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The four little girls on the ramparts of the castle giggle with delight.

The streets below them are thronging with people.

Londoners of all ages and ranks have come out on this summer's afternoon

and they're in party mood.

People are yelling and cheering, blowing flutes and

trumpets and banging drums. They're having a wail of a time as they prepare for a sight most

have never seen before. It's July 1377 and the whole country is preparing to celebrate the coronation of a new plantagenet

king, Richard II. These little girls, dressed as angels sent from heaven, have a special role

in the festivities. The castle they're perched in isn't a real fortress, though if they look across the city rooftops they can see one of those.

The Tower of London bristles menacingly on the skyline.

This one is an elaborate stage, built just for fun, but it's central to the pageantry of the coronation parade. When the new king, also only ten years old, rides past on his way to Westminster,

the girls are going to scatter delicate flakes of gold leaf

...