The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 873
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After the _Te Deum_ was sung by the choir, His Majesty for the first time took his place upon the Throne surrounded by the leading officials, nobles and clergy, and listened to a brief exordium from the Archbishop, ending with the hope that God would "establish your Throne in righteousness that it may stand fast for evermore." Then came the impressive ceremony of Homage. First the Archbishop of Canterbury, kneeling in front of His Majesty with all the Bishops in their places, repeated an oath of allegiance. Then the Prince of Wales, taking off his coronet, knelt in front of the King and the other Princes of the blood royal knelt in their places and repeated the quaint mediæval formula in which they swore "to become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die against all manner of Folks." At this point occurred an abbreviation of the ceremony as well as an _impromptu_ change in the proceedings. As the Prince rose from his knees touched the Crown on his father's head and kissed his left cheek in the the formal manner prescribed, the King rose, threw his arms round his son's neck for a moment and then took his hand and shook it warmly. After the homage of the Heir Apparent each Peer of the realm should have followed the traditionary form in the order of his rank and touched the Crown and kissed the King's cheek. This was modified, however, so as to enable each grade of the nobility to perform the function through its representative of oldest patent--the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess of Winchester, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Viscount Hereford and the Baron de Ros. After this had been done the trumpets once more sounded their acclaims and the audience joined in shouting "God save King Edward."