Well, this is quite an exciting innovation I have to say – at this coronation, a new anointing screen has been commissioned. At the anointings of previous sovereigns, they have been shielded from view at this solemn moment by a canopy held by Knights of the Garter. The canopy used at the coronation in 1953, had been made in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII – it was of silk and embroidered with eagles. That object has now been retired, it may well have been too fragile to use – and instead for the king’s coronation a three-sided fabric screen that will wrap around St Edward’s chair will be used instead. Rather than shielding the king from above like the canopies of old, this will shield the king from view from the west, north and south. It will be open to the east, towards the high altar, so that the archbishop can easily anoint the king. The screen is apparently a gift from the Corporation of London and some of the livery companies and has been designed by Orthodox iconographer Aidan Hart.
