700-year-old coronation chair renovated for King Charles III

Buckingham Palace has released details about the various thrones that King Charles III and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, will use during their formal coronation ceremony on May 6. One of them is “the oldest surviving piece of furniture still used for its original purpose.”

Krista Blessley, Paintings Conservator at Westminster Abbey in London, spent weeks before the coronation giving the incredibly fragile “Coronation Chair,” also known as St. Edwards Chair, a makeover.

Built in 1309, the six-and-a-half-foot tall throne made of Baltic oak has “been used for every coronation of an English monarch, with a few exceptions, since then,” Blessley said.

She said a lot of the renovation work involved “sticking those layers of gilding back down and making sure it’s completely sound before the coronation.”

Buckingham Palace said St Edward’s Chair would be used, as it has been for centuries, for the “moment of crowning” on Saturday. The late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’ mother, was the last person to use the Coronation Chair, for her coronation ceremony in 1953. But then, the world watched in black and white, so Blessley wanted to make sure the thrones’ colors shone through this year.

Preparations for Saturday’s coronation are at fever pitch with various parts of Central London decorated with the Union Jack flag.
At the Oxford Street and Regent Street junction, emblems of the May 6 historic event, the first in 70 years, were sandwiched between the rows of five Union Jack flags on display near Oxford Circus station. However, others, such as the ones opposite John Lewis didn’t have the King’s Coronation emblem.

As part of the occasion, one of London’s most famous tourist attractions, Madame Tussauds, is tempting guests with a virtual “Royal Palace” tour. In a post on its website, “Celebrate out eight Royal Coronation with us,” the venue said: “To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, guests visiting The Royal Palace experience will be cordially invited to make their mark on history by signing our special Coronation Book. After which, it will be sealed in our archive and preserved for generations to come, alongside a remarkable collection of artefacts collated from over 200 years of history working alongside the Royal Family.”

Moreover, Madame Tussauds, which has wax figures of famous celebrities like the world’s 100 metres record holder, Usain Bolt, disclosed that: “King Charles III’s figure has been redressed in homage to the outfit His Majesty wore for the first-ever State Banquet of his reign, in November 2022.” Adding, it said:”our wardrobe team spent 140 hours finessing King Charles III’s new look, working with medal specialists and collectors to ensure no detail was forgotten.”

Camilla’s image has also been given a makeover, it announced. According to the centre, “the Queen Consort was very involved in the creation of her first figure in 2007 and had a sitting with our studios team at Clarence House. She also selected the outfit donated the shoes and bag!

“The Queen Consort’s new figure is styled in homage to the outfit she wore to the annual Diplomatic Reception in December 2022, the first of King Charles III’s reign.”

Saturday’s coronation service at Westminster Abbey will be at 11:00am. U.S President, Joe Biden, won’t be attending, but the First Lady is expected to be in the congregation.

Grossberg, who had been Carlson’s head of booking, last month accused network lawyers of pressuring her to provide misleading testimony. She also said Fox exposed her and others to rampant sexism and misogyny. Fox fired Grossberg, saying her legal claims were “riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”

Dominion had alleged that statements made on Carlson’s show after the 2020 election were defamatory, saying messages between the media personality and his team were proof they knew that claims the company’s ballot-counting machines were used to manipulate the presidential election in Biden’s favor were false.

Filings from the Dominion lawsuit included documents that showed Carlson and other hosts discussing concerns about the network’s reputation and casting doubt on the plausibility of Trump’s claims of election fraud.

But in the immediate weeks after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, smaller, more conservative rivals to Fox such as Newsmax saw viewership rise as they questioned election results. Dominion alleged that Fox staff, ranging from Carlson and members of the newsroom to the board of directors, knew the statements about Dominion were false but continued to air them to avoid losing more viewers.

cation, courage, resilient professionalism and the will to succeed.

“I am indeed proud of you all and want to charge you to continue to remain focused, disciplined and loyal to constituted authority. While ensuring we continue to carry out our responsibilities professionally in the joint environment we are operating in.

