Monday, May 8, 2023

All the King's Horses and All the King's Men

 


Did all of you watch the Coronation?  No matter how you feel about the Monarchy you must admit that the Brits really know how to do great ceremonial pageantry.  I do wish I could have been there!  London is always wonderful for me but to have seen it in all the splendor associated with the Coronation of a king?  Yes indeed, it would have been amazing, I am sure! The procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Cathedral was magnificently done, don't you think so too? 


The Admiralty Arch was built as a memorial to Queen Victoria from her son, Edward VII.  Designed by Sir Aston Webb it was completed in 1912. You can find it at the end of the Mall (which is the large road which leads to Buckingham Palace.)

I took a photo of this from my TV screen! The banners spell out "Happy & Glorious" which is from the national anthem of course! 

At the top, the letters carved in the stone are in Latin and reflect what I told you above.  "In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910." That is, I think that is what it says... my Latin is not all it's cracked up to be, folks!


What else do you notice?  See how on one side, there are two sets of windows and yet, on the other side, you can count three? Three stories on one side and two stories on the other! Isn't it interesting that the architect chose to build this asymmetrically? I wonder why this is so?  Those on the left side have higher ceilings? I just wish I could go inside!

Did you notice the great precision of those marching in the parade? How they were able to march in formation through the arches?  (That is my meaning behind my title "All the King's Horses and All the King's Men".)  And so many! Just perfectly done.  One must admire it!



When we were in England in 2012 during the Queen's Jubilee, we had a lovely spread at the home of my in-laws. We even had quiche then! Marks & Spencer makes a very good gluten free one too!


















Steve Winwood performed at the Coronation Concert.  He didn't do this song but I really like it...."Now The Green Blade Riseth".





28 comments:

  1. Hi Kay, I am now in Canada and missed a lot of the coronation while in transit 😞. I did not see the parade which does sound wonderful. However on Sunday we saw the ceremony in replay and I was very impressed and thought the Brits do a fabulous job of organising such an event. Many delightful touches. Off the try to get onto my dashboard on the phone to do a post. Cheers

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    1. I'm certain this must be Patricia from Australia (Red Cardinal) who is visiting family in Canada! Hope you are having a lovely time. Can't wait to see what you have to say about the fashion from the Coronation!

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  2. I wasn't able to watch any Coronation doings over the weekend, but started watching the Coronation Service today (have currently reached two hours in, with 46 minutes to go). Wow. The music is sublime, and I love that it was just packed with Scripture. It's like a really beautiful church service with extras! I look forward to watching some of the other footage as I get the chance. I've been thinking of you as I watch. :)

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    1. Thank you for thinking of me! I was pleased to hear the hymn, "Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven". I have written about it before! "Slow to chide and swift to bless" and "Dwellers all in time and space", those are just a few lines from the hymn. It is magnificent but there were only two hymns so I wanted more!

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    1. Unlike me, I got up at 5AM but if I hadn't, I would have recorded it!

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  4. I wasn't trying to horn in on the coronation or steal King Charles' thunder, but I too had quiche on Saturday!

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  5. As it was such a beautiful, perfect spring day here and we are on holiday, O.K. and I were on a 17 km hike and did not watch any TV. I guess at some stage I will look at some highlights, but so far all I know about the coronation is from blogs. I am glad it all went smoothly without any major incident. Charles and Camilla look utterly exhausted in the pictures. They are, after all, in their 70s, and the days and weeks leading up to the big day must have been very busy for them.

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    1. I forgot to comment on the Admiralty Arch. Such buildings intrigue me no end, especially if they have something unusual about it, and like you, I would so like to go inside and explore!

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    2. Oh dear, I couldn't help but notice all the youthful photos and news reels they showed us of King Charles as a young man! I hope that he takes after his mother and still has all his marbles as he ages. You want your body and your mind to be in tip top shape! Speaking of that, you must be in super good shape with all your wonderful walks. And like you, I am fascinated by architecture. When we watch any of our British TV shows, we will often pause the show and look at buildings in the background and do research about it! (Yes, it can take a while before the finish the TV show! LOL!)

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  6. Staunch monarchist here and watched the whole thing from start to finish. Loved it.

