PICTURESQUE CEREMONY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 15

PICTURESQUE CEREMONY

NEW GREAT SEAL OF REALM ROMANCE OF ITS PREDECESSOR [from our own correspondent] LONDON, March 12 There was a picturesque ceremony at the Privy Council meeting last week after the King had handed to Viscount Hailsham, Lord Chancellor, the new Great Seal of the Realm, which has been designed by Mr. M. G. Kruger Gray. Taking up a metal hammer, His Majesty " tlemasked" the old Great Seal, giving it a blow sufficient to render it void. Ho then handed it, in accordance with traditional usage, to Lord Hailsham retain as a family heirloom. , „ „ , .. _ The Great Seal of the Realm is the subject of many a romantic tale. Lord Chancellor Eldon, in the reign of George 111., used to sleep with it under his pillow. One day his house caught fire and be buried it in the garden for safety. Next day he could not remember where he had hidden it. Lord Eldon-'s family joined in a frantic search at dawn, and it was found in a flower bed. James 11., when ho fled, threw the Great Seal into the Thames. But, by an extraordinary chance, fishermen drew it up in their nets near Lambeth and it was brought to the Prince of Orange, who by that time had been proclaimed King of England. In Richard l.'s roign the Seal was lost when the Chancellor, who was wearing it round his neck, fell into the sea and was drowned.

During the long reign of Queen Victoria the Great Seal had to bo replaced four times, owing to its ornamentation having become worn.