Some think of coronations as being staid affairs or that any innovation is somehow recent.

However, that is not always the case.

Below are a few interesting facts about coronations from two magazine articles: Radio Times‘s ‘A royal flush’ by Lucy Worsley (6-12 May 2023, pp 32-33) and Tatler‘s ‘Crowning stories’ by Lucinda Gosling (June 2023, pp 104-111), part of which can be found here along with related pages from past coronation issues. These are referenced below by either RT or T and the page number.

1066

William the Conqueror was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. His supporters shouted with joy so loudly that (RT, p. 32):

they alarmed the guards outside. The soldiers assumed that enemies must be attacking, and in defence they set fire to the buildings around the Abbey. It had to be evacuated while the King hastily concluded the ceremony.

1661

Souvenir mugs made their first appearance at the coronation of Charles II. (RT, p. 32)

1820

A Chelsea bun that survived George IV’s coronation uneaten can be found at the Museum of London. (RT, p. 32)

1838

Victoria was only 19 years old when she was crowned.

In her account of her Coronation Day, she wrote (RT, p. 33):

I was awoke at four o’clock by the guns in the Park, and could not get much sleep afterwards on account of the noise of the people, bands, etc.

One spectator inside the Abbey said (RT, p. 33):

The Queen came in as gay as a lark, and looking like a girl on her birthday.

During the ceremony, the elderly Lord Rolle tripped on the steps as he went to pay homage to the new Queen. Instinctively, Victoria leapt up to help him (RT, p. 33):

her spontaneous action earning her a round of applause.

Victoria earned more admiration from the public later that day. When the ceremony ended and she was back at Buckingham Palace, Victoria (RT, p. 33):

rushed to give her little dog Dash a bath.

1902

Victoria’s son Edward Prince of Wales succeeded her in 1901. He and Princess Alexandra were crowned King and Queen the following year.

In 1901, Tatler relaunched after some years in abeyance. Coronation fever was running high (T, p 104; emphases mine):

Each week, its gossip columns would drip-feed readers tasty coronation morsels. In August 1901, it was revealed that the wealthy socialite Emilie Grigsby was at the vanguard of Americans securing property in Mayfair ahead of the 1902 season. The Duchess of Wellington was reported to be planning coronation entertainment at Apsley House and had ordered the building of a capacious stand over the courtyard to give her guests a front-row seat to the procession. Violet, Lady Greville, writing in the 23 October 1901 issue, confessed her disappointment at discovering that coronets were simply ‘bought and ordered in a shop like fish or curry powder’ while, in its Society Gossip column in January 1902, The Tatler ruminated over the awkwardness arising from the insistence of the Duchess of Fife, eldest daughter of the King, that her husband walk beside her at the coronation, regardless of the fact that it might incur the ire of all the other dukes who outranked him.

Unfortunately, the coronation, originally scheduled for the end of June, had to be postponed to August 9 because the King had been diagnosed with appendicitis on June 24 and had to undergo surgery. (T, p 106)

He housed dignitaries at the capital’s finest homes, among them Dorchester House, Wimborne House and Harcourt House. Many of these people were already in London when news of the King’s appendicitis emerged. Some were able to afford to stay until August 9 (T, p 106).

No cameras were allowed inside the Abbey. (T, p 104)

The King gave a banquet for 500,000 of London’s poor (T, p 106).

Parents came up with creative names to mark coronation year births (T, p 104):

Corona (surprisingly less popular today), Coronius or Edal, made by combining the first letters from the names of King Edward and Queen Alexandra. Showing particular loyalty was the King’s private secretary, Sir Francis Knollys, who middle-named one of his offspring Louvima, a combination of the first few letters of the names of the royal couple’s daughters, Louise, Victoria and Maud.

1911

A similar social buzz took place in the months before George V’s and Queen Mary’s coronation on June 22 (T, p 108):

Among the personalities seen strolling in Hyde Park was Lady Dorothy Browne, one of Queen Mary’s train bearers. The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland were giving a magnificent ball at Stafford house and Mrs Ratan Tata was planning a garden party at York House in Twickenham for notable Indian visitors such as Princess Indira of Boroda. A ball at the Albert Hall featured 4,000 guests …

Tatler gave Mrs Tata a double page spread — ‘Mrs. Ratan Tata’s Garden Party’ — and included a photo of Princess Indira.

Not every woman was celebrating the new King and Queen, however:

Threatening to upstage the ball, and even the coronation, was the 60,000-strong Women’s Coronation Procession of suffragettes on 17 June.

Tatler devoted a double-page spread to the demonstration, ‘Seven Miles of Dissatisfied Womanhood: The Swelling Stream of Suffragettes Stems London Traffic for Hours’.

1937

Edward VIII abdicated, and George VI, formerly the Duke of York, was crowned instead, along with his wife Elizabeth, whom we later knew as the Queen Mother.

Before the abdication, however, Woolworths sold out of Edward VIII coronation mugs as soon as they hit the shelves. They are now collectors items. (RT, p. 32)

George VI’s was the first coronation to be filmed. (RT, p. 32)

This was the first coronation celebrated in Hollywood, thanks to stars from Britain and the Commonwealth (T, p 109):

It was reported that a coronation ball, attended by Olivia de Havilland, David Niven and Errol Flynn, was to be held at Hollywood’s Ambassador Hotel, combining tradition with transatlantic flair.

While the coronation ceremony went beautifully, things turned out to be less dignified afterwards (T, p 109):

The assembled peers and peeresses in the abbey made an impressive sight as they placed coronets on their heads at the moment the King and Queen were crowned. But afterwards, torrential rain meant many were left stranded for several hours in their miniver, velvet and family jewels as chauffeurs and coachmen struggled to find their passengers in the chaos.

1953

Here are two facts about Elizabeth II’s coronation that few know.

The late Queen applied her own lipstick as she wanted her make-up to be as low-key as possible. (RT, p. 32)

A film of the first televised coronation left London that day for North America (RT, p. 32):

A Canberra jet bomber stood by so that film of the event could be taken to the United States and Canada that very same evening.

More royal features to come later this week.