APPENDIX G
THE CORONATION OATH OF KING GEORGE V
The Coronation Oath of King George V. is identical with that of Queen Victoria save in respect of reference to the Church of Ireland:—
The Oath
¶ His Majesty having already on Monday, the 6th day of February, 1911, in the presence of the two Houses of Parliament, made and signed the Declaration prescribed, the Archbishop shall, after the Sermon is ended, go to the King, and standing before him, administer the Coronation Oath, first asking the King,
Sir, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?
¶ And the King answering,
I am willing,
¶ The Archbishop shall minister these questions; and the King, having a book in his hands, shall answer each question severally as follows:
Archbishop. Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Dominions thereto belonging, according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the respective Laws and Customs of the same?
King. I solemnly promise so to do.
Archbishop. Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?
King. I will.
Archbishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Prostestant Reformed Religion established by law? And will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them, or any of them?
King. All this I promise to do.
The Bible to be brought;¶ Then the King arising out of his chair, supported as before, and assisted by the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Sword of State being carried before him, shall go to the Altar, and there being uncovered, make his solemn Oath in the sight of all the people, to observe the premisses: laying his right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the great Bible (which was before carried in the Procession and is now brought from the Altar by the Archbishop, and tendered to him as he kneels upon the steps), saying these words:
The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep.
So help me God.
And a silver Standish.¶ Then the King shall kiss the Book, and sign the Oath.
It is, perhaps, interesting to note that neither the Proclamation, Accession, Declaration, or Coronation, of a King in any way improves his legal kingship: he is King from the moment his predecessor’s life is extinct. Hence the legal saying, “The King never dies.” It was anomalous for certain official persons in the City of London to address his Majesty the King as “Prince,” in condoling with him on the death of King Edward VII., immediately after the event. It was likewise technically incorrect to refer to the decease of “the King of Portugal and of the Crown Prince”—at the time of the assassinations. The latter survived his father by a minute or so, and he, therefore, died a King.
The accompanying paragraph from the Coronation Service, by the Rev. Joseph H. Pemberton, contains some information:
“As to the authority by which the Coronation Service is from time to time revised. An order is made by the King in Council directing the Archbishop of Canterbury to prepare a ‘Form and Order,’ due attention being given to the wishes of the Sovereign on points of detail. But the Archbishop has also a duty to perform to the Church, that nothing shall be omitted which through many generations has been held as essential to the validity of the Service, a Service by which, through the administration of the outward and visible sign of Holy Unction, the inward and spiritual grace of the Holy Spirit is conveyed to the Sovereign for the office and work of a King or Queen in this realm under the Catholic Church of Christ. For it cannot be too often repeated in these days that the Coronation of a King is not a civil ceremony, but a religious service, for the purpose of the setting apart of a person for a particular and holy office. The King at his Accession becomes the people’s accepted Sovereign, at his Coronation he becomes the Lord’s Anointed, holding his divine office as the representative, the agent, to the people of this realm, of the King of kings and Lord of lords.”