THE CORONATION CHAIR

 

| TANDING out by its very plainness, in
Al the midst of all the glitter and colour of
the Coronation Ceremony, will be the
Ancient Chair of Coronation—close to
the Altar.

Within the Sanctuary, in the centre of
the Theatre or platform where the Ceremony of
Recognition takes place are the Chairs of Estate
and, before them, King Edward’s Chair—the
Chair of Coronation. It is usually kept in the
Chapel of the Confessor behind the Altar.

In this venerable wooden chair, made in March
of 1300 all the Sovereigns of England—save only
two,—one of them Mary Tudor, have been
crowned since Edward I. Even Cromwell, the
Protector, thought so much of the tradition be-
hind this oaken chair as to have it carefully re-
moved to Westminster, in contrast to his other
actions concerning the regalia, etc., where he was
duly installed in it.

It is completely covered with scratches and
carvings of the names of those who have evaded
the close guard kept on it across the centuries,
but to no avail. Those who have desired immor-
tality of such nature have obliterated one another’s
initials, with their disfigurings. The Replicas of
the Coronation Chair, which are made for the
various festivities throughout the Empire, even
reproduce these carvings of the vandals.

The King, having solemnly sworn to the Oath
and signed a copy to be deposited in the permanent
records of the Court of Chancery, is in the order
of the Coronation Service, next anointed and then
Crowned—as the Constitutional Sovereign—the
Head of the State. He is Anointed and Crowned
in the Coronation Chair and receives the Holy
Bible and the Benediction just before it. Under
the Chair, on a platform especially built for it,
supported by four carved and gilded leopards, is
the Stone of Scone.  This is the Coronation Stone
of all the ancient Scottish Kings, called the “Stone
of Destiny.”

It was taken in 1296 by Edward I, the Warrior,
from the Abbey at Scone in Scotland, on the River
Tay, where it had been so carefully preserved and
a new chair was ordered for it. This is the chair
now used, especially designed by the famous
Adam, at what was then “a good price.” Orig-
inally it was painted by Master Walter. Prior
to one of the ceremonies, hundreds of years ago,
a “master decorator” proceeded to varnish the
chair before he could be stopped. For the Cere-
mony it is draped in a costly cloth of gold.

The Stone of Scone is a rough lump over two
feet long and about ten inches thick, of a sandy

 

 

 

 

granular formation. It is chiefly valued for the
“legend of the Stone,” the prophecy that “victory
will follow Jacob’s Pillow” and for the associa-
tions in its history. At Bethel in Palestine, Jacob
used this stone as his pillow when he dreamed the
vision of the Heavenly Ladder, described in the
Old Testament, “set up on earth and the top of
it reached to Heaven.”

Later this stone of the dream was taken to
Egypt. Pharaoh’s daughter, Scota, was married
to Gathelus, who was the first King of Attica and
the legendary founder of the City of Athens.
Scota it was who discovered the baby Moses,
floating in the bullrushes, according to the ancient
Biblical story. Scota and Gathelus fled Egypt to
far off Spain in order to avoid the plagues and
they took the Stone with them. True to the
prophecy of good fortune accompanying the
Stone, Gathelus prospered in Spain. He always
judged seated on a throne containing the Stone
of Destiny.

Hiberus, their son, seeking for new lands and
fortunes took the Stone to Ireland. Legend
places Hiberus on Tara’s Hill and says that all
the Celtic Kings were crowned seated on it. King
Fergus later took the Stone to Iona, the Sacred
Isle. It has often been said that Scottish history
began with the Mission of the saintly Columba to
Iona. King Fergus saw in the Stone a bond be-
tween the Scots there and the “mainland.”

Here the Saint Columba breathed his last.
resting his head on the Stone. King Kenneth 11,
King of Albion, found it at Loch Etive in 834.
He removed it to Scone, the old capital of the
Northern Picts, now Perthshire, placing it in a
wooden chair.  InScone it remained in the Abbey
most of the time, from 850 A.D. until Edward
I had it again removed and placed in the Corona-
tion Chair used this year.

In 1603 King James I of Scotland acceded to
the Throne of England. 'Thus again was crowned
thereon a Scottish King over the Throne of Des-
tiny. The Scots had always set great store in the
famous chair as a symbol of Authority. It was
said of old—

“The Scots shall govern, and the sceptre
sway,

Where’er this Stone they find, and its dread
sound obey.”

It is of historical and sentimental interest that
today a Queen of Scottish ancestry shares the
Throne.

The King sits in the Coronation Chair as he is

(Continued on Page 19)

Seventeen