Fri 05 May 2023:
Britain’s King Charles III will be crowned on Saturday at London’s Westminster Abbey during a solemn coronation ceremony dating back centuries conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and watched by millions around the world.
Cries of “God Save the King” will ring out around the abbey after the solid gold St Edward’s Crown is placed on Charles’ head by Welby.
It is Britain’s first coronation in 70 years and comes eight months after the King’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96.
In a message issued on the eve of the occasion, the senior cleric said the coronation served as “a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity.”
Welby said people will be struck by the “majesty and sacred wonder” of the service, but also hoped they would find “ancient wisdom and new hope.”
The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles’ estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend.
Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending.
The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nation’s Armed Forces promising a “spectacular” event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital.
The event is the military’s largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles.
A relaxed looking Charles, 74, went on a walkabout in The Mall on the eve of the coronation on Friday with the Prince and Princess of Wales, whose son Prince George will be one of the King’s Pages of Honour.
During the surprise event Kate described the coronation, which will also see Queen Camilla crowned, as a “great moment for celebration” and when quizzed about her children replied they were “Excited, a bit nervous obviously with a big day ahead – can’t wait actually.”
A massive security and policing operation, dubbed Golden Orb, is under way that will see 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday alongside more than 9,000 military personnel taking part in the ceremony.
The policing plan has been re-examined after a security incident outside Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening when a man who allegedly had a knife threw shotgun cartridges over the palace gates.
Representatives from the nation’s faith communities will play an active role in the coronation of a monarch for the first time in history.
The archbishop described the service as “foremost an act of Christian worship” but said new elements reflected the “diversity of our contemporary society.”
New ground has been broken in other areas, from the inclusion of female bishops the first time, to the use of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic languages.
-DPA
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