The Coronation of King Charles: The Triumph of Universal Harmony

By Nicholas Hagger

In King Charles the Wise, Nicholas Hagger celebrated Prince Charles’s humanitarian vision and foresaw the birth of a united world. In The Coronation of King Charles he celebrates the coming Carolingian Age. The hope is that all the divisions within the UK and problems of humankind will be resolved under a new democratic World State working to abolish war, enforce disarmament, combat famine, disease and poverty, and solve the world’s environmental and ecological problems of climate change and global warming; and that King Charles, Head of a Commonwealth of 53 nation-states, will work to bring his humanitarian vision to all the world’s nations. Following the tradition of Ben Jonson’s 17th-century court masques in verse and of his own masques The Dream of Europa and King Charles the Wise, which incorporate the blend of mythology and history and five sections (prologue, antimasque, masque, revels and epilogue) found in all masques. Hagger sets the third masque in his trilogy in London's Banqueting House, where masques were performed before James I. This coronation masque contains three pageant entertainments that are viewed by King Charles before his coronation and contrast the disorder and political chaos before his reign with the order and harmony of his new Carolingian Age. His philosopher-King’s concern to benefit the lot of all humankind is applauded by the Universalist God of the One who assumes protean forms - the gods of all faiths including Biblical Israel’s Yahweh and Olympian Zeus - and cares for all creation, and watches over him. King Charles, co-author of Harmony, is shown as presiding over what promises to be an Age of Universal Harmony.

• Language: English
• Publisher: O-Books
• Release date: Nov 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781789044775

Nicholas Hagger

Nicholas Hagger is the author of more than 50 books that include a substantial literary output and innovatory works within history, philosophy, literature and international politics and statecraft. As a man of letters he has written over 2,000 poems, two poetic epics, five verse plays, 1,200 short stories, two travelogues and three masques. In 2016 he was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize for Literature, and in 2019 the BRICS silver medal for 'Vision for Future'. He lives in Essex, UK.

Book preview

THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES

The Triumph of Universal Harmony

A Masque

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First published by O-Books, 2021

O-Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., 3 East St., Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

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Text copyright: Nicholas Hagger 2020

ISBN: 978 1 78904 476 8

978 1 78904 477 5 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936356

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Nicholas Hagger as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Printed in North America by CPI GPS partners

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THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES

The Triumph of Universal Harmony

A Masque

Nicholas Hagger

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Winchester, UK

Washington, USA

Also by Nicholas Hagger

The Fire and the Stones

Selected Poems

The Universe and the Light

A White Radiance

A Mystic Way

Awakening to the Light

A Spade Fresh with Mud

The Warlords

Overlord

A Smell of Leaves and Summer

The Tragedy of Prince Tudor

The One and the Many

Wheeling Bats and a Harvest Moon

The Warm Glow of the Monastery Courtyard

The Syndicate

The Secret History of the West

The Light of Civilization

Classical Odes

Overlord, one-volume edition

Collected Poems 1958–2005

Collected Verse Plays

Collected Stories

The Secret Founding of America

The Last Tourist in Iran

The Rise and Fall of Civilizations

The New Philosophy of Universalism

The Libyan Revolution

Armageddon

The World Government

The Secret American Dream

A New Philosophy of Literature

A View of Epping Forest

My Double Life 1: This Dark Wood

My Double Life 2: A Rainbow over the Hills

Selected Stories: Follies and Vices of the Modern Elizabethan Age

Selected Poems: Quest for the One

The Dream of Europa

Life Cycle and Other New Poems 2006–2016

The First Dazzling Chill of Winter

The Secret American Destiny

Peace for our Time

World State

World Constitution

King Charles the Wise

Visions of England

Fools’ Paradise

Selected Letters

Collected Prefaces

‘Masque’, a form of amateur histrionic entertainment, originally consisting of dancing and acting in dumb show, the performers being masked, afterwards including dialogue and song, 1562; a dramatic composition for this kind of entertainment, 1605.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

‘Masque’, a dramatic and musical entertainment, especially of the 16th and 17th centuries, originally of pantomime, later with metrical dialogue; a dramatic composition for this.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary

‘Pageant’, a spectacle arranged for effect; especially a procession or parade with elaborate spectacular display, 1805. Since 1907 applied to celebrations of local history consisting of a series of representations of events and personages connected with the particular place.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

‘Pageant’, a brilliant spectacle, especially an elaborate parade; a spectacular procession, or play performed in the open, illustrating historical events.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary

The front cover shows the inside of the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, built for James I as a venue for masques, with God of the One, whose Divine Light conferred the divine right of kings of David’s line (top left), and the ceremonial regalia of King Charles’s coronation (bottom right).

I am indebted to Thomas Woodcock, Garter Principal King of Arms of the College of Arms, for checking the Royal Family’s descent on pp.57–59 and 67–72.

CONTENTS

Dramatis Personae

Preface: A Coronation Masque, the Carolingian Age and Universal Harmony

Note to the Director, Director of Music and Programme Designer

The Coronation of King Charles

Prologue

Antimasque

Masque

Revels

Epilogue

Notes for The Coronation of King Charles

Timeline

Appendices

Appendix 1: British Royal Family’s Descent from Alfred the Great, 849 to present

Appendix 2: Royal Descent from King David the Psalmist, c.1010BC to present

Notes on Descent

Appendix 3: 54 Commonwealth Countries

Dramatis Personae

Characters in order of appearance:

(* = listed more than once; † = live chorus that could be shown on screen to reduce the cast)

A. Live cast

King Charles

Prolocutor (Minerva)

Kings and queens (non-speakers)

Chorus of the pageant:

The entire cast except for King Charles, the Prolocutor and God of the One take part in the singing, including:

Kings and queens

Archbishop

Speaker

Judge

Doctor

Military leader

Butcher

Journalist

TV presenter

Labourer

Old lady

Government minister

Worker

Soldier

Road sweeper

Homeless Londoner

War victim

Solomon

Ben Jonson

Charles I

James I

Shakespeare

Members of the live choruses listed † below, some of which could be shown on screen to reduce the cast

God of the One

Archbishop

Solomon

Ben Jonson

Charles I (non-speaker)

*James I

*Shakespeare

Homeless Londoner

War victim

†Chorus of angry Brexiteers

†Chorus of indignant historical figures

*Henry VIII

Shakespeare

Drake

Sir Walter Raleigh

James I

Nelson

Wellington

Earl Haig

Churchill

†Chorus of the British poor

Homeless man

Nurse

Healthcare worker

Teaching assistant

Police officer

Retired soldier

Pensioner

†Chorus of the wretched of the Commonwealth

South African

Kenyan

Pakistani

Canadian

Jamaican

Cypriot

New Zealander

†Chorus of suffering humankind

American

European

African

Middle Eastern

Indian

Australian

Russian

Chinese

All choruses not on screen can be drawn from the Chorus of the pageant.

B. On screen (not present in the Banqueting House)

Chorus of UN delegates

North American

South American

European

Indian

African

Australian

Russian

Chinese

Chorus of Representatives and Senators of the democratic World State

Chorus of 9 shades of Kings and leaders

Alfred

Harold II

William I, Conqueror

Henry II

Henry VIII

George III

Lord Palmerston

Winston