"GOD SAVE THE KING."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume VX, Issue 7102, 26 January 1901, Page 2

" GOD SAVE THE KING."

HOW A MONARCH OF ENGLAND

The College of Arms proclaimed the new King just as they have proclaimed every monarch for hundreds of years past.

limes change— and dynasties. We ' are less like the Englishmen of Edward I£r x ,, we toe Uke **» modern Japs. We talk a different tongue, we eat different foods, we wear different, jelothes, we think different thoughts. w the same, except the columns cm Stonehenge and the College of Arms, j The college abides, varying by not so tnuch as a detail pf procedure or a b utton on a uniform. What is, is good, and cannot be improved. Therefore the

{Continued from page 4.) business of proclamation was the same ■ in the twentieth century as it was in the ' fifteenth. 1 When the time unhappily came for a ' new King to reign, the Privy Council ' met and declared the throne to have devolved on the Prince of Wales. Orders were at once given to the Earl Marshal and the officers of the College of Arms to proclaim him. The first proclamation was made in the courtyard of St. James' Palace, where the guard is changed. Garter King, the chief officer of the college, made the proclamation in solemn form, with the Earl Marshal, the kings, the heralds, and the pursuivants in full uniform and mounted haru by. At this proclamation the monarch was present, sitting at the window where | all his predecessors had sat. That is the chiefest of the proclamations ; but the news has to be carried far and wide to the distant city, the rank of the proclaiming officer descending as the business proceeds. The second pronouncement was made at Charing-cross, and the third at the corner of Chancery lane. At this proclamation there was a modification of the ancient form, owing to the disappearance of Temple Bar. Within the City of London the Lord Mayor and sheriffs preserve their i ancient sovereignty, and allow no ruler within their gates except after permission asked and granted. The old form was for the junior pursuivant to rap at the gate and show his warrant for proclamation. Then the Lord Mayor ordered the gato to be opened, and joined in the stately procession. The ceremony on Wednesday doubtless remained, barring the knock at the gate, which does not exist. The latest proclamation was made either at the corner of Wood street, Cheapside, or beside the Eoyal Exchange. In the provinces the proclamations are made by the local mayors. THE COEONATION. Being proclaimed and crowned, the King has to offer to fight for his throne. In the olden times, when a King reigned by the power of his right arm, this was a' necessary formality, and because it was necessary once it is done still. But the KiDg no longer does his own fighting. HE HAS A CHAMPION, the hereditary Champion of England, whole business it is to do battle with all comers for the Crown. The Champion is always a member of Jhe Dymoke family. When the King is crowned, he rides into Westminster Hall, mounted and in full armour, just as the Champion was 600 years ago. He is accompanied by the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain, also on horseback. The hall is crowded with ticketed sightseers. A proclamation is read by one of the heralds challenging anybody who disputes the right of tbe Sovereign to combat in an open space. The Champion throws down bis gauntlet as a guarantee of good faiih. But it is all a disappointing sham. If some enterprising person were to take up the challenge and tbe gauntlet he would probably be run in by the police for creating a disturbance 1 The herald takes up the glove and hands it back to the Champion, and then the King is firmly seated on his throne.