Martin Williams
Member
I very much enjoyed participating in the recent discussion on the presentation of debutantes at the English Court. I therefore think it is high time I started a new thread devoted to information and anecdotes about the two great 'State' occasions of the Edwardian Era - the Coronations of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902 and George V and Queen Mary in 1911.
As we all know, Edward VII was fortunate to be crowned at all. Only hours before the ceremony, when London was packed with thousands of dignitaries from every corner of the globe, he succumbed to an acute attack of appendicitus and almost died. When the Coronation finally took place, in Westminster Abbey on 9th August, it was noted that the King looked 'pale and tired' but was clearly thrilled at the rapturous reception he received from the assembled crowds.
Every Coronation is a spectacular affair but that of Edward and Alexandra was particularly splendid. Not a penny was spared to ensure that the scene within the Abbey was one of unprecedented opulence. Indeed, so thick was the pile on the royal-blue carpet laid down the nave that many peeresses were observed to be struggling to walk upon it - their ermine-lined trains stuck to the velvet like velcro!
As might have been expected, lovely Queen Alexandra rose magnificently to the occasion. To her enraptured Lady-in-Waiting, the Countess of Antrim, 'she made one rub one's eyes and think of fairy stories - and even then, not half is said.' Alexandra's gauze train, hand-embroidered in gold thread by Indian women in tribute to the country she was never allowed to visit, was carried by six young pages, each of whom was a peer in his own right. Her bodice was so thickly encrusted with ropes of diamonds and pearls that her breast seemed to be a sheet of flame. At the moment of the Queen's actual crowning, the canopy was supported by four of England's most beautiful women - the Duchesses of Marlborough, Sutherland, Portland and Montrose. The Duchess of Marlborough (the former Consuelo Vanderbilt) had always maintained a rather cynical outlook on the arrogance of the British aristocracy into which she had married but, in her memoirs, she freely states that she felt tears of emotion fill her eyes as the Archbishop of York brought the crown down on Alexandra's serene brow. As he did so, the serried ranks of peeresses gathered in the nave - duchesses, marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses - simultaneously raised their white-gloved arms and put on their own coronets with, as one bedazzled observer later noted, 'a rustle like a million swans' wings.'
Solemn though the occasion was, there were a few characteristically 'Edwardian' touches. In a prominent position, just above the Royal Family, was a box containing a row of the king's 'special favourites' in full magnificence - his current mistress, Alice Keppel, in the centre, flanked on either side by former lovers like Lillie Langtry, Jennie Churchill, Mrs Ronnie Greville and Mrs Arthur Paget. One wag christened this 'the King's Loose Box'.
As we all know, Edward VII was fortunate to be crowned at all. Only hours before the ceremony, when London was packed with thousands of dignitaries from every corner of the globe, he succumbed to an acute attack of appendicitus and almost died. When the Coronation finally took place, in Westminster Abbey on 9th August, it was noted that the King looked 'pale and tired' but was clearly thrilled at the rapturous reception he received from the assembled crowds.
Every Coronation is a spectacular affair but that of Edward and Alexandra was particularly splendid. Not a penny was spared to ensure that the scene within the Abbey was one of unprecedented opulence. Indeed, so thick was the pile on the royal-blue carpet laid down the nave that many peeresses were observed to be struggling to walk upon it - their ermine-lined trains stuck to the velvet like velcro!
As might have been expected, lovely Queen Alexandra rose magnificently to the occasion. To her enraptured Lady-in-Waiting, the Countess of Antrim, 'she made one rub one's eyes and think of fairy stories - and even then, not half is said.' Alexandra's gauze train, hand-embroidered in gold thread by Indian women in tribute to the country she was never allowed to visit, was carried by six young pages, each of whom was a peer in his own right. Her bodice was so thickly encrusted with ropes of diamonds and pearls that her breast seemed to be a sheet of flame. At the moment of the Queen's actual crowning, the canopy was supported by four of England's most beautiful women - the Duchesses of Marlborough, Sutherland, Portland and Montrose. The Duchess of Marlborough (the former Consuelo Vanderbilt) had always maintained a rather cynical outlook on the arrogance of the British aristocracy into which she had married but, in her memoirs, she freely states that she felt tears of emotion fill her eyes as the Archbishop of York brought the crown down on Alexandra's serene brow. As he did so, the serried ranks of peeresses gathered in the nave - duchesses, marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses - simultaneously raised their white-gloved arms and put on their own coronets with, as one bedazzled observer later noted, 'a rustle like a million swans' wings.'
Solemn though the occasion was, there were a few characteristically 'Edwardian' touches. In a prominent position, just above the Royal Family, was a box containing a row of the king's 'special favourites' in full magnificence - his current mistress, Alice Keppel, in the centre, flanked on either side by former lovers like Lillie Langtry, Jennie Churchill, Mrs Ronnie Greville and Mrs Arthur Paget. One wag christened this 'the King's Loose Box'.
