Coronation of the British monarch on Christmas Day, possibly in imitation of the Byzantine emperors, and John's was on Ascension Day. Elizabeth I consulted her astrologer, John Dee, before deciding on an auspicious date. The coronations of Charles II in 1661 and Anne in 1702 were on St George's Day, the feast of the patron saint of England. Under the Hanoverian monarchs in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was deemed appropriate to extend the waiting period to several months, following a period of mourning for the previous monarch and to allow time for preparation of the ceremony. In the case of every monarch
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley in 1544 and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545, both very senior military positions. He returned to court just before King Henry VIII died in January 1547, leaving Catherine one of the wealthiest women in England. According to the King's will, a regency council was constituted to rule on behalf of the 9-year-old orphaned King Edward. As the uncles of the king, both Thomas and Edward Seymour were members of the regency council. As part of an "unfulfilled gifts clause" left unmentioned in Henry's will (and of dubious authenticity), the members of the council granted themselves, on behalf