Tag: Queen Elizabeth II

King Charles III’s coronation: carriages, crown jewels, emoji unveiled by Britain’s royal family

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Britain’s royal family has revealed new details about King Charles III’s coronation next month with information on processional routes, carriages, and coronation regalia and unveiled a new emoji to mark the ceremony that will be less elaborate than the one staged in 1953 for his mother.

Charles, 74, who immediately became king when Queen Elizabeth II died last September after her record-breaking 70-year reign, will be formally crowned on May 6.

The coronation will take place almost 70 years after the last Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.

Buckingham Palace on Sunday revealed further details ahead of the coronation.

The new British sovereign will be crowned alongside his wife, Camilla, in a deeply religious service at Westminster Abbey.

Also Read | King Charles III holds rare phone conversation with Prime Minister Modi

On the morning of the May 6, the King and Queen Consort will travel from Buckingham Palace in The King’s Procession to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. Created for Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Her late Majesty’s reign in 2012, the coach has only ever conveyed the Sovereign, occasionally accompanied by the consort or a visiting Head of State.

The Australian-built Diamond Jubilee State Coach IS the newest of the royal carriages, the BBC reported.

This looks traditional, but is actually modern, with air conditioning, electric windows and up-to-date suspension.

“It’s made of aluminium, which is quite unusual, because most of them are made of wood, and it’s also got hydraulic suspension, meaning that the ride is incredibly comfortable,” says Sally Goodsir, curator at the Royal Collection Trust.

The gilded crown on the top of the Diamond Jubilee State Coach was carved from oak from HMS Victory.

Also Read | King Charles III proclaimed Britain’s monarch in historic ceremony

The coach’s interior is inlaid with samples of woods, metals and other materials from buildings and places with specific connections to Britain and its history; Royal Residences including Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse; cathedrals including St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey; and historic ships, such as the Mary Rose. The coach will be drawn by six Windsor Greys.

The King’s Procession, accompanied by The Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry, will depart Buckingham Palace through the Centre Gate, and proceed down The Mall, passing through the Admiralty Arch and south of King Charles I Island, down Whitehall and along Parliament Street.

The King’s Procession will travel around the east and south sides of Parliament Square to Broad Sanctuary to arrive at the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey, where the Coronation Service will begin at 11 o’clock.

In keeping with the king’s wish for a smaller-scale ceremony, the 1.3-mile (2.1km) procession will be much shorter than that staged for the coronation of his mother, The Guardian newspaper said.

The procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace will be much larger in scale, taking the same route in reverse. The Coronation Procession will include Armed Forces from across the Commonwealth and the British Overseas Territories, and all Services of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, alongside The Sovereign’s Bodyguard and Royal Watermen.

The King and the Queen will return to the palace in the traditional — but notoriously uncomfortable — Gold State Coach, used in every coronation since the 1830s.

The coach, last seen during the Pageant of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in June 2022, was commissioned in 1760 and was first used by King George III, to travel to the State Opening of Parliament in 1762.

The coach has been used at every Coronation since that of William IV in 1831. The coach will be drawn by eight Windsor Greys and, due to its weight of four tonnes, will travel at a walking pace.

Upon returning to Buckingham Palace following the Coronation Service, Their Majesties will receive a Royal Salute from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Armed Forces who have been on parade that day. The Royal Salute will be followed by three cheers from the assembled service personnel, as a tribute from the Armed Forces on parade to The King and The Queen.

The palace has also outlined the coronation regalia which are “sacred and secular objects” symbolic of the “responsibilities of the monarch” that will be featured in the Westminster service.

The regalia — which is held in trust by the monarch on the nation’s behalf — have played a principal role in coronation services for centuries.

Among the treasures to be used, which are usually on public display at the Tower of London, will be the Imperial State Crown which is only used at ceremonial events and was made for King George VI’s 1937 coronation.

Charles will exchange it for St Edward’s Crown at the end of the service. Made of solid gold and trimmed with ermine and velvet, it is famously heavy — weighing more than five pounds (2.23kg).

As previously announced, Camilla is reusing Queen Mary’s Crown rather than commissioning a new one to be made.

Two heavy maces made of silver gilt over oak and several ceremonial swords — The Sword of State, the Sword of Temporal Justice, the Sword of Spiritual Justice and the Sword of Mercy — will also be used. Additionally, several instruments of state will feature including the Sovereign’s orb and two sceptres, which represent the monarch’s temporal power and spiritual role.

The oldest item being used will be a spoon to hold the oil for the anointing in the coronation. This spoon, possibly 12th Century, is a rare surviving part of the original medieval coronation regalia, most of which was destroyed after the English Civil War in the 17th Century, BBC said.

Among more than 2,000 guests expected to be in the Abbey will be 450 representatives of charity and community groups, who will be alongside world leaders, politicians and royalty.

Indian-origin chef Manju Malhi, who works with a senior citizens charity in the U.K., is among the British Empire Medal (BEM) winners on the royal invitation list for the coronation.

In addition to the new details on processional routes, carriages and coronation regalia, a new emoji has even been designed to mark the celebrations. Based on St Edward’s Crown, it will appear on Twitter when coronation hashtags are used over the holiday weekend.



