King Charles will be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony full of pomp, pageantry and solemn religious significance today, May 6 2023.
Below are details about Charles, his role in the Commonwealth and why he has a coronation.
King Charles 101
Charles was born in 1948, the eldest of Queen Elizabeth’s four children, ahead of Anne, and brothers Andrew and Edward.
Charles, who previously held the title of Prince of Wales, had two children with his first wife Princess Diana: heir-to-the-throne Prince William and younger son Harry who has moved to the United States to live with his wife Meghan.
Charles will be crowned alongside his second wife Camilla. The couple have been married for 18 years.
Counting the Commonwealth
Charles became monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms on the death of Queen Elizabeth in September last year. Their leaders will attend the coronation.
The 14 realms are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Barbados ditched the monarchy in 2021. Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas have all expressed an intent to cut ties with the British crown.
Charles has acknowledged growing republican sentiment in some Commonwealth nations and said it was for them to decide their constitutional arrangements.
Low-key in the Commonwealth
The build up to the coronation in Commonwealth countries including Australia and New Zealand appears to be low key.
Unlike the death of Queen Elizabeth, when her image was projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House, major buildings in Australia will not be lit up to mark the king’s coronation.
However a fly past will take place in Australia and New Zealand. The Canadian government will hold an official ceremony.
What is the point of a Coronation?
A coronation is not essential and no other monarchy across the globe has an event in the same style. But royal historian Alice Hunt said it had persisted as a means to legitimise the monarch in a public way.
“Although the monarch is the monarch from the moment the predecessor has died, the language of the coronation ceremony from since it was locked down in the 14th Century has still articulated that the king or queen somehow changes during that ceremony,” she said.
Coronation History 101
For the best part of a thousand years, the kings and queens of England and Britain have been crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that has changed little throughout the centuries.
The coronation of every king and queen of England and Britain has been held at the Abbey since 1066. Two monarchs – Edward V, one of two young princes believed to have been murdered in the Tower of London in the 15th Century, and Edward VIII, who abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson – were not crowned.
What time does everything happen?
The coronation ceremony will begin at 1000 GMT following a procession from Buckingham Palace. Unlike the coronation of Charles’ mother Queen Elizabeth, which lasted almost four hours, Charles’ ceremony will last about two hours.
8 horses to just get going
For the coronation, Charles and his wife Camilla, who will be crowned queen during the ceremony, will break with tradition and travel from Buckingham Palace to London’s Westminster Abbey in the modern Diamond Jubilee State Coach, made to commemorate his mother’s 60th year on the throne.
They will return in the ‘Coronation Procession’ in the 260-year-old Gold State Coach which weighs four tonnes and needs to be pulled by eight horses. It has been used at every coronation since King William IV’s in 1831 and was first used by George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament in 1762.
The return journey will be much slower as the Gold State Coach can only travel at walking pace – but the distance itself will be 1.42 miles (2.29 km) about a third of the route taken by Queen Elizabeth in 1953 when millions thronged the streets.
It will also involve some 4,000 armed forces personnel in a procession one mile long, making it the largest of its kind for several generations.
Ancient Anointing
During the service, Charles will be anointed with holy Chrism oil, made using olives from the Mount of Olives and consecrated in Jerusalem.
The tradition dates back to the Old Testament of the Bible which describes the anointing of King Solomon by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet, and has been maintained to emphasise the spiritual status of the monarch.
“This is often thought to be the most sacred part of the ceremony,” Charles Farris, Public Historian At Historic Royal Palaces, said. “It’s an ancient and very symbolic ceremony … historically it was akin to the anointing of priests and bishops.”
Second wife: Queen Camilla
Charles’ second wife Camilla, whom he married in 2005, will be separately crowned queen during the ceremony, and like her husband, anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
She will be crowned using the crown of Queen Mary, commissioned and worn by the consort of King George V for the 1911 coronation. This is being reset with diamonds from Queen Elizabeth’s personal jewellery collection as a tribute to her.
12 new songs
The ceremony will feature 12 new works, which Charles commissioned or selected, including a new coronation anthem by musical theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Of the music used at coronations through the centuries, the most notable is “Zadok the Priest” which was composed by George Frideric Handel as a coronation anthem for King George II in 1727 and has been sung at every one since.
700 Year old Crown
The key moment of the ceremony will be when Charles – sitting on a coronation chair dating back more than 700 years – is given regalia, from bejewelled orbs and sceptres to swords and a ring.
The culmination sees the 360-year-old St Edward’s Crown, weighing in at 2.2 kg (4 lb 12 ounces) and a replacement for an original dating back to the 11th Century, placed onto Charles’ head by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
One Balcony Moment… how many Princes?
Having returned to Buckingham Palace, the big finale – as it is for weddings, jubilees and other major royal events – is the appearance by the family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
A fly past by military aircraft including the Red Arrows Royal Air Force aerobatic team and historic planes from World War Two is expected, dependent on the weather.
All eyes will also be on whether Charles’ younger son Prince Harry appears, and on Prince Louis, the youngest child of heir Prince William, who stole the show during celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee by covering his ears and screaming amid the din caused by the aircraft fly past.
That’s a lot of quiche
There will be about 2,300 guests inside Westminster Abbey, far fewer than the 8,000 in attendance for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.
Among those will be the British royal family, including Prince Harry but not his wife Meghan, or his two children, with the ceremony taking place on son Prince Archie’s fourth birthday.
There will also be other foreign royals, officials and heads of state, with U.S. first lady Jill Biden representing the United States and China’s Vice President Han Zheng attending on behalf of Beijing.
