On this day, April 3rd, 1043, Edward, the youngest son of King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife, Emma of Normandy, is crowned at Winchester Cathedral. Known as Edward the Confessor, he was born c.1003 in Islip, Oxfordshire, and was the last King of the house of Wessex to rule England. The founder of Westminster Abbey, the place of coronation and burials of the Kings and Queens of England, it was finished and consecrated just before his death at the age of 62 in 1066.
He was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander the Third and in 1163, the newly sainted king's remains were enshrined in Westminster Abbey with solemnities presided over by Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Today he remains the patron saint of the royal family.
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