarch takes as a symbol of being the one person, chosen by God herself, to lead the people of the land.

The whole ceremony is quite a religious moment, especially when the monarch promises to God to serve the people.

Coronations through the ages have always been looked upon as special moments that often mark the start of a monarch’s reign. But what’s pretty interesting is that, particularly in the UK, this isn’t exactly the case.

When the previous monarch passes, as we saw with Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, the accession of her heir is immediate. Constitutionally, there is never not one moment where the UK does not have a monarch. That’s why a short time following the death of Her Majesty, we heard the herald’s proclaiming the new King around the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

And before the internet, before pocket sized computers, before telephones, even before the postage system, these public proclamations are how news would have spread of a new monarch having taken the throne.

Because of this immediate accession, coronations don’t actually have to take place, if we’re being technical about it. And there have actually been two monarchs of the past that did not have a coronation, they being Edward V and Edward VIII, we’ll hear more about their circumstances as we continue with our Coronation Special episodes.

But a coronation ceremony does have a purpose, several in fact. Firstly, it has quite a religious element to it, with the monarch making promises to God. It allows the monarch to officially make promises to their people, and it is a way for the people to see the new monarch and to celebrate their accession. I wouldn’t be complaining about an extra day off that’s for sure.

But why such a big gap between the accession of the new monarch and the coronation itself? Well that’s mainly down to allowing time for grieving for the old monarch, not to mention the massive amount of organising needed for a coronation, so there’s usually a good chunk of time between the two. The Queen waited a more than a year for her coronation following the death of her father, King George VI.

Those in charge of organising the coronation are the Earl Marshal and his Coronation Committee. Which is interesting, because despite the royal family’s close ties to Westminster Abbey, the Abbey authorities have no input on the coronation planning itself. Even though it is the Dean of Westminster that tells the sovereign what to do throughout the actual service, and then of course the Archbishop of Canterbury is there to place the crown upon the monarch’s head.

So why, out of all the churches in the United Kingdom does the monarch get crowned in Westminster Abbey. Well, it’s largely tradition I suppose. Coronations of English and then British monarch’s have been happening at the Abbey since 1066 with William the Conqueror. Before that there wasn’t really a set coronation spot. But I guess when his successors decided they wanted to be crowned at the same place William was, in an attempt to cement their own legitimacy, the Abbey being the coronation church really caught on.

And thanks to the Liber Regalis, we have an idea as to the rough schedule of the day, even though we know that each coronation ceremony is slightly different, the overall format of every coronation is more or less the same as those that came before.

What happens during a Coronation?

So what are the things that take place during a Coronation? How does it all work?

Seeing a coronation in the modern day, is actually quite a treat because the UK is the only remaining European monarchy that still holds such a ceremony. We’ll see shortly for ourselves, but the coronation will be a mixture of religious service, constitutional aspects and a fair bit of theatre.

The main elements of a coronation can actually be traced all the way back to 973, when Saint Dunstan put a service together for King Edgar at Bath Abbey. Edgar’s ceremony included a coronation banquet, basically a massive feast and the King taking an oath, which today we see as a contract between the monarch and their people.

More recently, we can see from the 1902 coronation of Edward VII that contemporary coronations largely include a state procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, and then another procession to get everyone inside, once inside we have all the bits of the coronation and then once the coronation service is over another procession to get the monarch from the Abbey back to Buckingham Palace.

The coronation service is actually made up of several different parts.

The Procession sees all the bits and pieces of the regalia taking up to the High Altar before the Monarch themselves enter the Abbey, no doubt to the angelic voices of the choir.

The coronation itself kicks off with the recognition. While standing nearby to the Coronation chair, we heard about that in our last episode on the Stone of Destiny, the monarch is presented to those present in the Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and we should expect trumpets to sound at this time.

The monarch is then directed to take the coronation oath. The Oath itself is quite interesting, while the monarch is legally obligated to take it,

…its taking is neither a prerequisite to the accession to the Crown nor to the provision of the royal assent.

Regardless we do see each coronation oath having varied wording. But I think we can imagine that the basic format of Charles’ oath will be quite similar to that of Queen Elizabeth II’s. After being asked three questions by the Archbishop, the Queen then took the Oath, here’s a little bit of what she said, thanks to her Order of Service:

The things which I have here before promised. I will perform and keep. So help me God.

