On January 13, 1559, Elizabeth made her move to the Tower, travelling by the state barge down the River Thames. Then, on Saturday, the Queen made her royal entry — a state procession from the Tower through the city and the western suburbs to the Palace of Westminster.
Il Schifanoya, a native of the Italian duchy of Mantua who lived in London and regularly wrote accounts of events there, recounted the houses along the way being decorated and the route lined with the City guildsmen in their hoods and black gowns. He estimated that the whole procession consisted of 1,000 horses.
Along the route, there was a series of triumphal arches; the first — at Gracechurch Street — was three storeys tall and was labelled, ‘The uniting of the two houses of Lancaster and York’. On the first storey were statues of Henry VII and his queen, Elizabeth of York, on the second stood figures of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and on the third was a lone Elizabeth. The procession continued to St Paul’s Cathedral, through Ludgate and on to Westminster.
Then came the day of the coronation. The streets of Westminster were laid with gravel and blue cloth and rails were erected on each side. Preceded by trumpets, knights and lords, then nobles and bishops, the Queen travelled from Whitehall to Westminster Hall.
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