Royal Traditions in Great Britain

However, the visual distinction usually referred to is that in a state funeral, the gun carriage bearing the coffin is drawn by sailors from the Royal Navy rather than horses. This tradition dates from the funeral of Queen Victoria; the horses drawing the gun carriage bolted, and so ratings from the Royal Navy hauled it to the Royal Chapel at Windsor [5].

During the lying in state, the coffin rests on a catafalque in the middle of Westminster Hall. Each corner is guarded by various units of the Sovereign’s Bodyguard or the Household Division. However, on some occasions (most notably the funerals of King George V and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) male members of the Royal Family have mounted the guard, in what has become known as the Vigil of the Princes. For George V, his four sons King Edward VIII, The Duke of York, The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent stood guard. For the Queen Mother, her grandsons The Prince of Wales, The Duke of York, The Earl of Wessex and Viscount Linley took post.

The honour of a state funeral is usually reserved for the sovereign as head of state and the current or past queen or king consort. However, a few historical military and political leaders have also been honoured with a full state funeral, including Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Nelson, and Sir Winston Churchill.

Thus, a state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition. Generally, state funerals are held in order to involve the general public in a national day of mourning after the family of the deceased gives consent. A state funeral will often generate mass publicity from both national and global media outlets, such as state funerals undertaken in the United Kingdom.

 

 

1.4 Investiture of the Prince of Wales

 

 

The Investiture of the Prince of Wales is the ceremony marking the formal creation of the title of Prince of Wales, similar to a coronation. Investiture is not required for Princes of Wales, who are created via Letters patent, and is a formal ceremony only.

The tradition of investing the heir of the English, and subsequently British, monarch with the title of “Prince of Wales” began in 1301, when King Edward I of England, having completed the conquest of Wales, gave the title to his heir, Prince Edward (later King Edward II of England).

Princes of Wales may be invested, but investiture is not necessary to be created Prince of Wales. Peers were also invested, but investitures for peers ceased in 1621, during a time when peerages were being created so frequently that the investiture ceremony became cumbersome. Most investitures for Princes of Wales were held in front of Parliament, but in 1911, the future Edward VIII was invested in Caernarvon Castle in Wales. The present Prince of Wales was also invested there, in 1969 [6, p. 70].

During the reading of the letters patent creating the Prince, the Honours of the Principality of Wales are delivered to the Prince. The coronet of the heir-apparent bears four-crosses pattée alternating with four fleurs-de-lis, surmounted by a single arch (the Sovereign's crowns are of the same design, but use two arches). A gold rod is also used in the insignia; gold rods were formally used in the investitures of dukes, but survive now in the investitures of Princes of Wales only. Also part of the insignia are a ring, a girdle, a sword and a robe.

It is recorded that Llywelyn the Last had deposited his coronet along with his other regalia with the monks at Cymer Abbey for safekeeping at the start of his final campaign in 1282. He was killed later that year. It was seized and presented to King Edward I of England as a token of the complete annihilation of the independent Welsh state.

Frederick, Prince of Wales later had the Coronet of Frederick, Prince of Wales made at a cost of one hundred and forty pounds and five shillings in 1728. It is unknown whether Frederick ever wore the coronet himself but it was used both by his son, George III and his grandson, George IV when each was Prince of Wales.

Due to age Frederick's coronet was replaced by the Coronet of George, Prince of Wales made for the future George V. At George’s own coronation in 1911, the coronet was worn by his son, Edward, the next Prince of Wales.

When the Edward VIII of the United Kingdom went into exile as the Duke of Windsor in 1936, he took with him the Coronet of George, Prince of Wales, a highly controversial – and illegal – act. This coronet had, since 1902, been used by successive Princes of Wales at their investitures, including his own investiture of 1911. The traditional coronet being unavailable, and with the older Coronet of Frederick, Prince of Wales being viewed unusable due to age, the only option was the creation of a new Prince of Wales crown to be used for the investiture of the current Heir Apparent to the throne as Prince of Wales. The Coronet of Charles, Prince of Wales was produced by a committee under Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, then husband of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.

Prince Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by Letters Patent on 26 July 1958, though his actual investiture did not take place until 1 July 1969. The ceremony at Caernarfon has traditionally been associated with the subjugation of Welsh people since the 13th century, when Edward I deposed the last native Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Previous investitures had taken place at various locations, including the Palace of Westminster, the seat of Parliament. The Welsh borough of Swansea was granted city status to mark the occasion. Prince Charles spent ten weeks leading up to his Investiture learning about Welsh culture and language and during the ceremony he gave his replies in both English and Welsh.

