King Charles Coronation Weekend: How will it be?

Saturday’s coronation of King Charles III will be the most public manifestation in seven decades of the curious relationship in the UK between the established Church of England and the hereditary monarchy.

The King will be accompanied to and from the ceremony by thousands of military personnel, a reminder that Britain’s constitutional monarch remains head of state. But his coronation will take place as part of a communion service – the sharing of bread and wine commemorating for Christians the death of Christ.

Some of the regalia used at the ceremony date back to the succession of 62 kings and queens of England and then Great Britain which preceded Charles III over 1,200 years. Much of the content of the ceremony also stems from traditions dating back centuries.

But new elements will be added and, in an effort to reflect the changing demographics of faith in the UK, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will preface the coronation oath by pledging to “foster an environment in which people of all faiths and creeds can live freely.” Leaders of other religions and Christian denominations will be involved in parts of the ceremony, and female clergy will be given a prominent role.

More controversially, the service will for the first time include an invitation to the public to swear allegiance to the new king from their homes – a move apparently intended to encourage people to attend the event, but which instead provoked a backlash. Traditionally, only hereditary peers swore allegiance to the monarch.

Jonathan Dimbleby, the broadcaster and friend of the King, blamed the Archbishop’s Palace for what he described to BBC radio as a “well-intentioned but rather misguided” move, which he told the King, “which never wanted to be worshipped”, would find “odious”.

In a different spirit of inclusion and another first, the ceremony will include a few words in the Celtic languages ​​of Wales, Scotland and Ireland – a nod to ongoing tensions in the union.

The official celebrations begin with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. The King and Queen will travel in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, built in Australia in 2012 with an aluminum frame and air-conditioned interior.

The Gold State Coach, used for every other coronation since 1831 and which will bring the royal couple back, has notoriously bad suspension and is “horrendous” to ride according to its last occupant, queen elizabeth.

At two o’clock, the service will be an hour shorter than the last in 1953. During elaborately choreographed moments, the king will be adorned with relics – scepter, robes, orb and crowns, bearing between them thousands of jewels. The Royal Family of the United Kingdom is the only one in Europe to still use such artefacts at coronations to symbolize aspects of the monarchy and its various responsibilities.

King Charles will be enthroned on St Edward’s Chair, the core of which was made in 1300 to house the Stone of Scone – a block of sandstone originally used in the coronation of Scottish kings. The stone was stolen by King Edward’s forces in 1296, used in London for coronations thereafter and returned to Edinburgh only in 1996. It will be loaned for the occasion.

In the part of the ceremony considered sacred and symbolic of the new king’s supposed divine right to rule, Charles will be anointed behind a screen with holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem.

There will be 2,000 guests present. Guests will include 850 selected community representatives.

Along with members of the extended royal family (including the self-exiled Prince Harry, but not his wife Meghan Markle), expected world leaders include French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Anthony Albanese, the Australian Prime Minister. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are also said to be present.

US President Joe Biden sends his wife, First Lady Jill Biden in his place. Other distinguished guests will include Michelle O’Neill, Republican leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland and Prime Minister-in-waiting. The party was previously the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, which assassinated the king’s great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, in 1979.

China sends Vice President Han Zheng, who oversaw a crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, said Beijing’s decision to send him was a ‘stick in the eye’ for 140,000 Hong Kongers exiled to the UK and revealed how the Chinese Communist Party views the country.

London’s Metropolitan Police expect hundreds of thousands of visitors to flock to the capital for the occasion and will undertake the ‘largest one-day mobilization in decades with just over 11,500 officers on duty’ . They will deploy specialist forces and use facial recognition technology to screen crowds for potential troublemakers.

Armed with new powers for police protests rushed into law this week, the Met warned it would “deal vigorously with anyone intending to undermine this celebration”.

A two-hour concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday evening will bring celebrity stardust to the weekend. Thousands of street parties and other events have been planned across the UK, with the King encouraging people to bake a quiche for the occasion. On Monday, the public was invited to participate in activities with local voluntary organizations at an event called “The Big Help Out”.