About nine o'clock the first gleams of the sun started into
the Abbey, and presently travelled down to the peeresses. I had never
before seen the full effect of diamonds. As the light travelled, each lady
shone out like a rainbow. The brightness, vastness, and dreamy
magnificence of the scene produced a strange effect of exhaustion and
sleepiness.... The guns told when the Queen set forth, and there was
unusual animation. The Gold Sticks flitted about; there was tuning in the
orchestra; and the foreign ambassadors and their suites arrived in quick
succession. Prince Esterhazy, crossing a bar of sunshine, was the most
prodigious rainbow of all. He was covered with diamonds and pearls, and as
he dangled his hat, it cast a dazzling radiance all around.... At
half-past eleven the guns told that the Queen had arrived.'
An eye-witness says: 'The Queen came in as gay as a lark, and looking like
a girl on her birthday. However, this only lasted till she reached the
middle of the cross of the Abbey, at the foot of the throne. On her rising
from her knees before the "footstool," after her private devotions, the
Archbishop of Canterbury turned her round to each of the four corners of
the Abbey, saying, in a voice so clear that it was heard in the inmost
recesses, "Sirs, I here present unto you the undoubted Queen of this
realm. Will ye all swear to do her homage?" Each time he said it there
were shouts of "Long live Queen Victoria!" and the sounding of trumpets
and the waving of banners, which made the poor little Queen turn first
very red and then very pale.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35