A fight, a stiff carriage, a lost shoe, and more: the 5 most famous coronation mishaps

Darya Skub Entertainment03.05.2023 09:14

On Saturday, May 6, the coronation of Charles III and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, will take place in Westminster Abbey. The preparations for the ceremony cost £250 million, of which £150 million was spent on the deployment of thousands of police and security detachments. The rest is for organization and three days of celebrations.

Crazy sums are spent to ensure that the main event in the life of the royals went without mishaps. We offer to remember in the material OBOZREVATEL coronation, where, despite careful preparation, there were mishaps.

1. William the Conqueror

In 1066 William I the Conqueror was crowned, introducing the feudal system to the old Anglo-Saxon system of government. During the ceremony, the public cheered wildly because he had defeated King Harold II Godwinson (the last Anglo-Saxon king). When Norman soldiers heard the shouting and noise, they mistakenly thought the crowd was rioting and preparing to assassinate the king. Consequently, real chaos ensued: houses were engulfed in flames and the church was gradually filled with smoke. It seemed that the celebration was about to be cut short. But William and the bishops brought the ceremony to a close.

2. Richard II

Also known as Richard of Bordeaux, Richard II was King of England from 1377 to 1399. He was crowned at the age of 10, 11 days after the death of his grandfather, King Edward III of Windsor. After the religious ceremony, Lord Chancellor and Archbishop Simon Sudbury carried the little head of the throne to Westminster Hall on his shoulder. At this time, a cute mishap occurred: Richard II lost his shoe.

3. George IV.

This is the king of Great Britain and Hanover from 1820 to 1830. George IV's coronation was partially disrupted by his ex-wife Caroline of Brunswick. She tried to get into the ceremony, despite her ex-husband's ban. As His Majesty was being crowned, Caroline persistently knocked on the door. Eventually, she left and the ceremony continued.

4. Queen Victoria

This is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from June 20, 1837, until her death in 1901). During the coronation ceremony, the Archbishop mistakenly put Victoria's ring with sapphires and rubies not on her little finger but on her ring finger. Her Majesty tried to remove the jewelry on the spot. She succeeded, though not at first. She later wrote about it in her memoirs: "The Archbishop very clumsily put the ring on the wrong finger, and as a result, it was very difficult for me to take it off again, which I eventually did. It was painful."

5. Queen Elizabeth II.

Even for the meticulous Elizabeth II, the coronation, watched live by 27 million viewers, was not ideal. Her Majesty complained about the stiff carriage, the uncomfortable dress, and the heavy crown. And her eldest son, at that time four-year-old Prince Charles almost dropped the crown and thus almost disrupted the ceremony. The queen also forgot to curtsy to her ladies-in-waiting in the north pillar of the abbey.