| Coronation: From the
8th to the 21st Century
Author: Roy Strong. 'What is the finest
sight in the world? - a Coronation. What do people talk most
about? - a Coronation. What is delightful to have passed?
- a Coronation.' - Horace Warpole, 1761. As a boy of sixteen,
Roy Strong watched the grand procession carrying Queen Elizabeth
II to her coronation. The spectacle was considered the greatest
public event of the century. But now, so many years later,
many people have little notion of what a coronation is and
are unaware of the rich resonances of the ritual, or its deep
significance in terms of the committal of monarch to people.
This book is the first of its kind - a comprehensive history
to set each coronation into its political, social, religious
and cultural context. The story is one of constant re-invention
as the service has had to respond to all the changes in fortune
of the monarchy or the country, everything from legitimising
usurpers to reconciling a Catholic rite to the tenets of Protestantism.
It even had to be recreated from scratch after the Restoration
of Charles II in 1660. In this way, Strong tells the story
of British monarchy since the 10th century, and looks forward
to the coronation of Prince Charles.
592 pages paperback
(40% off cover price
£15.99)
BOOKCOR
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