The investiture was watched by millions on TV and attracted large and excited crowds in Caernarfon but it also aroused considerable hostility among some Welsh people, and some were under constant police surveillance and were the subject of much intimidation from the secret services. Threats of violence ensued as well as a short bombing campaign, although these acts were generally more related to the greater nationalist campaign for Welsh independence [9].

The nationalist campaign against the investiture culminated with an attempted bombing by two members of the Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru(Movement for the Defence of Wales). On the eve of the investiture 2 bombers were killed whilst placing a bomb outside government offices in Abergele. After all the marching passed has been done, the Queen gets in her carriage again and goes back down The Mall, leading her soldiers, to Buckingham Palace.

The parade ground markers march from Horse Guard’s Parade back to their barracks.

With the troops following, the Queen waits after she gets out of her carriage at the gates of Buckingham Palace and the whole parade marches passed her again and salutes.

All members of the royal family in attendance then go into Buckingham Palace and onto the balcony for an RAF flypast.

In Green Park, opposite Buckingham Palace, the King’s Troops, Royal Horse Artillery, fire a 41 gun salute.

The Royal Standard flies from Buckingham Palace, showing that the Queen is in residence.

From her accession to the throne in 1952 until 1987, the Queen attending the Trooping of the Colour riding in a side saddle. Since 1987, she has taken the Trooping of the Colour in a horse drawn carriage. In recent years, it has been claimed that that the KGB plotted to disrupt the proceedings by bombing a bridge in Porthmadog.

In recent opinion polls the majority of Welsh people have remained in favour of the monarchy with 70% plus support the usual figure; a poll in North Wales in 2003 by the Daily Post found 80% of respondents wanted Prince William to become the next Prince of Wales. Welsh speakers are no less likely to be monarchist, with a BBC Wales poll in 1999 finding that 73% of Welsh speakers want the position of Prince of Wales to continue. A BBC poll to mark the 40th anniversary of the investiture showed that 58% of the Welsh population were in favour of a similar public ceremony for Prince William when Charles becomes king.

On the evening of Sunday, 28 June 2009 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the investiture, BBC Parliament broadcast a repeat of the original BBC TV colour outside broadcast from 1 July 1969, fronted by Cliff Michelmore and Richard Baker. This was preceded by an interview with Prince Charles recorded a few days before his investiture.

So, the Investiture of the Prince of Wales is the ceremony marking the formal creation of the title of Prince of Wales, similar to a coronation. Investiture is not required for Princes of Wales, who are created via Letters patent, and is a formal ceremony only

 

 

 

 

1.5. The Queen’s Christmas Speech

 

 

The Queen’s Christmas Message (or King’s Christmas Message in the reign of a male monarch) is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service. Today, the message is read by Elizabeth II and broadcast on television, radio, and the Internet via various providers.

The idea for a Christmas message from the sovereign to the British Empire was proposed by the “founding father” of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Sir John Reith, as a way to inaugurate the Empire Service (now the World Service). That year, George V read the first Royal Christmas Message; the King was originally hesitant about using the relatively untested medium of radio, but was reassured after a summertime visit to the BBC and agreed to carry out the concept and read the speech from a temporary studio set up at Sandringham House. The broadcast was introduced from Ilmington Manor by 65-year-old Walton Handy, a local shepherd, with carols from the church choir and the bells ringing from the town church, and reached an estimated 20 million people in Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, South Africa, and the UK.

While his brother, Edward VIII abdicated just before his first Christmas as king, George VI continued his father's Christmas broadcasts; it was in his reading delivered in the opening stages of the Second World War that he uttered the famous lines: “I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year.”

George’s daughter, Elizabeth II, gave her first Christmas message to the Commonwealth of Nations from her study at Sandringham House, at 3:07 PM on 25 December 1952, some 11 months after her father's death. By 1957, the broadcast became televised, and, from then until 1996, was aired exclusively by the BBC; only in 1969 was no message given because a special documentary film - Royal Family – had been made during the summer in connection with the Investiture of the Prince of Wales. It was therefore decided not to do a broadcast at Christmas, but The Queen issued a written message instead.

The message typically combines a chronicle of that year’s major events, with specific focus on the British Empire originally and later the Commonwealth of Nations, with the sovereign’s own personal milestones and feelings on Christmas. It is one of the few instances when the sovereign speaks publicly without advice from any ministers of the Crown in any of the monarch's realms. Planning for each year’s address begins months earlier, when the monarch establishes a theme and appropriate archival footage is collected and assembled. The Queen doesn’t make her speech on Christmas Day. She films it a few weeks before. Then she spends Christmas.

Thus, on Christmas Day at 3.00 in the afternoon the Queen makes a speech on radio and TV. Its ten minutes long. In it she talks to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a large group of countries. In the past they were all in the British Empire. Australia, India, Canada and New Zealand are among the 49 members.

