The Coronation of Mary I | What Is a Coronation Like?

From History Calling

It was the CORONATION OF THE FIRST QUEEN OF ENGLAND who actually managed to hold onto her throne, but what was the coronation of Mary I actually like? When was Queen Mary crowned and why was it done in Westminster Abbey? What part did her sister and heiress, Princess Elizabeth Tudor, later Elizabeth I, play in the proceedings and what was their former step-mother, Anne of Cleves, doing there? What did the Queen wear to her coronation and what happened to her clothes afterwards? Which crown was placed on her head and what were the ceremonies followed, both before and after the actual crowning? Above all, how did the coronation of a Queen regnant differ from what had gone before and which elements of her coronation might we still expect to see today? Prepare to hear all about the creation of Knights of the Bath, coronation pageants, how to crown a queen and coronation banquets as we travel back to 1553 and to the beginning of the reign of Mary I. The life of Queen Mary I, which included many difficulties, arguably peaked at her coronation. Though she had been born to be Queen (being the only child of her parents, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, to survive infancy) she had been supplanted thanks to her father’s decision to divorce her mother and marry Anne Boleyn, a union which produced Elizabeth I. Mary was declared illegitimate and though Elizabeth ultimately was too, Mary still didn’t accede to the crown upon Henry’s death in 1547 as by then she had a 9 year old half-brother, Edward VI. It was only after Edward’s early death in 1553 that Mary could finally become monarch, though first she had to see off a rival claim from the supporters of Lady Jane Grey. Her coronation had therefore been a very long time in coming.