When the ceremony of allegiance was over, the Queen received the holy
communion, and, after the last blessing was pronounced, in splendid array
left the Abbey. Mr Greville, one of the brilliant gossip-mongers of the
court, related that Lord John Thynne, who officiated for the Dean of
Westminster, told him that no one knew but the archbishop and himself what
ceremony was to be gone through, and that the Queen never knew what she
was to do next. She said to Thynne, 'Pray tell me what I am to do, for
they don't know.' At the end, when the orb was put into her hand, she
said, 'What am I to do with it?' 'Your Majesty is to carry it, if you
please, in your hand.' 'Am I?' she said; 'it is very heavy.' The ruby ring
was made for her little finger instead of her fourth; when the archbishop
was to put it on she extended the former, but he said it was to be put on
the latter. She said it was too small, and she could not get it on. He
said it was right to put it there, and, as he insisted, she yielded, but
had first to take off her other rings, and then it was forced on; but it
hurt her very much, and as soon as the ceremony was over, she was obliged
to bathe her finger in iced water in order to get it off. It is said that
she was very considerate to the royal dukes, her uncles, when they
presented themselves to do homage. When the Duke of Sussex, who was old
and infirm, came forward to take the oath of allegiance, she anticipated
him, kissed his cheek, and said tenderly, 'Do not kneel, my uncle, for I
am still Victoria, your niece.'

Lord Shaftesbury wrote of the service, as 'so solemn, so deeply religious,
so humbling, and yet so sublime. Every word of it is invaluable;
throughout, the church is everything, secular greatness nothing. She
declares, in the name and by the authority of God, and almost enforces, as
a condition preliminary to her benediction, all that can make princes rise
to temporal and eternal glory. Many, very many, were deeply impressed.'