Finally, a date for the coronation of King Charles III has been announced. The 73-year-old will be the oldest person crowned in British history.
King Charles III coronation: When will the ceremony take place?
On Tuesday, 11 October 2023, Buckingham Palace announced the details of The King’s coronation. The Royal website reports that Charles will be officially crowned Britain’s new monarch on 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey.
The coronation will occur the same day his grandson Archie, son of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, celebrates his fourth birthday.
What to expect from the day
Although not much has been revealed for the day yet, the day can be expected to follow the same procedure as the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The King and his Queen Consort, Camila, will travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey that day. They will most likely travel on the gold state carriage, which is only used for coronations and jubilees, much like his mother and father did.
The ceremony will be televised. Instead of 8 000 people, only 2 000 are expected to attend the ceremony. In addition, Charles’ coronation will be shorter than previous ones, lasting a little over an hour as opposed to three.
There are six parts to the coronation – the recognition, oath, anointing, investiture, enthronement and homage.
It is unclear whether an additional bank holiday will be added or moved to the coronation weekend because of the holiday earlier that week on Monday, 1 May 2023.
What does the coronation hold for Camila?
Camilla will also be anointed and crowned during The King’s Coronation. The spouses of Queens do not become King Consorts and are not crowned, in contrast to the wives of Kings.
However, the Queen declared that Camilla would be referred to as “Queen Consort” upon Charles’ ascension ahead of her Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.
The Queen Mother and King George VI were the last Queen Consorts to be anointed in 1937.