1936 On the Continent

Square—Broad Sanctuary—West Entrance of the Abbey.
    From the Abbey:
    Broad Sanctuary—West—and North side of Parliament Square—Bridge Street—Victoria Embankment—Northumberland Avenue—South side of Trafalgar Square—Cockspur Street—Pall Mall—St. James’s Street—Piccadilly—West side of Piccadilly Circus—Regent Street—Oxford Circus—Oxford Street—Marble Arch, and through Centre Gate opposite into Hyde Park—East carriage road in Hyde Park—Hyde Park Corner—Constitution Hill—North, East and South side of Victoria Memorial—Buckingham Palace.
London in Festive Garb
    Naturally, all these parts will be decorated, just as the whole of London will be in festive garb. Some Borough Councils have appointed special Commissions to make the street decorations as impressive and artistic as possible. Some individual streets, like Regent Street and Bond Street, have created their own organisations for the purpose. There is keen rivalry between the large hotels and department stores, each of which intends to make a striking contribution to the colourful scene.
Brilliant Ceremony
    But the most brilliant and colourful show will naturally be at the Abbey itself. Owing to the limited accommodation in the ancient Church, only a comparatively small number of people, privileged by their rank or official capacity, will be present at the actual coronation. The number of seats available will be 7,700—700 more than at the Coronation of King George V.
    There will be about 1,500 peers and peeresses, all wearing the robes and coronets appropriate to their rank.A thousand seats have been reserved for Members of Parliament and their wives. Forty other categories will be represented, including the Dominion Governments, the Diplomatic Corps, baronets, the various Orders, Members of the Privy Council, Judges, Scientific bodies, Guilds, etc. It is hardly necessary to say that admission to the Abbey cannot be purchased with money. Also, the participants are commanded to attend and are not at liberty to stay away.
    The peers and peeresses will sit on chairs upholstered with gold embroidered blue velvet. Their Majesties will walk into the Church over the blue carpet, 173 feet long and 17 feet wide, woven in one piece. The floor of the actual scene of the Coronation, the so-called Coronation Theatre, of which the Sanctuary and Edward the Confessor’s Chapel forms part, will be covered with a specially made golden carpet. The big curtains at the entrance to the chapel will also be made of gold tissue.
    The privileged spectators in the Abbey will have to be in their places at 9 a.m., and will probably not leave the Church before 3 p.m. The ceremony itself will last from two and a half to three hours, and will be the same as that carried out at the Coronation of the Kings of England centuries ago. The rôle of the various dignitaries who are privileged to perform even a small act in the ceremony, such as handing the King his glove, or holding one of the insignia, has been determined by a special court, the co-called Court of Claims.
Arrival at Abbey
    In front of the Abbey the King and Queen will be received by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York and other Church dignitaries. The Princes and Princesses of the Royal Family, and the members of foreign Royal Families, will join the procession in front of the Abbey.
    The King will be crowned with the Crown of St. Edward, while a special crown is being made, which will be set with the finest diamonds in the world, including the famous Koh-i-Noor. The Coronation ceremony is full of symbolic details rooted in English history, in which various high dignitaries play an almost dramatic rôle. At the conclusion the tension of the spectator is relieved in thecry, “God Save the King.” The sounding of fanfares and the thunder of guns from the Tower will then proclaim to the world that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth have been crowned.
    Naturally, an event of this magnitude will attract thousands of visitors to London, but adequate arrangements have been made to make accommodation available whatever the number of visitors may be. Although the large hotels are all entirely sold out, there are still plenty of rooms to be had at the countless medium and small hotels and boarding houses. If all this should prove inefficient, than a central bureau will direct visitors to private houses with rooms to let.
Floating Hotels
    Some ten thousand visitors will be accommodated