The King at the Final, 1914

The 25th of April, 1914: George V becomes the first reigning monarch to attend a Cup Final, and the game’s admission to the national furniture is complete. Burnley beat Liverpool 1–0 before 72,778 at the Crystal Palace, and the photograph that mattered was not the goal but this — the King, in a bowler like everyone else’s, presenting the Cup while the crowd presses close enough to touch the ceremony. Forty years earlier the game was a novelty of the public schools and the mill towns. Now the Crown showed up. The bowler hat did more for football than any decree.

Maker

press photograph

Date

1914

Medium of the original

Photograph

Original held by

Unknown press photographer, 1914 · Wikimedia Commons

Credit

Unknown press photographer, 1914 · Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-01088