The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 857
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The scene in the interior was indescribable. The blend of many colours in costume mixed with the time-mellowed harmonies of shade and substance in the mighty structure, while the air was permeated with the solemn sounds of the recently sung Litany and the slowly pealing bells of loyal welcome. Around were the greatest men and noblest and most beautiful women of Great Britain, and in the stalls was a veritable roll-call of fame in a world-wide Empire. Lord Salisbury was practically the only British personage of historic repute who was not present while the veteran Duke of Cambridge appeared as one of the two living links present between the Coronation which had marked the beginning of the Victorian era and that which was now to illustrate the birth of a new period. Into this scene of splendour and revel of colour came the King and the state officials of his realm.