1. “Anne, shaky, is back on her feet. Cranmer, in a dense cloud of incense, is pressing into her hand the sceptre, the rod of ivory, and resting the crown of St Edward briefly on her head, before changing for a lighter and more bearable crown: a prestidigitation, his hands as supple as if he’d been shuffling crowns all his life.” Wrote who?

   1. Philippa Gregory in The Other Boleyn Girl

   2. Jean Plaidy in The Lady in the Tower

   3. Hilary Mantel in Wolf Hall

   4. Salman Rushdie in The Queen and I

2. “She could see very little of what took place, but in the suddenly tense, quiet church she heard a quavering boy’s voice repeat the coronation oath and when the archbishop turned to the people and asked if they would have and hold [him] for their King, she cried joyously with the thousand other voices, ‘Ay, we will have him!’ while her spine tingled.” What is the name of the king being crowned in Anya Seton’s Katherine?

   1. Henry V

   2. Richard II

   3. John

   4. Michael

3. “She reminds me of the wind-up Chinese doll that Uncle Ted has brought Patricia back from Hong Kong – both glide over the carpet without revealing their feet and wear an expression of grave serenity.” The Queen is described at her 1953 coronation in which novel?

   1. Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum

   2. Ian McEwan's Atonement

   3. Boris Akunin's The Coronation

   4. Talia Carner's China Doll

4. “Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown; / Here cousin: / On this side my hand, and on that side yours” is taken from which of Shakespeare’s historical plays?

   1. Henry VI Part One

   2. Richard II

   3. King John

   4. The Comedy of Crowns

5. Who, upon crowning a new King, says: “Now come the days of the King, and may they be blessed while the thrones of the Valar endure!”

   1. Merlin in The Sword in the Stone

   2. Volumnia in Coriolanus

   3. Gandalf in Lord of the Rings

   4. Cersei Lannister in George RR Martin's A Clash of Kings

6. “Now that we crown her as our queen / May love keep all her pathways green. / May sunlight bless her days; / May the fair spring of her beginning / Ripen to all things worth the winning.” A poet laureate penned these lines on the Queen’s coronation. Who?

   1. John Betjeman

   2. Dr Seuss

   3. Ted Hughes

   4. John Masefield

7. “I' the market-place, on a tribunal silver'd, / Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold / Were publicly enthroned.” Who is outraged at Anthony and Cleopatra’s coronation in the Shakespeare play?

   1. Brutus

   2. Octavia

   3. King Midas

   4. Caesar

8. “Elizabeth came out of the dark Abbey into a blaze of light and heard the roar of the crowd welcome her. She walked through the people so that they could all see her- this was a queen who would pander to anyone, their love for her was a balm for the years of neglect.” What is the name of Philippa Gregory’s bestselling novel about the reign of Elizabeth I?

   1. Lizzie of Our Hearts

   2. The Boleyn Inheritance

   3. The Virgin's Lover

   4. My Fair Lizzie

9. What does the newly crowned Henry V say, fresh from his coronation, in Shakespeare’s play Henry IV Part 2?

   1. “Here once again we sit, once again crown'd, / And looked upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.”

   2. "To be or not to be; / wherefore hav'st thou crown'd me?"

   3. “This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, / Sits not so easy on me as you think”

   4. “Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'”

10. “The coronation was a splendid ceremony. What was still more splendid, it was like a birthday or Christmas Day. Everyone sent presents to the Wart, for his prowess in having learned to pull swords out of stones.” Who wrote a novel about the life of the future King Arthur?

    1. John Buchan

    2. TH White

    3. Jacqueline Wilson

    4. Roald Dahl

Solutions

1:C, 2:B, 3:A, 4:B, 5:C, 6:D, 7:D, 8:C, 9:C, 10:B

Scores

1. 1 and above.

   All hail the Queen of Quizzes! You really know your stuff.

2. 2 and above.

   Not bad, not bad. Someone needs to do some more reading, or start practicising their jokes and tricks.

3. 3 and above.

   Off with your head! Try again, you can do better than that.