Investiture of Alexandra

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Investiture of Queen Alexandra
2017 Queen Elizabeth II Centre.jpg
The Parliament Complex, where the investiture ceremony was held
Date1 August 2019
LocationLondon, United Kingdom
ParticipantsQueen Alexandra
Great Officers of State
British Armed Forces
Parliament of the United Kingdom

The investiture of Alexandra as Queen of the British took place on 1 August 2019 at the Parliament Complex in London, United Kingdom. The first of its kind in British history, it is the first civil ceremony to involve a British monarch following the disestablishment of the Church of England via the passing of the Church of England Act 1998. The ceremony took place roughly at the same time of Queen Alexandra's accession in light of the abdication of her father King Thomas.

Background

Prior to the ceremony, the last coronation for a British monarch to have taken place was in March 1997 for King Thomas which, like its predecessors, was inherently religious and Anglican in nature. However, the passing of the Church of England Act 1998, which formally disestablished the Church of England as a state church, meant that religious coronations are no longer considered feasible or appropriate in the near future.

Beginning in 1999, under the code-name "Operation Evolution", various individuals including government ministers, constitutional lawyers, religious leaders, and representatives of civil service met thrice a year to continuously discuss plans for a civil investiture concerning the next British monarch. Eventually, the planned announcement of the abdication of King Thomas in October 2017 made plans for a civil investiture ever more likely as discussions continued until the final date of 1 August 2019 when the ceremony was scheduled to take place.

Event

Procession to Parliament Complex

Beginning at 10:00 am, the ceremony kicked off with a large procession carrying Queen Alexandra from her royal residence of Buckingham Palace to the Parliament Complex, the legislative seat of the United Kingdom. Made up entirely of members of the British Armed Forces, in a break from tradition, the Queen was driven in a white Rolls-Royce Ghost rather than in the usual Gold State Coach which was previously used by British monarchs since King William IV. The official route saw the procession begin by going along The Mall from Buckingham Palace before turning right onto Whitehall and then rightwards around Parliament Square, passing significant buildings such as Westminster Abbey and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as they did, while a final rightward turn around Broad Sanctuary Green eventually seeing the procession arrive at their intended destination of the Parliament Complex.

Inauguration

Upon arriving at the Parliament Complex, Queen Alexandra was led into the building by a smaller procession made up of leaders of the religious faiths of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism, each of whom carried their respective religious texts in hand. Behind them, a separate procession duly followed and was made up of the governor generals of the seven Commonwealth realms, namely Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, The Cape, the Philippines, and the West Indies whom each carried the flags of their respective countries. At 10:20 am, Alexandra officially arrived at the doorsteps of the Investiture Hall where, as a sign of their arrival, the doors were knocked on twice. Shortly afterward, the guests in the hall promptly stood up as the Queen and her entourage entered the room.

As the religious leaders promptly took their seats, Alexandra, donning a white evening gown underneath the Imperial Mantle, walked down the aisle until she was then received by the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Baroness Hale of Richmond. After a brief formal exchange of pleasantries, Alexandra proceeded to take a few steps back before coming to rest on a chair where she was delivered by hand a well-preserved copy of the Magna Carta by the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Lord Reed of Allermuir, a gesture intended to emphasise the United Kingdom's long constitutional history that began with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 by King John of the House of Plantagenet. Following this, The Baroness Hale of Richmond subsequently delivered a speech on the evolution of the monarchy from an absolute role to a ceremonial one and the corresponding development of representative democracy in the nation which lasted for roughly fifteen minutes long.

Following the end of the speech, Alexandra swiftly handed the Magna Carta copy back before once again coming face-to-face with The Baroness Hale of Richmond who then swiftly placed the installation oath on a golden podium. With one hand raised, Alexandra proceeded to read the installation oath which went as follows:

On this fateful day and in front of the many esteemed guests present, I, Alexandra Katharine Charles Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Thomas, by the grace of God and the will of the people, duly accept my role as Queen of the British and of the People of other Commonwealth realms in which, from the beginning until the end of my service as the ceremonial head of the nation, I hereby swear to faithfully uphold the principles of the rule of law, representative democracy, the separation of powers, as well as ethnic, linguistic, racial, and religious inclusiveness of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Hanover, and Ireland. In addition, I also duly acknowledge the continued existence of my role as Queen as based upon the support of the government and the people, from whom I humbly ask for their unwavering loyalty and support in exchange for my faithful devotion to my role as the head of state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Hanover, and Ireland.

