King George VI was crowned on 12 May 1937 following the abdication of his elder brother, King Edward VIII in December the previous year in order to marry the divorcee Wallis Simpson. This poem was written by Masefield to mark the new King's coronation. He presented a calligraphic copy on vellum, and also this copy written in his own hand and decorated with watercolour and ink vignettes of ships. These extra illustrations, most often of ships, decorate many of the gifts that Masefield presented to the monarchs he served as Poet Laureate.

John Masefield was poet laureate from 1930 to his death in 1967. He was a prolific poet and fiction writer, and by the end of his life his volume of 'Collected Poems' had sold over 200,000 copies. This was an unprecedented figure for a modern poet, and spoke to his popularity with readers. Today, however, he is perhaps most well known as a children's writer, having authored such classics as 'The Midnight Folk' (1927) and 'The Box of Delights' (1935).