The Palace said the ceremony will be rooted in long traditions and grandeur, but also “reflects the monarch’s role today and looks to the future”. Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and scepter, be crowned with the majestic Crown of St. Edward and be blessed in the historic ceremony. King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort will be crowned next year. Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just as the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937. The Palace said: “Buckingham Palace is delighted to announce that the Coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023. “The coronation ceremony will take place in Westminster Abbey, London and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. “The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort. “The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look to the future, while being rooted in long traditions and grandeur.” It is understood that the ceremony will include the same basic elements of the traditional liturgy, which has maintained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, while also recognizing the spirit of our time. Charles’ coronation is expected to be smaller in scale and shorter, with suggestions it could last just one hour rather than more than three. It is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than previous coronations, but will be an Anglican service. Visitor numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses rather than ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, will be axed. Coronations were not traditionally held at the weekend, with the late Queen taking place on a Tuesday. The Palace has not yet commented on whether there will be bank holiday arrangements. More details are to be released in due course, but the government and the royal family will be aware of the scale of the coronation in light of the cost of living crisis facing the country. The late Queen’s coronation took place on June 2, 1953 – 16 months after she became monarch. Special seating structures were built inside the church to increase the usual congregation from 2,000 to 8,000. Security will be heightened given the high profile nature of the day. The King will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop. Charles is expected to sign a proclamation officially announcing the coronation date at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year. The King ascended the throne on September 8, shortly after the death of his mother, Elizabeth II – the nation’s longest-reigning monarch. Plans for the big event are known under the code name Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the plan for the service and the fanfare surrounding it. Charles will be anointed by the Archbishop and take his oath to “preserve and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine of its worship, discipline, and government, as the law is established in England.” The Queen Consort will be crowned and take her place on a throne. Elizabeth II pulled off a masterpiece on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022 when she approved that the then Duchess of Cornwall will be known as Queen Consort when the time comes. Royal aides insisted when she married Charles that Camilla did not want to be queen and initially said she “intended” to be known as Princess Consort – a first in British history – when Charles ascended the throne. A king’s wife automatically becomes queen, and only a change in the law would stop her from doing so, but there was much controversy over whether Camilla would use the title, as she was Charles’ former mistress-turned-wife. The royal website said: “A queen consort is crowned with the king, in a similar but simpler ceremony.” But after Charles married Camilla, he added the “unless otherwise decided” withdrawal clause. The late Queen’s coronation was a carnival of celebration and a morale booster for a nation starved of pride in the wake of the Second World War. People began sleeping on the streets of London as early as 48 hours before Tuesday, June 2, 1953, just to make sure they had a standing position to watch the Queen pass by in the golden state coach in a grand procession. By Monday afternoon, in torrential rain and wind, half a million people had already lined the procession route. Charles, who was only four at the time, attended the service. He remembered his mother saying goodnight to him the night before wearing the crown to get used to the weight of it on her head. Charles described the “thousands of people who gathered on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace chanting ‘We want the Queen’ and kept me up at night”. The 1953 coronation was shared with a wider audience through the relatively new medium of television, which came of age by showing the ceremony for the first time. An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched the ceremony live on their black-and-white televisions, and the images were also broadcast around the world. The Duke of Norfolk, who organized the Queen’s funeral, also has a coronation role. He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone behind the wheel – despite claiming he needed his license to arrange the upcoming ceremony.
