REHEARSALS OF CORONATION

Southland Times, Issue 23178, 20 April 1937, Page 7

REHEARSALS OF CORONATION

ABBEY SERVICE AND PROCESSION

MR JORDAN TO BEAR STANDARD

(United Press Assn.— Telegraph Copyright) (Received April 19, 6.30 p.m.)

LONDON, April 18. There will be a full rehearsal of the Coronation service in Westminister Abbey on May 10, in which all those taking part in the ceremony, except the King and Queen, will participate. Large crowds witnessed the first rehearsal of the Coronation procession. Early trains and buses brought thousands to the route, and when the old gold coach rolled into Dean s Yard shortly before 6.30 a.m. the people stood from 10 to 12 deep on the pavements on both sides of the road. Trafalgar Square was a mass of people and other parts of the route were packed. ■ ~ The rehearsal of the procession itself was a phantom-like affair. Its eerie air of unreality was accentuated by the silence of the crowds, who could hardly be expected to cheer luggage brakes. The first part of the procession moved off at 6.45 a.m. It consisted of 11 semiState landaus, representing the carriages of the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and the Dominions. Then came an escort of the Household Cavalry and three brakes representing the procession of the Princes and Princesses. Next came Queen Mary’s P r0 ~ cession, represented by four brakes and preceded by a mounted band of the Household Cavalry, followed by a Royal escort of Life Guards. All the troops were in khaki and the gold coach was drawn by eight Windsor greys, with four postilions and longcoated footmen walking on either side. Behind the coach was a Sovereign’s Escort of Household Cavalry. Timing of Procession The procession took 25 minutes to pass a given point, but the timing was of no significance because the procession was only a skeleton of that on Coronation day. The latest appointments for the ceremony include the High Commissioner for New Zealand (Mr W. J. Jordan), and the Minister for Australia in London (Mr S. M. Bruce). They will carry the standards of New Zealand and Australia and the other high commissioners will carry the Indian and their own Dominion standards. The Marquis of Cholmondeley will carry the Royal Standard.

The King’s 10 pages who will carry his train include Earl Kitchener, grand nephew of the famous field marshal, who recently succeeded to the title, Earl Haig, Earl Jellicoe, and Viscount Lascelles, eldest son of the Princess Royal. The six ladies who will bear the Queen’s train include Lady Iris Mountbatten, a cousin of the King, and Lady Elizabeth Percy, a daughter of the Duchess of Northumberland.

Major C. R. Attlee, Leader of the Labour Opposition in the House of Commons, has solved the problem of many Labour members and others who feared that the order to wear evening dress with knee breeches would prevent their attendance at the Coronation. After a concession that morning dress or dark lounge suits could be worn, Major Attlee had advised their adoption. Women will wear morning dress and a scarf instead of a hat.