“It never stops being exciting to know we have something in the Special Collections that was held in the hand of a monarch as he was crowned King”

An elaborate Royal spectacle including centuries-old traditions will be on show to the world when King Charles III’s Coronation takes place in London.

For 900 years the coronation has been held in Westminster Abbey – William the Conqueror was the first monarch to be crowned there, King Charles will be the 40th.

King Charles I’s ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 February 1626 and lasted ‘many hours’ according to his personal copy of the Order of Service from the coronation which has been preserved in the Special Collections of the Library of St John’s College.

His Order of Service, which is nearly 400 years old, will go on display in The Upper Library at St John’s on Wednesday 10 May for members of the College and their guests to view between 2pm and 4pm.

The Order of Service was used by William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, when he came to adapt the ceremony for Charles’s son the Roman Catholic King James II in 1685. Sancroft's notes show how the content and wording of King Charles I's Coronation were changed to accommodate the new monarch, and how the service was shortened considerably.

“Coronations mark moments of both continuity and change, and the order of service reflects this, adapting, sometimes radically, to the time and circumstances of each new reign”

St John’s College also holds Bishop William Laud’s copy of the Order of Service from King Charles I’s Coronation. Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms and was later appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud annotated his copy, giving a detailed commentary on the Coronation, noting in the margins where bits of the service were skipped or done incorrectly, that the Archbishop’s lameness due to gout meant that he could not take part in the procession, and that the weather was ‘verye faire’.

These documents were preserved thanks to Thomas Baker, a former Fellow of St John’s, who was a prolific collector of significant documents and books. He left many rare and valuable books and documents to the College when he died in 1740.

Kathryn McKee, Sub-Librarian and Special Collections Librarian, said: “It never stops being exciting to know that we have something in the Special Collections that is of such historical significance and was actually held in the hand of a monarch hundreds of years ago as he was crowned King.

“Ephemeral, working documents such as these could so easily have been lost to posterity”

“Coronations mark moments of both continuity and change, and the Order of Service reflects this, adapting, sometimes radically, to the time and circumstances of each new reign.

 “Ephemeral, working documents such as these could so easily have been lost to posterity. Fortunately, Thomas Baker, was part of a small network of Cambridge academics at the end of the 17th Century who understood the importance of collecting and preserving significant documents such as these for future generations, so they survive.”

A coronation is both the symbolic religious ceremony during which a sovereign is crowned and the physical act of placing a crown on a monarch's head. It formalises the monarch's role as the head of the Church of England and marks the transfer of their title and powers. However, it is not actually necessary for the monarch to be crowned to become King.

King Charles I’s reign was marred with financial, political and religious issues - he eventually provoked a bloody civil war and fled London. Charles surrendered to the Scots in 1646 and was handed over to Oliver Cromwell's forces and tried and executed.

Modern controversies over the role of the monarchy seem mild in comparison with the turbulent 17th century – it is expected that the reign of King Charles III will be less eventful than that of the first King Charles.

• King Charles III's Coronation will take place on Saturday 6 May at Westminster Abbey in London and he will be crowned alongside Camilla, the Queen Consort.

Published: 5/5/2023

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