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Charles III’s coronation on May 6 is supposedly a spectacle of ancient tradition. But the rites, and the countries they are for, have changed radically in 200 years. Here’s what Canada was up to the last times a new monarch was crowned

Victoria, 1838

The teenage Victoria would never have guessed she’d be the first monarch of a self-governing Canada. But between her accession on June 20, 1837, and the coronation on June 28, 1838, rebellions – and their crushing defeat – would give the queen a vivid picture of what Canadians wanted for their future.

A panorama from 1838 lists the military regiments and Royal Family members in Victoria's procession to Westminster Abbey. She rode in the same Gold State Coach that Charles III will use at his coronation. Published by Robert Tyas, London, 1838
Britons gather for a coronation fair at London’s Hyde Park. The recent completion of the capital’s first railway line helped thousands to commute into the city for the festivities. Rischgitz/Getty Images
Victoria’s version of the Imperial State Crown is the model for the one that exists today, a restoration from 1937. The actual crowning of the monarch is done with the St. Edward’s Crown. Illustrated London News; Cassell and Co., London

About the event

Modern coronations are carefully rehearsed, but not 1838′s. Only Victoria and one Westminster Abbey official came prepared for the five-hour event.

Clergymen skipped pages in the complicated program, in one case dismissing Victoria from the abbey too early; an elderly lord tripped on the slippery steps in front of the queen; and her ring finger ached after the archbishop of Canterbury jammed on a ring meant for her pinky.

Outside, the rites attracted as many as 400,000 people, including out-of-towners brought in via London’s brand-new steam railway. Victoria, the first monarch to make Buckingham Palace her main residence, greeted the crowds in processions from there to the abbey and back, a custom her successors would follow.

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Loyalist forces advance to capture the patriote stronghold of Saint-Charles, east of Montreal, in 1837. Nathaniel Hartnell made this engraving from a work by Lord Charles Beauclerk, a British officer in the battle.National Library and Archives of Quebec

The state of Canada

British North America of the 1830s was a patchwork of colonies laid over a much older patchwork of First Nations. Settlers had elected assemblies, but British-appointed governors and their hangers-on made the important decisions. In Lower Canada (now southern Quebec) and Upper Canada (south and eastern Ontario), people disaffected with the oligarchies joined republican parties and secret societies inspired by U.S.-style democracy.

The Canadas were on the edge of revolution by 1837, and it showed during Victoria’s first summer as queen. In Lower Canada’s churches, patriotes protested the Te Deums celebrating her reign. Victoria’s youth and gender also made her a foil for rebels who felt democracy was for adult men only, such as this orator at an 1837 demonstration in Nicolet:

As for the king, he is nothing but a big zero to whom Canadians pay a pension ... The proof that kings are nothing but zeroes is that we are now governed by a young queen 17 years of age.
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An artist's interpretation of loyalist Robert Moodie being shot by rebels at Montgomery's Tavern in Toronto, the rallying point for their failed campaign to take over Upper Canada.C. W. Jeffreys, c. 1894/Toronto Public Library

When armed revolt broke out in Lower and then Upper Canada in the winter of 1837, Victoria was also a rallying symbol for the loyalist militias who put the uprisings down. Author Susanna Moodie, whose soldier husband fought in the Upper Canadian militias, captured their ethos in her Address to the Freemen of Canada:

With loyal bosoms beating high, in your good cause securely trust; “God and Victoria!” be your cry, and crush the traitors to the dust.

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The Caroline, a U.S. ship that supplied William Lyon Mackenzie's rebel forces, burns in 1837 after loyalists set it alight and sent it drifting down the Niagara River.Toronto Public Library

The battles that winter, and in a second wave the next year, were military disasters for the rebels. Hundreds died in combat, a few were hanged for treason and dozens were shipped to penal colonies in Australia. Brutal loyalist reprisals destroyed many civilians’ farms and homes.

But the violence convinced Britain that something should change, and it sent a new governor, Lord Durham, to decide what. One half of his solution – merging two Canadas into one – was adopted quickly. The other – making Canada’s governor answerable to its elected representatives – would not arrive until 1848, after a trial run in Nova Scotia, which had never rebelled. This established the form of democracy, responsible government, that put Canadians on a path to full independence.

