On Saturday 30th September 1553, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Mary I left the Tower of London to the sound of guns firing and church bells ringing. This was her coronation procession and the next day she would be crowned Queen of England.
The procession leaving the Tower consisted of the Queen’s messengers, trumpeters, esquires of the body, the knights of the bath (including 15 young noblemen who had been knighted that morning), heralds, bannerets, the council, the clergy, the Garter knights, the nobility, foreign ambassadors, merchants, soldiers, knights and then the Queen’s entourage. In Mary’s personal entourage were the Earl of Sussex, acting as Mary’s Chief Server; “two ancient knights with old-fashioned hats, powdered on their heads, disguised”, representing the dukes of Normandy and Guienne; Stephen Gardiner and William Paulet carrying the seal and mace; the Lord Mayor of London carrying the gold sceptre; the Sergeant at Arms and the Earl of Arundel carrying the Queen’s sword.
After this huge procession came the Queen herself in an open litter pulled by six horses in white trappings. She was “richly apparelled with mantle and kirtle of cloth of gold” with a gold tinsel cloth and jewelled crown on her head. Anna Whitelock writes of how she was dressed as a queen consort, but then England had never had a queen regnant, had it?
Mary was escorted by the wives of the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel and Sir William Paulet, as well as the mother of Edward Courtenay, on horseback. Behind her was a carriage bearing her sister, Elizabeth, and Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife, followed by noblewomen and then “royal henchmen dressed in the Tudor colours of green and white”. This mile and a half procession must have been quite an exciting spectacle for the people of London!
Anna Whitelock goes on to describe the various pageants and displays on Mary’s route from the Tower to Whitehall:-
- “An array of civic pageantry at Temple Bar
- A triumphal arch decorated with verses praising her accession, created by the Genoese merchants
- An image of Judith, the Israelite heroine, at Cornhill, created by the Florentines
- The conduits running with wine at Cornhill and Cheap
- The singing of verses in praise of the Queen at Cornhill and Cheap
- At St Paul’s, the Queen was addressed by the recorder of London and presented with a purse containing a 1000 marks of gold by the chamberlain. John Heywood, the playwright, then delivered an oration in Latin and English, at the school in St Paul’s Churchyard and then at St Paul’s Gate choristers held burning perfumed tapers.
- Minstrels played and children sang songs at Ludgate
Finally, Mary I reached Whitehall and retired for the day to prepare herself for her coronation at Westminster Abbey. What an amazing day of triumph and celebration it must have been for her. She had won, she was Queen.
Notes and Sources
- Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen, Anna Whitelock, p206-208
Also on this day in history…
- 1515 – Margaret Tudor flees to England
- 1544 – Henry VIII returns to England after his victory in Boulogne
- 1585 – Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel and son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is received into the Catholic Church by Jesuit William Weston at Arundel Castle
Are there any paintings or artist’s depictions of this day/ procession? I know that Elizabeth had a coronation portrait comissioned, is there one of Mary I?
There would probably have been made woodcuts, sketches or engravings and so on; perhaps none has survived. Elizabeth’s coronation portraits only survive in copies from about 1600, they are not the originals.
When was that portrait above done, did it mark a special occassion?
Mary’s face always look as though she has sunked cheeks, is what I have read correct that Mary suffered terribly with her teeth, and had lost all her adult ones at quite an early age?
The above portrait of Mary is by Antonis Mor (or Antonio Moro), and it is believed to have been made on occasion of her wedding, probably a bit in advance of it. According to art historians it deliberately represents Mary in Habsburg style.
Thank you Christine, do you know if losiing all her teeth is true, Elizabeth’s were meant to have been really bad too, because of her fondness for sweet things. I saw on a historical documentary that in Elizabeths time it was fashionable to blacken your teeth, to flatter the Queen, and also because sugar was so expensive it showed how wealthy you were if you could afford it, bet they changed their minds when they got real tooth rot.. ouch!
What is Habsburg style? I haven’t heard that expression before.
In an exhibition catalogue they say Mary is portrayed here as a “Habsburg bride”; perhaps they were thinking of this picture: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tizian_066.jpg
I have no idea about Mary’s teeth — it’s true that Elizabeth suffered terribly from tooth ache, and that that inspired a fashion for black teeth among her ladies!
Christine,Good read!!What do you mean by black teeth?? Was it painted on her ladies? Mary 1 all I can say is scaery she made Henry look like angel.Mary 1 sure did live up to her name, some say she had mental problems was she?? THX Baroness