With the Coronation coming up in May I am sure I am among many wondering what form it will take. With the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II being so long (longer than the period between the first flight of the Wright Flyer and the moon landing!) coronations have practically passed from the national memory, and while they do follow a set framework they are not unchanging and there is a certain amount of flexibility for what and how things occur within that framework. The Antiquary (below) puts it excellently on his YouTube channel for more details and I recommend his coronation in focus playlist.
Its been said in Press that while it respects the past the ceremony will reflect modern society and the diversity of the UK. I think a good way to do this could be in the use of banners reflecting the Commonwealth Realms in the King's Possession, being carried either before or after the King.
Possibly even by reviving the Royal Standard (as in a heraldic standard rather than the armorial banner of the King). This could even be carried by the King's Champion/Standard bearer of England.
This is my proposal for such a standard. It follows the custom of English heraldry being a long sweeping swallow tailed flag divided into two colours with the Cross of St George in the hoist. The livery colours of red and blue have been the Royal colours since George II. The idea behind my choice of badge is that I wanted it to reflect the King rather than any of his realms so I avoided floral emblems, coats of arms or crests. The badge I went with being that which represents the House of Windsor as that references the dynasty rather than the Kingdom. The other depictions are the Tudor Crown and cypher which are more or less universal symbols of the monarch throughout the Commonwealth.
However I think the use of banners of arms for the individual Commonwealth Realms would be great. Such banners were used for the Coronation of Elizabeth II with banners representing Canada, Australia, New Zealand and flags of South Africa and Pakistan being used. If this is repeated for all 15 realms I thought I'd predict what such banners might look like:
United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Antigua and Barbuda
Commonwealth of Australia
Commonwealth of the Bahamas
Belize
Canada
Grenada
Jamaica
New Zealand
Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
In all these cases except Papua New Guinea the banners are banners of arms because the coat of arms of the individual Commonwealth Realms are the arms of the King in Right to those Realms. As the national emblem of Papua New Guinea doesn't follow the European heraldic tradition I placed the emblem on a flag in the national colours. I based it on the aircraft roundel of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
As the Antiquary says in his video the UK is constitutionally a different place from the last coronation and as such an emphasises might be made on its constituent parts. This could also be done with banners of the historic kingdoms that formed the United Kingdom as well perhaps as the other titles the Sovereign has within the British Isles such as Lord of Man and Duke of Normandy (the title of the monarch in the Channel Islands).
England
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Wales
Lord of the Isle of Man
Duke of Normandy
Duke of Lancaster
England and Scotland being represented by the historic arms of those kingdoms, Northern Ireland by the historic arms of the King of Ireland and Wales by the arms of its historic Sovereign Princes. The flag of the Isle of Man is a banner of the arms of the Lord of Man so I have used it. The arms used in the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are the historic arms of England. However the arms used in Jersey often feature a gold border which I have included here for distinctiveness.
I would suggest the banners of the British Isles go before the King in the procession and the banners of the Commonwealth Realms come after him. I'm not sure if banners will be used in this way but either way I hope we see them on the day of the coronation.
