The coronation of Charles III on May 6, a historic event, is punctuated by several processions, a ceremony at the Church of Westminster, and an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham.
Carriage parade, military parade, ceremony… The coronation of King Charles, this Saturday, May 6, will be punctuated by several highly planned events. If the different stages of this coronation day will be a little lighter compared to the ceremonial organized for Queen Elizabeth in 1953, they should retain a share of pomp and pomp. Here’s how the day will unfold for the British and their king.
1. The departure from Buckingham aboard the state carriage
Charles and Camilla will leave Buckingham in the morning aboard the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. Created in 2012 for the 60-year reign of Elizabeth II, the vehicle has the merit of including all modern comforts, such as electric windows and air conditioning. It is therefore fresh and rested that Charles and Camilla will arrive at Westminster Abbey to be crowned there.
The carriage will be escorted by the cavalry and will make a much shorter journey than that of the queen in 1953 – around 2 kilometers against 8 kilometers at the time. It will pass through the Mall, this wide avenue which faces Buckingham, then will arrive at the Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, where there is an equestrian statue of Charles I, king with a disastrous fate (he was beheaded in 1649 ). There, the procession will branch off to take Whitehall to Westminster.
2. The Coronation at Westminster
The coronation itself will begin at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. It will take place in six main stages: the recognition, the oath, the anointing, the investiture, which includes the coronation, the enthronement and the homage.
Again, Charles chose to keep it shorter than his mother, whose ceremony lasted three hours. It is during this ceremony that he will be given the “regalia”, the symbols of his power and his role, the crowns, the sceptres, the orb, and several swords.
The ceremony will be interspersed with music, interpreted among others by the coronation orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Opera House Orchestra. They will play in particular ‘Be Thou my Vision – Triptych for Orchestraa very cinematic piece that King Charles greatly appreciates, but also a anthem that composer Sarah Glass had created for Charles’s foundation when he was still Prince of Wales, Terra Carta. The king called upon composers of film music, such as Patrick Doyle, to set his coronation to music.
3. Return to Buckingham aboard the Gold State Coach
After the coronation, the King and Queen must take the same route back to Buckingham but will then be followed by a much larger procession than the first, as thousands of members of the British Army, Commonwealth and British Territories overseas will escort them. 5,000 members of the armed forces will accompany the sovereign.
This time they will travel aboard a less modern carriage, the Gold State coach, which bears its name well, as it is covered in gilding.
The king and queen will no doubt congratulate themselves on having cut the journey short, because this vehicle is much less comfortable than that of the Diamond Jubilee. Just about every monarch who has used it has complained about it.
King William IV, the first king to have crowned it in 1831, thus had the impression of being “tossed about by a rough sea”. Queen Victoria, who succeeded him, also complained of his “unpleasant oscillations”, and Queen Elizabeth kept the memory of a “horrible” and “not very comfortable” journey. It must be said that the queen had to travel 8 kilometers aboard the imposing vehicle.
The royal family will then appear on the balcony of Buckingham, to greet the crowd. Since the 19th century and the reign of Victoria, the appearance of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace is an important meeting with the British, an event that combines visibility and distance.
Around the king and the queen, will be gathered the active members of the royal family, the prince and the princess of Wales William and Kate, with their three children George, Charlotte and Louis, but also Princess Anne, sister of Charles with her husband, their brother Edouard and his wife Sophie. It is very unlikely that the prince Harry be present, especially since he is no longer an active member of the royal family.
This is where the royal family station themselves each year to observe the aerial parade of Trooping the Colour, on the occasion of the official birthday of the sovereign. This year they will be able to admire the coronation aerial parade.
5. Aerial Parade
The military parade will indeed end with a “six-minute aerial parade in the sky of London”, indicates the UK government website.
The sequence should be spectacular, as Royal Air Force planes, such as those which “provided support for Ukraine”, as well as historic planes such as Spitfires from the Battle of Britain during the World War II. In total, more than 60 planes will cross the skies of London.
