Description
Object description
whole: the image occupies the majority, held within a narrow black border. The title is separate and positioned across the top edge, in white outlined black. The subtitle and text are separate and placed in the lower quarter, in black. All set against a white background.
image: a depiction of a Royal Pageant, with the Royal Coach leading a procession along Whitehall in London, passing the war memorial.
Crowds watch, some in the leaning out of the windows of buildings festooned with flags.
text: [Hebrew text]
GOLDEN
[Hebrew text]
GP.377/38/9/8
[Life in Britain today. Painted by Grace Golden. A typical British Royal pageant. London is, on the whole, a somewhat matter-of-fact city.
Normally it is essentially a city of work - full of bustle and activity of millions of people going about their every-day business life.
But on rare occasions the sober grey streets of London become a background for a brilliant procession, impressive and perhaps unique in its magnificence and traditional pomp. Above is an artist's impression of one of these parades. The precession is seen passing down Whitehall, the famous street in which are situated the British Foreign Office, the Admiralty and various other Ministries. The King and Queen, dressed in their royal robes, ride in the golden Royal Coach, drawn by eight pure-bred horses. The postillions, in their ornamental liveries, walk beside the horses. The Yeoman of the Guard carrying halberds march at the side of the coach and behind it, followed by the officers of the King's Household, a mounted escort of which also precedes the Royal Coach. These ceremonial processions are not intended as demonstrations of the power and authority of the sovereign. The splendour with which he is on special occasions surrounded is part of a symbolism which has served well the unity of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is not the majesty of rulership that is proclaimed by these processions. These spectacles, no matter what official occasion they celebrate, are impressive reminders of the existence and significance of British institutions, and what they imply in rights and privileges. Every British citizen has a share in the affairs of the State; he is not merely a subject, doing obediently what he is told to do. The historical character of these processions recalls to the mind the long growth of British institutions, and the long period of time - of which the British are justly proud - during which those institutions have been functioning with efficiency. The Royal Coach still in use was built in 1761, when Britain was already a constitutional monarchy. The King, who occupies the central position in these displays, figures in them a a living symbol. He holds his office by life-tenure: he is the descendant of a venerable line of British sovereigns; he therefore symbolises stability of the British order. The British people enjoy these occasional processions with their music, colour and pageantry. They derive from them an enhanced pride in the reality and value of their free democratic institutions, and an increased reverence for those, who in the past, fought and worked to make Great Britain the trusted centre of the modern Commonwealth.]
Physical description
GP.377/38/9/8.
This poster was printed in Great Britain, presumably for distribution abroad.
No. 4 in the Life in Britain Today poster series (see PST 16291 to PST 16302 and PST 16307 to PST 16332).
An English language version (PST 16303), a Persian language version (PST 16304) and an Arabic language version (PST 16306) were also produced.
Inscription
Pageant Scene Mural[?] Poster No 4. Hebrew.