Cardinal Vincent Nicols writes (Sunday 23 April)
“This Easter there is a particular occasion for joy in our land as we shall see King Charles III crowned. Much will be written about the Coronation in the days to come. As Catholic Christians, we do well to bear in mind that the Coronation is a profoundly Christian event. There are few, if any other countries in the world in which the accession of the head of state is marked with such religious symbolism and
prayer.
The service is rooted deep in tradition and history. Key elements of the coronation trace their origins
as far back as the twelfth century……….”
In a recent BLOG I mentioned the central role of the Lord Chamberlain, the 7th Baron Carrington, in
the Coronation, a role played by the First Earl at the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902.
I realised the uncanny congruity of this year’s ceremony with that of 121 years ago. The Cardinal’s
remarks on the 12th Century roots make me gasp in amazement of the British attachment to precedence and tradition
The First Baron Carrington was the closest friend of the youth who became Edward VII and introduced that overblown glutton and grotesque whoremonger to the actress Lily Langtry. Lily, together with a stable full of Edward’s female mounts, including Lady Randolph Churchill in Westminster Abbey (named in honour of St Peter) sat together in a row dubbed The Loose Box. There was little honour or nobility of character in that exalted meeting of Pimp and Circumstance.
When Camilla first met Charles she was proud to boast that her great-great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, had been yet another of Edward VII’s mistresses, sitting in the Loose Box at his Coronation.
The Cardinal’s mention of the 12th Century reminded me of King,Henry II whose goons “whacked” an Archbishop of Canterbury on the steps of his Altar.
King Henry was flogged by monks, on the orders of the Pope and appeared penitent.
But a few years later, brandishing a Papal Bull, purporting to give him authority over Ireland
Henry attacked Ireland, where there was resistance, including in Dublin, whose First Archbishop
Lawrence O’Toole played an honourable part. Which is why in 1953 I took Lawrence (or Lorcan)
for my Confirmation name.
In 1979 I stumbled across the patriot Archbishop’s Tomb,in the Crypt of the Basilica at Eu, in
Normandy. Like Canterbury it was a place of Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.
The Archbishop went to negotiate with Henry. but died, in circumstances I have never read or
heard about. But the revenues of the Archdiocese of Dublin passed to Henry.
It seems that King Charles, who recently received suitcases full of banknotes from Arabia has
all the greed of King Henry II,
I will not be dancing to the Sycophantic Rhythm of Gents in Frocks and Mitres next week.
Nor risk clapping by the Ladies in the Loose Box.
I’m not religious, however, hiw can the coronation of an English King be described as a profoundly Christian event?
the Anglican church was founded by the heretixsl apostate, King Henry VIII, and is anathema to the one Christian church of Rome.
I am confused
Further to my observations on the Greed of the Royals across 9 Centuries –
THE TIMES today 26 April tells us that Prince William was given a large sum from Rupert Murdoch in a”Secret phone-hacking deal.”
Altruism and service to God and Humanity have never been the Gang’s strong suit.
The then Prince of Wales (later Duke of Windsor) and the then Duke of York (later King George VI)
in 1919 pretended to befriend two men, and played a round of golf with them, in order to seduce
the men’s wives.
They succeeded in their aim, but at least one of them complained of the tedium of having to play golf
in pursuit of their hole.
Lord Chesterfield published a volume of letters to his son, recommending such a cad’s strategem.
Theobald Wolfe Tone, who was neither a prude nor a prig, on reading the letters said that Chesterfield
should be horse-whipped.