The first post Conquest Queen of England finally got her Crown on a May day. Matilda of Flanders, the consort who helped turn William, Duke of Normandy into a King, was crowned on May 11th 1068.
The setting is familiar but Matilda's coronation was groundbreaking. Her husband had ruled his new kingdom for eighteen months by the time she was crowned and the ceremony was a statement of their political power. For the first time, new phrases were included in the rite which underlined the position of a queen consort. They stated that a queen held her position through God, that she shared in her spouse's royal power and that her people were blessed by both her potency and virtue. A queen was no mere ornament, she was a force in her own right.
It was more than appropriate for Matilda who had helped her husband build the powerbase that helped him launch his Conquest and claim a crown. She may have waited for her Coronation as Queen of England but, when she did enter Westminster on that May day, she changed the concept of queenship forever.
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