May 30, 1654.
Preparations for departure. The wind continued this morning, as it was last night, easterly, but not sufficing for Whitelocke to go on his voyage. The Vice-Admiral Clerke coming to Whitelocke, he advised with him touching his voyage, and asked him if he thought the ‘Amarantha’ might with this wind be gotten to the Dollars. He answered that there could be no assurance thereof, but that possibly it might be so; whereupon Whitelocke replied, that he had a great desire to go down himself to the Dollars, before the news came of the ‘Amarantha’s’ arrival there, because the wind might come good, and within six hours carry them out to the open sea, which, if neglected, might retard their voyage fifteen days or more. Clerke said that if Whitelocke desired to do so, that he would not advise him to the contrary, but he believed that this might expedite his voyage; only he said that Whitelocke must be content to lie on board the ship till the wind should come fair, because there was no accommodation to be had for him and his company at the Dollars. Whitelocke said he should be well contented to lie on ship-board, and prayed Clerke to cause boats to be provided for his passage to the Dollars the next day, and ordered his officers and servants to prepare all things in readiness for his departure accordingly. Wrangel came back this night from Upsal, and several other persons, though very late, having staid the solemnity of the Queen’s resignation and the coronation of the new King, which they related to Whitelocke to be done this day, and in this manner and solemnity.
Relation of the ceremony of the Queen’s resignation. About nine o’clock this morning the Queen, being attired in her royal apparel and robes of purple velvet, with her crown upon her head, and attended by all her officers and servants, came into the room prepared for that occasion, where was set a table with a rich carpet, and five great cushions laid upon it. Most of the grandees and officers were present.
Upon one of the cushions was laid the sword of state; upon the second cushion was laid the sceptre; upon the third cushion was laid the ball; and upon the fourth cushion were laid the keys.
The Queen being come into the room, after a little pause made a short speech to the company, to this effect:—
“My Lords and Gentlemen,
“You have before this time been acquainted with my resolution to resign the crown and government of this kingdom into the hands of my most dear cousin the Prince, here present with me, upon my earnest request to the Ricksdag, now convened. After long debates and much solicitation to dissuade me from it, yet at length, though unwillingly, they have assented to this my resolution; and I am now come to put the same in execution before all these honourable witnesses here present; and to you, my most dear cousin, I do heartily wish all happiness and good success in the management of the public affairs of this kingdom.”
Having thus spoken, the Queen desired that some of them would take the crown from off her head, but none would do it; she then called to Grave Tott and the Baron Steinberg, expressly commanding them to do it, but they refused, till again earnestly commanded by her; they then took the crown from off her Majesty’s head, and laid it down upon the fifth cushion on the table. After that was done, some others, by her command, took off the royal robes with which she was clothed and laid them down upon the table. Then the Queen, having thus divested herself of these ensigns of royalty and resigned her crown, being now in her private habit, made courtesy to the Prince and to the rest of the company, and retired into her own chamber,—an act of a strange constancy and fixedness of resolution, going through with this great work of her own abdication without the least outward show of reluctancy for what she had done, but with the same behaviour and confidence as at all other times in her particular and private affairs.[314]
For this act of the Queen’s resignation they had no precedent; for the solemnity of the King’s coronation they had many; and the same is at large, with all the circumstances and ceremonies thereof, set down by one of their authors, Wexionius (Epit. Descriptionis Sueciæ, lib. v. c. 6), from which the ceremonies of this Coronation were not much different, and thus shortly related unto Whitelocke.
Ceremony of the King’s coronation. After the Queen was withdrawn to her private chamber, the Ricks-officers and senators humbly desired the Prince that he would be pleased to walk to the Cathedral Church, where the Archbishop and other prelates were ready to attend his Royal Highness, and to perform the solemnities of his coronation. The whole company went thither in this order. The officers and servants of the Court went first in a very great number, together with many officers of the army and other gentlemen. After them came the nobility, the gentlemen, barons, and earls, members of the Ricksdag; then followed the Ricks-Senators, two and two, in rank. After them came the five Ricks-officers: first, the Ricks-Schatzmaster, or High Treasurer, who carried the keys; next to him, the Ricks-Chancellor, who carried the globe; after him came the Ricks-Admiral, who carried the sceptre; then one in the place of the Feldherr, or General, who carried the sword; and lastly the Ricks-Droitset, or Chief Justice, who carried the crown. After the Chief Justice came the King himself, in his ordinary habit, with a huge troop following him, and the windows and streets crowded with multitudes of people. The guards and soldiers stood in their arms as the company passed by.
Being thus come to the Cathedral, at the door stood the Archbishop with a horn of oil in his hand, accompanied with other bishops, superintendents, and many clergymen. He received the Prince at the church door, and conducted him up to the high altar, where they had prayers, and then the Archbishop anointed the Prince with the oil. They put upon him the royal apparel, put the crown upon his head, the sceptre in his right hand, and the ball into his left hand, and so he was invested into the royal dignity, and declared, with all his titles, King of Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, etc.; drums, trumpets, and loud acclamations of the people adding to the proclaiming of their new King. Not many days past they laboured to hinder the doing of it; now they shout for joy that it is done. Thus are the minds and practice of the multitude, whom nothing pleaseth long,—nothing more than novelty.
The ceremonies being performed at the Cathedral, the new King, with all his new subjects and servants, returned from thence into the castle in the same order as he came hither. By the way he was saluted with the loud acclamations of the people, “God save the King!” Thus coming to his Court as he entered it, the abdicated Queen looks out of her window, and with a cheerful countenance and voice heard by the company she wished her cousin joy of his crown and government. The King retires for a while to his private chamber, then is called forth to a sumptuous feast, where most of the nobility and senators did attend upon him and rejoice with him, and afterwards did swear fealty, homage, and allegiance to him.
But this relation was not so pleasing to Whitelocke as the thoughts of his departure from this place, and his longing to proceed in his voyage homewards.