Quote:
On the morning of 1st May, the day of King Elessar’s coronation, the standard of the Stewards ‘was raised over Gondor for the last time'. (Ibid., p. 944)
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That's an interesting phrase, and one wonders if Tolkien thought it through completely; since we know that Elessar went several times to war in Harad and Rhun, and it appears that Gondor in this sort of thing defaults to historical European practice, it would seem to me to be the case that the Tree, Crown and Stars accompanied the King when he went forth, just as the British Royal Standard flies from the place the Queen currently is, and nowhere else; and that during his absence the Standard flown from the White Tower would be that of whomever was governing the realm in the King's absence- in other words, the Steward, fulfilling the same ancient role the office had before the disappearance of Earnur. (cf the Rohirric office of Underking).