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Edward VII, 1902, and George V, 1911

Victoria’s heir was a bon vivant whose overindulgence of cigars and rich food ruined his health. He reigned for eight years before dying of heart failure – so Britons who had never seen a coronation in their lifetimes got two in a row. For colonial leaders, the events were a valuable forum for diplomacy, both with one another and the imperial powers-that-be.

Edward VII and George V with coronation garb. The photo of George was taken in Delhi for a secondary coronation, or durbar, proclaiming him emperor of India. Similar durbars were held for Victoria and Edward, but they did not go to India themselves. Illustrated London News, PA Images via Reuters Connect
Aug. 11, 1902, was the first-ever postcoronation edition of The Globe, shown at left. The ceremony was on a Saturday and the paper had no Sunday edition, so readers had to wait for highlights on Monday. Not so in 1911, when George V’s big day – recorded in the June 23 paper at right – was a Thursday. Cassell and Co., London
For the 1902 coronation, Canada erected an arch in London to promote its wheat production and opportunities for immigrants. Joseph Chamberlain, the top British official in charge of the colonies, suffered a head injury when his hansom cab crashed underneath the arch. Illustrated London News; Cassell and Co., London
Eaton’s, a devoutly English-Canadian institution, set up colourful coronation displays at department stores like this one in Winnipeg in 1911. Arthur H. Hider/Library and Archives Canada
Schoolchildren form a living Union Jack at a coronation fair in Moose Jaw, Sask., in 1911, six years after Saskatchewan became a province. Peel's Prairie Provinces Postcard Collection / University of Alberta Libraries

About the events

“Impressive ceremony performed without serious mishap” was one of The Globe’s headlines for Edward’s coronation on Aug. 9, 1902, which had been delayed at late notice from June 23 to accommodate the King’s surgery for an abdominal problem. Many foreign delegations did not come to the rescheduled event, sending lower-ranking diplomats instead. Edward was greeted by the first-ever Canadian Coronation Contingent, a force of about 600 soldiers and Mounties. A larger contingent came back to see George crowned on June 22, 1911, which got more favourable Globe headlines, such as “Most striking scene in Britain’s history.”

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A military magazine from 1902 profiles some of the Canadians at Edward VII’s coronation. Regiments such as the Royal Canadian Field Artillery had recently fought in the Anglo-Boer War to conquer South Africa.The Navy and Army Illustrated

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The British Empire's heads of government confer in 1902. They include Canada's Wilfrid Laurier, fourth from left, and Newfoundland's Robert Bond, third from right.Coronation book of Edward VII

The state of Canada

For the leaders of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and Britain’s South African colonies, these coronations were a chance to meet under one roof and hash out their future. There had been such meetings in London for Victoria’s jubilees, and one in Ottawa in 1894, but in Edwardian times they became regular events. Only “white dominions,” where European settlers held power, had seats at Imperial Conferences, leaving millions of Asian, African and Caribbean people out of decisions affecting them.

At the 1902 and 1911 summits – where prime minister Wilfrid Laurier spoke for Canada – the top agenda item was imperial federation, a scheme to create a global super-state with one British-based parliament. This would give dominions more influence (but less independence) in foreign policy: A united military might, for instance, commit nations to conflicts they did not want to fight in. Laurier – who had endured a fractious debate over Canadian deployments to South Africa – was wary of this. Ultimately, federationism never went anywhere and was a dying cause by the time of the First World War.

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George VI, 1937

George VI was not the man Britons had expected to see crowned on May 12, 1937. When Edward VIII abdicated in December of 1936, organizers stuck to his scheduled coronation date, but with his younger brother as its main attraction.

