Why the coronation matters

At one level, asking why the coronation matters is to slightly miss the point. Living as we do in a constitutional monarchy, the coronation doesn’t need to make a case for itself. It is simply an indispensable part, primarily in symbolic terms, of the installation of our new head of state.

But setting aside for a moment its constitutional and religious significance, the coronation is important for another reason. Unlike almost every other nation state, the UK does not have an official national day. The patron saint days of the respective countries of the UK, of course, are celebrated to varying degrees ­– though St George’s Day far less so than the others. Abroad, British diplomatic missions will use the monarch’s official birthday in June for the purpose, and host a King’s Birthday Party (‘KBP’) around that date. But here at home the British do not celebrate a day of creation or independence, despite campaigns over the years making the case for doing so. And so our rare state events – royal jubilees, weddings, funerals and coronations – take on an added importance. For aside from half an hour of belting out ‘Rule, Britannia’ at the Last Night of the Proms (at least for now) there are precious few opportunities to revel in being proudly patriotic.

As demonstrated in the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and her funeral, these fully-fledged state occasions see us at our best. They are moments to celebrate not just Commonwealth ties and Christian tradition but for the whole wealth of our country’s cultural inheritance to be on display. London of course must look the part. Sir Christopher Wren was employed in 1685 to install temporary galleries to Westminster Hall to accommodate James II’s spectacular coronation banquet. For Elizabeth II’s coronation Sir Hugh Casson, fresh from his success at the Festival of Britain, took charge of street decorations in Westminster. To give Whitehall a military air, he added helmets and breastplates from Horse Guards to the avenue’s lampposts. (Sir Hugh also found time to teach the young Prince Charles watercolour painting.)

This time around – true to form – the capital’s grande dame hotels have bedecked their facades with colourful festoons, and street decorations have sprung up from Carnaby Street to Burlington Arcade, albeit in a less coordinated fashion. But what will be on display tomorrow goes far beyond the architectural. The world will marvel at our cathedrals and castles, certainly, not to mention golden carriages, military regalia and the crown jewels. But the arts more widely will be comprehensively on show.

Nowhere is this more true than in music. Paul Mealor’s ‘Coronation Kyrie’ is one of 12 new compositions – six for prior to Their Majesties’ arrival and six for the service itself – commissioned for the occasion. Mealor told me of the call he received from the King who asked for a piece to be sung in Welsh, making it the first time ever the language will be used at a coronation (the choristers of Westminster Abbey have been learning Welsh in readiness). And positioned as it is as the first of the pieces performed during the service proper, the symbolism will be particularly fitting, marking the transition Charles makes from longest-serving Prince of Wales to crowned King. The piece, to be sung by bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, will be intimate: an intentional change in tone from the grandeur of the arrival music to the sacred parts of the ceremony.

Monarchs have of course always been patrons of the arts. Paintings were used to project the prestige of the Tudor kings. The music commissioned by the great patrons Henry VIII and James V is played to this day. It is almost impossible to imagine a big royal occasion without Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’, written for George II’s coronation in 1727, or Walton’s ‘Crown Imperial’, written for George VI’s coronation. The monarch and in particular the coronation can define a musical era. And in Mealor’s view, ‘we have not had a monarch since Queen Victoria [herself a musician and married in Prince Albert to a composer] who is so interested in music’ as our current King, whose interest and knowledge in classical music is well documented but which extends also through folk and beyond.

The 12 musical pieces commissioned – from both male and female composers (again, a first) – range across a gamut of styles. And which other country does this? How much new classical music do we hear when a US president is inaugurated? As Mealor points out, even looking to other countries’ royal occasions – such as the inauguration of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in 2013 – the commissioning of new music is sparse. This is something we do uniquely well.

This catalysing impact of the coronation, prompting artistic flourishing and in some cases giving hope to threatened craft industries, has been well evident – from Michael Lloyd, the silversmith charged with making the Cross of Wales (containing relics from the True Cross gifted by Pope Francis), to Alastair Barford, a scholar of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust who has produced the first commissioned portrait of the King; from the weavers who produced the exquisite Drum Major’s ceremonial uniform bearing the new royal cypher, to London bookbinders Sangorski and Sutcliffe and Oxford University Press who produced the new King James Bible on which the King’s hand will rest during the coronation oath.

The preparatory stages to the main event attracted keen interest around the world. One of the more atypical duties of His Majesty’s Consul-General in Jerusalem in recent weeks has been receiving from the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem the holy coronation oil. Newspapers across the Commonwealth have reported with pride their military personnel being part of the parade on the day (troops from at least 35 countries will participate). And there have been unexpected points of discussion at home: the official invitation – the creation of Andrew Jamieson – has prompted forensic examination of British meadow flowers and passionate debate about English folklore. Friends of mine are also suddenly taking an interest in calligraphy.

Does any of this matter? I think yes. Our new King is a lifelong advocate for protecting our heritage crafts and already his coronation is serving that important cause. Charles and Camilla’s personal interests bode well for their role as the country’s foremost patrons of the arts. And on the day itself, all of us will have a cornucopia of artistic and cultural heritage to admire, reminding us that these are not only things worth safeguarding but things we do better than perhaps any other country on Earth. Give me Parry’s ‘I Was Glad’ over D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ any day. Let the trumpets sound.