Tiny mistake spotted in King Charles’ new Coronation roll
On his second public appearance since cancer diagnosis, Charles asked whether all the spellings were correct in the 70ft-long Coronation roll
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Your support makes all the difference.An intricately stitched roll more than 70ft (21.4 metres) long, created for the King’s coronation, contains just one mistake, it’s been revealed – a missing dot over an “i”.
The roll, which consists of 30 pages stitched together by hand, is the official record of Charles’s crowning.
Calligrapher Stephanie von Werthern-Gill said she worked for 56 days non-stop writing the roll after the coronation almost a year ago, on 6 May.
It bears about 11,600 words, elegantly inscribed, describing the ceremony, from the procession into Westminster Abbey to the anointing and crowning of the king, as well as a list of all those who took part and the official guests.
Rolls have been created for every coronation for centuries, but this is the first to be printed on paper, rather than vellum from animal skins, reflecting the King’s views on animal welfare.
But when the King saw the roll, which he said went on “for miles”, he joked: “All the right spellings?”
In fact, there was a dot missing on a letter i, which Ms von Werthern-Gill had spotted, according to the BBC.
The King praised the team behind roll, telling them: “You deserve a very stiff drink.”
Camilla peered at a section of the roll spread on a table in Buckingham Palace’s 1844 room and said: “Goodness me, I won’t attempt to read it without my specs” and, commenting on how past rolls were written in Latin and French, Charles replied: “At least it’s in English.”
The roll includes intricate illustrations by Tim Noad, the designer of the King’s cypher, the logo that will appear on new banknotes, public buildings, uniforms and eventually on new postboxes.
The physical scroll will be stored at the National Archives, alongside the 17 historic Coronation Rolls that have survived.
It was the King’s second public-facing event since his cancer diagnosis and start of his treatment.
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