CORONATION ROBES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 7

CORONATION ROBES

EXHIBITION IN N.Z.

MR HOLLAND ANNOUNCES DETAILS

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 9.

The Prime Minister (Mr Holland) today announced that some of the robes worn by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Queen’s Coronation and replicas ,of the regalia of England would be exhibited throughout New Zealand.

The robes worn' by Her Majesty and the Duke- of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey will be included in the exhibition, together with, a number of other' items used at the Coronation ceremony, including the Coronation Bible and the faldstool at which Her Majesty knelt. The exhibition ’ha's been arranged by the Commonwealth Office of Information and is being sent on tour to New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The Government has instructed the Department of Internal Affairs to undertake the organisation of the tour, which will open at Wellington on November 16. The exhibition will then go to Auckland and to 16 other centres before being shipped to Australia on January ,28. Mr Holland said that the itinerary had already been stretched to its utmost limit within the time available, and had been framed to allow the largest possible number of people to see the exhibition.

“I have written today to the Mayors of the towns to be visited asking for the co-operation of the local authorities, and that brief official opening ceremonies be held,’* he said.

Only a day and a half at the most would be available to each of the towns apart from the four main centres, but the exhibition would be open to the public as soon as it was set up. The following day it would remain open for 12 hours continuously at each town.

“It is particularly desired that children be given' every opportunity to attend the exhibition.’’ he said. “The schools will be in recess during the greater part of the tour, and it will be left to local effort by school boards and committees to make what arrangements may be possible to ensure this.*’ Items in Exhibition The items to be shown include the following:—the supertunica, girdle, the Queen’s glove, the stole, Royal, the Parliamentary robe of state, the Coronation robe of state, the canopy, the Duke of Edinburgh’s robe and coronet, the Coronation Bible (lent by the Archbishop of Canterbury), the faldstool, and the Royal box aprops (lent by the Dean of Westminster, the homage stool (lent by the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk), two peers’ chairs and an Abbey stool, a length of the Abbey gold carpet and another of the Abbey blue carpet, some of' the special fabric, used for hangings in . the Abbey, and a complete set of replicas of the regalia. The Coronation robe of state is unfortunately not available before January at the earliest, and may not be released in time for exhibition here. Four hundred thousand persons visited the exhibition of Coronation robes that toured New Zealand in 1938. The Government expects that the forthcoming tour will attract at least twice this number. Although the time available is less than in 1938, a more extensive itinerary has been adopted for the present tour. Particular care has had to be taken to avoid any clashing with the itinerary -of Her Majesty the Queen. The exhibition will be at Christchurch from December 23 to December 29, at Timaru from December 31 to January 2, at Oamaru on January 15 and January 16. at Grey mouth on January 20 and January 21, and at Nelson on -January 24 and January 25.