Coronations are based on continuity, and meticulous records stretching back hundreds of years are kept at the National Archives, which also reveal in fine detail the extravagances of the past.
Documents include bills submitted to the exchequer for the robes worn by past monarchs such as Elizabeth I when she was crowned in 1559.
“Materials for the Apparel of Her Majesty and Persons Engaged at her Coronation” includes a bill for £22 (about £5,000 today) for a “cloth of gold and silver tissue for a mantle” and £42 (about £10,000 today) for “a fur of powdered ermine”.
Other entries for silks, very fine gold buttons and tassels show the “really lavish items being made”, said Neil Johnston, historian at the National Archive.
A proclamation commands which peers would have prime positions at Charles II’s coronation in 1661.
Another, written by the Garter King at Arms, provides a detailed personal briefing from Charles II, telling him what to expect. Because of the civil war preceding the Restoration, “there here has been no coronation for a generation, so they need to look back. It is quite important to show the continuity and you are emulating your predecessors the whole time,” said Johnston.
“Even details on the regalia that is being made, because the Cromwellians had melted down the previous regalia.
“Across the paperwork there is really interesting detail on the new regalia. They don’t actually buy jewels, they borrow jewels initially, because England is impoverished at this point.” They had to be paid for later.
Other significant documents include a large book, called “The Little Device” which contains contemporaneous hand-written narrative accounts of past coronations.
Another tome details invoices for the coronation wardrobes from the death of Edward IV in 1483 to Henry VIII’s 1509 coronation, with lists of purchases for clothing, banners, carpets, tapestries “everything needed for the people and the space” for the coronations, said historian Sean Cunningham.
The records concerning Richard III’s coronation in 1483, written by the keeper of the Great Wardrobe, reflect all the changes of clothing required by the monarch during the ceremony, with orders for gold cloth and purple silks and velvets.
Richard is chiefly known for imprisoning his nephews, the “Princes in the Tower” who had disappeared from public view. Yet there are references in the records to a bodyguard and clothing for the deposed Edward for the coronation.
“If indeed he did appear at the coronation,” said Cunningham. “But this shows the politics of this too. It looks good for an uncle not to have removed his nephew.”
An extravagantly printed order of procession for Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 is held at the National Archive, along with an order of service, tickets and instructions for attenders.
As for the last coronation, that of Elizabeth II, her signed Coronation Oath is one of many items, including the official Ministry of Works published record, which includes fastidious detail: an inspection of the lavatories set up for the congregation at the Abbey on Coronation Day found “that much of the lavatory paper had been removed and in future it will be necessary to take special steps to prevent this”.
