"Another mounted band, and the queen's barge-master, with forty-eight watermen, preceded twelve of the queen's carriages conveying the ladies, noblemen, and gentlemen belonging to the royal household, followed by a squadron of the Household Brigade, and another mounted band. After them came the military staff, aides-de-camp, and other distinguished officers on horseback, the royal huntsmen, yeomen, and foresters, six of her majesty's led horses, with the Yeomen of the Guard and their officers.
"Then came the Queen in her state-carriage, drawn by eight cream-colored horses, followed by the Duke of Buccleuch, on horseback as Captain-General of the Royal Archer Guard of Scotland, with a few other officials. A squadron of the Household Brigade closed the procession, which proceeded slowly to Westminster Abbey.
"That ancient edifice was fitted up splendidly. A gallery had been raised capable of holding four hundred spectators, besides an organ and an orchestra. This was at the west end of the abbey. There was another gallery at the east end, capable of holding six hundred persons, reserved for the House of Commons, and above this, two others, the topmost one being reserved for the trumpeters.
"On the south side were boxes for the Sovereign, the Earl-Marshal, the Ambassadors, and the Lord Chamberlain. The peeresses were placed in the north transept, the peers in the south, the Judges, Knights of the Bath, and Aldermen in the choir, the Bishops on the floor to the north, with the royal family, and the clergy of Westminster opposite. The latter waited in the nave to join the procession on entering the abbey; and Augusta of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, the Duke of Nemours, the Prince of Holstein, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, the Duke of Nassau, Prince Ernest of Hesse, and the Prince of Leiningen had seats in the royal box.
"The clergymen headed the procession in the abbey, followed by the heralds, the officers of the household, the chief prelates, and officers of state. Then came the Duchess of Cambridge, with a circlet of gold on her head, wearing a robe of purple velvet, her train borne by Lady Caroline Campbell, her coronet by Viscount Villiers; the Duchess of Kent with a similar circlet and robe, her train borne by Lady Flora Hastings, her coronet by Viscount Morpeth; and the Duchess of Gloucester, her train borne by Lady Caroline Legge, her coronet by Viscount Evelyn.
"The regalia was carried thus: St. Edward's staff by the Duke of Roxburgh; the golden spurs by Lord Byron; the sceptre, with the cross, by the Duke of Cleveland; the third sword by the Marquis of Westminster; the second by the Duke of Sutherland; and the curtara or dull sword, emblematic of mercy, by the Duke of Devonshire. The coronets of these noblemen were carried by pages.
"After the Black Rod, the Deputy Garter, and the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, came the Duke of Cambridge, in his robes of state, with his baton of field-marshal, his coronet borne by the Marquis of Granby, his train by Major-General Sir William Maynard Gomm; and the Duke of Sussex, in his robes of state, his coronet borne by Viscount Anson, his train by the Honorable Edward Gore and Viscount Coke.
"Then came the Duke of Leinster as High Constable of Ireland, and the Earl of Erroll as High Constable of Scotland, the Duke of Norfolk as Earl-Marshal, with his baton, and the Duke of Wellington as Lord High Constable of England, with his staff and field-marshal's baton. The sword-of-state was borne by Viscount Melbourne, the sceptre, with the dove, by the Duke of Richmond, St. Edward's crown by the Duke of Hamilton, the orb by the Duke of Somerset, the patina by the Bishop of Bangor, the Bible by the Bishop of Winchester, and the chalice by the Bishop of Lincoln.
"They preceded the queen, who wore a royal robe of crimson velvet, bordered with ermine and edged with gold lace, the collars of the orders of the Garter, Thistle, Bath, and St. Patrick, and a circlet of gold. Her majesty was supported on either side by the Bishops of Bath, Wells, and Durham; her train was borne by Ladies Adelaide Paget, Frances Elizabeth Cowper, Anne Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Mary Augusta Frederica Grimstone, Caroline Amelia Gordon Lennox, Mary Alethea Beatrix Talbot, Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Stanhope, and Louisa Harriet Jenkinson, assisted by the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, the Marquis of Conyngham, followed by the Groom of the Robes, Captain Francis Seymour, with ten gentlemen-at-arms on either side, with their lieutenant standard-bearer, Clerk of the Cheque, and Harbinger.
"Afterwards came the Duchess of Sutherland as Mistress of the Robes, the Marchioness of Lansdowne as First Lady of the Bed-chamber; other ladies of the bedchamber, two marchionesses, four countesses, eight maids-of-honor, and eight women of the bed-chamber.