George IV Coronation, Coach Pass
Examples are known in bronze gilt, silvered bronze and bronze, which presumably denoted which area of the Abbey perimeter could be accessed.
The Coronation cost the Treasury over £230,000 more than twenty times that of the previous coronation, with over three times as many guests invited. The coronation robes alone cost £24,000 and the new coronation crown was estimated at over £50,000. Even the crowns for royal dukes cost £4000 each, whilst at the next coronation, for William IV they cost £40 each.
George had spent his whole life waiting for this event and he was determined that it was going to be memorable, even without his estranged wife who was literally locked out of the Abbey and was turned away with her entourage when she tried to force her entry.
George's obsession with Napoleon had a great influence on preparations. He was determined to outdo Napoleon's own coronation. George even sent a tailor to Paris to study his robes and was keen to develop his own myth that somehow he was instrumental in Napoleon's defeat.
Much of the money that George was able to secure for his plans came from the government from war reparations forced on the French after the end of the war.
At the banquet that followed the ceremony, guests were required to turn up in Tudor or Stuart dress. £25,000 was spent on the banquet at which 9,840 bottles of wine and 100 gallons of iced punch were provided.
One of the highlights of the occasion was the arrival of the King's Champion, a hereditary position that went back with the Dymock family to the fourteenth century.
The horse ridden by Dymock had to be hired from Astley's Circus just down the road at Westminster Bridge Road at the last minute. When the horse, decked out in medieval splendor was greeted with enthusiastic applause, it assumed that it was back at the circus and instinctively started its usual routine of standing on its back legs and other circus favorites.
If you require further information on this item you can contact us in a number of ways. Click here to see our contact information.
Id:4802 Q:0