Richard Wyatt

As the coronation of King Charles III approaches, Richard Wyatt thinks back to the crowning of King Edgar, who is believed to be the first king of a united England, in a Saxon church that once stood within the footprint of Bath Abbey

By the time you read this, a very special and much-missed metal plaque should have been returned to its original location. Modest in size, but powerful in meaning, it sits on one of the buttresses fronting the external east wall of Bath Abbey.

It may not the biggest of its kind but with our new King’s coronation at hand it marks a very important and proud link this city has had with the monarchy for a thousand years and more. It commemorates the fact that Edgar –believed to be the first king of a united England –was crowned in a Saxon church that once stood on the spot now occupied by its Tudor counterpart. It reads: “King Edgar was crowned King of All England in Bath on Whitsunday 973 AD.”

The plaque had lost a screw and the wooden backing was falling apart, so it was taken down. Since then the amazing multimillion pound Footprint Project got in the way of any further action –until just recently, when it was sent off to a specialist in Winchester for restoration. Those wonderful crown-embossed security-proof screw caps will be replicated. (Find out more at bathabbey.org.)

The service used for Edgar’s coronation was compiled by a west country educated cleric called Dunstan, who was by then Archbishop of Canterbury and was later made a saint. He was a monk highly favoured by a succession of kings, although his jealous enemies were always ready to have him disgraced.

Maybe you’ve heard the story of King Edmund who was out hunting near Cheddar, soon after banishing Dunstan on some trumped-up charge. The stag the hounds were chasing ran blindly over the Cheddar Gorge cliffs, as did the hounds, and the king’s horse was likely to follow. Seeing death as imminent, His Majesty remembered his harsh treatment of Dunstan and promised to make amends if his life was spared. At that moment his horse was stopped at the very edge of the cliff. Giving thanks to God, Edmund returned to his local palace and called for Dunstan to follow him to Glastonbury where he made him Abbott.

After many more adventures Dunstan officiated at the coronation of King Edgar in 973 AD as Archbishop of Canterbury. Edgar was crowned in Bath in an imperial ceremony planned at the culmination of his reign rather than at its start. King Edgar died two years later. This service, devised by Dunstan himself, forms the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony.

Last performed in 1953 to crown our late Queen Elizabeth II, many will fondly remember she came to Bath in 1973 to mark a thousand years of monarchy. This institution had started here in our city with the first anointing of a royal head.

I was nearly four at the time of the coronation and only remember being given, along with all the other children in the village where l spent my early years, a silver-coloured spoon decorated with a red, white and blue ribbon. Two other relics of that event have gone missing. I swapped my beautiful coronation coach for a tank transporter. Not the best investment by any means.

I also had a commemorative book with beautiful colour images of a young smiling Queen. As a post war baby, my world –and much of this book –tended towards black and white, so even a single rainbow-coloured image registered with the same impact as opening the lid of a jewel-filled treasure chest. Having lost my copy of the book, l found another online. It was an emotional moment for me to look through it. The Queen’s reign did, after all, cover much of my life.

Maybe, others of my generation have been more careful in preserving their souvenir keepsakes from 1953. Now, with a new monarch officially taking to that historic throne, there will no doubt be more to collect and keep this month. n