Coronation of Elizabeth I

 

Coronation of Elizabeth I : Elizabeth was determined to create a strong initial impression and as a result her coronation was a lavish & grand affair.

An unmarried woman, her claim to the throne resting on her executed mother, Anne Boleyn, and the likelihood of further religious upheaval - meant that Elizabeth was aware she had to secure popularity with her subjects.

Elizabeth spent some £16,000 on the event, and while the religious ceremony was theoretically the main element, she was aware that it was the street processions that would increase her popularity among the public.

The date chosen for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was 15th January 1559. The festivities kicked off with a procession through London the day before. The day-long spectacle saw Queen Elizabeth I taken through crowd-lined streets, carried on a golden litter.

The procession was punctuated with five pageants staged in honour of the new queen. On the day of the coronation, the streets of Westminster were laid with gravel and blue cloth and rails were erected on each side. Preceded by trumpets, knights and lords, then nobles and bishops, the Queen travelled from Whitehall to Westminster Hall.

The coronation ritual itself was a clever compromise between the Catholic practices that existed, and the Protestant ones that the Queen intended to introduce. Elizabeth was crowned in St Edward’s Chair, otherwise known as the Coronation Chair, in Latin by a Catholic bishop.

The Queen emerged from the ceremony to greet her adoring people wearing a big smile, her crown and carrying the orb and sceptre. For the Coronation feast, Westminster Hall had been decorated by the hanging of two enormous tapestries which had been bought by Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII.

The feast began at 3 o'clock when Elizabeth washed her hands, and ended at 9 o'clock in the evening, when the newly crowned queen left for Whitehall.