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    1. I couldn't help but think of the people from England that I had known for many years who are no longer with us- my husband's relatives and friends. How they would have loved it and rejoiced with all those celebrating!

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  7. I didn't watch but I did notice some of the highlights. It's hard to miss them since they are everywhere! That spread looks delicious, by the way. Makes me hungry!

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    1. Hey Martha! Guess what, I zoomed in on that table and I see that my mother-in-law was sitting at the far left with an empty bowl! Looking at the right, there is another bowl full of my home made chili! (I think that was mine, I was eating and realized I had forgotten to take a photo and jumped up and took one!) My mother-in-law loved my chili and asked me to make it for that day! Every single bit was eaten from the pot, I am remembering! Thanks for making me look at it more closely! Ah....Anchor butter.....

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  8. I had to work, so i missed it, but i'm sure it was quite a beautiful show.

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    1. I'm sure it is all on YouTube! Everything is these days!

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  9. Yes mam...we also watched the coronation. I love anything from the UK.
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. Hey Donna, you know I do too! Hugs to you, my friend. x

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  10. The coronation was very impressive. We didn't go out most of the day because the weather was just awful. I mean REALLY awful! Almost the worst this spring . Many brave souls stayed there for hours and would have been rewarded. Hats off to them! . Your Jubilee photo reminded me that at the golden jubilee we had a party and I made a union jack cake. It was a lot of fun even though fiddly to do and edged with gold dragee almonds. No kidding it was one of my finest hours cake-wise, LOL!. You'd have liked to hear the recording of the Kings tube station announcement. I think I linked to it on my blog or you can Google it. That was such a lovely idea and a total surprise!

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    1. Yes! I did hear the train announcement by them! It must have been a surprise for those on the trains! And I did see the rain and I did wonder if there might have been bigger crowds if the weather had been better. Your Union Jack cake sound blooming marvelous, a real tribute to your late Queen. Jenny, I thank you very much for your comment here. I have just read your recent blog post and for anyone reading this comment, go and look at Jenny's blog! Great photos and writing!

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  11. I always make certain to miss anything like that. Coronations, euro visions, red nose days etc but I was intrigued to learn that royal soldiers in parades and on duty are trained, if they faint, to fall straight forwards, still holding their rifle at all times so that they land face first on the pavement or road. They usually end up with a broken nose or missing teeth afterwards but it's deemed bad form if they put a hand out to save a full face plant. Always happens to an unlucky few during coronations and other events off camera. Another good use for the stiff upper lip the English are rightly famed for...

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  12. PS that last anon comment was me...your blog wouldn't let me use my account name for some reason this time. bob

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    1. Hey Bob! Thanks for your comment. (Takes an age for me to get on my computer these days.) I can't see how the men can be trained to fall face forward, honestly. Wouldn't you naturally fall forward when you pass out? (I speak from experience. I happened to have a space heater on at the time and when I fell, I fell on top of said heater and BROKE it!) I was okay, the heater was a goner! LOL! Still, I have also read that those soldiers pass out like that because they are standing in one position so long and they are so tall that the blood doesn't flow properly. If they are trained to fall forward, well....after watching the Coronation, I can see how that might be true!
      I watched it in honor of all the British people that I have known and loved in my life, many of them much older than myself so you know they had great respect for the monarchy.
      And sorry about my blog making you be ANON! I really don't know what is up with blogging now after they made changes.

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  13. I'm so behind in reading this but I did see most of the coronation. My hubby was up earlier than I was and watched it all. My Mother-in-law loved anything that had to do with the Monarchy and would have loved this! I think Jack was honoring his Mom by watching it all, although he said it was really so fascinating to see all the pageantry!

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    1. Oh! Tell Jack that I know just how he feels. If you read my reply to the last comment you can see that I was the same way, I felt I had to watch it all to honor the British connections in my life!

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  14. I'm afraid the coronation was much too early for us in Hawaii. I did see the photos though when we woke up. It was fun for us to be at Westminster last month and see where the coronation was going to take place. And we were also in Edinburgh to see the Stone of Destiny that was going to be sent to Westminster for the coronation.

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    1. It sounds like you really got around while you were there! I remember seeing that stone under that throne chair at Westminster Abbey years ago. (That was before it was returned to Scotland.) I found it all fascinating, I am sure you do too!

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