Happy St George's Day!

OK, no stuff here about why today should be a Bank Holiday.  Nothing about why we should recapture pride in England from the extremists.  Instead, let's look at the True Meaning of St George's Day - dragons!

In the past my 'Only in Norfolk' posts have prompted a lot of interest.  Here's something for the fans of that kind of thing (you're welcome Robert!).

This Snap the Dragon in the Norwich Castle Museum,  Snap is an example of the tradition of snapdragons (and snap-horses* - the best-known is the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss).  

In common with many English cities, Norwich had a Guild of St George, founded as a religious guild in the fourteenth-century to  to honour St. George and keep his feast day, to pray for its members past and present and to offer alms to the poor and needy within the Guild.

On St George's Day, the guild held a grand parade.  George and Margaret, the maiden he rescued, were represented, but the undoubted star was Snap, rushing around, taunting the crowds with wings flapping and smoke shooting from his mouth.  The earliest reference to the dragon comes from the minutes of the Guild Assembly of 1408 at which it was agreed 'to furnish priests with copes, and the George shall go in procession and make a conflict with the Dragon, and keep his estate both days'. 

Norwich Guildhall (with Special Guest)

The guild became one of the most powerful and wealthy in the city and developed close ties to the city government.  By the end of the sixteenth-century the Mayor was the ex-officio head of the guild (now a livery company) and City Aldermen and officials formed its council.  Guild Day merged with the swearing-in of the city's new mayor.  The Company had rooms in the Norwich Guildhall.

Mayor-Making, 2010

The Reformation stripped the guild of its religious aspects, but its civic links ensured its survival.  . Although St George and Margaret no longer featured in the procession, Snap remained** and the procession evolved into a grand civic occasion.   In the 1720s reformers attacked the legality of the Company's actions, the outcome of which was the surrender of all their goods and possessions to the Corporation in 1731.   

An antiquarian has left a description of an eighteenth-century parade:

The outsides of the houses were hung with tapestries and pictures, particularly the new Mayor's house. From here the dignitaries then paraded on horseback to the house of the retiring Mayor where a substantial breakfast of pasties, roast beef, boiled legs of mutton and wine were provided. The procession then set out for the cathedral.  

The way was cleared by six Whifflers and two Dick Fools accompanied by the dragon. Mackerell says 'The Dragon, carried by a Man in the body of it, gave great diversion to the common People: they always seemed very much to fear it when it was near them, but always looked upon it with pleasure when it was a little distance from them'. The Whifflers were dressed in a distinctive costume of scarlet satin breeches, white satin jerkin and a hat decorated with a cockade of feathers and ibbons. They carried swords which they brandished and tossed in the air. Helping the Whifflers were the Dick Fools, who wore painted canvas coats with red and yellow cloth caps adorned with fox or cats' tails and small bells.

Throughout the country such activities were increasingly seen as part of a corrupt system of local government and swept away by the reforming Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.  Snap and his ilk refused to go quietly, though.  In Norwich the tradition was maintained by the Pockthorpe Guild, founded in 1772***.  With the 'election' of a Mock Major and mock officials, the Pockthorpe ceremonies were a a rowdier take on the official ones.  The focus was firmly on the dragon, who would snap at hats and caps in his jaws, holding them to ransom, accompanied by the chant 'Snap, Snap, steal a boy's cap, give him a penny and he'll give it back'. 

Watch that cap!

In 1997 a Morris group, the Norwich Whifflers revived Snap, and as you can see he is once more part of the Lord Mayors' celebration.

Whiffler and Dragon

But the fun doesn't end there!  Since 2008 Norwich has held an annual week-long Dragon Festival of arts and events.

A modern  recognition of Norwich's dragon links in the Castle grounds

Later this year, a sculpture trail around the city will feature decorated dragons****.

A Go Go Dragon (with another Special Guest)

* Writing this reminds me that whippets are also known as 'snap dogs'.  As the flies have been out and bothering Zeppo, I see why.

**  From the 1553 minutes,'there shall be neither George nor Margaret; but for pastime, the Dragon to come and shew himself as in other years.'

