The Coronation and the Constitution in the British Tradition

This book offers an intensive and fascinating look at British coronation traditions. It places British coronation practices in the context of the Biblical, Classical and medieval European traditions which influenced it before breaking down every aspect of British coronations to deeply probe their meaning, significance and function. The author's deep expertise in the legal and constitutional aspects of monarchy gives this book a unique perspective, generating new insights into this vital ceremony at the heart of the monarchy.

This book examines the legal, political and theological functions of the British coronation. Coronations as understood in the traditional western European sense, are, in those countries which remain monarchies, increasingly rarely found, though they are far from extinct. They indeed may be seen as an exceptional survival of a vanishing era, an age dominated by kingship and Christianity – although some non-Christian kingdoms retain, have adopted, or once had, comparable inaugurations. But the coronation, as the term is generally understood, is a unique hybrid of election, tribal inauguration, political acknowledgment and sacred setting apart, which make its legal, political and theological roles highly significant. The fact that the United Kingdom is one of the few monarchies which retain coronations does not diminish the importance of the coronation – indeed, rather the opposite. The country is also the last of the great monarchies of Europe, so it would perhaps be surprising if it did not retain such a ritual and solemnity. It is in the context of its historical setting, the theological and political underpinnings and rationale, and indeed a more modern sociological understanding of the role of ritual, that the importance of the coronation as a constitutional ritual of the highest importance is to be understood, and therefore its necessity may be considered.

Noel Cox was Professor at Aberystwyth University, UK,  and also Visiting Fellow at both the University of Cambridge and the Australian National University. Since 2015, he has been a priest in the Diocese of Auckland.