CORONATION ROBES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23109, 8 February 1937, Page 10

CORONATION ROBES

DUCHESS’S TO COST £432

WORN ONLY ONCE OR TWICE (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 7. (Received Feb. 7, at 11 p.m.) “ A duchess’s dress bill for the Coronation ceremony will reach £432, of which £336 will go in crimson velvet for a three-piece robe, including a train and an er-mine-trimmed cape, and the remainder for a white or gold court dress costing £6O, a coronet £25, gloves and shoes £5 each and stockings £l,” says the Sunday Times, in commenting on a peeress’s robe, which can be worn only once or twice in a lifetime at coronations. It adds: “On the same scale a marchioness must spend £304 on a robe, a countess £2BB, a viscountess £267, and a baroness £246, the differences being largely due to less ermine and shorter trains required by the lower ranks, but peeresses who are content to wear rabbit instead of ermine and machine woven velvet instead of hand woven, and other cheaper materials can save between £135 and £l7B according to rank. All, however, will have further expense on tiaras and other jewellery.”

CORONATION COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE KING MR W. NASH INCLUDED . THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT ST. PAUL’S (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Jan. 16. A new Empire Coronation Commission has been appointed by the King “ to consider aspects of the Coronation of common concern.” Its members are mostly the same as those appointed by King Edward, and include the members of the Privy Council Coronation Committee, the Prime Ministers of Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, and the High Commissioners in London of these countries. Tbe Duke of Gloucester is the chairman. An additional member is Mr W. Nash, Minister of Finance. The Coronation Committee of the Privy Council, which is also headed by the Duke of Gloucester, consists of 42 persons. They include the Duke of Norfolk, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Mr Baldwin. Mr Neville Chamberlain, and Mr Lloyd George. Mr Walter Elliot, Secretary for Scotland, is now a member, Sir Godfrey Collins having died since King Edward’s proclamation. Sir Samuel Hoare, as First Lord of the Admiralty, replaces Viscount Monsell, whom he succeeded.

It is anticipated that the King and Queen will attend a Coronation thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral about a week after the Coronation. Their Majesties are expected to drive in open carriages through the city to St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the steps of which the scholars of Christ’s Hospital will be able to exercise their ancient privilege of presenting a loyal address. It is understood that the Archbishop of Canterbury will be present at the service, which will be conducted by the Bishop of London MEDALS FOR DOMINION TROOPS The city may have two visits from their Majesties following the Coronation, for it has not yet been decided whether the royal visit to the Guildhall shall take place immediately after the thanksgiving service or at a later date. Another event of the Coronation period will be the presentation by the King of special Coronation medals to the Indian and dominion troops who are coming to this country.-

Arrangements are being made to hold a Coronation gala performance at Covent Garden Opera House. It is hoped that the King and Queen will be present. CANOPY OF CLOTH OF GOLD Thirty-five needlewomen have been chosen by Lady Smith-Dorrien, principal of the Royal School of Needlework, for the Coronation work which will be carried out at the school during the next three months. They will be engaged mainly on fine embroidery work on the canopy to be held over the King and Queen during the anointing, on the King’s robe, and probably on the Queen’s dress and train. The King’s robe will be that which was made at the school in 1902 for King Edward VII, and it is to be sent to the school shortly to be thoroughly examined, and repaired if necessary. It is of cloth of gold, embroidered all with coloured emblems—red Tudor roses, green shamrocks, purple thistles, and silver eagles. The canopy will be made at the school, of cloth of gold, with 18 raised silver eagles round the border. It will be lined with rich white satin, and supported at each corner by four slender silver poles.

The Queen, who is president of the school, has asked for. designs for the embroidering of her Coronation dress and- train, and it is hoped that the work will be done at the school. The train will be made of royal purple velvet, and the design chosen will be carried out in gold and silver, and perhaps a little diamante. The Queen’s dress will be made of white satin, and will be embroidered all over in white and gold. Designs for the embroidery of the dress include dominion and colonial emblems. CORONATION TIES A competition has been organised for Coronation silk ties. People in the trade were excluded, and at the preliminary judging this week 500 entries were received. The judges had to deal with a singularly catholic collection of designs. It was hard to believe that some of (he competitors were more tl an 10 years old, so uncertain was their drawing and so wild their colours. The crown, the rose, the thistle. Coronation coaches, bugles, and heraldic lions had been used liberallv, and the rod. white, and blue colours were shown in all sorts of squares, checks, and stripes. The winning 10 designs were sober enough, and some of them were completely elegant; those came from one woman art student. Final adjudication will be made by February 1 and the £l2O worth of prizes distributed accordingly. Then ties will be made in time for the Coronation incorporating the winning designs.

The keen interest which America is taking in the Coronation is shown by the fact that the representative of an American departmental store is visiting the Bond Street Association in order to study the arrangements for decorating that famous street. In some American cities it is intended to decorate a number of streets in exactly tho same way as some of the wellknown London streets.