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The Queen knelt at the altar, kissed the Holy Bible and made her solemn oath: "The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God." With a golden pen she signed a copy of the oath, the only formal contract between Sovereign and subjects. The Moderator of the Church of Scotland presented her with the Bible. "[It] is the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the royal law; these are the lively oracles of God."
Spoonful of Oil. Therewith began the Anglican Communion service, which is the heart of coronation. Embedded in the familiar liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, the mysteries of the anointing and crowning lost their strangeness for Britons, and the Abbey became, in a trice a nation's parish church. Archbishop and people intoned:
Lord have mercy upon us.
Christ have mercy upon us.
Lord have mercy upon us.
The Duchess Dowager of Devonshire, assisted by the Lord Great Chamberlain, unfastened the silk ribbons that held the Queen's train, and slipped over Her Majesty's arms a white muslin smock. Thus, with jewels hidden, Elizabeth crossed the chancel to her seat in King Edward's chair. The choir sang Handel's anthem Zadok the Priest, and four Knights of the Garter, gathering about their Queen, raised a cloth-of-gold canopy above her. The Dean of Westminster poured a spoonful of holy oil (containing perfumes of orange blossom, roses, cinnamon and jasmine, mixed with musk and ambergris) from an eagle-shaped vessel called the Ampulla. The Archbishop moistened his finger in the oil and made the sign of the cross on both the Queen's hands, on her breast and on the crown of her head. He spoke the ancient words: "As kings, priests and prophets were anointed, and as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest . . . so be thou anointed, blessed and consecrated Queen over the peoples whom the Lord thy God hath given thee to rule."
Symbols of Kingliness. Thus sanctified, the Queen was invested with the Colobiun Sindonis, "the robe of purity," and over it the Supertunica, a belted cloth of gold lined with crimson silk. She was ready to receive the emblems of temporal power.
The Archbishop laid in her hands the Sovereign's Sword—to "do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God . . . restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order." The Queen took the Sword, advanced with it to the altar and offered it to God. Turning, she stole a glance at the royal gallery, where her 4-year-old son Prince Charles, in a white silk suit, watched enraptured. She paused and returned to the chair.
On her wrists the Archbishop placed the Armills, or "Bracelets of sincerity and wisdom," over her shoulders was draped the golden Pallium, symbol of "the robe of righteousness and the garments of salvation." And to remind the monarch that "the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer," the Dean of Westminster presented her with the Orb, a golden globe surmounted by a cross.