EXTRA TIME

Coronation Day

May 6, 2023 at 6:22 am 1 comment

The first coronation in 70 years is to take place on Saturday, 6 May, with King Charles III and the Queen Consort preparing for their historic carriage ride to Westminster Abbey.

▶️ BBC

Charles became king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms in September 2022, when his mother Elizabeth died after 70 years on the throne. Born on 14 November 1948, Charles III will be the oldest king to be crowned in the history of the United Kingdom.

On the eve of the Coronation, London landmarks were lit up with projections to mark the event. This will be tthe 40th coronation to take place at Westminster Abbey since 1066.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will preside over the service, with 100 heads of state set to attend. The Coronation service will last almost two hours. It will be seen first-hand by 2,300 guests, including Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who arrived from the United States on Friday on a commercial flight.

It will be the first time since the release of Prince Harry’s memoir that he will have been seen in public with his brother, Prince William, the Prince of Wales.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said that the coronation service would “recognise and celebrate tradition” as well as contain “new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society”.

The keynote message of the Coronation from King Charles is in his first prayer when he reaches the Abbey reads: “I come not to be served, but to serve.”

The ceremony will emphasise diversity and inclusion, with more multi-faith elements than any previous coronation, with contributions from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Sikh representatives.

A Bible lesson will be read by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is Hindu, and music will be sung in Welsh and Scottish and Irish Gaelic.

There will be women bishops taking part in the service for the first time in a coronation service that goes back almost a thousand years.

As hundreds of people have a part to play, the Lord President of the Privy Council, Penny Mordaunt, a Conservative MP, will become the first woman in history to present the intricate, tapered, priceless Sword of Offering or Sword of State, one of the British Crown Jewels, which was made for George IV’s coronation in 1821. It is a symbol of the protection of good and the punishment of evil and is seen as a metaphor for defence, advocacy and justice.

The sword will be blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury before Ms Mordaunt will carry it to the King and place it in his right hand.

After that, Charles will offer the sword at the alter, where it will be received by the Dean and redeemed with the offering of 100 newly minted 50p coins. And after that, the sword goes right back to Mordant, who has the task to carry it before the King for the remainder of the ceremony.

There are more swords going to be used for the purposes of the coronation ceremony, including the swords of state (symbolising royal authority), mercy (which has a blunted tip), spiritual justice and temporal justice.

The high point of the ceremony will come when the St Edward’s Crown which has been used during the coronations of English and British monarchs since the 13th Century. is placed on the King’s head, a moment that will be marked by the Abbey bells being rung and a gun salute in nearby Horse Guards Parade.

Despite the aforementioned changes designed to reflect other faiths, the three oaths the King will take and form the heart of the service remain unchanged, including the promise to maintain “the Protestant Reformed Religion”.

However, the Archbishop of Canterbury will say beforehand that the Church of England will seek to create an environment where “people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely”.

“The religious and cultural context of the 17th Century was very different to today’s contemporary, multi-faith Britain,” a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said. “So, for the first time there will be a preface to the Oath.”

The BBC’s religion editor Aleem Maqbool said that it may appear a neat solution to leave the oaths unchanged and have the Archbishop of Canterbury express that forward-looking sentiment, but progressives will be left wondering why the protection of the practice of all beliefs could not be part of the oral contract with the nation that the King enters into.

Homage of the people

The public will be given an active role in the ceremony for the first time, with people around the world set to be asked to cry out and swear allegiance to the King. There has been controversy over asking people at home to pledge their allegiance to the King.

The Church of England has made clear this is entirely optional and people might instead have a “private moment of reflection”.

This “homage of the people” replaces the traditional “homage of peers” where hereditary peers swear allegiance to the new monarch. Instead everyone in the Abbey and watching at home will be invited to pay homage in what Lambeth Palace described as a “chorus of millions”. The removal of this helps to reduce the length of the service, which is now two hours – instead of around three as it was at the late Queen’s coronation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will say: “I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying ‘God save King Charles’ at the end, or for those with the words before them, to recite them in full“:

“I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”

It will be followed by the playing of a fanfare.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will then proclaim “God save the King”, with all asked to respond: “God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever.”

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s office, said: “The homage of the people is particularly exciting because that’s brand new.” The new Homage of the People was introduced to allow “a chorus of millions of voices” to be “enabled for the first time in history to participate in this solemn and joyful moment”, Lambeth Palace said.

“That’s something that we can share in because of technological advances, so not just the people in the Abbey, but people who are online, on television, who are listening, and who are gathered in parks, at big screens and churches.

“Our hope is at that point, when the Archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if they’re watching at home on their own, watching the telly, will say it out loud – this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King.”

After the service, at around 13:00 BST, King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel in the Gold State Coach back to Buckingham Palace, in a spectacular mile-long (1.6km) procession, with 4,000 soldiers and 19 military bands.

Despite forecasts of rain, crowds have already gathered on the procession route. As the sun set on Friday, hundreds of tents had appeared, with those gathered hoping to witness the historic event.

Meticulous rehearsals for the procession were carried out by marching around a replica route with landmarks such as the Cenotaph marked out with traffic cones.

When they reach the Palace, it remains uncertain who will be seen with the King and Queen for the traditional balcony appearance.

There are plans for a flypast when the senior royals are on the Palace balcony, but there will be concerns about the weather, with a forecast for cloud and showers.

God save the King!

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