KING EDWARD VIII.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 45, 22 January 1936, Page 7

KING EDWARD VIII.

PROCLAMATION CEREMONY. PRIVY COUNCIL SUMAIONED ENGLAND’S TRADITIONS. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, Jan. 21. When it became obvious that His Majesty’s end was near, preparations were begun at Sandringham for the official ceremonial and acts which must be carried out to-day, the first being the summoning of the Privy Council at which oaths of allegiance to the new Sovereign will be taken and in which case King Edward will make a hurried journey to London to assume the mantle of his revered father. The Privy Council differs from the ordinary in that the whole 300 members have been summoned to attend in levee dress with ribbons, orders and decorations. In addition the Lord Alayor. sheriff's, and aldermen will wear their robes. The King awaits in an adjoining apartment while the Lord President of the Council informs the assembly of King George’s death and the accession of his successor. Then at the Lord President, Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s request, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsliam, go to the King’s apartment and inform him what has been done. His Alajesty enters, addresses the Council, and complies with their request. His declaration is made public, whereupon a proclamation is signed by the Privy Councillors and the Lord Alayor. After this the King takes the usual oath for the security of the Church of Scotland and then the councillors are re-sworn and kiss his hands.

A proclamation of the King’s death and the accession of King Edward will be made in traditional usage, chiefly bv the Garter Principal King-of-Arms, Sir Gerald AY. AYollaston, from the Friary Court balcony of St. James’s Palace and by others at Charing Cross and Temple liar and the steps of the Royal Exchange. Twelve officers of the College of Arms and heralds will go in procession in Royal carriages to each place in their quaint and beautiful uniforms, accompanied by an escort of Household Cavalry, State trumpeters sounding a fanfare at each point and the heralds each time announcing: ‘The King is dead; long live the King,” to show that the King’s peace has not been disturbed. All this follows the meeting of the Privy Council. PARLIAMENT AIEETS. Parliament will also assemble to-day at 6 p.m. in conformity with the law requiring, an immediate meeting on the death of a Sovereign. The (speaker will wear “weepers,” namely white bands around the sleeves of his black gown as a traditional emblem of mourning. The Home Secretary will solemnly announce the King’s death, after which members of both Houses will be resworn as soon as possible in another part of the Palace of Westminster. In the historic Westminster Hall the dead King will lie in state for his to pay their last homage. Another traditional ceremony to-day will be the firing of 70 minute guns at Hyde Park, the Tower of London, and other saluting stations throughout Great Britain and the Empire.

THE PROCLAMATION. TO-DAY AT 10 O’CLOCK. Received January 22, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 21. The proclamation of King Edward takes place at 10 o’clock on AVednesday morning at St. James’s Palace. The proclamation will be read at the corner of Chancery Lane and Fleet Street, also outside the Royal Exchange.

“KING NEVER DIES.” CEREMONIAL PAGEANTRY. “The King is dead. Long live King Edward Viil.” Technically the death of the King is known ns the demise of the Crown. Tlie moment that breath leaves the body of a Sovereign, the Heir-Apparent becomes, ipso facto, the reigning Monarch of the British Commonwealth of Nations and possessor of all the titles and dignities of the deceased Sovereign. “Immediately on the national death,” says Blackstone, “the King survives in his successor.” The consequent proclamation in London of King Edward VIII,, which marks the accession of the Prince of Wales to the Throne, will be carried cut this week with the usual cere r monial pageantry, with which the Privy Council, the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, and other officials and dignitaries are associated The coming of the new liege lord will be proclaimed also in all cities and towns throughout the Empire. Wherever the Union Jack fiies the proclamation will be read. The coronation will take place some considerable time later. The late King Edward VII. died on May 6, 1910, but the late King George V was not crowned until June of the following year.