An English coronation service has always been an occasion of great magnificence, and one whose pomp and ceremony is enhanced by music of equal splendour. King George I died on 11 June 1727, and his successor, George II, was proclaimed king four days later. There seems to be no official mention of the coronation service until the Privy Council met on 11 August, when it would have been normal procedure to entrust the composition of the music for the service to the Organist and Composer of the Chapel Royal. However, William Croft died on 14 August, and although his successor Maurice Greene was recommended on 18 August by the Bishop of Salisbury, the appointment was not made until 4 September. Whether Greene was expected to compose the music is uncertain, but by 9 September it was known that ‘Mr Hendel, the famous Composer to the opera, is appointed by the King to compose the Anthem at the Coronation which is to be sung in Westminster Abbey at the Grand Ceremony’. It would seem likely that Handel began work immediately on the music, for the service was scheduled for 4 October, although, in the event, it was postponed for a week because of the danger of flooding near the Abbey. However, an order of service was not agreed until the Privy Council met on 20 September, by which time we may reasonably expect Handel to have written much of his music: this may account for discrepancies between the texts which he set and those in the official order of service. It also appears that Handel was somewhat put out by being ordered by the bishops to set certain texts for the service—‘… at which he murmured, and took offence, as he thought it implied his ignorance of the Holy Scriptures: “I have read my Bible very well, and shall chuse for myself”’.