 

2 British Royal Traditions

 

 

2.1 Trooping the Colour

 

 

London is a royal city and has preserved its ceremonies and traditions over hundreds of years. Some are every day and some are every year. The most traditional ceremonies and most popular attractions are the Trooping of the Colour and the Changing of the Guard

Trooping the Colour is an event held on one of the first three Saturdays in June every year in London to celebrate the Queen’s official birthday.

The Colour in question is the Colours of a regiment. This was the flag of a regiment which was held at the centre of a regiment while they were fighting.

The Colours were trooped in front of the soldiers of the regiment everyday, to make sure that in battle individual soldiers were sure which their regiment was.

The Queen was actually born on the 21st April, her real birthday. Since the time of Edward VII, the Monarch has had an official birthday in June (in the hope that the British weather will be better in June than whenever an individual King or Queen happened to be born).

There are five Household Regiments, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards; each takes its turn year by year.

The actual ceremony is a large one. Army regiments take it in turns to take part. Approximately 1400 officers and other ranks are on parade in the Trooping of the Colour, and 200 horses as well. The music is provided by approximately 400 musicians.

In 2009, the Trooping of the Colour the Queen’s Birthday Parade is on 13th June 2009, the Colonel’s Review is on Saturday June 6th, and the Major General’s Review on 30th May [appendix B].

Turning to the history of trooping the color should note the following facts.

Armies and regiments have had identifying symbols in the English army since early medieval times.

A standard bearer would hold the flag or symbol of the regiment near to the leader of it, for example, the “Sunne in Splendour” of the Yorkist troops during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.

The current ceremony of Trooping the Colour goes back to the time of King Charles II, in the 17th century. The foot guards in London, guarding the Sovereign and royal buildings, trooped their Colour daily from 1755 as part of their daily guard rituals.

The Trooping the Colour parade was held for the first time to celebrate the King’s birthday in 1805.

The embroidered regimental Colours now mark battles and engagements in which a regiment has fought, and in which men from the regiment have fallen for the country.

Each Regiment had its own Colours. From 1751 infantry regiments have been allowed to carry two Colours, the King’s or Queen’s Colours and the regimental Colours.

At the Trooping of the Colour, the Colours paraded are the Queen’s Colours.

Apart from the Second King Edward VII’s Own Ghurkha Rifles, rifle regiments don’t carry Colours. Cavalry regiments carry either guidons or standards.

Before being used, the Colours are consecrated in a special church service, and when an individual set of Colours is retired, they are given an honourable retirement in public often church buildin.

At the Trooping the Colour parade events begin at about 10 o’clock in the morning. The Queen, and other members of the royal family who attend in two mid Victorian horse drawn carriages parade from Buckingham Palace, along the Mall, to Horse Guard’s Parade and Whitehall.

The royal carriages arrive at precisely 11 o’clock, and the Royal Salute is offered to the Queen. Then comes the inspection of the line, when the Queen drives in her carriage down the ranks of all the guards and then pass the Household Cavalry. The Queen’s royal horses, which she uses on ceremonial occasions, are kept at the Royal Mews, and she has about 30 of them.

In addition to driving the Queen around on ceremonial occasions, the horses are also used in other state processions and some represent Great Britain in national and international carriage driving competitions.

The Queen arrives at her post and dismounts from the carriage, standing to receive the Royal Salute as guards present arms and the assembled military band play the National Anthem [7, p. 114].

As the Queen and other members of the royal family inspect the guards and the cavalry, the bands continue to play various patriotic and relevant tunes. The Queen is accompanied not only by members of the royal family but her Master of the Horse, the Crown Equerry, the Equerries in Waiting, and the General Officer commanding the London district. After inspecting all her troops the Queen arrives back at her platform and stays there for the rest of the ceremony. After some marching about by the massed bands, the Escort for the Colour marches in quick time to the British Grenadier’s tune.

The Ensign for the Colour and the Regimental Sergeant Major salute the Colours and receive it from the Sergeant of the Colour party.

After the Regimental Sergeant Major has done his saluting, he receives the Colour, and the Ensign then salutes it, sheaths his sword, and puts the Colour in his Colour belt.

The Escort for the Colour is now the Escort to the Colour, as it is safely received, and the Escort marches in slow time through the ranks of the assembled guards, trooping it all of the ranks.

Each regiment of the Foot Guards then march in slow time along the parade ground. Led by the Escort to the Colour, who flourishes (lowers) the Colour as he passes the Queen, and raises it again afterwards. The band continue playing songs such as Men of Harlech.

