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Anointed with holy oil and enthroned in St. Edward’s chair, King Charles III was crowned in a solemn ritual that stretches back more than a millennium but unfolded with various concessions for the modern era.
The coronation, the first since Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, was a royal spectacle of a kind that only England still stages: four hours of pageantry that began with the clip-clop of horses’ hooves on Pall Mall and ended with the vaporous trail of acrobatic jets streaking above Buckingham Palace, while Charles watched from the balcony with Queen Camilla, who had been crowned shortly after him.
But it was a coronation for a very different country than when Elizabeth first wore the crown. Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh leaders greeted Charles as he left Westminster Abbey, and there were various attempts – not always successful – to make the medieval ritual more inclusive and democratic.
A female bishop from the Church of England took part in the liturgy; hymns were sung in Welsh, Scottish and Irish Gaelic; and when Charles, 74, took the holy oath to defend the Protestant faith, there was also a personal prayer, promising to be a pluralistic king for a diverse society.
“I come not to be served, but to serve,” said Charles, carefully dressed in the velvet and gold lace robes worn by his grandfather, George VI. “May I be a blessing to all your children, of every faith and belief.”
At the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev. Justin Welby, who led through the service, the congregation chanted, “God save King Charles,” a voice that echoed in the vaulted nave of the monastery.
Among the 2,200 spectators were heads of state, including President Emmanuel Macron of France; entertainment figures like singer Lionel Richie; and the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, although not President Biden, that sent his congratulations to Charles on Twitter from the White House.
Outside, thousands of spectators lined the streets under a steady drizzle. There is little excitement that has electrified many after the royal wedding or suffused mourners during the queen’s funeral in September. But there is a collective sense of history in the making, and even a tingle or two as the newly crowned king and queen pass by in their golden stagecoach.
History, of course, has been made: Charles ascended the throne after the death of the queen. But the coronation sanctifies the king’s rule and, through national celebrations, aims to bind the ruler to the people.
If the coronation of Elizabeth was one of the first mass media events in the world, the black and white images were transmitted globally by the BBC, this is the first coronation in the digital age, shared by the audience on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook.
“I’m just curious,” said Zoë Boyce, 24, as she waited on a blanket in the park with friend Sarah Chappell, 23. Ms Boyce insisted she was “not a big fan” of the monarchy, but said: “I think you can appreciate it without supporting it. .”
“This is just one day in history right?” Ms. Chappell added.
There are discordant notes. Hours before the service began, police arrested the head of Britain’s most prominent republican movement, Graham Smith, and others who had planned to protest in Trafalgar Square, along the procession route.
Mr Smith said last week that anti-monarchists would chant and hold placards saying, “No to my King,” but would not interfere with the proceedings. But police, armed with a controversial new law that allows them to crack down on demonstrations, surrounded Mr Smith and others before Charles emerged.
As news of the arrests spread, other protesters fled outside the cordoned-off area around Trafalgar Square.
“I think it’s disgusting,” said Charlie Willis, 20. “To have a blind party about having a crown put on your head when you have people dying of hunger and poverty. I mean, are you going to do that?”
One misstep in the days leading up to the ceremony was the archbishop’s plan to “call” millions of people across England and its territories to pay their respects to the king, a modification seen as a democratization step as the ritual is already traditional. has been reserved for the aristocracy.
But after the backlash, Archbishop Welby softened his words. “Now I invite those who want to give their support, by personal reflection, by saying, ‘God save King Charles,'” he said tentatively.
However, for many, the coronation is an excuse to cheer, wave Union Jacks and participate in the quintessentially British experience of rain together. “Congratulations,” said a voice from a loudspeaker near Buckingham Palace. “I hope the damp in our clothes doesn’t dampen our spirits.”
“It’s rather festive, and a very stoic scene from England,” said Rupert Birch, 56, a businessman, who was sheltering from the rain under one of the plane trees that line Hyde Park.
Sarah Briscoe, 44, who works in financial services, claims the king is ahead of the curve on issues like environmental sustainability. But he acknowledged the burden of succeeding Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-serving monarch who is a respected figure and anchor for the country.
“The mother is very good,” said Ms. Briscoe. “There’s no way she could live with him, right?”
The awkward dynamics of the royal family were on display at the ceremony. Prince Harry, the queen’s young son, came alone with his siblings. Harry’s wife, Meghan, remained at home in Montecito, California, with the couple’s children, Lilibet and Archie, who celebrated their fourth birthday on Saturday.
Harry sat in the third row, between his cousin’s wife, Princess Eugenie, and Princess Alexandra, the queen’s 86-year-old cousin, who is 56th in line to the throne. He was not seen in line at the palace balcony, with British papers reporting that he had returned to California that evening.
In contrast, Harry’s brother, Prince William, his wife, Catherine, and their children have a clear role to play. Prince George, 9, the eldest son, holds the king’s robes as one of the pages. Her 8-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, wowed onlookers in an ivory silk crepe gown by designer Alexander McQueen – a miniature version of her mother’s dress.
For Camilla, 75, now elevated from consort to queen, the coronation marks the end of a decades-long rehabilitation project that began with her marriage to Charles in 2005, following the dissolution of her marriage to Princess Diana.
Among other important women were Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, who stood, ramrod straight, bearing the jewel-encrusted Sword of State during one of the longest parts of the service.
He last won the title in July 2022 as he did not challenge Rishi Sunak for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Mr. Sunak, Britain’s first Hindu prime minister, played his part by reading the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians.
While most members of the royal family rode in carriages or cars during the grand procession back to the palace, Princess Anne, the king’s sister, rode on horseback. An accomplished horseman, he holds the status of Gold Stick-in-Waiting, an honor guard for the ruler.
Even in a country used to the royal spectacle, the parade beggared description: 19 military bands and 4,000 troops, stretching a full mile from the royal gate along the mall and around the corner to Whitehall.
After greeting the troops in the palace’s back garden, Charles and his family appeared on the balcony to watch the aerial flyby, which was cut short by low clouds. In place of the 60 aircraft originally planned, Red Arrow’s fleet of helicopters and aerobatic jets roared overhead.
However, the focus that day was on Charles. Somber during the two-hour ceremony, he looked like a man feeling the weight of a crown – in this case, one imperial with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 269 pearls. Only when he appeared on the balcony later did he smile.
In the most intimate moment of the ceremony, Charles was anointed with holy oil, harvested from the Mount of Olives and consecrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The archbishop performs the ritual behind the scenes – symbolizing the privacy of what is intended as an almost divine encounter between the ruler and God.
Like other ceremonial elements, the anointing dates to the coronation of King Edgar in 973 in the Roman city of Bath. What has survived, unchanged, until the 21st century has intrigued historians.
“How do rites associated with feudal England have validity in modern times?” historian Roy Strong wrote in his book, “The Coronation: A History of the British Monarchy.” “But it’s not just life as some antique aberration,” he said. “Indeed, it bloomed.”
Still, the antique – some would say anachronistic – nature of the ceremony presents a challenge to gather, including the king, who has said his determination to make the monarchy more forward-looking, relevant and inclusive.
As part of his oath, Charles vowed to uphold the Church of England, reaffirmed his Protestant faith and promised that all future kings would be Protestants. Looking at the words in a modern context, Archbishop Welby said the church seeks to “support an environment where people of all religions and beliefs can live freely.”
Later, in his sermon, the archbishop saluted Charles’ commitment to charity and his life of service to the people of his country. “We are here for the king’s crown,” he said, “and we are the king’s crown to serve.”
Megan Special, Emma Bubola and Saskia Solomon contribute reports.
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