THE BRITISH MUDDLE THROUGH

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 27

THE BRITISH MUDDLE THROUGH

News that Lady Mary Howard .will represent .the Queen at the Coronation rehearsals i| a reminder of an important part of the preparations though its carrying' ojii. has presented on ooca-; slorts,.somei;/ludierousihcidents,says'the' "Manchester ■Guardian." *' Thus,1 .in 1902 Sir Almeric ;Fitzßoy chronicles a dress rehearsal in the Abl?ey "in'inotley"

That is to-S3y,.s.opie appealed in lull dress according to orders, sonic in halfdress, with "cutaway coats surmounted with coronets, and others in all sorts of impromptu/disguises, such as were provided By;; t_&e loan of old curtains and housings iij; the possession of the Abbey authorities: It took a long time to disentangle the procession from its elements,' and its passage was the subject of, much •Triirthful observation, but the climax of absurdity was reached whep dear old Spencer Ponsonby appeared representing the King, with a dingy brown vestment, hung from his shoulders arid supported by the King's pages, and carrying on his head a

dusty biretta hastily lent him X>y one lof the canons.

"At the proper moment the Karl Marshal shouted 'Bishops, enthrone the King! when tvo lusty prelates seized upon the feeble . body of Sir. Spencer and hoisted him'on to the chair where with great gravity he received the homage. . ."." So great was the muddle that the conclusion seems to have been that, had the Coronation taken place on the date originally fixed, "nothing short of a miracle could-have ■averted a. fiasco.", ; ■ ;

For the dress rehearsal in 1911 we have the evidence of John Merrley, who was shocked by the "deplorable muddle . . . partly owing to the incompetence of the directing agency and also in no small degree to the nonchalance of the performers." He noted also "the lack of reverence shown in the performance of some of the most solemn and. significant episodes."

However, it seems to have been "all right on the night," thus conforming to the rule that bad . dress rehearsals generally mean good r^formances.