This Oath is seen as a contract between the monarch and their promises to look after their people. For each monarch the wording of this oath has changed to reflect the territorial composition of the UK and, in the case of the Queen, the Commonwealth.

After the Oath is taken, what is arguably the most important and religious part of the ceremony can take place, the anointing. The anointing could actually be looked upon as a very public Holy Communion. Whilst being seated in the Coronation Chair, the Sovereign is

…anointed, blessed and consecrated…

Carried out by the Archbishop of Canterbury, this anointing represents the Monarch as the head of the Church of England, we can thank Henry VIII for that.

Back in 1189 the anointing of Richard I, according to Thomas Asbridge,

…was the coronation’s central drama – the moment at which Richard was deemed to have been remade as a divinely ordained King: God’s chosen representative on Earth.

Seems a lot happens behind the scenes at an anointing. We know for a fact that the Archbishop marks a cross on the royal forehead with holy oil, as well as the breast and hands. The holy oil chosen for Charles has had quite the fanfare, I’ve linked to some pretty interesting videos and articles about it. For the Queen, despite the whole ceremony being televised, it was this specific part that was considered most sacred, and so four Knights of the Garter were given the job of holding a canopy of gold cloth above the Queen while she was anointed.

Once the sovereign is anointed, then they are given specific objects to hold that represent parts of their authority in a ceremony known as investiture. These objects make up the Royal regalia and include spurs, which symbolise knighthood; a sword, demonstrating the monarch’s authority over life, death and justice throughout their realm; the sceptre, there are two here, the sceptre with the Cross symbolises the monarch’s power, and the sceptre with a dove symbolises the monarch’s role of justice and mercy, particularly when it comes to the lives of their people; then we have the orb, which represents the Christian world and the monarch’s power to rule over it; a ring as a symbol of marriage between the monarch and their realm; and finally the crowning of the monarch.

While the UK monarchy is the only European monarchy to still have such a ceremony for coronation, it is also the only remaining European monarchy to still use its regalia in its crowning ceremony. So quite the treat to behold.

Now the crowning of the monarch, is of course the part we’re all eager to see. After receiving the orb and sceptres and everything else, and while holding onto these is the monarch then crowned with St Edward’s Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury. What’s pretty fascinating is that the monarch only wears this particular crown once, during the coronation ceremony. It’s reportedly ridiculously heavy, so I imagine they reckon once is more than enough. Because of this, when leaving the Abbey you will most likely see the lighter Imperial State Crown upon the newly crowned monarch’s head.

When the Queen was crowned, all the way back in 1953, it set off a series of actions. After the Archbishop had

…reverently placed [the Crown] upon Her Majesty’s head…

The princes, princesses, peers and peeresses present in the abbey then

…[put] on their coronets and caps of estate, and the King of Arms their crowns…

I’m told trumpets sounded and the guns of the Tower of London and those found in Hyde Park were fired to signal the crowning of the new monarch. It was then that the Queen arose from the Coronation Chair and walked up the few steps to sit upon her throne. Quite the moment, that we’ll no doubt get a chance to see for ourselves with the upcoming crowning of Charles III.

Once the monarch is comfortably seated on their throne, the homage can begin. This is where traditionally the Royal Princes and senior peers kneel before the sovereign and pay homage or pledge their allegiance. It is a bit of a throw-back to the feudal period, and we know this will be greatly changed in the upcoming ceremony, but we’ll get more into that in a little bit.

We then have what is known as the Recess, or the leaving of the Abbey. So after a quick costume change behind the High Altar, the monarch emerges having swapped the rather heavy St Edward’s Crown for the much lighter Imperial State Crown and different robes. For the Queen’s Recess, the National Anthem was sung while this change-over was carried out, and, once the Earl Marshal gave the signal, the Procession moved out of the Abbey:

…and the Queen, leaving Saint Edward’s Chapel, whilst all assembled sang the National Anthem, proceeded in State, supported as before, through the Choir and the Nave to the West Door of the Church…

Following close behind were the other members of the Royal Family, who then got into carriages for the great procession through the streets, allowing as many people as possible to see their Queen as she made her way back to Buckingham Palace to then present herself upon the royal balcony.

