Riots, rubbish and a dancing horse marked UK’s most chaotic coronation

The King’s coronation tomorrow is unlikely to be anywhere near as disastrous as that of George IV in 1821 (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

When King Charles walks into Westminster Abbey for his coronation today, he can rest easy knowing that every little piece of the ceremony has been very carefully rehearsed.

It’s unlikely that his cutlery will be stolen by members of the public. Or that large globs of candlewax will drip on top of the congregation. Or that his guards will set the city of London on fire.

That hasn’t always been the case.

Throughout history, coronations have been blighted by serious blunders. In fact, you could almost argue that one in which everything went horribly wrong would be more respectful to royal history than one that was carried off perfectly.

The history of mishaps stretches back at least as far as the first ceremony to be held in Westminster Abbey – that of King William I, better known as William the Conqueror, on Christmas Day 1066.

Due to concerns about an uprising, William placed Norman guards around the abbey to stop anyone getting in. But they hadn’t been warned about the acclamation ritual, a part of the coronation borrowed from the French which involved guests yelling out their approval of the new king.

The guards, thinking there had been an assassination attempt inside, got cracking with a rather strange Plan A in case someone tried to kill the king: they set fire to all the buildings around them. The church was filled with smoke and the guests fled, while looting and riots broke out resulting in a number of deaths.

According to Maria Perri, who has been a London Blue Badge Guide for over 20 years, coronations continued to be reliably chaotic affairs for hundreds of years afterwards.

But her favourite to talk about on the royal walking tours she leads around the capital is the coronation of George IV in 1821, perhaps the high water mark for regal pandemonium.

King George IV, famous for his decadence, wanted a historically fancy coronation (Picture: Corbis via Getty Images)

The monarch was determined his special day would outshine the imperial coronation of Napoleon 17 years earlier.

‘George’s coronation cost more than anyone else’s did, they spent an absolute fortune on his,’ Maria said.

‘He postponed it, because he wanted to get a divorce from his wife Queen Caroline.

‘That didn’t happen, but he still had her excluded from the coronation. She went banging on all three doors of the Abbey, and all three were shut in her face because he’d left specific instructions that she wasn’t allowed in.

‘On the day, there were parts of London where the household cavalry had to be brought in to disperse the mobs supporting Queen Caroline, who were breaking windows over in the West End.’

The procession from Westminster Abbey to Westminster Hall on a very warm July day (Picture: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

But that was only the beginning of the madness. At the moment when the king was required to sign the coronation oath, the document couldn’t be found, so he had to sign an order of service instead. Guests and choir members started eating in the chapels because it was going on for so long, and by the time they left the aisles were strewn with litter.

‘The press who were there called it an “unpicturesque arrangement”,’ said Maria.

During the procession to the hall for the post-ceremony feast, George was covered with a canopy held by a group of elderly barons. Perhaps to avoid being completely hidden from the crowds, he tried to walk ahead of the canopy, but the barons – not understanding what he was doing – increased their speed to keep up with him. This ended in them all doing what was described in the press as a ‘somewhat unseemly jog-trot’.

The day was so warm, too, that wax from the 2,200 candles in chandeliers above the feast dripped on the diners’ heads and, presumably, their food. It was the last time a coronation feast was held.

The King’s Champion Henry Dymoke, who turned up to George’s coronation on a horse from Astley’s Circus (Picture: The British Museum)

Dinner was followed by the traditional appearance of the King’s Champion, a knight on horseback who rode into the hall, threw down a gauntlet, and challenged anyone who contested the monarch’s right to the throne to trial by combat. It was a ritual that dated back centuries, but at George IV’s coronation, the 20-year-old champion did not have his own horse and borrowed one from a London circus.

According to one story, the horse heard the applause from the guests and unexpectedly launched into its route of tricks and dances, catching the young knight off guard. The tradition of the King’s Champion was also scrapped after the 1821 coronation.

However, there were still more surprises around the corner.

Maria said: ‘After the feast, the people who had been sitting up in the gallery, looking down at the other people below eating all the food, could go down and help themselves to all the food that was left over.

‘But they started nicking everything – the ornaments, the plates, the cutlery, glasses – and luckily, these soldiers came in just before they ransacked the kitchen and took everything that was there as well.’

Adverts were later placed in British newspapers asking anyone who took items from the feast to kindly return them.

Almost two decades later, long after all the wax had been cleaned up and broken windows fixed, the robes worn by George IV that day were auctioned off by the crown.

Demonstrating the impact of such an unforgettable event, they were purchased by two brothers with a very famous surname: Joseph and Francis Tussaud.

Their mother Marie had founded her waxwork museum in London just six years before the 1840 auction, and the two men wanted to create an elaborate tableau of the ceremony featuring their figure of the king.

Even through two coronations had taken place since – those of William IV in 1831 and Victoria in 1838 – it was George’s they spent six months recreating, using the very robes worn in the actual event.

The robes used by George IV were also worn by William IV at his coronation ten years later (Picture: The Print Collector/Getty Images)

The robes are still owned by Madame Tussauds today, though they are currently on long loan to the Historic Royal Palaces who are keeping them in their purpose-built storage facilities.

So if King Charles is keen for his ceremony to be memorable above all else, maybe he could take a leaf out of his distant relative’s book – or order of service.

Just make sure you arrive early to grab all the nice cutlery.

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The coronation of King George IV was more calamitous than any other in British history.