Mark Joshua Animas

he Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known

as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of

Westminster, London, located just to the west of the Palace of

Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,

later British and later still (and currently) monarchs of the Commonwealth

realms. The abbey is a Royal Peculiar and briefly held the status of a

cathedral from 1540 to 1550.

Between 1042 and 1052 King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's

Abbey in order to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first

church in England built in the Norman Romanesque style. It was not completed

until around 1090 but was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week

before the Confessor's death on 5 January 1066 The next day he was buried in

the church, and nine years later his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His

T

The venue fit for the kings and queens.

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successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the Abbey, although the first

documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year.[4]

CORONATIONS

Since the

coronations in 1066

of both King

Harold and William

the Conqueror,

coronations of English

and British monarchs

were held in the

Abbey. Henry III was

unable to be crowned

in London when he

first came to the

throne because the French prince Louis had taken control of the city, and so

the king was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral. However, this coronation was

deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the

Abbey on 17 May 1220.[ The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in

the coronation ceremony.

King Edward's Chair (or St Edward's Chair), the throne on which English

and British sovereigns have been seated at the moment of coronation, is

housed within the Abbey and has been used at every coronation since 1308.

From 1301 to 1996 (except for a short time in 1950 when it was temporarily

stolen by Scottish nationalists), the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon

which the kings of Scots are crowned. Although the Stone is now kept in

Scotland, in Edinburgh Castle, at future coronations it is intended that the Stone

will be returned to St Edward's Chair for use during the coronation ceremony.

Coronation of Elizabeth II on June 2, 1893

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11 November 1100: King Henry I of

England was married to Matilda of

Scotland

4 January 1243: Richard, Earl of

Cornwall (later King of Germany), brother

of King Henry III of England, to Sanchia of

Provence (his second wife). Sanchia was

sister of Eleanor of Provence, Henry III’s

queen.

8 July 1290: Margaret of England,

daughter of King Edward I was married to

John II, son of Duke of Brabant

20 January 1382: King Richard II of

England was married to Anne of Bohemia

28 February 1922: The Princess Mary,

daughter of King George V was married

to Viscount Lascelles

26 April 1923: The Prince Albert, Duke of

York (later King George VI), second son of

King George V was married to Lady

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later to

become Queen Elizabeth The Queen

Mother)

29 November 1934: The Prince George,

Duke of Kent, son of King George V was

married to Princess Marina of Greece and

Denmark

20 November 1947: The Princess Elizabeth

(now Queen Elizabeth II), elder daughter

of King George VI was married to The

Duke of Edinburgh (who was Lt Philip

Mountbatten until that morning)

6 May 1960: The Princess Margaret,

second daughter of King George VI was

married to Antony Armstrong-

Jones (later Earl of Snowdon)

24 April 1963: Princess Alexandra of

Kent was married to the Hon Angus Ogilvy

14 November 1973: The Princess Anne,

only daughter of Elizabeth II was married

to Captain Mark Phillips

23 July 1986: The Prince Andrew, Duke of

York, second son of Elizabeth II, was

married to Miss Sarah Ferguson

29 April 2011: Prince William, Duke of

Cambridge, grandson of Elizabeth II, was

married to Miss Catherine Middleton

ROYAL WEDDINGS

Since 1100, there have been at least 16 royal weddings at Westminster Abbey.

Only two were weddings of reigning monarchs (Henry I and Richard II), and

there were none at all for more than five centuries between 1382 and 191.

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TODAY

In June 2009 the first major building work at the Abbey for 250 years was proposed.

A corona—a crown-like architectural feature—was intended to be built around

the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from

the 1950s. This was part of a wider £23m development of the Abbey expected to be

completed in 2013. On 4 August 2010 the Dean and Chapter announced that, "After a

considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward the construction of

a corona would not be continued.

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