Music, as it is for all churches, is quite an important aspect for a coronation service. And there’s one song in particular, Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’ that has been played at every coronation since George II’s in 1727. So I guess we can expect to hear that tasty number during Charles’ coronation. Surprisingly the Queen’s coronation was the first where the National Anthem was sung, something I think we can also expect of Charles’ service.

Previous Coronations

As we know, each coronation is slightly different than the one that came before it. Mary I’s coronation, for example, was quite unique for the time as she was the first Queen to be crowned without a king, so it was largely a mishmash of what the coronation services had been like for her father and brother. And so it makes sense that Elizabeth I’s coronation is very similar to her half-sister Mary’s. But there was one change that Elizabeth brought in. She asked for parts of the service to be said in English rather than the preferred Latin, so that the people would understand the promises she made to them. James VI/I went a step further than Elizabeth and had the entire thing said in English.

A pretty big difference between Elizabeth II’s coronation service in 1953 and all of those that came before was that it was the first to be watched on TV. In fact, there were hundreds of thousands of people who went out and bought a television for the very purpose of watching the broadcast of the coronation.

Queen Victoria’s coronation was quite the event, the whole thing went for a good five hours, that would have been quite the exhausting day. And I’m sorry say it didn’t exactly go entirely to plan. The coronation ring had been forced onto the wrong finger, making it quite difficult to pull off, here’s an excerpt from Victoria’s journal:

The Archbishop has (most awkwardly) put the ring on the wrong finger, and the consequence was that I had the greatest difficulty to take it off again, which I at last did with great pain…

Then during the homage, an elderly peer fell down the stairs, and a bishop accidentally told Victoria the whole thing was over a bit too early, so she had to return to her throne so the service could finish.

But it seems despite all these things that went wrong, she looked back upon the day with pride, here’s another excerpt from the Queen’s journal:

…I re-entered my carriage, the Crown on my head, and the Sceptre and Orb in my hands, and we proceeded the same way as we came – the crowds if possible having increased. The enthusiasm, affection, and loyalty were really touching, and I shall remember this day as the proudest of my life!

Several interesting changes can be seen in the differences between coronations of who pays homage. Back before 1902, every single peer was expected to pay homage individually, which I think you can imagine would have just taken forever. So after 1902, they decided to speed things up a little, only the senior peers in each order of peerage would need to pay homage, essentially they would be paying homage for all those junior peers beneath them. Now homage is always paid in order of seniority, so if there is a Prince of Wales, he always goes first. We actually know what the Prince of Wales (who would later go on to become Edward VIII) said when he knelt before his father, George V, in 1911:

I Edward Prince of Wales do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die against all manner of folks. So help me God.

Now seeing as Prince William is the current Prince of Wales, we would largely expect him to say something quite similar when he goes to pay homage to his father at the coronation.

I actually found some notes written by former monarchs of their memories of their own coronations. Here’s what George V thought of his coronation in 1911:

There were hundreds of thousands of people who gave us a magnificent reception. The service in the Abbey was most beautiful, but it was a terrible ordeal. It was grand, yet simple & most dignified and went without a hitch…On reaching B.P. … May & I went out on the balcony to show ourselves to the people…

And here’s George VI’s thoughts of his coronation ceremony in 1937:

I knew that I was to spend a most trying day, & to go through the most important ceremony in my life…I knelt at the Altar to take the Coronation Oath…When this great moment came neither Bishop could find the words, so the Archbishop held his book down for me to read, but horror of horrors his thumb covered the words of the Oath…As I turned after leaving the Coronation Chair I was brought up all standing, owing to one of the Bishops treading on my robe. I had to tell him to get off it pretty sharply as I nearly fell down. The Homage of the Bishops & Peers went off successfully.

So it seems that each coronation has their own ups and downs for the one person at the centre of it all. But I’m sure they all looked brilliantly magnificent.

We know that Elizabeth II’s coronation had its own changes, partly around the wording of the Coronation Oath concerning Indian independence and Ireland leaving the Commonwealth. And The Queen’s return procession to Buckingham Palace was pretty big as well, designed of course to be seen by as many people as possible. The route was only 7.2km long but it took two hours for the 16 000 participants to walk from Westminster Abbey to the Palace. Apparently there were so many people involved in the procession that it took 45 minutes for them all to pass any one point.

A modern Coronation

So what can we expect to see in King Charles III’s coronation. I imagine it will be slightly different to his mother’s, but in what way?

