Regalia et cérémonies du Royaume-Uni

This paper discusses the regalia and ceremonies of the United Kingdom, starting with a brief reference to the fate of the Welsh and Scottish regalia at the time of the Edwardian conquest, followed by the history of the Scottish regalia and ceremonies after the return of independence. The coronation ceremony in England evolved over one thousand years, from the election and acclamation of a king by his warriors, and was modified by the acceptance of succession by primogeniture and the introduction of the anointing of the sovereign under the influence of Christianity, making his person sacred. The subsequent evolution of the coronation ceremony in England, and after 1706 the United Kingdom, is reviewed. At first, regalia were personal, but a set of regalia kept at Westminster Abbey was claimed to have been deposited there by Edward the Confessor to serve for the coronation of future kings, and the regalia used subsequently until their destruction by the Commonwealth, after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1649, were called Saint Edward’s regalia. A new set of regalia were made after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and the principal items of the Crown jewels are reviewed. This paper ends with a short discussion of the ceremony of the opening of Parliament, and finally mentions the other ceremonies at which the sovereign was present in the House of Lords. The history of both the coronation ceremony and the opening of Parliament shows a large degree of continuity, for at least the last five hundred years, with a brief interval during the Commonwealth