Coronations in Europe

[1] Europe's only Muslim king swore a required constitutional oath on the Bible and the Qur'an, symbolizing his desire to unify his country.

Emperors of Austria were never crowned (unlike their predecessors in the Holy Roman Empire), as a coronation was not viewed as being necessary to legitimize their rule in that country.

Belgium has no regalia such as crowns (except as a heraldic emblem); the monarch's formal installation requires only a solemn oath to "abide by the Constitution and the laws of the Belgian people, maintain the country’s independence and preserve its territory" before members of the two chambers of parliament.

[8][9][10] In 1791, the right to crown the Queen of Bohemia was transferred to the Abbess of the Damenstift or Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies (a post always filled by an Archduchess of Austria).

The modern hereditary Bulgarian kings were pronounced heads of state by the Parliament and anointed at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, but did not have the formal coronation ritual known in western countries.

[18] Building on the largely impromptu and informal acclamation of the Roman emperors, the Byzantine Empire gradually developed a complex coronation ritual.

A choral hymn was then sung, and then the newly crowned king and queen listened to a second sermon and the reading of the Gospel, which brought the service to an end.

The former Queen, Margrethe II, and her son, the present king, Frederik X, did not have any formal enthronement service; a public announcement of the accession was made from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, with the new sovereign being acclaimed by the Prime Minister at the time, then cheered with a ninefold "hurrah" by the crowds below.

Since this Roman glass vial, containing the balm due to be mixed with chrism, was allegedly brought by the dove of the Holy Spirit, the French monarchs claimed to receive their power by divine right.

The coronation regalia, like the throne and sceptre of Dagobert I or crown and sword of Charlemagne, were kept in the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris, and the liturgical instruments, like the Holy Ampulla and Chalice, in Reims, where they are still partly preserved as well as in the Louvre and other Parisian museums.

During the First French Empire, Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Josephine were crowned in December 1804 in an extremely elaborate ritual presided over by Pope Pius VII and conducted at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

According to a Cassino manuscript of c. 1200, the coronation of the kings of Sicily was based on a German model, though variations were made to adapt it to Sicilian tradition.

In 1719 the Liechtenstein family finally attained the long-sought rank of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire and had a crown (or ducal hat, as it is named) made of diamonds, pearls, and rubies.

The formation of the Kingdom of Lithuania was a partially successful attempt at unifying all surrounding Baltic tribes, including the Old Prussians, into a single state.

Though many of the Polish Crown Jewels were destroyed by Prussian King Frederick William III, a few pieces are exhibited at the National Museum in Warsaw.

Before the assumption of the Portuguese throne by the Habsburgs, kings of Portugal used to be anointed and crowned in the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, in a manner similar to the coronation of João IV.

[43] The coronation service was interdenominational rather than Romanian Orthodox (the majority religion and then the state church), in part because Ferdinand was Roman Catholic, while his wife was Anglican at the time.

Ferdinand's son, Carol II, intended to be crowned in September 1930 but abandoned his plans due to marital difficulties with his wife, Queen Helen, which included an ongoing affair with Magda Lupescu.

After the sovereign had recited the Nicene Creed as his profession of faith, and after an invocation of the Holy Spirit and a litany, the emperor assumed the purple chlamys, and the crown was then presented to him.

He was invited to enter the altar area through the Royal Doors (normally reserved solely to the clergy) and partake of Communion as a priest would, in both kinds.

[22] Serbia's last coronation was in 1904, when King Peter I was crowned in an Eastern Orthodox Christian ceremony at the Cathedral of the Host of Holy Archangels in Belgrade.

[53] Five days after his visit to the Cortes, King Juan Carlos I attended an "Enthronement Mass" at the Church of San Jerónimo el Real in Madrid.

The Litany and then an anthem was sung during which the king went to his throne on a dais before the altar with the Royal Standard being borne on his right and the banner of the Order of the Seraphim on his left.

A Key was then delivered to the king by the Major-General of Nordin, as the Archbishop said the following prayer:God the Almighty who of His divine providence hath raised you to this royal dignity, grant you to unlock treasures of wisdom and truth for your people, to lock out error, vices and sloth from your kingdom and to provide for the industrious prosperity and increase, relief and comfort for the suffering and afflicted.

The current monarch, Carl XVI Gustaf, simply took the then-required regal assurance (Konungaförsäkran) during a meeting of the cabinet and afterward was enthroned in a simple ceremony at the throne room of the Royal Palace in Stockholm on 19 September 1973.

[58][dubious – discuss] The monarch and their consort enter the abbey in procession and is seated on a "Chair of Estate" as the Archbishop of Canterbury goes to the east, south, west, and north of the building asking if those present are willing to pay homage to their new sovereign.

[60] The ceremonies as conducted for Elizabeth II in 1953 and Charles III in 2023 also functioned as the coronation rite for the realms within the Commonwealth which recognise the British monarch as head of state.

In the case of the former, the text of the administered oath named the seven separate Commonwealth kingdoms in existence as the time, as well as a general statement regarding other territories.

Following the start of the reformation in England, the boy king Edward VI had been crowned in the first Protestant coronation in 1547, during which Archbishop Thomas Cranmer preached a sermon against idolatry and "the tyranny of the bishops of Rome".

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