# Why did it take over a year to crown Queen Elizabeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117 "2014-10-12T17:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/21 "2014-10-13T00:34:34Z")
Speaking of execution: Suppose Chuck assassinated Elizabeth, a not unheard of way of speeding up the inevitable. Would he still become King, as others have in the past, and would he be put on trial? Assuming he’d be found guilty, what would be the punishment? And then there’s William . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/22 "2014-10-13T00:53:17Z")
My guess? The UK would remove the monarch and go full republic. There’s a substantial part of the population that has no interest in maintaining a monarchy and such a crazy event might be just the push they need to get rid of the Windsors entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/23 "2014-10-13T02:58:07Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I think in this day big ceremonies might be frowned on unless they said no tax money was involved. Of course Chuck could just say he wants to keep it simple. Bah! The big ceremonies bring in the tourists by the droves, and they spend like crazy buying up coronation souvenirs, in addition to the hotel, meals, etc. that they buy. They will probably need a year’s worth of time just to sell all the tickets, etc. to customers. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/24 "2014-10-13T03:03:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I think in this day big ceremonies might be frowned on unless they said no tax money was involved. Of course Chuck could just say he wants to keep it simple. Which is why the wedding of the Cambridges was such a low-key affair. Oh, wait a minute . . . What’s the point of the British monarchy if they don’t throw large shindigs from time to time? They’re in show business, after all, and I think they’re smart enought to realise that. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/25 "2014-10-13T04:50:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Speaking of execution: > > Suppose Chuck assassinated Elizabeth, a not unheard of way of speeding up the inevitable. Would he still become King, as others have in the past, and would he be put on trial? Assuming he’d be found guilty, what would be the punishment? And then there’s William . . . . Not unheard of, but hasn’t happened on England for over 500 years, so not particularly likely. However, if it were to happen, and he was convicted of murder or treason, the penalty would be life imprisonment. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/26 "2014-10-13T05:08:13Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > :smack: ::whoosh:: (And didn’t you get that I got what you’re getting I didn’t get, given the reference to “You were asking about Q.E. _II_. Nevermind.”? \ FWIW Septimus, I thought it was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/27 "2014-10-13T05:16:46Z")
it’s a big party to organise! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/28 "2014-10-13T05:19:37Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > :smack: ::whoosh:: (And didn’t you get that I got what you’re getting I didn’t get, given the reference to “You were asking about Q.E. _II_. Nevermind.”? > Get it? > > 😕 > > You’re both wrong. 😃 > > My point, if any, was that QEII became Queen when her father died. The anecdote from a movie seemed like a way to make the point, with a link to a great Blanchett acting scene thrown in for free. And if I’d suddenly realized I’d misread OP I’d have clicked to “ETA: nm” or such. > > I _must_ start including more smiley-faces. Either you Dopers have no senses of humor at all, or yours are very different from mine. Aw, I like your sense of humor, **septimus.** (Better than mine, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/29 "2014-10-13T05:28:32Z")
A substantial _minority,_ Mr. Finn. We have a working arrangement in the English-speaking world. The Yanks get the republicans and the Brits take the monarchists. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/30 "2014-10-13T05:30:21Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > What did they build for 5 months? Extra seating inside for all the guests, an [annex](https://www.flickr.com/photos/11300266@N04/2232748225/) where processions could form (I think maybe the main people had a small lunch before leaving, and also I believe the abbey itself has no toilets), and stands outside along the route for the public to sit in. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/31 "2014-10-13T05:38:19Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > … from the very moment her dad shuffled off his mortal coil and went to join the choir invisible. …so he was an ex-king? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/32 "2014-10-13T05:45:05Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Not unheard of, but hasn’t happened on England for over 500 years, so not particularly likely. > > However, if it were to happen, and he was convicted of murder or treason, the penalty would be life imprisonment. He’d be the king; he couldn’t be convicted of murder or treason or anything else without first being deposed, or without first granting his assent to legislation limiting his sovereign immunity to the extent necessary to enable him to be charged and tried. And either of those would be constitutionally revolutionary steps. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/33 "2014-10-13T06:09:48Z")
