Democracy in action. The King’s Champion has died. His son has inherited the role
The Coronation Claims Office exists to validate or otherwise those who claimed they had some historic role to play in King Charles 111’s Coronation.
The role of King’s Champion at the Coronation in May was carried out by Francis John Fane Marmion Dymoke.
He was the Mayor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire a title given to one of his predecessors in 1066 but the Times has reported his death at 63.
The Dymoke family inherited the role of King’s Champion and a Dymoke first performed it at Richard 11’s Coronation on 16th July 1377. The office holder is supposed to ride into the Coronation Banquet on horseback in full armour and thrown down a gauntlet to challenge anyone present who thinks the monarch at the Coronation is not the rightful heir to speak up.
There has not been a Coronation Banquet since 1821 so these days the King’s Champion just carries a flag.
In short the role has been redundant for over two hundred years and in an apparently slimmed down Coronation process one wonders what the purpose of Dymoke being there actually was. Even so it is reported that Henry Dymoke, Francis Dymoke’s son has inherited the role.
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