*** Then an hamlet, Pockthorpe is now a suburb of the City.

****Previous years have seen similar elephants and gorillas.

Garter Day Ceremony

Next Monday, 17 June 2013, sees this year's Garter Day Ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Garter Day, 1948

Given that the order was founded by Edward III in 1348, the ceremony is oddly modern: it dates only to 1948.  That was the date in which George VI re-instituted the formal investiture ceremony, which had been in abeyance since 1805, marking the order's 600th anniversary.  At that investiture, which took place on 23 April, St George's Day, six new members, including the current Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, were invested as companions of the order.

At the same time, the order was reinstated as the personal gift of the monarch - it had previously been an appointment made on the advice of ministers.

The ceremony now customarily takes place in June - for some reason the first day of Royal Ascot Week (presumably on the basis that most members would therefore be within traveling distance of Windsor!).

As we have seen, new members are named on St George's Day - this year there only being one, Lord Stirrup.  The Queen formally invests new companions of the order with the insignia in the Throne Room of Windsor Castle.  The insignia are proffered by the Garter King of Arms, the Usher of the Order (better known as Black Rod) and the Secretary of the Order.  The admonitions addressed to the new companions are in turn read by the prelate (always the Bishop of Winchester) and chancellor (currently the Duke of Abercorn) of the order.  These admonitions and oaths date back at least as far as Henry VIII's time, probably even further.  Two senior knights will assist in the vesting of the new knight.

Afterwards the Queen entertains the members and officers of the order, with their spouses, at a lunch in the Waterloo Chamber.  A group photo will be taken.

After lunch the Knights process on foot to a service in St. George's Chapel, wearing their blue velvet mantels, and black velvet hats with white plumes.  The processional route is through the Upper, Middle and Lower Wards of the castle to St. George's Chapel. The procession is led by the Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle and the Military Knights of Windsor.

Crests and Banners of the KGs - the kiwi with the
ice axe is that of Sir Edmund Hiliary

In St George's a religious service is held and the companion is literally installed - assigned a stall in the choir of the chapel.  This stall is identified by a heraldic display: a sword below a helm topped with a crest, and above, a banner emblazoned with the companion's arms.  For more information on these devices, take at look at the website of Ian G Brennan, woodcarver to the Royal Household who creates them.   A brass stall plate is attached to the back of the stall displaying its member's name, arms and date of installation. On a member's death, these symbols are removed - the Military Knights of Windsor carry the banner of the deceased member and offer it to the Dean of Windsor, who places it on the altar.  The stall plates, however, are not removed; rather, they remain permanently affixed somewhere about the stall, so the stalls of the chapel provide a sense of continuity.

A Knight of the Garter in full fig

After the service, the members of the order return to the Upper Ward by carriage, presumably for tea and buns.

Garter insignia, temp Charles I

A Ceremonial Miscellany - The Thatcher Funeral

Just a few jottings on the Thatcher funeral that occur to me on watching the ceremony and looking at photos.

I'm not going to comment on the woman herself or the rights or wrongs of giving her a ceremonial/state funeral.  Please spare me from anything like that in the 'comments' section (I'll delete it anyway).

The gun carriage

 

The use of gun carriages to carry the coffin is traditional in state and ceremonial funerals. 

Since the funeral of Queen Victoria in February 1901, it has been usual in state funerals for the carriage to be drawn by members of the Royal Navy.  This is because when the coffin was loaded and the cortege moved off, the coupling broke on the carriage and the naval honour-guard jumped in to replace the horses in order to prevent delay.  The tradition has been followed for all state funerals (those of the subsequent kings, Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbattan) since.  That gun carriage, although belonging to the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA), is stored at the navy's gunnery school HMS Excellent at Portsmouth - photos and the full story here. 

It looks to me that the gun-carriage used for Lady Thatcher's funeral wasn't the state gun-carriage.  It was drawn by horses from the RHA, which appeared to be quite spooked at one point.

The Pall Bearers

The pall bearers were selected from military units with connections with the Falklands War.  They were arranged by the unit's seniority (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Artillery, Scots Guards, Parachute Regt and a member of the Brigade of Gurhkas) and chosen so the shortest was at the front, the tallest at the back - this meant that one of the two tallest was a Gurhka: not an easy choice!

The bearers were supervised by GSM Bill Mott OBE, LVO and commanded by Major Nicky Mott MBE, both of the Welsh Guards.  The Motts are brothers and both survivors of the RFA Sir Galahad disaster during the Falklands.  There's a nice article on them here.


What was on the cushions?

