The new “homage of the people”, which the Archbishop of Canterbury will ask the public to recite at the King’s coronation on Saturday, has been branded “tone deaf”, “offensive” and “outdated” by some. But it’s not a new idea.
Seventy years ago, before the coronation of Elizabeth II, former prime minister Clement Attlee had a strikingly similar scheme.
At a meeting of the coronation council on 16 February 1953, Attlee proposed that an oath to the monarch on behalf of “the common man” be read at the coronation. It was intended to reflect a changing social order in Britain, where the power of the aristocracy was fading fast.
In the busy running order of the coronation ceremony, Attlee recommended this new oath should come after the traditional homage oath my by the peers. This year, the “homage of the people” will replace the “homage of peers” entirely. Many hereditary peers have not been invited to Saturday’s ceremony.
While this weekend members of the public will be asked to read along, in 1953 Attlee suggested the Speaker of the House of Commons take the oath on behalf of the public.
His proposal was dismissed by the council with the rather unconvincing excuse that there wasn’t enough time to consult all the Commonwealth governments about introducing a new oath.
Really Attlee’s idea was too forward thinking 70 years ago. Now some describe this weekend’s more extreme version as “outdated”. How times change.
