The coronation of James II and VII, and his wife Mary of Modena, as King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland was held on 23 April 1685 at Westminster Abbey.

This provoked the Exclusion Crisis, when Parliament attempted to pass bills that would exclude James from the throne, because they feared that a Catholic monarch, like Louis XIV of France, would rule as an autocrat and restrict Protestant freedom of worship.

James immediately summoned the Privy Council and gave an impassioned speech promising to "preserve this Government both in Church and State as it is now by Law Establish'd".

At the first meeting, James ordered that a lavish and detailed record of the coronation be made, a work undertaken by Francis Sandford, the Lancaster Herald, assisted by Gregory King, the Rouge Dragon Pursuivant.

The book that they produced, The History of the Coronation of the most High, most Mighty, and most Excellent Monarch, James II, was the first complete record of the ceremony to survive and includes not only a meticulous description but is lavishly illustrated by engravings, plans and diagrams.

The exact reason why the tradition was abandoned was not recorded,[9] but later suggestions include that James preferred to spend the money on jewels for his consort,[10] that there was insufficient time for preparation, or that the ostentation of these processions had gone out of fashion.

James required Sancroft to "review the Forms of Divine Service used at former Coronations, and (keeping to the Essentials) to abridge, as much as might be, the extream length thereof".

The subtext of this order was the omission of the Holy Communion or Eucharist from the service, which had been a fundamental part of English coronations since records began, so as not to compromise James's Catholic beliefs.

[11] An added complication was the need to include the coronation of a queen consort; James had married Mary, the daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena, in a proxy marriage in 1673.

The resulting abridgement was described by the church historian Jocelyn Perkins as "revolutionary vandalism", but Sancroft's text (with Communion reinstated) became the model for future British coronations into the 20th century.

[14] Sanford's detailed account provides for the first time the exact layout prepared for the coronation, both in the abbey and in Westminster Hall where the event would start and conclude.

The crown jewels and regalia were brought to the hall in procession by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, where they were ceremonially distributed to their rightful bearers.

[21] The 15-minute procession included the choirs of the Chapel Royal and Westmintser Abbey together with drummers and trumpeters, who sang an anthem, O Lord, grant the King a long life, probably composed by William Child for the 1661 coronation.

[28] Another amendment to the traditional format was the moving of the investment with the coronation ring and the Sceptre with Dove to after the crowning, probably to emphasise that the whole investiture was important.

[30] The responsibility for organising the coronation music apparently rested with John Blow, the Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, as he was given "Five Yards of fine Scarlet Cloth for his Mantle as Composer".

The combined choirs of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey totalled twenty boy trebles and forty-eight gentlemen, who were accompanied by an orchestra of thirty-six musicians.

Listed amongst the Chapel Royal basses was the composer Henry Purcell, who was also the abbey organist, although there is no evidence that the great organ was played during the coronation.

For the homage, a new text was taken from Psalm 89, 'God spake sometime in visions, composed by Blow and perhaps chosen because of the verse, "I will set his Domination also in the Sea: And his Right Hand in the Floods", which may have been a reference to James's previous success as Lord High Admiral of England.

The King and Queen left at 7 o'clock, ordering a postponement of the planned firework display until the next evening "by reason of the great fatigue of the day".

[47] The London Gazette reported local celebrations of feasting, bonfires and fireworks in Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Nottingham, Prescot, Saltash and Shrewsbury.