Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, June 22, 1902, Page 28

Coronation HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, COLONIAL SECRETARY BLY the crowning }mfl event of the season will be the investiture of Ed ward VII with the in signla of kingship in Westminster Abbey on Thursday, June 26. Preparations for the coronation have been going on for nearly a year, and it 1is pre- sumed the varlous ac- tors In the royal drama will perform their sev- eral parts without a serious hitch. The task is one of considerable magnitude. Sixty-four years have passed since a similar event occurred in England, consequently all who will participate in next Thursday's his- HON. JOSEPH CHOATE, AMERICAN AM toric ceremony are BAS without practical ex perience and have acquired their knowl edge by frequent rehearsals The coronation has become almcst en tirely a religious ceremony, and, as a con sequence the chief functionary in the ser vice I8 the head of the church, the Most Rev. Frederick Temple, archbishop of Can terbury. In the course of the service he anoints and crowns the king and is the fir to pay him homage The high religious character of the coronation rites is fur thermore shown by the fact that the crowning and anointing of the sovereign are immediately followed by the commu nion, the absolution and the prayer of consecration Closely assoclated with the archbishop of Canterbury in the services is the Very Rev. George Granville Bradley, the dean of Westminster. Because of the dean’s ad vanced ¢ for he is now 81 years old, his duties may be performed by the Rev, Dr. Robinson Duckworth, the sub-dean and canon of Westminster The queen's coronation is performed by the archbishop of York And at different times in the service certain bishops, whom precedent has particularly favored, assist by sup porting the king and queen On the morning of the coronation the archbishops and bishops, invested in the insignia of their office, wait for the royal procession at the great western door of the abbey Here an annex has been erected, similar in style to the Jerusalem chamber, with battlemented walls and windows The plaster with which it Is covered has been artistically smeared with soot or some other similar material to bring it into ton with the surrounding smoke begrimed houses Within & ing and dressing rooms for the royal suite e retir As soon as notice of the approach of the coronation coach is given, on its way from Buckingham palace, the clergy enters the abbey and takes seats immediately in front of the altar, and on elther side of th anclent St turies the monarchs of England have been anointed and crowned. Behind the altar is the beautiful reredos, or screen, which cuts off the view of the multitude from Edward the Confessor's chapel, in the rear where the king and queen will change their robes of state for royal robes of purple yelvet after the ceremony The duties of the archbishop of Canter- Edward’'s chair, where for cen ADOR AT COURT OF ST. JAMES bury begin as soon a the king and queen reach the theater, which is the somewhat inap propriate name applied to the raised platform before the aliar, and between the transepts where the coronation is performed After the king and queen have taken seats before their respective thrones on the theater the arch- bishop, accompanied by the lord chancellor, the lord great chamberlain, lord high constable and earl marshal, goes lo the four sides of the ‘heater and proclaims to the people the presence of the Kking. This is called the act of recog- nition The archbishop then of different offices, the which is the administration by which the king swears to rule to the statutes of Parliament; tobes by the lord great his seat in St LORD SALISBURY, PREMIER OF GREAT QUEEN ALEXANDRA IN HER CORONATION ROBE OF ERMINE. number barons until they thus knelt before striking of and pledged their fealty. At the present oath, time, however, it has lost its original eig- according nificance and has become such a long,and anoint laborious part of the ceremony thar, ing, when the king, divested of his crimson the request of the king, it has been largely chamberlain Edward’s archbishop anoints the head, takes abbreviated Consequently, only the and the bpeer of each order, with the exception breast and the royal family, perform the act of homage tands of the king with the spoon into which Prior to this act the peers have oil has been poured from the ampulla; the Seated in the north transept, with investiture with the ring finger of the right hand coronation, when the archbishop crown upon the king's head as he sits in St T - Edward's chair It has been officially announced that . though the services in the abbey The coronation of the gqueen follows that Dot begin until about 10:30 o'clock in of the king, and is performed by bishop of York. It is on similar that the queen is anointed crowned t be in their places in the abbey at 8 in a chair placed immediately before her a. m. On the other hand, the king throne, and not in St. Edward’s chair. The queen, in their imperial robes of queen is supported by the of Lon- and the rest of the long and memorable don and Winchester procession down the abbey aisles will The act of homage which perhaps the siart back on th: way to Bu most imposing from the spectacular point palace until after 1 o'clock at the of view, inasmuch as it permits the differ- and it will probably be half an hour later ent lords and ladies to tumes of ermine and velvet, feature of