A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 209, 1 June 1936, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Proclamation Crowds in London witnessed the reading of the proclamation by King-of-Arms, who was accompanied by heralds, announcing the date of the curonatiffn as Wednesday, May 12, 1937. On the accession of a new Sovereign, the Privy Council meets immediately, when the new Sovereign presents himself to the council and announces to it the name by which he will be known, himself takes the oath and receives the oaths of allegiance of the members of Cabinet and others of the Privy Council present. The proclamation of the Sovereign is then ordered to be promulgated in the London Gazette, the public proclamation taking place in London early on the following day. The first place the heralds read the proclamation is St. James’s Palace. They then drive —formerly they used to ride on horseback —in State carriages, accompanied by the Sergeant-at-Arms and State Trumpeters and escorted by a detachment of Life Guards, in procession to the boundary of the city at Temple Bar. There the Lord Mayor and other city authorities meet them and, after a formal demand for entrance to the city, which is barred by a temporary barrier, admit the Officers of Arms, who again proclaim the Sovereign there. The procession then passes forward, accompanied by the city dignitaries, to the Royal Exchange, where the proclamation is read again. Some months before the date of the ensuing coronation a like ceremony again takes place in London, when the proclamation is publicly read announcing the date when the coronation will be held. Heralds do not sound the trumpets. That is done by the State Trumpeters. Coronation Times. Of the 36 coronations held in England since the Norman Conquest, one has been held in January, four in February, none in March, five in April, one in May, five in June, four in July, two in August, four in September, six in October, one in November, three in December. There have been 15 coronations held on Sunday, three on Monday, three on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, 12 on Thursday, one on Friday, none on Saturday. One King, Edward V, was not crowned. The Sovereigns of England since the Norman Conquest, with the years of their coronation, are as follow: William 1,1066; William 11, 1087; Henry I, 1100; Stephen, 1135; Henry 11, 1154; Richard I, 1189; John, 1199; Henry 111, 1216; Edward 1,1274; Edward 11, 1307; Edward 111, 1328; Richard 11, 1377; Henry IV, 1399; Henry V, 1413; Henry VI, 1429; Edward IV, 1461; Edward V, not crowned (ascended the Throne in 1483) ; Richard HI, 1483; Henry VII, 1485; Henrv VIII, 1509; Edward VI, 1547; Mary I. 1553; Elizabeth, 1558; James 1,1603; Charles I, 1626; Charles 11, 1661; James 11, 1685; William 111 and Mary 11, 1689; ’Anne, 1702; George I, 1714; George 11, 1727; George 111, 1761; George IV, 1821; William IV, 1831; Victoria, 1838; Edward VII, 1902, George V, 1911. The King’s Champion.

The Court of Claims has dispensed with the ceremonies at the Coronation banquet when a steel-clad Royal champion formerly rode in, threw down a gauntlet, and challenged other claimants to the Throne. The ofiice of champion, which is the most perfect relic of feudalism, was established in England by William (die Conqueror immediately after the Battle of Hastings. The dignity was conferred on Robert de Mannion, Lord of Fontenoy, in Normandy. The championship was annexed to the manor of Scrivelhaye, or Scrivelsby, in the county of Lincoln. The last Lord Mannion died in 1292, leaving four daughters, but no sons. Scrivelsby fell to the share of Joan, the youngest, who married Sir Thomas Ludlow, whose daughter Margaret married Sir John Dymoke, of Gloucestershire, and became invested with the championship of England, which has remained in his family ever since. The champion claims, on the Coronation Day, one of the King s great coursers, with a saddle, harness and trappings of cloth of gold, and one of the best suits of armour (all. of which he claims as fees, together with the gold cup from which the Kiug drinks to him). Thus mounted and furnished, and accompanied by tue High Constable and Marshal of England and the Royal Herald, he rides into the hall to the place where the King sits at dinner, and there, aft-r three proclamations of the trumpet, says words to the effect‘that aujotic who denies that the King is lawfully entitled to the Throne "lies like a false traitor,” and thereupon throws down his gauntlet.

Colonial Office. Mr. Ormsby-Gore has been appointed Secretary of State for Colonies in place of Mr. Thomas, who has resigned. In England the earliest separate organisation for the administration of colonial affairs was-a committee of the Privy Council appointed by the King-in-Council in 1660 ‘"for the Plantacons.” By 1695 certain limited powers in regard to the colonies were vested in a commission known as the Board of Trade and Plantations. In 1794 the Secretary of State for War had assumed control, but In 1554 the outbreak of the Crimean War led to the appointment of a Secretary of State for Colonies to relieve the Secretary of State for War of colonial business. The secretariat for the colonies has continued a distinct department, ever since. In 1925 a new Secretaryship of State for the Dominions was created, and as a result the Dominions Office was formed to take over tne Colonial Office business connected with the self-governing Dominions. For some years both secretaryships were held by one Minister, but in 1930 a separate Minister was appointed Secretary of State for the Dominions, wuh a separate Parliamentary Under-Secre-tary. Brigade of Guards.

On July 16 the King will present new- colours to six of the battalions of the Brigade of Guards. In England the Kings had their bodyguard from early times, and the Yeomen of the Guard and the King’s Bodyguard for Scot-land are survivals of that period. The existing Guards date from the time of Charles 11, and were then divided into horse and foot. The Horse Guards consist, now of three regiments, Ist and 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards, collective y known as the Household Cavalry. The Foot Guards are the three old regiments, Ist, 2nd and 3rd, or Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards, to which the Irish Guards were added n> 1902, and the Welsh Guards in 1915. During the Great War a new- unit, the Machine Gun Guards, was established. Together they form the Brigade of Guards. To this, men of superior physique only are admitted.