Armorial invitation

[Arthur Radburn]

I found this interesting display of imperial/Commonwealth coats of arms and floral emblems from 1937 :

Cor 1937 Inv.jpg

The floral emblems of India and the dominions had appeared on the invitation to King Edward VII's coronation in 1902, and dominion emblems on that to King George V's coronation in 1911, but King George VI was on the only one to have their arms as well.

I wonder what the Union Jack shield with oakleaves in the left-hand margin represented. The UK, or perhaps the overseas colonies collectively?

[Martin Goldstraw]

Thank you for sharing this with us.

[Iain Boyd]

I will add my thanks to that of Martin.

Do you have an example of the other two invitations that you could add to this post?

Regards,

Iain Boyd

[Ryan Shuflin]

I found the one for Edward VII

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

For Her Majesty's Coronation -

[Arthur Radburn]

Glad you like this. Here's the King George V invitation :

Cor 1911 Inv.jpg

Interesting to see how the representation of Australia and New Zealand evolved through these invitations. In 1902, both were represented by the Southern Cross. In 1911, they were represented by different versions of the Southern Cross, evidently derived from their flags (though Australia's version has 8-pointed stars instead of 7-pointed stars). From 1937, Australia was represented by wattle and New Zealand by the silver fern.

[Arthur Radburn]

The heraldry of the Commonwealth and the Empire also featured prominently in the official programmes for the 1937 and 1953 coronations. In each case, the cover featured the royal arms within a border containing the floral emblems of the UK, India, and the dominions, and the first page consisted of a chart of the arms or flag badges of the UK, India, the dominions, and the colonies and protectorates.

King George VI programme cover :

Cor 1937 Prog Cover.jpg

... and first page (a bit fuzzy, unfortunately):

Cor 1937 Prog p1.jpg

Queen Elizabeth II programme cover :

[Image no longer available]

... and first page (also a bit fuzzy):

Cor 1953 Prog p1.jpg

How the world order has changed!

[Jeremy Kudlick]

These are all wonderful. Thanks to all for sharing them.

[Arthur Radburn]

Another heraldic aspect of the 1953 coronation : the floral emblems of the UK and dominions as embroidered on the Queen's gown :
http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/coronation/dress.html

[Can this thread be renamed 'Coronation heraldry' ?]

[Peter Harling]

I think quite a few UK families have these tucked away in drawers and never looked at again, or very rarely. Many second hand book stores usually sell them very cheep!

Nice to see such a collection here, thanks for posting.

Regards ......... Peter