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The
Queen's Body Guard |
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Coronations Epiphany
Garden Parties
Garter Services There can be little to match the splendour of a State occasion; its pomp and ceremony, the colour and pageantry. Each time The Body Guard re-enact a ceremony's well rehearsed script, we re-enforce our Country's history. A history that is matched by few and bettered by none. The regalia, oaths, vows and ceremony of bygone days have a meaning, some more obscure than others, but none-the-less, still meaningful. As this website progresses it will attempt to describe The Body Guard's part in each ceremony, to a greater or lesser degree. We will describe the regalia and its meaning eg the Ampulla (flask or bottle) and Spoon used in the Coronation. The Ampulla is at least 1400 years old and the Spoon a mere few hundred years. Was the Ampulla really given to St Thomas a Beckett by The Blessed Virgin Mary whilst he was in France? What is fact, is that the Ampulla (in the shape of a golden eagle with wings outspread) is filled with Holy Oil that is used to anoint the Sovereign. We will bring back a few old memories to those over 50 by explaining why some of our old ceremonies have contributed to the odd nursery rhyme or been the originator of certain words or expressions. For example, below is a poem that we all British children learned at school in some form or other, but did we know at the time that it related to a visit to a Coronation: Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you
been?
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Send mail to qbg@hotmail.co.uk
with questions or comments about this web site.
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