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Will Britain become a republic, or keep the royal family?

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When the Sex Pistols released ‘God Save the Queen’ in 1977 it certainly ruffled a few feathers.

The anti-establishment anthem — which blasted the “fascist regime” of Elizabeth II — was banned by the BBC, while the tabloid press accused the punks of treason, calling for them to be hung.

But Britain is a different place than it was when the single came out. 

This year marks a watershed for the country, as a new monarch will be crowned for the first time in 70 years. 

King Charles III will ascend to the throne amid a weekend of pomp and pageantry; ancient religious rites and a concert featuring today’s global music stars. 

Support for the monarchy stayed fairly constant in the months before the Queen’s death last year, and in the months since, according to YouGov: with around 60% of people in favour of keeping the monarchy, and 25% in favour of abolishing it. 

There may well be a “coronation boost” for the institution of the monarchy in springtime, but the long term trends show a clear loss of support for the royals over the years among members of the public, with increased numbers of people wanting the ancient institution swept aside and replaced with a republic. 

In 1983, some 86% of Britons believed the monarchy was “very” or “quite” important. By 2021, this had slumped to 55%, with 25% saying it was “not at all important” or should be abolished, according to the British Social Attitudes survey.

A string of scandals have fuelled these republican rumblings, including Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual relations with minors, then Prince Charles accepting “bags of cash” for honours and the ongoing public spat between Harry, Meghan, and the rest of the family. 

‘Ingrained deference’

While even the most ardent anti-royals would perhaps concede a grudging respect for the late Queen Elizabeth and her life of service to the country and Commonwealth; but for most republicans, it does not matter who the head of state is.

“Republicanism about the type of society we want to have in Britain,” Ken Ritchie from Labour for Republic told Euronews. “The monarchy represents elitism. A society in which rank and status are important and where your position is entirely dependent on the circumstances of your birth.”

“Surely in the 21st century, this ought to be wrong”, he said.

The overall wealth of Britain’s royal family is hard to gauge due to the opaque nature of its finances. In 2015, a Reuters analysis suggested it had nominal assets worth almost 23 billion pounds at the time.

However, republican criticism of the monarchy’s riches goes further, drawing attention to its relationship to the British Empire. 

“A lot of their wealth was extracted through colonialism and indeed slavery,” said Ritchie. “This is no longer the sort of country we want to be.”

“The monarchy is much grander, much more extravagant, much more expensive than the others in Europe,” he added. “I suspect that stems back to the idea that Britain was the centre of an empire spanning the world.”

While the monarchy is symbolic of British history, others question how much the royal family directly profited from colonialism.

What’s the situation like in other European countries?

Britain is not the only European country with an active discussion about the role of the royal family.

In the Netherlands, a poll carried out for King’s Day in April 2022 showed 71% support for the monarchy and 29% support for a republic — a few percentage points more support for republicanism than in the UK, but a much stronger support support for the royals. 

Meanwhile in Denmark — where Queen Margrethe is Europe’s longest-reigning monarch, and recently celebrated 50 years on the throne — a February 2022 poll showed almost 77% of people supported a Danish monarchy, while just 14.6% of people wanted the Nordic nation to become a republic. 

And in Spain, where a series of financial and personal scandals has rocked the House of Bourbon in recent years, an October 2020 poll found that 40.9% of Spaniards favoured replacing King Felipe and Queen Letizia in favour of a republic; while 34.9% of people said they supported keeping the royal family.   

The sprawling fortunes of Britain’s royals are not the only gripe of anti-monarchists. It’s also what they call the “inequality of power” that comes with it. 

Professor Richard Toye, a historian at Exeter University, criticised the “democratic deficit” of having such “an important public position which is hereditary”, calling it “surprising and problematic” in a country styling itself as a democracy.

This shadowy power fuels “worries about the ways in which monarchs, although they’re supposed to be neutral, actually end up wielding influence over politics”, he added.

In 2021, the late Queen was accused of lobbying government to protect her private wealth from new transparency laws, while other members of her family have allegedly applied pressure to get financial advantages.

“They are simply preserving their own power”, said Richtie. “We want to see a monarch that is much more transparent.”

When Charles took over the Crown Estate, the 15 billion pound portfolio of land and assets held by his mother, it was not subjected to inheritance tax, prompting widespread criticism in the UK. 

‘We are entering new territory’

By any measure, the British monarchy does not seem like it is going anywhere – even if republican feeling grows stronger.

All of Britain’s major political parties are pro-monarchist, and in a country grappling with strikes, inflation and the fallout from Brexit, the issue remains a low priority.

“The very existence of the monarchy is dependent on publicity and public opinion,” says Ken Ritchie from Labour for Republic. 

“If it wasn’t for that, it would simply be irrelevant and ignored … they’re going to do their best to try and to win back public support.”

Despite the “very chequered past” of King Charles and the recent controversies to rock the Royal Family, Dr Joe Powell, a republican campaigner, was dismayed that public criticism of the was not turning even more against the monarchy.

“You would think that the high level of scandals would make people question what they’re doing and why they’re doing it on our behalf,” he said. 

“But that doesn’t really seem to happen.”



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