Princess Mary of Teck married the future King George V in 1893, and he succeeded his father as King in 1910. Their joint coronation took place on 22 June 1911.
Queen Mary had not been looking forward to it and had written to her brother, “It will be a great ordeal & we are dreading it, as you can imagine.”1
The service was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he crowned Queen Mary as well. Mary was crowned with a new crown which contained the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Her gown was made of cream-coloured silk satin and included the floral emblems and symbols of the British Empire.
Three processions left Buckingham Palace from 9.30 a.m. and included representatives of foreign royal families, the British royal family and the Gold State Coach carrying King George and Queen Mary. The service itself was pretty similar to the 1902 service of King George’s father.
After the coronation, Mary wrote to her aunt Augusta, “You may imagine what an intense relief it is to us that the great and solemn ceremony of Thursday is well over for it was an awful ordeal for us both especially as well felt it all so deeply and taking so great a responsibility on our shoulders – To me who love tradition & the past & who am English from top to toe, the service was a very real solemn thing & appealed to my feelings more than I can express – Everything was most perfectly & reverently done – The foreigners seemed much impressed & were most nice & feeling… Everyone regretted yr enforced absence & no more than I did, but you wld have found it most agitating – I never ceased thinking of you the whole time.”2
King George V wrote after the service, “Darling May looked lovely, and it was indeed a comfort to me to have her by my side, as she has been ever to me during these last eighteen years.”3
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