Coronations

Why do most monarchies, and certainly most of those in Europe, no longer

Stan Brown...

When I visited the royal treasury in Stockholm, the guide told us
that the King felt the money could be put to better use for the
benefit of the people. I think it was Gustav VI, but it might have

edespalais...

The background for this kind of ceremonies was to offer the good people
a show. The good people then were not the same of the people today.
Then the people paid taxes, but they were not the good people, who
directly or indirectly could take part. The people of today can take
part, often thanks to television, but they also have to pay for it!.

The good people then had to swear all kind of obdiences, during the
ceremonies. Now nothing of that.

edespalais...

been an earlier King who decided that.

=?iso-8859-1?B?SmFuIEL2aG1l?=...

It was Gustav V, and it wasn't really about money, but a personal
desicion from the new King's part. In constrast to his father, Oscar
II, who relished in the pomp on circumstance of the ceremonial, Gustav

CJ Buyers...

V thought it was rather embarrassing, and he decided that he would have
none of this fancy-dress show.

CJ Buyers...

If true, a rather odd decision on several grounds since: 1) it comes
from someone who rigidly enforced outdated rules about marriage that
belonged in the seventeeth century, 2) can a King really choose such

=?iso-8859-1?B?SmFuIEL2aG1l?=...

Well, first and foremost they belonged to the German notion of
Eben=FCrtigkeit, which was very alive and well in the Wilhelmine Empire
that formed the kings mind on such matters. Thus, it belonged to the
turn of the century, rather than to the seventeenth century, as far as
Gustav V was concerned. Second, the notion that one lost ones royal
status if not marrying according to the principles of Ebenb=FCrtigkeit
wasn't in any way exclusive to Sweden. It was, for instance equally
operative in Denmark for just as long as it did in Sweden.

CJ Buyers...

Hmm, quite.

This from a French family of fairly recent commoner status in a country
where the concept of morganatic marriage did not exist in law. Very
twentieth century indeed!

things on the basis of a "personal" whim, and 3) if a King cannot wear

=?iso-8859-1?B?SmFuIEL2aG1l?=...

He could. He just declared that he wouldn't be crowned, and that was
it. He had no need to justify this desicion in public, and he didn't,
either. But we know enough from his letters, and from letters of people
who were privy to his reasoning, to know that this is what he did. I
know no English-speaking source, but a recent book that makes the whole
issue quite clear is Gustav von Platen's "Bakom den gyllne fasaden"
(Behind the Golden Facade"), from 2002.

3) if a King cannot wear

"fancy dress", who can?

=?iso-8859-1?B?SmFuIEL2aG1l?=...

I don't think that Gustav V cared too much about that particular aspect
of the issue.

Jan B=F6hme

Jan B=F6hme

CJ Buyers...

One would have thought a coronation would have attracted large numbers
of tourists and visitors, and would have contributed much more money to
benefit many more people.

have coronation ceremonies? There is a lot of information about the new
type of ceremony but I've found nothing that indicates why the old

edespalais...

top

edespalais...

ceremonies disappeared. My guess is that they are considered over-the-top
and inappropriate for constitutional monarchs with little power. Belgium
seems to be the only European country which has never had one.

edespalais...

Austria (Empire) & Hungary (Kingdom)

The empire contrary to the kingdom ignored in its constitution such a
ceremony!

edespalais...

Perhaps one was not clear enough; indeed Hungary had a coronation.
Sorry for your loss of time.