The Coffin

---

By James CookScotland editor

The autumn sunlight streamed in through The East window of St Giles' and lit up a scene for the ages.

In a coffin of oak, beneath the red and yellow royal standard of Scotland, lay Queen Elizabeth.

Around her stood clerics in scarlet, archers in green, and police officers wearing pristine white gloves.

All of the imagery was vivid but, as I recorded in my notebook moments after leaving The Cathedral , one detail was especially striking.

It was The Sight of the fragile golden crown of Scotland atop The Coffin .

Here, adorned with gems, Precious Stones and freshwater pearls, was a palpable reminder of both the individual who had died and the ancient institution she had led - a crown first worn by James V at The Coronation of his queen, Mary of Guise, in 1540.

Three years later it was used again, together with The Sword and sceptre which Make Up Scotland's Crown Jewels , to crown the infant Mary Queen of Scots.

Now King Charles III returns to Edinburgh's High Kirk, where he stood guard over His Mother 's coffin After Her death at Balmoral Castle in September, to be presented with The Crown , the sceptre, and a in The Presence of The Stone of Destiny.

In doing so he follows in Elizabeth's footsteps. On 24 June 1953 tens of thousands of people packed The Streets of Edinburgh for a glimpse of the young Queen as she toured the capital En Route to St Giles' for a similar ceremony.

" Scotland, " noted Sir Thomas Innes of Learney at The Time , " yields to none in the warmth of its loyalty for the new-crowned Queen. "

Sir Thomas, the Lord Lyon King of Arms, described how The Crown Jewels , also known as the Honours of Scotland, had been borne from Edinburgh Castle to The Cathedral in " a procession of glittering splendour".

The Queen herself arrived in an open landau carriage drawn by four Windsor greys and flanked by the sovereign's bodyguards from the Royal Company of Archers.

Only her attire - a dress rather than ceremonial robes - went down badly, seen by some as insufficiently respectful.

Inside St Giles', a 1,700-strong congregation gave voice to psalms which had been sung at the coronations of Charles I at Holyrood in 1633 and of Charles Ii at Scone in 1651.

There was a heart-stopping wobble as The Crown , resting on a cushion, was presented to the monarch who held it for a Brief Moment before handing it back.

The Event was not a coronation but it carried many of the trappings of one.

" Fifty-three is remarkable just from The Public interest, " says Dr George Gross , a visiting research fellow at King's College, London who specialises in royalty and coronation history. " The crowds are vast, " he adds.

Seventy years on, The Event is not on the same scale. The monarch will travel directly from The Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' rather than process down Princes Street .

A plan for The King to use the landau has been abandoned in favour of an enclosed limousine.

Commentators have mused about Buckingham Palace 's supposed sensitivity to cost of living pressures although it must He Said that travel by State Bentley hardly screams austerity.

Prof Anna Whitelock , director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy, describes the occasion as a " reduced, imitation coronation".

It is, she contends, " a poor man's re-enactment, where No One actually gets to wear The Crown . You're kind of shadowboxing with The Past . "

There may also be some shadowboxing with The Present . Times have changed since the 1950s. The United Kingdom is wealthier than it was in The Lean years after World War II. It is also more ethnically diverse, less deferential and less Christian.

It is more atomised too. The ties which bind The Union of Scotland and England have frayed as memories of the unifying experience of The War have faded and the shared enterprise of the British Empire , which brought such riches to Scotland, has been reappraised.

Politics has changed too. The Last time a majority of voters in Scotland opted for a Conservative government, the late Queen was still in her twenties.

Now The Nation 's Devolved Parliament , which before embracing in 1999, is firmly established in Scottish Life - " a new voice in The Land , " in The Words of its draughtsman, Donald Dewar .

The 21St Century has seen the Scottish Labour Party of Dewar swept aside, with the Scottish National Party Now running the devolved government, handling affairs such as health, education and justice.

It will be a First Minister who is both a republican and a nationalist, Humza Yousaf , who attends the thanksgiving service in his official capacity as.

The Scottish Green Party , Mr Yousaf's partners in government who also favour an elected head of state, will not be There - instead joining a rally organised by The Campaign group Our Republic outside Holyrood.

" How can we justify a system that allows one family to enjoy so much unearned wealth and privilege at a time when millions of people have so little? " rhetorically.

There appears to be more support for this position in Scotland than There is elsewhere in the UK.

Recent polling suggests that The Monarchy is backed by less than half of the electorate in Scotland although it remains a more popular constitutional option than a republic.

There is a strong correlation between support for Scottish independence and support for a republic, with the youngest voters most likely to favour both propositions.

According to YouGov, only 31% of those who in 2014 support The Monarchy , while 57% would prefer an elected head of state.

The Polling firm's data also suggest majority support for a republic among voters aged 16-24, with only a fifth of that age group in favour of The Monarchy .

Sir John Curtice , professor of politics at Strathclyde University, says There are also for The Royals since The Queen 's death.

Still, throughout the centuries, the institution of monarchy has weathered immense political, religious and social upheaval.

In 1567 the Honours of Scotland were used at Stirling to crown James VI, and, following his consolidation of the Scottish and English monarchies in the 1603 Union of The Crowns , at The Coronation of his son, the ill-fated Charles I at Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse in 1633.

The Crown Jewels - Now the oldest regalia in the British Isles - proved resilient.

After Charles' execution in 1649, England's Crown Jewels were melted down or sold on the orders of the republican revolutionary Oliver Cromwell as representative of the " detestable rule of kings".

When Charles' son was crowned as Charles Ii with the support of the Presbyterian Covenanters at Scone in 1651, Cromwell invaded Scotland, determined to regain control and to destroy the Scottish Honours in The Process .

Cromwell prevailed, forcing Charles to flee for The Continent , but the Honours, escaped his grasp.

They were Never Again part of a coronation ceremony.

After The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, following Cromwell's death, the Honours were used ceremonially in the Scottish Parliament until the parliamentary union of Scotland and England in 1707, when they were Locked Away in an oak chest at Edinburgh Castle .

Their rediscovery and rehabilitation by Sir Walter Scott in 1818 was part of the author and historian's successful effort to create a new image of Scotland, romanticising the Gaelic way of Life even as starving Highlanders were being driven from their homes in the Clearances.

At The Heart of Scott's project was his popularisation of the kilt as a " national" rather than a " Highland" form of dress, stripping it of the Catholic associations of The House of Stuart which was deposed in 1688 and the Jacobites who fought to restore that line.

The period still resonates today not least because the kilt remains the favoured attire while north of The Border of Charles Iii , defender of the Protestant faith in England and member of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

In his seminal work The Scottish Nation, Sir Tom Devine contends that " Highlandism answered the emotional need for the maintenance of a distinctive Scottish identity without in any way compromising The Union . "

With This Week 's service of thanksgiving, the modern-day British state is again treading a fine line, attempting to showcase and honour Scotland without encouraging Scottish nationalism or alienating sects or religions other than Protestantism.

" The politics of the SNP and all of the problems that have emerged in The Last few months perhaps makes The Ceremony a lot easier than it was before, " argues Dr Gross, adding, " it doesn't look like we're imminently going to be having another referendum. "

That may be so but with support for independence continuing to hover just below 50% in most polls, Charles Iii may yet face a challenge if he wants his Kingdom to remain united.

Related Topics

Source of news: bbc.com