George VI stands beside his wife, Queen Elizabeth, and daughters Elizabeth and Margaret. Five months earlier, George had been Prince Albert, Duke of York, until his brother abdicated and left him in charge. The Associated Press
Londoners hold a tea party in Brook Road, Hornsey, for the coronation of George VI. Boys sleep on a bench in Trafalgar Square the night before the ceremony. Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Cubmasters from Jamaica stand outside the home where they are staying on Jamaica Road in London's Bermondsey district. Scout troops from across the Caribbean came to see the coronation. A.R. Tanner/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Mr. Gammon, keeper at the London Zoo, paints a crown on an Indian elephant. George VI was the last ruler to be styled emperor of India before its independence and partition in 1947. Fox Photos/Getty Images
On coronation day, advertisers filled The Globe and Mail’s pages with royal tributes. The morning after, The Globe boasted on its front page about getting pictures from London within hours, thanks to then-new wirephoto technology. The Globe and Mail

About the event

To soften the shock of the abdication crisis, this coronation had to both widen the appeal and signal the stability of the monarchy.

Cosmo Lang, archbishop of Canterbury, allowed non-Anglican clergymen to take part for the first time. He still made the king swear to uphold “the Protestant reformed religion established by law,” but a new oath made clear that this applied to Britain only, not dominions such as Catholic-majority Ireland or Australia and New Zealand, which had Catholic first ministers at the time.

The Royal Family invited a handful of people from working-class communities to participate. Their friends back home could listen to the BBC for the first live radio broadcast of a coronation, or watch newsreels that captured the highlights.

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A map prepared for the Christian Science Monitor in 1937 shows the British Empire and the coats of arms of the main dominions, clockwise from top left: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.The Christian Science Monitor

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Canada's men at the 1926 Imperial Conference: Justice minister Ernest Lapointe, prime minister Mackenzie King and diplomats Vincent Massey and Peter Larkin.Library and Archives Canada

The state of Canada

Between the world wars, dominions secured important new rights that George VI would pledge to uphold.

At the 1926 Imperial Conference, the countries agreed they were “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status ... though united by a common allegiance to the Crown.” The 1931 Statute of Westminster backed up that promise in British law. New coronation rites reflected this by giving dominions equal billing in this question for the king:

Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa, of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, and of your Empire of India, according to their respective Laws and Customs?

Days after the coronation came the last Imperial Conference, where Mackenzie King and his counterparts got to question the incoming British government of Neville Chamberlain about its policy of appeasement toward the rising fascist dictatorships of Europe. When Britain eventually declared war on Nazi Germany, dominions used their new freedom to decide whether to join the fight, as Canada did, or stay neutral, as Ireland did. After the war, Imperial Conferences gave way to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, which reached beyond the “white dominions” to include the decolonizing nations of the Global South.

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Elizabeth II, 1953

The dismantling of the British Empire was in its early stages when Elizabeth became queen at age 25, and she would see its far-reaching consequences in seven decades as head of the Commonwealth. But first: her coronation on June 2, 1953 – the product of 16 months of planning – aimed to introduce her directly to the world on a scale no monarch had attempted.

Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, ride to Westminster Abbey for a coronation that would be televised to millions around the world. Intercontinentale/AFP via Getty Images
Coronation day in rainy London and sunny Ottawa. Prime minister Louis St. Laurent was with the London delegation while Vincent Massey – the first Canadian-born governor-general – stayed behind to lead the Parliament Hill events. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada
Jean Zonda, head chef at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, finishes off the coronation coach and gate he designed. The painting behind him is a portrait of Victoria. A.R. Tanner/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Globe’s June 3, 1953, front page had two photos of the Queen beside the future Charles III, then 4. His sister Anne, 2, was deemed too young for the ceremony and stayed at Buckingham Palace. Chris Lund/Library and Archives Canada

About the event

Elizabeth let BBC crews into the abbey for history’s first televised coronation, despite the objections of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who told the House of Commons it was “unfitting” to broadcast it “as if it were a theatrical performance.” Theatricality, in this case, was the point. Television allowed the queen to speak to her new subjects not just with words, but with visuals, such as the Norman Hartnell-designed gown incorporating Canadian maple leaves, New Zealand silver ferns and other floral symbols of the Commonwealth realms.

Getting the footage to Canada was a massive effort: Canisters of film were helicoptered to London’s Heathrow Airport, flown to Labrador on British jet bombers, then relayed by the Royal Canadian Air Force to Montreal – all so the CBC could show the ceremony half an hour before American networks did.

