I suppose meaning not w/o such structural alterations as to render it no longer “original” - plus then you’d have to justify the added budget to diminish an heirloom’s value. (And hey, do we expect the Windsors to build themselves a fancy coach out of their own deeply plush pockets…)
The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch makes an appearance:
…King Charles III is issued the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch - YouTube
Finest technology of 1760. That used to be state of the art. Thank Og we’ve made some progress over the last couple centuries.
Those ginormous leather straps are the “suspension” system, things like hydraulic shock absorbers not having been invented yet.
If not at the moment I expect there will be at some point.
Heck, I watched the funeral of Richard III on YouTube a couple months back, can’t imagine they won’t have the coronation available at some point.
BBC Youtube channel
It occurs to me that this may be the origin of that word. It never quite made sense to me given how modern ones work. But this carriage is literally suspended from leather straps.
For all that the ride might terrible I think the “suspension” on that carriage is likely an improvement over its precedents. If I recall, it used to be the norm for carriages and wagons to have no sort of spring/suspension/shock absorber at all.
One small titbit from the commentary - apparently this coach wasn’t ready in time for George III’s coronation, so he and his Queen were carried in sedan chairs.
My sister is watching it now, and I just walked by and saw the coach. Too bad it’s a rainy day. The gold would really be spectacular in the sun. When I saw it from a mid distance camera, it just looked liked it was painted yellow. Like a blingy taxi cab.
Seemed to me that the classy thing to do would have been to invite him to read a passage from a Hindu scripture, since they were at least trying to pay lip service to the notion that the King represents and defends his subjects of all faiths and not just Christianity.
I really hope Charles will clean out that nest of vipers at Buckingham. They’re the main reason for the rifts in the family. I’d fire every one of them.
Prince George is sure getting big. It must be a very sureal experience for him seeing that he’s now old enough to understand what’s (hopefully) in store for him.
They must’ve been be ever so disappointed when neither the King or Queen burst into flames .
C-span has it on and cnn is rerunning it at 8pm unless they decided to stay on the mass shooting in Texas.
great, thanks!
As befits my sometimes bizarre hours, I watched the first hour and a half of it live, just past the point of the actual coronation. I’m all for tradition, within limits, but I honestly found it hard to imagine how Chuck could keep a straight face while holding on to a couple of fishing spears or whatever those thing were and being presented with spurs, bracelets, rings, scepters, rods, a magic sword, and a “robe royale”.
I must say that the robe royale looked a bit warm to me. I’d be happier with the gold dressing gown they gave him after the anointment (after being doused with oil behind a screen). Nice dressing gowns are hard to find. The gold one may be a bit ostentatious but it seems to provide a bit more cover than the one I currently have, which flaps around in the breeze when I wheel out the garbage bin in the morning.
Thanks for this as well.