"You give fitting expression to the admiration universally felt for the valour and endurance of the officers and men who have been engaged in fighting their country's battles. They have been opposed by a brave and determined people, and have had to encounter unexampled difficulties. These difficulties have been cheerfully overcome by steady and persistent effort, and those who were our opponents will now, I rejoice to think, become our friends. It is my earnest hope that, by mutual co-operation and good-will, the bitter feelings of the past may speedily be replaced by ties of loyalty and friendship and that an era of peace and prosperity may be in store for South Africa." CHAPTER XXI. Arrangements for the Coronation The preparations for the Coronation of the King were of a character which eclipsed anything in the history of the world. It was unquestionably his aim and intention to make the event an illustration of the power of the British Empire, the loyalty of its people and the unity of its complex races. The pride of the King in his great position, the knowledge which he had acquired of the Empire in his innumerable travels, the statecraft which he had inherited and developed, were all factors in the determination to make this occasion memorable. Connected with the splendour of the event, as planned, was the personal relationship and friendship of most of the Sovereigns of Europe with and for His Majesty and, associated with every detail of its anticipated success, was the enthusiastic loyalty of Indian Princes and great self-governing British dominions beyond the seas. Finally, the end of the South African War came as if to add the one thing wanting to the entire success of the most magnificent Coronation in all history. Preparations went on apace from the beginning of Spring, 1902. The mere material evidences of the coming event transformed busy and commercial London into a forest of boards and poles and platforms. Westminster Abbey was changed inside and out and a special entrance was made for the King and Queen Alexandra to enter through, and so made as to harmonize with the general architecture and character of the building.