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An Innu crowd gathers with Union Jacks and Quebec provincial flags during the Queen's visit in 1959 to Schefferville, Que., along the western border of Labrador.Richard Cole/The Globe and Mail

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On a previous visit in 1957, the Queen was the first Canadian monarch to read a Throne Speech from the Senate chamber in Ottawa.The Canadian Press

The state of Canada

Official anglocentrism was still strong in the Canada of 1953: The Red Ensign flag bore a Union Jack in its corner, the post office was called Royal Mail Canada and the Constitution was technically a British law. But the economic, immigration and baby booms of the postwar era would change all that.

Imagine a Canadian child born on coronation day. As that child grew older, they would notice the people around them getting younger; by their 13th birthday in 1966, Canada’s median age would hit a historic low of 25.4. With youth came demand for social change, and resistance to the old British symbols of established authority. At age 9, the child of 1953 might have seen Québécois separatists booing the Queen in Quebec City; at 10, the Red Ensigns would make way for Maple Leafs; and in the child’s late teens, the Royal Mail boxes would disappear.

The child would reach voting age in 1971, the debut of Canada’s multiculturalism policy, and age 29 when Elizabeth signed the patriation of the Constitution to Canada. But the child would be 69 years old before she ceased to be their head of state.

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Charles III, 2023

No British monarch has waited as long for the throne as Charles III, but his coronation is due to be more modest in scope and budget than his mother’s. Buckingham Palace says the event “will reflect the Monarch’s role today and look towards the future.”

The invitations to May 6’s coronation of Charles III and Queen Camilla, designed by heraldic artist Andrew Jamieson, feature an array of floral emblems and the Green Man, a pagan symbol of rebirth. Hugo Burnand/Buckingham Palace via Getty Images; Buckingham Palace via AP
Charles’s coronation combines ancient customs – such as holy oil from the Mount of Olives, shown being blessed in Jerusalem on March 3 – with modern ones such as Twitter, where the right hashtags will produce an official emoji modelled after the St. Edward’s Crown. Patriarchate of Jerusalem/Buckingham Palace/Handout via Reuters; Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images
A gilder works on commemorative teacups at the Duchess China 1888 factory in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Much of this china features the Royal Crown, a symbol introduced for Elizabeth II in the 1950s. The same crown is in Charles’s Canadian coronation emblem, designed by Cathy Bursey-Sabourin. John Super/The Associated Press; Government of Canada

About the event

When Charles heads to Westminster Abbey on May 6, it will be a shorter route and a smaller military cavalcade than 1953’s, with about a quarter as many guests inside the abbey. Britons have a long weekend of other festivities: A nationwide “Big Lunch” on May 7, an evening concert at Windsor Castle and a May 8 bank holiday featuring a volunteer drive called the Big Help Out. Canada is holding a May 6 celebration in Ottawa and other communities, but no day off on the Monday.

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The King receives RoseAnne Archibald, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, during an audience at Buckingham Palace on May 4.Gareth Fuller/Pool via REUTERS

The state of Canada

The coronation comes roughly a year after Charles’s last Canadian tour as Prince of Wales, where Indigenous communities told him about the horrors of residential schools and the unmarked graves revealed in Kamloops the year before. At the tour’s end in Yellowknife, he and his wife said they left with “heavy hearts” and would be “closely following the next chapter in this country’s great history.” Now, the coronation offers Indigenous people a chance to help write that chapter.

On May 4, Ms. Simon met the King at Buckingham Palace alongside three Indigenous leaders: RoseAnn Archibald of the Assembly of First Nations, Natan Obed of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Cassidy Caron of the Métis National Council. Ms. Archibald said the meeting was “very positive.” On the 2022 tour, Ms. Archibald asked Charles whether the Crown should apologize for lapses in treaty obligations. It was one of several calls Charles is facing to atone for colonialism’s wrongs, such as from advocates of British slavery reparations to the Caribbean.

Canadians “may never have felt great affection for Charles,” Ms. Simon said in an interview with The Globe and Mail, and he will have work to do to strengthen his connections to the country. She also said she could foresee a “conversation” about the Canadian monarchy’s future, but now was not the time for that. “I think Canada first of all has to have a plan and an alternative as to what it is we want as a country,” Ms. Simon said.

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