The Life and Times of Queen Victoria; vol. 1 of 4Wilson, Robert
History
The Life and Times of Queen Victoria; vol. 1 of 4
Wilson, Robert
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
The Benediction, the Enthroning, and the formal rendering of Homage, now
ensued. The last of these ceremonies had a singularly feudal character.
First, the Archbishop of Canterbury knelt, and did homage for himself
and the other Lords Spiritual; then the uncles of the Queen, the Dukes
of Sussex and Cambridge, removed their coronets, and, without kneeling,
made a vow of fealty in these words:--“I 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!”
Having touched the crown on the Queen’s head, they kissed her left
cheek, and retired. The other peers then performed their homage
kneeling, the senior of each rank pronouncing the words. It was at this
part of the day’s proceedings that an awkward incident occurred--an
incident, however, which served to bring out an amiable trait in the
sovereign’s character. As Lord Rolle, then upwards of eighty, was
ascending the steps to the throne, he stumbled and fell. The Queen,
forgetting all the ceremonious pomp of the occasion, started forward as
if to save him, held out her hand for him to kiss, and expressed a hope
that his Lordship was not hurt. Some rather obvious puns were made on
the correspondence of the noble Lord’s involuntary action with the title
which he bore; and even his daughter was heard to remark, after it had
been ascertained that no damage was done, “Oh, it’s nothing! It’s only
part of his tenure to play the _roll_ at the Coronation.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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