King Charles coronation: UK monarch to finally get his crown in tradition-steeped ceremony
- The historic St Edward’s Crown will be placed on Charles’s head at London’s Westminster Abbey in a Christian ceremony steeped in 1,000 years of history and tradition
- His wife Camilla will also be crowned queen during the two-hour service taking place amid a cost of living crisis and waning support for the monarchy, particularly among the young
St Edward’s Crown – a solid gold, sacred symbol of the monarch’s authority used only once in their reign – will be placed on Charles’s head at 12pm (local time) to cries of “God Save the King”.
Trumpet fanfares will sound through London’s Westminster Abbey and ceremonial gun salutes will blast out across land and sea to mark the first coronation of a British monarch since 1953 – and only the fifth since 1838.
Bells will peal in celebration at churches across the land, before liveried soldiers on foot and horseback stage a 7,000-strong military parade stretching through the streets of the capital.
King Charles and his wife Camilla, who will be crowned queen, will return to Buckingham Palace in the rarely used horse-drawn Gold State Coach past huge crowds, before watching a ceremonial fly-past from the balcony.
The coronation – the first of a king since 1937, only the second to be televised and the first in colour and streamed online – is the religious confirmation of Charles’s accession.
