Change in Transport
As we have seen, the Tudors, especially Henry VIII, pioneered royal water processions on the Thames. The location of their royal palaces, Hampton Court, Richmond, Whitehall, and Greenwich, was, concerning to this, to their advantage. They were all on the Thames, which benefited the communication between them, and made river processions from one palace to another possible. This changed in the 1560s when roads replaced the river as the most important form of transport. “The principal entrances to the royal palaces were reoriented from the water to the landward side. It was a transport revolution. … Indeed, under Elizabeth I, the revolution took place. Elizabeth I was the most famously ceremonious monarch in English history and her progresses are the stuff of legend. But, as far as I can tell, she never took part in a major Thames pageant” (Starkey Royal River, 14).
Inauguration processions
Henry VIII used the river to inaugurate queens that he didn’t crown. By Elizabeth I the river was kind of ignored, but under the Stuarts, Henry’s inauguration processions made, once more, complete sense. England was now protestant, but Charles I, Charles II, and James II, married catholic women, who they seek to honour via such processions. The route was extended (from Gravesend to Whitehall), but the festivities remained pretty much the same: the boats fired salvoes and the Tower fired its salutes.
Other ceremonies, i.e. coronations, or the opening of parliament etc. were done on land. During the Interregnum, there were no water processions at all, since there were no monarchs, and in 1688, in the course of the ‘Glorious Revolution’, royal river processions absolutely stopped. The Bill of Rights declared that English monarchs are no longer allowed to marry catholic wives: “it [is] .., inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a popish prince” (qtd. Starkey Royal River, p. 16). This is why there were no further royal river pageants needed and held. |
River full of life
Another reason for the decrease of royal processions was the increasing activity on the river. During the 16th and 17th century, London’s ports were major destinations for the world trade, and England’s growing naval power, the wars with France and Spain, and the scouting of the ‘New World’ supported the Thame’s liveliness.
“But the divorce of the Crown and the Thames was not absolute of course” (Starkey Royal River, p. 17). Monarchs then used the river for entertainment and pleasure purposes and served as a stage for elegant river parties. George Frederick Handel wrote his famous “Water Music” for such a party in 1717, under the reign of George I. |
(George Frederick Handel's The Water music. First perfomance in 1717, on the River Thames.)