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Partof
the Pageantry
ofBritain
T
he almos! bewildering panoply
of British pageantry cannot be
detailed here. There is the solemn
Opening of Parliament, the Chang–
ing of the Guard at Buckingham Pal–
ace. the great ceremonials of the
Coronation. the lnvestiture of the
Prince of Wales. plus royal mar–
riages and funerals .
Britain ma-J have become a sec–
ond-class power, but her ceremon–
ial occasions are as perfectly
slaged and as colorfui as ever.
Prince Charles · wedding in SI.
Paul 's Cathedral will be an impor–
tan! part of this pageantry. The
Crown has always been the very
heart of British pageantry, and !he
Coronalion has been the most
symbolic of al l ceremonies.
The firsl in Britain was more
!han
1,000
years ago, when King
Edgar was crowned by the Arch–
bishop of Canterbury in
973.
The
most recen! was that of Queen
Elizabeth , in
1953.
The ceremony is traditionally
supervised by the Earl Marshall. a
hereditary office passed down lo
the holders of the tille of the
Ouke of Norfolk .
Al the Coronation of King
George V in
1911 ,
the Archbishop
of York declared that "The King
comes not alone to his hallowing .
He bears his people with him. For
and truth
1
will bear unto you to
live and die against all manner of
folks." Perhaps more important
than the investiture is thc person–
ality of the man himself. A shy 20-
ycar-old Prince is now 32 years o ld
and self-assured.
A Ve ry Spe cial Upbringing
Personality owes something to
upbringing. The Prince first went
to school in London at eight years
of age. A year later, he moved to
Cheam, one of Britai n's excl usive
26
Keystone Photo
the national lile, as well as for its
representative, this is a day of
consecration ." The same will hold
true of this year 's royal wedding,
the first great royal ceremonial
since the Oueen's Silver Jubilee
of
1977.
11
will be a splendid occasion,
graced by the officers and men
ot
the Household Brigade, the
Yeomen of the Guard, the Her–
alds, the Royal carriages and
horses, and probably all , or near–
ly all. the crowned heads of the
countries of the world.
As always, a very few carping
voices will be raised in proles!
against the display and the mon–
ey spent.
But the Royal Family has an
easy conscience on the matter of
expense because it is well-known
that this ceremony will play a big–
ger part than anything e lse in
bringing visitors lo Britain. The
wedding of Charles and Lady Dia–
na will cost a lot of money, but it
will more than pay 1ts way.
o
" preparatory" schools in Berk–
shi re. He later moved on to a prí–
vate school callcd Gordonstoun, a
tough school on Scotland's bleak
castern coast. l ts c urrículum
i ncl uded cold s howers and
·character-development rou ti nes
such as endurancc tests of moun–
taineering and sea-rescue work.
One incident at Gordonstoun:
The Prince drank a cherry brandy
in a pub when out with other
boys. He was severely cautioned.
But the essence of what he was
told was not , as often reported ,
that his behavior was ' 'not fitting
for a future king.''
lt
was mcrcly
unfortunate that
he
should havc
broken normal school rules. Gor–
donstoun found publicity abou t
thc Prince unwelcome. Thc wholc
purpose of his going to the school
was for him to learn with other
boys as one of them.
Then at 18, the Prince wcnt to
T imbertop, a prívate school in
Australia. l t developed his phy–
sique and it brought him into
touch with young men from
"down under." Then to Trinity
Collcge in Cambridge where he
was awarded a degree.
1
n fact he
was the first Prince of Walcs to
achievc a college degree.
Education Never Ends
But education
never ends
for an
heir to the British throne. Charles'
Cambridge degree may havc bcen
relatively undistinguished - a
"sccond class. division two"- but
he was an undergraduate with
unusual responsibilities ahcad and
a spccial need to comport himself
corrcctly. He was forever devclop–
ing his talents. He learned to play
thc ccllo, to display unexpccted
talent on the stage, to captain a
yacht, to become a first-class
mimic, and to create his own kind
of wry, dry wit. He was oftcn
askcd, he related, why he s tood
with his hands behind his back,
just like his father, and whcthcr
this was an inherited trait. His
rcply was that he and his father had
thc same tai lor, who "makcs the
s lccvcs so tight that wc can't gel
our hands in front.' ' In reality, he
had unconsciously imitated his
fathcr's posture.
There is a touching picture of
him and the Duke of Edinburgh,
marching in step, hands behind
backs, at an official function in
Scotland. Charles was sevcn ycars
old al the time, and his face wore
an cxprcssion of very great con–
centration and responsibility.
Learn i ng has prod uced a
rounded view of life in Prince
Charles. He once defined hi s
royal role as a triple one- firstly
to show concern for people, sec–
ondly to be interested in them as
individuals, and lastly to encour-
The
PLAIN TAUTH