One of the most beautiful spectacles the Thames has ever seen was that of the Coronation of Anne Boleyn. The Queen was brought by the Lord Mayor from Greenwich to the Tower, where her Royal husband, Henry VIII., met her; and they proceeded to Westminster Hall, a day or two later, in a chariot.
Fifty barges draped in crimson led the river pageant. The Lord Mayor's barge was hung with cloth of gold and silks, and beside it was the Bachelor's barge with musicians. Two "foists" or floats, were occupied, one by a fire eating dragon and "wild men," the other by a white falcon (the new Queen's badge) and a company of virgins robed in white and crowned with flowers, who sang as they moved. Cloth of gold covered the barges of the City Guilds. A host of dukes and earls, prelates, and other people waited upon the Queen in her own State barge.