King Charles III will be crowned on Saturday at Westminster Abbey in an event full of all the pageantry Britain can muster.King Charles III will be crowned on Saturday at Westminster Abbey in an event full of all the pageantry Britain can muster.
Follow iwitnesslive.com for all the latest developments on the coronation in London on Saturday and for updates on the Royal Family.
When is the coronation of King Charles III?The coronation will be held today, May 6. This is the first British royal coronation since the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, which officially marked the start of her record-breaking reign.
The event, scaled-down compared to that of the King’s mother, is expected to hearken back to the monarchy’s storied traditions while highlighting the royal family’s place in the world today.
Are Harry and Meghan going to the coronation?
Harry will be there, but Meghan (and the kids) are sitting this one out. “The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet,” said a spokesperson for Meghan and Harry. Coronation Day also happens to be Archie’s birthday.Where do Harry and Meghan stand with the royals after their coronation decisions?
While many of the undercurrents, rivalries and animosities long pre-date Harry and Meghan, they are the couple at the nexus of much of this simmering tension, especially since their RSVP journey played out with more manufactured jeopardy than a reality show finale episode.
Did Meghan and Harry both want to attend but were negotiated into a less circus-like compromise by the palace? Or was the palace desperate for them to come for the sake of repairing the family’s reputation (and to entice more people to watch the proceedings), but Meghan and Harry chose to honour his family while preserving her peace?Who is performing at the coronation?Nigerian music diva, Tiwa Savage and other International superstars like Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli, will all perform at the coronation concert at Windsor Castle
The concert is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000 public and invited guests and will be broadcast to millions more around the world.
“The concert will celebrate a new chapter in the nation’s history, with themes of love, respect and optimism, celebrating the four nations, their communities and the Commonwealth,” the public broadcaster said in a statement.
How will the royals reckon with Diana’s memory at the coronation?“The ghost of Diana — who she was and what she stood for — definitely looms large over this coronation. No one can change the fact that she was the wife of one king as well as the mother and grandmother to two future monarchs,” says Christopher Andersen, an American journalist whose most recent book, “The King,” is a biography of King Charles III. “She continues to cast a huge shadow.”
In a parallel universe, this could have been Diana’s coronation day too. In this timeline, Queen Diana would be a relatively youthful 62-year-old anointed alongside Charles.
What role will Will and Kate play at the coronation?Leaked rehearsal documents obtained by the Times show that William and Kate, along with their children, will be part of a celebratory procession through the streets. But while the palace has treated us to an official Coronation quiche recipe, it’s still keeping plans for the couple’s other duties on the day under wraps.
Their son Prince George is, in fact, the only Wales with a confirmed role in the proceedings. The palace has announced that he, along with Camilla’s grandsons and a few other aristocratic lads, will be a “page of honour,” a job that seems to mostly involve carrying the ancient regalia, like coronets and robes, of various folk involved in the ceremony. In George’s case, that will likely mean helping his dad, William, navigate Westminster Abbey in his finery.
What will the royals wear to the coronation?There remains quite the shroud around what fashion we will see at the coronation of King Charles III this Saturday.
The palace offered a peek of the embroidery on Queen Camilla’s robe of estate on social media. Then Catherine, Princess of Wales, let it slip to an ITV reporter that “there is a hint of blue” in her outfit. It’s hardly a big giveaway since blue is by far the most prevalent of HRH colours, but it’s a morsel nonetheless.
There are more clues to be gleaned from the dress code. Coronations of the past have been lavish affairs, with their anointed majesties in ermine robes and crown jewels; princesses in coronets and purple velvet mantles; peers of the realm in their own ermine robes; royal dukes busting out the full regalia of the Order of the Garter.