Speaking of long waits, the king of Tonga is scheduled to be crowned next July, more than three years after the death of the previous king. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/34 "2014-10-13T09:18:31Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > He’d be the king; he couldn’t be convicted of murder or treason or anything else without first being deposed, or without first granting his assent to legislation limiting his sovereign immunity to the extent necessary to enable him to be charged and tried. And either of those would be constitutionally revolutionary steps. It also wouldn’t be the first time such constitutionally revolutionary steps had been taken. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/35 "2014-10-13T09:34:58Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > What did they build for 5 months? [QUOTE=Lord Feldon] Extra seating inside for all the guests, an annex where processions could form (I think maybe the main people had a small lunch before leaving, and also I believe the abbey itself has no toilets), and stands outside along the route for the public to sit in. [/QUOTE] This. The galleries inside the Abbey quadrupled the seating capacity. Moreover, those had to be constructed inside a building stuffed full of historic monuments. There was also an issue about sourcing materials, as the government was in the middle of its huge post-war house building programme. A point was therefore made of reusing as much of the materials as possible afterwards. As for the cost, the Ministry of Works recouped what it spent by selling places in the stands in Westminster Square and outside Buckingham Palace. It has been suggested that next time one option would be not to provide so much extra seating in order to shorten the preparation time. The argument might be that the TV coverage makes a crucial difference. In 1952 the initial preparations were made on the assumption that only parts of the ceremony would be televised live. It could therefore be argued that, as television coverage can be taken for granted, it is now less important for as many people as possible to be inside the Abbey. Except try telling that to the thousands of VIPs who would find themselves deprived of an invitation. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/36 "2014-10-13T11:12:56Z")
To add a little bit of an excursion, the royal coronations are also historically of relevance in that they provided the landmark cases for the doctrine of [frustration of purpose](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration_of_purpose) in common law. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/37 "2014-10-13T11:41:20Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > …so he was an ex-king? Yes, that’s why we thought we had better replace him. ---
**Author:** ![duncs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@duncs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duncs)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/38 "2014-10-13T12:15:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Speaking of execution: > > Suppose Chuck assassinated Elizabeth, a not unheard of way of speeding up the inevitable. Would he still become King, as others have in the past, and would he be put on trial? Assuming he’d be found guilty, what would be the punishment? And then there’s William . . . . My guess would be that no-one would ever find out that he had done it. Either the official line would be that the Queen had died of something else or someone would be framed for her assassination. Chuck would be made to abdicate in favour of his son, Billy (a move that would be favoured by the British public anyway). Chuck would then disappear from the public view quietly and without fuss. There would then be a VERY big coronation for Billy to make everyone forget that anything had ever happened, and we’d all live happily ever after. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/39 "2014-10-13T12:26:26Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > He’d be the king; he couldn’t be convicted of murder or treason or anything else without first being deposed, or without first granting his assent to legislation limiting his sovereign immunity to the extent necessary to enable him to be charged and tried. Royal assent for such legislation could, however, also be achieved by other means. The Lords Commissioners, to whom the granting of royal assent is delegated in actual practice (the last monarch to grant assent in person was Victoria), could assent to such legislation in the name of the very monarch to be convicted. Of course this would not be in the interest of the person in whose name the Lords Commissioners are, at least in legal fiction, acting; but if they manage to get it done before the monarch dismisses the Lords Commissioners, the Act of Parliament to which they assented in the monarch’s name would be legally effective. I think this would be a more elegant way of dealing with the problem than disposing of the monarch revolutionarily. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117/40 "2014-10-13T12:33:34Z")
There’s a more constitutionally-sound method available. The regency acts allow three out of (IIRC) the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor, a few judges, and the monarch’s spouse to declare the monarch unfit and install a regent. It’s only supposed to be done for medical reasons, but the law just requires that they say it’s for medical reasons, not that their declaration be truthful. Even an involuntary abdication could be handled that way, although it would take two steps as the current law forbids the regent from assenting to a bill changing the line of succession (but not from changing the powers of the regent). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-over-a-year-to-crown-queen-elizabeth/701117.md?page=3)