Abstract
In the ceremonial and pageantry of coronation, such as that now at hand, there draws to a close a period of transition in which the royal power passes from dead to living. The solemn investiture of the new monarch with the symbols of kingly dignity and the acclamation and rejoicings of his people mark the final stage in a ritual of change, which, from the earliest days of primitive kingship, has been held of gravest moment for the community. Although we may no longer believe with our primitive forefathers, as still do some of the less-advanced peoples of to-day, that the vigour and fertility of crops and herds, and even the prosperity of the nation, may depend directly upon the virility of the ruler, this much of the mystical lingers in our mode of thought, that only with the ceremonial of coronation do we feel that we have passed in full sense from waters, which might prove turbulent, to the haven of a new reign.
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The Ceremonial of Coronation. Nature 139, 773–775 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139773a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139773a0