King Edgar was crowned after 14 years of his reign. The service was significant in that it used Dunstan’s famous and long-lasting order of service, some of which remains to this day. This is how it appeared in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle :

In this year, Edgar, ruler of the English
Was consecrated King by a great assembly,
In the ancient city of Acemannesceastee,
Also called Bath by the inhabitants
Of this island. On that blessed day,
Called and named Whit Sunday by the children of Men,
There was great rejoicing by all. As I have heard,
There was a great congregation of priests and a goodly company of monks,
And wise men gathered together.

King Edgar (959-975) became known as “the Peaceable”. As the great grandson of Alfred the Great, he inherited a largely stable kingdom. However, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is fulsome in its praise of Edgar, some of which must surely have been deserved :

“His reign was prosperous and God granted him
To live his days in peace; he did his duty,
And laboured zealously in its performance.
Far and wide he exalted God’s praise
And delighted in His law, improving the security
Of his people more than all the kings
Who were before him within the memory of man.

The recent State visit of Chinese President, Hu Jintao, was marred for staff at Buckingham Palace by the suspicions of the delegation.

Every time staff were summoned to the President’s suite, where the furniture had been completely rearranged, they had to remove their artificial poppies ~ worn in Britain in the runup to Armistice Day on November 11.

A Palace source told the Daily Mail : “Apparently the Chinese were convinced the poppies were bugs.”

An eminent man of letters who was also a radical visited the Palace. He accepted the invitation “in a spirit of mingled curiosity and ribaldry.” The mood survived until the Queen appeared and her guests were presented.

“Suddenly I felt physically ill,” he said. “My legs felt weak, my head swam and my mind went totally blank. ‘So you’re writing about such-and-such, Mr~?’ said the Queen. I had no idea what I was writing about, or even if I was writing a book at all. All I could think of to say was, ‘What a pretty brooch you’re wearing, Ma’am.’ So far as I can recall she was not wearing a brooch at all. Presumably she was used to such imbecility. Anyway she paid no attention to my babbling and in a minute or two I found that I was talking sense again.”

Quoted in Crown and People by Philip Ziegler (1978). Check out the best price.