LONDON (Reuters) – King Charles III was anointed and crowned on Saturday in Britain’s biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a display of pomp and pageantry that sought to marry 1,000 years of history with a monarchy fit for a new era.
In front of a congregation including about 100 world leaders and a television audience of millions, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, slowly placed the 360-year-old St Edward’s Crown on Charles’ head as he sat upon a 14th-century throne in Westminster Abbey.
During the solemn two-hour service, elements of which date back to the time of King William the Conqueror in 1066, Charles’ second wife Camilla was also crowned queen.
A huge military procession followed, gun salutes were fired, thousands of soldiers roared three cheers, and there was a scaled-down flypast by military aircraft as the king and queen waved from the balcony of Buckingham Palace to cheering crowds who gathered on The Mall boulevard.
While rooted in history, the ceremony – only the second British coronation to be televised – was also an attempt to present a forward-looking institution and to reflect a more diverse country.
“I come not to be served but to serve,” Charles said at the start.
With Britain struggling to find its way in the political maelstrom after its exit from the European Union and maintain its global standing, the monarchy’s supporters say the royal family provides an international draw, a vital diplomatic tool and a means of keeping it on the world stage.
“No other country could put on such a dazzling display – the processions, the pageantry, the ceremonies, and street parties,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
But despite Sunak’s enthusiasm, the coronation took place amid a cost of living crisis and public scepticism, particularly among the young, about the role and relevance of the monarchy.
Charles, 74, automatically succeeded his mother as king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms including Canada and Australia when Queen Elizabeth died last September.
Saturday’s event was on a smaller scale than that staged for her in 1953, but still sought to be spectacular. There was an array of historical regalia from golden orbs and bejewelled swords to a sceptre holding the world’s largest colourless cut diamond.
After the service, Charles and Camilla, 75, departed in the four-tonne Gold State Coach built for George III, the last king of Britain’s American colonies, to ride to Buckingham Palace in a one-mile procession of 4,000 military personnel from 39 nations.
Meanwhile hundreds of soldiers in scarlet uniforms and black bearskin hats lined the route along The Mall for what was the largest ceremonial event of its kind in Britain since Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.
Tens of thousands of people ignored pouring rain to mass on the streets to watch what some saw as a moment of history.
“When I was a young girl, I was able to watch (the coronation of) Queen Elizabeth on television in Hartford, Connecticut, at a friend’s house because we had no TV,” said retired U.S. teacher Peggy Jane Laver, 79.
“So I’m thrilled to be here for the coronation in person.”