The massed mounted bands of the Household Cavalry then have their turn of marching passed the saluting point.

After all the marching passed has been done, the Queen gets in her carriage again and goes back down The Mall, leading her soldiers, to Buckingham Palace.

The parade ground markers march from Horse Guard’s Parade back to their barracks.

With the troops following, the Queen waits after she gets out of her carriage at the gates of Buckingham Palace and the whole parade marches passed her again and salutes.

All members of the royal family in attendance then go into Buckingham Palace and onto the balcony for an RAF flypast.

In Green Park, opposite Buckingham Palace, the King’s Troops, Royal Horse Artillery, fire a 41 gun salute.

The Royal Standard flies from Buckingham Palace, showing that the Queen is in residence.

From her accession to the throne in 1952 until 1987, the Queen attending the Trooping of the Colour riding in a side saddle. Since 1987, she has taken the Trooping of the Colour in a horse drawn carriage.

After the ceremony when the Queen returns to Buckingham Palace, two detachments of the new Queen's Guard enter the forecourt, forming up opposite the old Queen's Guard. The Queen then stops at the gateway together with the Duke of Edinburgh. Standing before the central gateway they then receive the salute of the remainder of the Guards and then the mounted troops. As they file past, their regimental marches are played by the Massed and Mounted Bands respectively. The Royal Family appreciates the spectacle from the balcony.

The Queen's phaeton carriage passes into the Palace between the Old and New Queen's Guards, with both Queen's Guards saluting her. The usual semi-daily Changing of the Guard continues on the forecourt [appendix C].

The King's Troop fire a 41- gun salute in Green Park. A 62-gun salute is also fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company.

Finally The Queen and the Royal Family appear on the Palace balcony for a flypast by the Royal Air Force, often featuring the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Red Arrows.

Also to the work of the Foot Guards’ Bands should be mentioned. Many spectators think that the part played by them has remained unchanged over the years, but with the formation of the Regimental Bands and Corps of Drums of the Irish and Welsh Guards (and the Pipes and Drums of the former) it became impossible for the mass of men, numbering well over 400, to manoeuvre in the customary manner and, as a result, the ‘Spin-Wheel’ was invented. It is the responsibility of the Garrison Sergeant Major to ensure by rehearsals that it is executed correctly. Lieutentant Colonel Rodney Bashford, late Director of Music Grenadier Guards, described it thus:

“A ‘wheel’ is not an easy manoeuvre with even a small body of troops, and with a block of 400 men the normal wheel is impossible. The massed band therefore pivots on its own centre, so that certain outer ranks and files march long distances in a hurry while the centre and inner ranks loiter with extreme intent, or merely mark time. Yet others not only step sideways but backwards as well. This highly complex movement is called a ‘spin-wheel’, the details of which can be found in no drill book or manual of ceremonial. Its complexity defies description, and if the truth were known, many of the participants know not whither they go or, on arrival, how they got there. The spin-wheel is almost an art form and each performance of it, although similar in essentials, is different in detail. Most of the performers are adjusting their actions to suit the needs of the spin-wheel of the moment, having adjusted their movements quite otherwise on other occasions.”

“The public is, hopefully, unaware of all this, and unless forewarned will likely as not miss the action completely, for it all looks so simple and inevitable from a spectator’s seat. The public is, also hopefully, unaware of events in the epicenter of that elegantly spinning body of men. The spectator hears only the music, but those on parade in the vicinity of the spin-wheel are aware of the deafening cacophony of crotchets and quavers plus much shouting and gesticulating as the five directors of music, hidden within the ranks, and the senior NCOs bid to control the wanderings of the less experienced brethren, lost to the world in what to them must resemble a super-orchestrated fairground roundabout gone mad. And as this spinning, roaring mass slowly gains equilibrium the raw ones are suddenly, frighteningly conscious of something amiss – a slight miscalculation perhaps on someone's part - for half the band is facing north, and the other south. Then a distant, ghostly scream, seemingly emanating from a euphonium to the north, effects an about turn by the eastern half. And all is finished.”

“The massed bands, corps of drums, and pipes and drums of Her Majesty’s Guards Division have changed direction.”

Another thing is the inside view of it. At this point during the parade the Massed Bands need to turn 90 degrees to the left. The bands are too big and there isn't enough space to perform a normal wheel so we do the spin wheel instead. As soon as we step off, the left half of the band all turn around and then everyone starts moving round to the right trying to keep 2 paces between the person in front of you and to your right. Once the front of the right half and the rear of the left half of the band are round, listen for a double tap from the Bass Drum and the left hand side of the band turn around again. Then you simply pick up your dressing and look in for the “forward” from the Senior Drum Major.