Unfortunately we didn't get a decent picture of them, but the cushions borne into the cathedral by Lady Thatcher's grandchildren and subsequently placed in her hearse had on them the insignia of the Order of the Garter and  the Order of Merit. 

Thatcher was made a member of the Order of Merit in 1990 and a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter in 1995.  The only other non-royals to hold both the Garter and the OM post-war were also prime ministers - Churchill and Clement Attlee (they were also both Companions of Honour).  The insignia of the Garter will be returned to the Queen, but the family will keep the OM.

I will add links to both these orders once I've posted on them.  I've been promising a post on the OM for months!

Who was the man with the Big Hat?

This was Roger Gifford, this year's Lord Mayor of the City of London.  This is a different position from the Mayor of London (Boris Johnston, the current mayor was also at the funeral, but didn't take any part in the ceremony).  Gifford is the 685th lord mayor, which is an indication of the antiquity of the post (established in 1189).  The lord mayor is elected from the among the aldermen of City of London (the 'Square Mile') every Michelmas (29 September) by the Liverymen of the City.  His function is ceremonial, charitable and to promote the interests of the City. 

Technically the Crown and Parliament doesn't have any authority within the city precincts and the Queen only attends St Pauls by permission of and attended by the Lord Mayor.

When she crosses the city boundaries on official duties, the Queen is met by the City Marshal and the Swordbearer (he's the one with the furry hat - a cap of maintenance, itself a rare privilege - peeking over the lord mayor's shoulder; his office is a newish one, first mentioned in 1419).  The City's sword is placed before her hilt first in a voluntary sign of submission, she then touches it before returning it to the Lord Mayor.

The sword used this morning is a special one, the Mourning Sword (one of five the City uses), it dates from the C16th and has been used as the Lord Mayors' mourning sword since the C19th.  It is distinguished by its black handle and accoutrements.  Like many things about this funeral, it was last seen at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965.

Which leads us to...

...The Queen

By custom the Queen only rarely attends funerals other than for members of the family (she'd never did anything else otherwise!), but sends a representative.  This was the first prime minister's funeral she's attended since Churchill's.

For those interested, 'From Her Majesty's Jewel Vault' has done it's usual bang-up job of identifying the jewelry the Queen wore at the funeral (one of Queen Victoria's pieces).

The Chelsea Pensioners

Part of the honour guard at St Paul's consisted of Chelsea Pensioners.  In retirement Lady Thatcher did a lot to support the Chelsea Hospital, visiting frequently and raising a lot of money for it.  The Hospital's 2009 infirmary wing is named after her.

The guard included Dorothy Hughes, one of the first two (and so far only)
female Chelsea Pensioners

More Popery

Over at the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog there's an interesting post on the royal attendees of the Pope Francis' inaugural mass. If anyone is interested in dress code, and in particular the privilège du blanc, then I'd certainly recommend popping over there. Follow the links she posts, there are some nice pics of popes from John XXIII onwards with various royals.

I'm just going to nick a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.  Since it was announced the they were to represent the Queen at the mass, my 'Royals in Medals' profile of them has been held the top spot in the visitor stats, so see this as my cheap attempt to grab more hits!  It's not shown in this photo, but the poor duchess had to sit next to Ken Clarke (which might explain why she's looking a little deafened).

On the 'Royals in Medals' front there's nothing new to add here - the orders and medals are explained in my previous post.  It's interesting to see the duchess choosing the Royal Family Order, GCVO, Diamond Jubilee Medal (on bow) combo - why the last as opposed to anything else?  It looks a little cluttered; but there's no real significance in any of this.

I've just noticed that in my profile post I'd said the duke has the Nepal Coronation medal, but haven't mentioned in the duchess' medals though she is clearly wearing it in the photo.

One other small point of no interest.  When did you last see a UK diplomat (other than the late lamented Rex Hunt) in Levee Dress?  Well, here's one http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinholysee/8579000797/.  Perhaps when the Ambassador's blog is updated he'll explain why he hasn't mounted up his jubilee medal (or perhaps he's been a naughty boy and didn't get one).

By the way, in her blog post OSS says one of the wisest things I've ever read about ceremonial

I have a personal theory on all issues of protocol, by the way: just when you think you've got the "rules" down, you will find an example to contradict you. Therefore, by the transitive property of meh, you shouldn't worry about it too much.

I shall cite the 'transitive power of meh' in future.