Well the Palace has been quite tight-lipped on the plans, releasing little bits here and there as we ramp up to the big day. So I can only tell you what has been released by the Palace at the time of recording. You’ll have to watch the ceremony to see the full spectacle for yourself.

So far we can expect the King’s coronation to be shorter and smaller than what was seen at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, and also expect a wider range of religions to be represented. In fact I would expect to see a change in the wording of the coronation oath, especially with how ethnically diverse modern Britain is.

I think we all know by now that the Coronation ceremony itself will be held at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May 2023. Here’s what the Palace says:

The service will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and will reflect the Monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.

We also know that the King will arrive at Westminster Abbey in what is known as the ‘King’s Procession’. It’s just been released that he and the Queen Consort will travel in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, built down here in Australia to commemorate the Elizabeth II having been sat on the throne for 60 years. This carriage, with an air-conditioned interior and everything, is quite fancy, here’s a link to an article on it for those interested. Another interesting break with tradition is that Charles will not turn up at the Abbey in the traditional breeches and silk stockings but rather we can expect him to be wearing military uniform.

For the Coronation Oath, the Daily Telegraph have reported that while the Oath itself will remain unchanged there will be a bit added to the Oath which will:

…allow the King to recognise his commitment to the multiple faiths of a diverse Britain.

So keep your earholes peeled for that little addition.

The Daily Telegraph, who clearly has a royal insider, also reports that the canopy, which was held over the Queen to shield her from the prying eyes of cameras during her anointing, will be possibly made see-through for Charles, meaning that the anointing would be able to be seen by the public for the very first time. I guess we’ll have to keep an eye out to see if that actually does happen.

The Sunday Times has also gotten in on the coronation action by reporting that supposedly Prince William, the current Prince of Wales, will be the only Royal Duke to pay homage to the King. Which I imagine will really speed up the whole thing.

Now usually if there is a Queen Consort than she is crowned after the Homage in a simpler ceremony. There’s some anointing, some crowning and then some enthroning, but she is not required to take an oath.

Then we can expect their newly crowned Majesties to return to Buckingham Palace the same way they came, but the procession will be much larger and will go for longer. Because this time they will be travelling in the Gold State Coach which has been used in every coronation since William IV’s in 1831. This procession will definitely be a lot slower, because the horses can only pull this carriage at walking pace, so if you’re lining up along the procession route, expect to get a good old glimpse of the King and Queen consort.

Then we can of course expect the King, the Queen consort, and other members of the Royal Family to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to their adoring subjects.

Now you might be thinking ‘that sounds like a pretty full-on day’. And you would be right. But it is not the end of the Coronation Weekend. That’s right, the Coronation Ceremony is just the start.

On the day following the Coronation, so Sunday 7th May, a special Coronation Concert will be held at Windsor Castle, and it will also be broadcast live by the BBC so that those who weren’t able to grab a ticket in the public ballot can still enjoy the dulcet tones of what I’m sure are some massive musical names. It’s been reported to be quite the grand affair with projections, lasers, illuminations and drones all used to spice up the show.

Also on the Sunday, the Coronation Big Lunch is to be held. This is basically a community lunch, where neighbours can come together in what is effectively street parties to share food and just have a good time all round. And it’s not just those in the UK who are encouraged to have a big lunch, everyone across the Commonwealth is invited to take part in some delicious lunch meals.

Then, with the UK having a bank holiday on Monday 8th May, and practically everyone being off work, the public have been invited to take part in the Big Help Out, which following on from the King’s own philanthropy in doing what we can to keep our planet green, everyone is encouraged to volunteer themselves for the day. Really just to take part in any sort of community activity that is a good cause. And why not, if you’ve got the day off. Here’s how the Palace describes the Big Help Out:

…[it will] use volunteering to bring communities together and create a lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation Weekend.

Now some other notable extras for the King’s Coronation is that of the change to pub licensing hours. In order to celebrate the coronation, the Government has allowed the hours to be extended from Friday 5th May to Sunday 7th May, so if you’re so inclined you can head into a pub, club or bar in England and Wales and really celebrate the new King.

The BBC has also suspended the TV licence fee for showing the King’s Coronation. So any TV station or streaming platform will be able to see the Coronation Ceremony and the Coronation Concert without having to pay a thing.

So what are you waiting for? Get excited, because for many of us, this is the first coronation we’ve ever seen.

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