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
Robert Seymour (loyalist) and shot dead. The IRA claimed his killing was in retaliation for the bombing of an Irish nationalist pub in which three Catholics died. Later that same day the IRA blew up six British soldiers who were travelling in an unmarked van in Lisburn. At his funeral oration, Seymour was described as an "exemplary Volunteer". Part of it went as follows: A young man who dedicated his life to his country has given all that any Soldier could give... At the going down of the sun and in the morning/We will remember them. The UVF retaliated the following month by