Coronation Connection
My Dad sadly passed away on 27th April 2023, nine days before the Coronation of King Charles III. My Dad had become almost blind, but he would have loved to have listened to the service, especially to the music and the choir. At age seventeen, he was a member of the choir who sang at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey on 2nd June 1953.
Me and my Mum were watching the Holy Communion Service from All Saints online when I heard Simon Headley announce that it was not too late to join with All Saints choir for the Civic Service celebrating the King’s Coronation. I said to my Mum “I’d like to take part in memory of Dad.” Not easy as I hadn’t been to church or almost anywhere for over three years due to the pandemic, so the first challenge was to fight my anxiety and walk into church, then manage being with people (without a facemask) and be in the ‘outside world’ again.
There wasn’t long to confront my fears, but with help and reassurance from Rev’d Wendy, I walked back into the church building when there was no service taking place. The wonderful feeling of being back inside All Saints cannot be expressed in words. Anxiously I practised with the choir and ultimately managed to sing at the Civic Service which was a very enjoyable experience. I learned how to sing a Psalm for the first time which was a special moment and one I would love to have shared with my Dad in person, rather than him listen from Heaven.
My Mum attended the service with me and after it had finished, we were introduced to His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire. We showed him my Dad’s 1953 hardback copy of ‘The Form and Order of the Service and the Music Sung in the Abbey Church of St: Peter, Westminster’. My Dad’s name and 1953 were neatly written in black ink inside. The Lord-Lieutenant had attended the Coronation of King Charles III and looked through the book with interest, making several comparisons between the two services. The 1953 book will always be a treasure of mine, just like the memories I have of my Dad.
