GMALL Lectures – British Coronations And The Royal Image

The media attention given to Charles III’s recent coronation brings up a number of significant questions. Were coronations always as important as they seem to be today? Were they public events? Where did the rituals come from, what did they originally mean, and how has that meaning changed over time? As this lecture will discuss, coronations have served different purposes since the Middle Ages, and have been periodically revived or altered by monarchs eager to publicize a particular image of themselves.