Royal ‘n’ Roll at the Pavilion: A superlative souvenir of George IV’s coronation in 1821
On 19 July 1821 George IV was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
He was 58 years old and had been waiting for this day all his life. It was the most lavish and expensive coronation ever in Europe. The coronation reflected George’s status as the most powerful monarch in Europe, and his vanity. He wanted his ceremony to outshine the coronations of Napoleon and the French Bourbon kings.
Coronation day
At 10.30 am on coronation day, George IV entered Westminster Hall, almost half an hour late, to join the assembled court.
From here a large procession to Westminster Abbey took place, with approximately 700 participants, along an elevated and partially covered walkway. Thousands of spectators lined the route, and many had arrived hours earlier (not much has changed since then).
The King’s Herbwoman Anne Fellowes and her six young attendants were leading the procession, scattering flowers. They were the only women among the participants.
George arrived at the Abbey at 11.00 am. The coronation service lasted 5 hours, after which the procession returned to Westminster Hall for a lavish banquet.
Coronation panorama
This panorama was published by London bookseller William Sams in 1822.
It shows the entire coronation procession in 133 numbered scenes, with remarkable detail and some hand-colouring. The herb strewers are followed by musicians, judges, the Lord Chancellor, choristers, politicians, knights, peers, and Princes of the Realm.
The king is shown with bishops in scene 102, his train carried by eight eldest sons of peers, and a canopy supported by the Barons of the Cinque Ports. He is followed by Yeomen of the Guard and the King’s Champion mounted on a horse at the end of the procession.
Panoramas like this became fashionable around 1810 and often depict urban spaces.
They were expensive to buy and intended to be shown off at social events. Unrolling the print would have reminded guests of seeing a real procession, and we could think of this as being a forerunner of film footage.
When unrolled completely, our coronation scroll measures nearly nine meters. We have so far only been able to do this once, in the Music Room of the Royal Pavilion, before the building opened to the public.
A lucky gift
Few panoramas of this length survive, and we are extremely lucky that this one was offered to us as a gift just before our exhibition A Right Royal Spectacle: The Coronation of George IV opened in the Royal Pavilion in March 2023.
It was donated by Mr Malcolm Tozer, on behalf of his late friend RSM Charles Wilmot, 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers.
It is in remarkably good condition, apart from a partial loss of the first figure and the absence of the outer wooden casing. When it arrived at the Royal Pavilion (carefully packaged in a cleaned ice-cream tub) our Paper Conservator Amy Junker Heslip had a good look at it in our conservation studios and carried out some conservation work to prepare it for immediate display in the exhibition.
On display
We are showing it in a 2-metre-long case and have been rolling it on to a different section every few weeks.
It is a wonderful, important, and entertaining addition to our collection, as it tells us much about one of the most exciting elements of George’s coronation, the costumes and outfits, many of which were designed especially for the event, with George’s input.
We are fortunate to have early drawings of some of the coronation robes in our collection, as well as two original costumes from the procession: a herbstrewer’s dress and one of the canopy bearer’s costumes.
All of these are on display in A Right Royal Spectacle: The Coronation of George IV, along with many other fascinating objects relating to George IV’s outrageously lavish coronation.
The walk-through exhibition is included in the Royal Pavilion admission and will run until 10 September 2023.