“We must continue to work with, synergise and leverage on the competencies of our sister security services and other organisations in the discharge of our responsibility,” Yahaya said.

According to him, the Army has been recording tremendous successes in the war against enemies of Nigeria. “It is important for me to state that the Nigerian Army under my watch has recorded great successes in all Theaters of Operation across the country.’’

“Our collective efforts provided the needed safe and secured environment for socioeconomic activities to thrive. We must continue to ensure that every criminal element and group in the country is completely eliminated,” he added.

The COAS also commended the professional conduct of troops in the just concluded general elections, noting that they stood their ground while discharging their duties. “The nation is indeed proud of the Nigerian Army and this calls for more work.

“We must indeed remain professional, apolitical and committed to the discharge of our constitutional responsibilities,” he said.
Earlier, Ali, the Theatre Commander, represented by his Deputy, Maj.-Gen. Koko Isong, said the theatre had intensified Kinetic and Non-Kinetic Operations, which was instrumental to the successes recorded so far.

He said a total 93,000 Boko Haram terrorists and their family members had surrendered to troops.
The commander assured that the troops would not be complacent to avoid the reversal of the gains already made. He added that the troops would continue to be decisive as they intensify the war against terrorists in the North East.

Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
Days before the statue’s unveiling in Atlanta, she removed a piece of clay and made some last-minute adjustments during the patina process so his eyes reflected the light.

“My idea was he would be on a mountaintop, with a Moses-type look, and he would be talking to God,” said the artist, who listened on repeat to the famous speech from the eve of King’s assassination.

“I designed it so his hands would be face up, so he’d be catching the light that was given to him, not sideways like he was preaching, and his eyes and head were raised up.”

The eight-foot, two-inch King monument takes its place among what will eventually be 18 statues of Georgia peacemakers at the Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park in the Vine City neighborhood. The Peace Park opened two years ago—a reconstruction of Mims Park, the first integrated park in Atlanta.

King stands atop a rock from Stone Mountain, the Confederate monument in Georgia referenced in his “I Have a Dream” speech.
This August will mark the 60th anniversary of King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The Washington Chorus will commemorate the occasion with the special concert ‘Free at Last! A musical tribute to King’s legacy’ at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, April 4, which is also the anniversary of his death.

“This anniversary is the 55th year of the assassination. I didn’t realise until a couple of weeks ago that it coincided with that, but the 60th anniversary for the speech is quite incredible because it is probably his most famous speech, the one that everybody references,” Kenneth Overton said.

The first half of the concert features “Scenes from the Life of a Martyr,” a 16-part oratorio by Undine Smith Moore, the granddaughter of slaves who grew up in Petersburg, Virginia, before studying music at Juilliard.

That the Nigerian judicial system, which remains the last resort for restoring confidence in the electoral process and correcting injustices, hear the calls for justice and discharge their duties without fear or favour.

That duty bearers, particularly state security and prosecutors, address the high level of hate speech threatening the peace and our social cohesion. The promoters of religious and/or ethnic based hate speech must be investigated, prosecuted and punished in line with the provisions of our laws in order to deter future promoters.

That allegations of malpractice and fraud by electoral officials on the national and state level be investigated and where appropriate, those found implicated prosecuted accordingly.

Finally, it said there is much room for improvement in our elections despite the laudable introductions to improve trust and credibility with Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC’s Result Viewing portal (IReV) and we encourage all Nigerians, in every way they can, to continue to demand the highest standards of equity and professionalism from duty bearers across all levels of government.
The 18 initial Advocates of the GoNigeria Movement are drawn from all the six geopolitical zones (three from each zone).

They are: Atedo Peterside (Convener), ‘Yemi Adamolekun, Tomiwa Aladekomo, Osita Chidoka, Dike Chukwumerije, Folarin Falana (Falz), Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, Bishop Matthew Kukah, Hamzat Lawal, Nuruddeen Lemu, Ayisha Osori, Arunma Oteh, Muhammad Ali Pate, Dr. Tony Rapu, HH Muhammad Sanusi II, Dr. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri and Aisha Yesufu.