Upon the conclusion of the installation oath, the royal regalia was swiftly delivered into the Investiture Hall and presented in front of the Queen who proceeded to gently place St Edward's Crown onto her own head and, in turn, officially signed the installation oath where her signature was followed by those of the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Lord Chancellor. Following this, while holding the sword of state in one hand and a sceptre in the other, Alexandra turned to face the crowd behind her and subsequently stood still for a few minutes long as the United Kingdom's national anthem "Onwards, Britannia!" was played after which she placed both the sword and the sceptre back while otherwise retaining St Edward's Crown on her head as she slowly exited the Investiture Hall afterward, followed by the previous procession that had led her inside.

Procession to Buckingham Palace

Upon the ceremony's conclusion, Queen Alexandra was driven once again in the white Rolls-Royce Ghost surrounded by a large procession that followed a similar route as the first but in reverse, passing by the nearby One Great George Street building and going around St James's Park before arriving back at Buckingham Palace via The Mall at approximately 11:05 am.

At 11:20 am, Alexandra subsequently stood on the rear balcony of Buckingham Palace where she received a royal salute and three cheers from members of the British Armed Forces gathered in Buckingham Palace Garden. Following this, in the presence of her family members, Alexandra then stood on the front balcony to review a royal flypast by the Royal Air Force whose Red Arrows aerobatic team notably took part in the occasion.

Guests

Much like previous coronations, the event similarly saw the attendance of various guests from both inside the United Kingdom and abroad. Among the guests included:

Domestic Guests

British royal family

Non-royals

Celebrities

Foreign Guests

Non-royalty

Royalty

Celebrities

Reception

Owing to years of advanced planning beforehand, the event's execution was consequently met with much praise for its precision and smoothness with little to no fault in the process. Meanwhile, its mix of elements of a traditional coronation and those of a more modern ceremony was also widely received with the BBC particularly noting the "seamless blend of the past and the present that resulted in a unique occasion of its own and heavily distinguished from the rest".

Despite featuring a wide array of guests ranging from kings and queens to presidents and prime ministers in addition to both local and foreign celebrities, the event's choice of guests was not without controversy. In this, the president Russia was notably excluded from the event amidst popular public discontent and was, in turn, represented by his deputy Dmitry Medvedev. Likewise, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, despite effectively representing his elderly father abroad, was also not invited to the event amidst fears of protests over the latter's role in the assassination of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi around a year prior in October 2018. Instead, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, was chosen to represent his country at the event owing to him being less well-known to the public, thereby minimising the risk of any significant controversy. Meanwhile, a minor controversy arose when it was announced that both China's Premier Li Keqiang and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen were invited to the event despite longstanding geopolitical tensions between the two nations. To that end, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond later revealed that the Chinese government once attempted to pressure the organising committee into barring the Taiwanese leadership from the event under the threat of withdrawing their participation although such a threat never ultimately materialised while the committee itself persisted in including the Taiwanese leadership despite the constant Chinese pressure. Likewise, despite similar geopolitical tensions, the presidents of both Israel and Palestine were also invited and so are the presidents of India and Pakistan, two countries that have previously gone to war against each other on several occasions.

Given its distinctively secular nature, unlike past British coronations which are otherwise strictly Anglican ceremonies, in a historical moment, an invitation was extended to the leadership of the Vatican City, namely the current Pope Francis. In this, despite later expressing the Vatican City's "gracious acceptance" of the invitation, owing to his advanced age, the Pope revealed that he would not be attending the event directly and instead sent the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to represent the Vatican City at the event. However, Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, otherwise attended the event in person.

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