James II. boasts, in his Memoirs, of having saved the country 60,000_l._
by the omission (for the first time) of the royal procession through the
city, at his coronation.
The coronation of WILLIAM and MARY presented the singular feature of a
joint sovereignty over these realms, conferred by public consent. The
only alteration this made in the ceremonial was, that another symbol of
sovereign power, the orb, was required, and presented in due form to
the queen as well as to the king. The new-modelling of the coronation
oath, at this period, we have before noticed[109].
It is certainly remarkable that neither of our married queens regnant,
MARY or ANNE, should have obtained the coronation of their husbands: in
neither case was conjugal influence wanted; but the superior force of
the people's jealousy of foreign sway was, perhaps, wisely deferred to:
in neither reign were other subjects of strife wanted between the crown
and the people.
The princes of the illustrious House now seated on the throne have
affected no novelties in their coronation ceremonies--except, perhaps,
that they have endeavoured to simplify and abridge them. GEORGE I.
ascended the throne at the age of fifty-five, and was crowned at
Westminster, on the 20th of October, 1714. His consort, the Princess
Sophia Dorothy of Zell, having fallen under his displeasure for alleged
infidelity to her marriage vows, and having been, it is said, divorced
from him by the Hanoverian law, was never brought into this country; and
never, therefore, acknowledged Queen of England. GEORGE II. was crowned
with his consort, at Westminster, on the 11th day of October, 1727.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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