On May 6, King Charles III will become the 40th monarch of the United Kingdom to be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, while his wife Camilla will be anointed queen consort.
Millions of people in the UK and around the world will watch the coronation event and attend celebrations.
Here’s what you need to know about the event.
What is a coronation?
A coronation is the formal investiture of a monarch with their royal powers. The event will see King Charles III, who is 74, crowned in front of 2,000 guests.
The coronation of British monarchs has remained relatively unchanged for nearly 1,000 years.
William I was crowned King of England at the same location in Westminster Abbey in 1066.
Britain’s last coronation took place in 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at the age of 27.
What time and where will the coronation take place?
On May 6, there are two processions: the King’s Procession and the Greater Coronation Procession, as well as the Coronation Ceremony.
The King’s procession departs Buckingham Palace at 10:20 AM (9:20 GMT). The Royals travel along The Mall, through Admiralty Arch, past the south side of King Charles Island at Trafalgar Square, before descending Whitehall via the east and south sides of Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey. All told, it is a distance of about 2.3 km (1.4 mi).
King Charles III and the Queen Consort will travel in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which will be pulled by six Windsor Gray horses.
The carriage was built to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th anniversary on the throne in 2012.
The coronation ceremony will begin at 11am (10am GMT) at Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey was originally founded over a thousand years ago as a Benedictine monastery. The royal church was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor in 1065 and then again between 1220 and 1272.
The abbey today has a floor space of 2,973 square meters (32,000 sq ft) and two towers with a height of 69 meters (225 ft).
It has seen many state weddings and funerals, including that of Princess Diana in 1997.
What happens during the coronation process?
The coronation service will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey.
Rituals, including the Recognition, the Coronation Oath, the Anointing, the Investiture, and the Enthronement, make up the phases of the coronation service.
The first processions to Westminster Abbey will feature representatives and leaders from various Commonwealth religions and countries.
During the recognition, King Charles will stand next to the coronation chair and be presented by the archbishop to the people within the abbey. They will then say: God save the King!
During the oath, the king will promise to uphold the law and the church.
The anointing involves taking off the king’s ceremonial robes and sitting on the coronation chair. The archbishop will anoint the king with holy oil, the symbolism of which is the granting of God’s grace to the monarch.
The king returns to the coronation chair and is presented with royal artifacts such as the royal orb and scepter. The Archbishop then places the St. Edward’s Crown on the king’s head.
During the enthronement, the king will leave the coronation chair and ascend the throne. Camila is then anointed.
After the service, at 1pm local time (12pm GMT), the King’s consort and Queen will return to Buckingham Palace in what is called the Coronation Procession. On the return journey, they ride in the Gold State Coach, pulled by eight Windsor Gray horses. The golden state carriage has been used at every coronation since the 19th century.
The King will then greet the crowds at The Mall from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Who’s in line for the throne?
Charles ascended the throne upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, in 2022. She was queen for 70 years – Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
The succession to the British throne determines who will be the next king or queen. It is determined on the basis of origin, religion and birthright.
Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia, the granddaughter of James I, are eligible for the throne. The future monarch must also be “in communion” with the Church of England.
Previously, younger male heirs acceded to the throne, displacing older daughters. However, a law was passed in 2013 giving female heirs equal rights in the line of succession.
After King Charles III, the line of succession to the British crown is:
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge (40)
Prince George (9)
Princess Charlotte (8)
Prince Louis (5)
How much will the coronation cost?
It is estimated that the coronation will cost between 50 and 100 million pounds ($63 to 126 million), according to unofficial sources. It comes at a time when the UK is facing persistently high inflation. In a recent YouGov poll, 51 percent of Britons said the coronation should not be funded by the government.
Coronations are state affairs and as such are paid for by the government. According to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, “the sources of funding will include the state grant and the UK government”.
The sovereign grant is funded by the taxpayer and is used to pay for the monarch’s official duties. For the 2021-2022 period, the grant was £86.3 million ($108.8 million).
King Charles III’s grandfather, King George VI’s coronation cost £454,000 ($573,000) in 1937 – £24.8 million ($31 million) in today’s money. While the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, cost 912,000 pounds ($1.2 million) – about 20.6 million pounds ($26 million) in today’s money.
The cost of King Charles’ coronation will be released after the event.
