Coronation of George V and Mary
The coronation of George V and his wife, Mary, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Thursday 22 June 1911. This was the second of four such events held during the 20th century and the last to be attended by royal representatives of the great continental European empires.
The west front of Westminster Abbey in 1911, showing the temporary Coronation annexe in the Gothic style.
Queen Mary's coronation gown
"King George V and Queen Mary occupying their chairs of estate on the south side of the altar during that part of the coronation service which precedes the anointing". An official photograph by Sir John Benjamin Stone (1838–1914).
The royal progress in the City of London on 23 June.
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is an initiation ceremony in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in other European monarchies, which have all abandoned coronations in favour of inauguration or enthronement ceremonies. A coronation is a symbolic formality and does not signify the official beginning of the monarch's reign; de jure and de facto their reign commences from the moment of the preceding monarch's death or abdication, maintaining legal continuity of the monarchy.
George VI receiving the homage after being crowned in 1937; watercolour by Henry Charles Brewer
Coronation of Harold II at Westminster Abbey in 1066, from the Bayeux Tapestry
Coronation of Henry IV at Westminster Abbey in 1399
Alexander III of Scotland at his coronation aged eight at Scone Abbey in 1249, being greeted by the royal poet who will recite the king's genealogy
