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Coronation - A History of the British Monarchy (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R594
Discovery Miles 5 940
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Coronation - A History of the British Monarchy (Hardcover)
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Loot Price R594
Discovery Miles 5 940
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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The definitive history of coronations and the Royal Family, from
acclaimed writer 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 Walpole,
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 that sets 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 the British monarchy since the tenth century, and
looks forward to the coronation of King Charles III. The musical
history alone is one of extraordinary richness – involving Henry
Purcell, Handel, Edward Elgar, William Walton – plus the
celebratory poetry, the art and the spectacular engravings
published at coronations are all explored, as is the more recent
role of photographers. The book particularly concentrates on
post-1603 developments, including the incredible story of the
Stuarts, when the crown jewels used for hundreds of years at
coronations were melted down as symbols of the hated Divine Right
of Kings. As Charles III succeeds to the throne and preparations
are made for his coronation, Strong speculates as to the revisions
now called for to its ritual and pageantry to meet the changes in
the role of the monarchy in the twenty-first century.
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