o even in one year had proved herself to be capable of
understanding the intricate doings of statescraft, and days before the
ceremonies were to begin, people poured in from all parts of the United
Kingdom to see the glittering spectacle and to prove their loyalty to
her who was their sovereign.

The great procession started from Buckingham Palace about ten o'clock in
the morning, and the first state carriages held the Duchess of Kent and
her attendants, then came the grand state coach, imposing in its
gorgeous array of gilding and glass, drawn by eight cream-coloured
horses from the royal stables, with white flowing manes and tails. In
the coach of state sat Her Majesty, and there was tremendous applause
all along the line as soon as the bright girlish face beaming its
welcome to her people, was seen. On reaching Westminster Abbey, the
gorgeous scene might have startled or confused her, if she had not
rehearsed beforehand as thoroughly as though it were a play in which she
were to take part.

On each side of the nave were galleries erected for the spectators,
which had been covered with crimson cloth fringed with gold, and under
them were lines of very martial looking footguards. The stone floor was
covered with crimson and purple cloth, while immediately under the
central tower of the Abbey, inside the choir, five steps from the
floor, was a platform covered with cloth of gold on which stood the
golden "Chair of Homage." In the chancel, near the altar, stood the
quaint old chair in which all the sovereigns since Edward the Confessor
had been crowned. The tiers of galleries upholstered in crimson cloth
and old tapestries, were occupied by Members of Parliament and foreign
Ambassadors, while in the organ loft sat a large choir dressed in white,
and players on instruments dressed in scarlet, while high above them
were a score of trumpeters; all of which produced a brilliant effect
that was heightened by the music pealing through the vast Abbey over the
heads of the throng.

Long before the arrival of the royal party the Abbey was crowded to its
doors with foreign Ambassadors and Princes in their gorgeous costumes,
and most gorgeous of all were the Lord Mayor and Prince Esterhazy, who
was costumed like a glittering shower of jewels from head to toe, while
hundreds of pretty women were there in every kind of elaborate evening
dress, although it was only eleven o'clock in the morning. It took both
time and thought to pla