the ereign took by far the whether or not he had places the thelr cos- before most of th used to be the abbey ceremony fourth beeresses opposite in the southern tran- lastly. the $€pt, which is perhaps better known as the Poets’ Corner arch- morning, all spectators except the peers lines, save and a few others especially who wanted to of his privileged, state kingham earllest, spectators get out of the each of them breathing benedictions the sov- upon King Edward for his Interest. flict with the cle In the mediaevai days a king was not sure serve the successful con ancient ritual in Its entirety It took George 111 six hours to get crowned of Britain’s Kings and Queen The large number of personages who will have part in the cere- mony and in the pro- cession back to the pal- ace will have a still longer siege of it, for the homeward route has been made some what roundabout in or- der to take in another set of sightseers than the comparatively few thousands who will get a glimpse of the royal party on the short journey down the Mall to the abbey £45 s, That invaluable old gossip, Pepys, gives a definite notion of what a coronation will all be like in an entertaining paragraph in his diary recording what he saw of the coronation of Charles II ‘““About 4, he says, “I rose and got to the abbey, and with much adc by the favor of Mr. Cooper did get up into a great scaffold across the north end of the abbey, where, with a great deal of patience, T sat from past 4 until 11 befor the king came in. The king passed through all the ceremonies of the coronation, which, to my great grief I and most of the abbey could not see.” And Horace Walpole wrote of the corona tion of George III: ““The liveliest spec tacle in the world, but for the king's sake and my own, I never wish to see another.” There, are 700 peers and 400 of them have wives living It is this select 400 on whom the heaviest burden of unhap- piness in the abbey will nrobably fall, for ilthough they will not have to get thelr as early as the untitled s they will be bothered not only with their heavy robes, but with trains, varying In length according to the wearer's relative rank—a tremendously long one for th luchesses down to a comparatively short ne for baronesses And worst of all, they will have ta irry by hand the precious coronets, which they may not put on until the moment tha crown is placed on Queen Alexandra's head The prevailing fashion seems to be to places ectators HON. WHITELAW REID, SPECIAL V- VOY FROM THE UNITED STATES TO ¢0uld be accommodated THE CORONATION CEREMONY. . i BRITAIN LORD MAYOR DIMMESDALE attach a ribbon to the coronet, so that the gilded headgear may be carried upside down un- til the critical moment arrives. It is a critical moment, too, for coro- nets are difficult things to kep on. Harriet Martineau, who was present at the corona- tion of Queen Victoria, kas recorded her ob- servations on one peer- ess, whose coiffure had been built without re- gard to the bauble that was to rest upon it. As a result the crown kept tilting rakishly to one side and the other un- til a sister peeress came to the rescue and pulled and poked in her neigh- bor's hair until the jeweled emblem of 1ank King Edward is noted for his keen insight into affairs, business- like activity, and a desire to have everything about him in systematic order. It he ste the ship of state with the same precision with which he managed his Norfolk estate jt should sail smoothly There is no vacil- lation about him. He knows exactly what he wants, gives an order clearly, and ex- bects to see it executed instanter. At Sandringham he rises ear breakfasts alone, and is trausacting business by o o'clock, often walking at a quick pace over the grounds, accompanied by his faithful blind dog, “Peter,” as he gives orders. Nothing escapes his vigilant eye, and there are no laggards in his employ. His gar- dens, pheasantry and horse-breeding studs are kept in a great state of perfection. Although very exact on matters of etiquet, the king is jovial with his friends and likes to kuow clever and successful men in the world of finance as well as in art and letters. Many stories are told of his unassuming kindness., The queen is thoroughly artistic in her lastes. She loves music, flowers, statuary, qualnt ornaments, embroidery and all things which appeal to a refined sense of beauty. She is not at all bookish, and relies for information as to what is going on largely upon conversation in the family circle. The opera is her favorite amuse- ment, Her pastimes consist of ske tching, photography and piano-forte playing. She is extremely fond of country life, and when at Sandringham rides her new horse, “Vio- let,” drives her ponies, *‘Beau’ and ‘Belle,’ or goes walking with her dogs Her love of pet animals amounts to a passion, and her Japanese spaniel, “Billy,” goes every- where with her; while in her dressing-room are singing birds and a pet dove. She visits the stables and kennels once a week, gen- erally on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by members of her family, and feeds and pets the horses and dogs, all of whom know her voice and footsteps The queen has a wonderful power over animals. Golf and croquet are among her majesty's re- cent out-of-door games, but she has never cared for tennis. The queen's interest in philanthropy is well known, but few realize perhaps the personal interest she will take in cases which have aroused her sympathy She is (Continued on Eighth Page.)