The crowning of King Charles III on 6th May will be celebrated with traditional processions, a concert at Windsor Castle, the Big Lunch, street parties, a light show across London and a day of community volunteering called the Big Help Out. The formal ceremony, which will be the first coronation that Britain has seen in the last 70 years will include all the formal traditional pomp and pageantry that has been used in anointing monarchs in the last one thousand years. As stated on the official Royal Family’s website “Their Majesties want to encourage people to spend the Coronation Weekend celebrating with friends, families and their communities,” while we want to encourage you to find out all the useful information about the Coronation Weekend in our article to be fully prepared to celebrate this existing historical occasion with the Royal family and the rest of the United Kingdom.

The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is a ceremony, in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. This tradition corresponds to the coronations that took place in other European monarchies, which, however, have been abandoned in favour of inauguration or enlightenment ceremonies. This means that the upcoming coronation of Charles III is truly a symbolic and unique event that differs from the previous monarch’s coronations due to the modernisation of the British monarch’s role today. Deemed as “solemn religious”, the ceremony’s costs and plannings have been slimmed-down and will go without some of the extravagant trappings witnessed during the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.

Unlike his mother, whose coronation was attended by 8,250 guests, King Charles is reportedly expecting only 2,000 guests. Besides, the late Queen’s grand procession featured over 40,000 UK and Commonwealth military personnel and 24 marching military bands, while Charles’ procession is excepting to be much smaller due to the confines shrinkage of Britain’s Armed Forces. The religious service at Westminster Abbey has been cut down to one hour – in comparison to Elizabeth’s four-hour service. The dress code for the occasion is also expected to be modernised with Charles introducing a more relaxed attire, which will still feature ceremonial robes made from crimson velvet and ermine. It has been suggested that the King will wear his military uniform instead of the more traditional clothing worn by his predecessors. During her coronation in 1953 Elizabeth II wore an extravagant white satin gown embroidered with pearls, crystals and sequins, with a six-and-a-half-metre Robe of Estate. Another difference between Charles’s and Elizabeth’s coronation is that Camilla will be the first Queen Consort to be crowned in almost a century, as Prince Phillip was not crowned during the late Queen’s coronation. The Royal Family’s website states that “unless decided otherwise, a Queen consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony. If the new Sovereign is a Queen, her consort is not crowned or anointed at the coronation ceremony.”

The Coronation Weekend will consist of several traditional events and will, of course, start with the Coronation Service. This process will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May. The Service will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and will “reflect the Monarch’s role today and look towards the future” and will be followed by the “Coronation Procession” to the Buckingham Palace. There are different stages to the Service that will be carried out prior to the procession. First – the recognition: while standing beside the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, the monarch is presented to those gathered in the Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The congregation shouts “God Save the King!” and trumpets sound. It is followed by the oath: the sovereign swears to uphold the law and the Church of England. The oath is followed by the anointing: the King’s ceremonial robe is removed and he sits in the Coronation Chair. A gold cloth is held over the chair to conceal the King from view. The Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the King’s hands, breast and head with holy oil made according to a secret recipe, but known to contain ambergris, orange flowers, roses, jasmine and cinnamon. The oil created for Charles will not contain any ingredients derived from animals. After the anointing is conducted, the investiture takes place, when the sovereign is presented with items including the Royal Orb, representing religious and moral authority; the Sceptre, representing power; and the Sovereign’s Sceptre, a rod of gold topped with a white enamelled dove, a symbol of justice and mercy. Finally, the Archbishop places St Edward’s Crown on the King’s head. The religious process of the coronation is finalised with the enthronement and homage: the King leaves the Coronation Chair and moves to the throne. Peers kneel before the monarch to pay homage. After this, the Queen Consort is anointed and crowned. After the Service, joined by other members of the royal family, the King and Queen Consort return to Buckingham Palace and will appear on the balcony to conclude the ceremonial events.

The Coronation Weekend will continue on Sunday 7th May with the Coronation Concert and the Coronation Big Lunch. The special life concert will be staged and broadcast live at Windsor Castle by the BBC and the BBC Studios, with several thousands of tickets available on-ballot for the members of public. Although the lineup for the Concert has not yet been announced, the Buckingham Palace promised performances from “global music icons” and “contemporary stars”, with several speculations that the Palace has booked Lionel Richie to open the event. Additionally, it is rumoured that there could be a performance from Paul McCartney and the American superstar Bette Midler. The Concert is also expected to incorporate the new King’s love of classical music. The other act of the Coronation Concert – the Coronation Choir – will be made of 300 singers from different backgrounds including a Gaelic choir from the Western Isles of Scotland, an LGBTQ+ choir, Hull’s NHS choir, and the Virtual Choir, made up of voices from all across the Commonwealth. The Big Lunch is an event, which is supposed to bring the neighbours and communities together, will take place across the country before the Concert. Members of the public are able to pre-order their free pack for the occasion , which provided by the Eden Project charity.

Further celebratory events that will take place include the “Light Up the Nation” light party, where landmarks around the country will be illuminated using projections, lasers and drones, and the coronation exhibition at the Chapter House in Westminster Abbey, where members of the public will be able to see historic illustrations and photographs that showcase the ceremony behind the coronation traditions. The exhibition will be open between April 11th and September 30th. Besides this, mass celebrations on the streets are expected to happen all throughout the Coronation Weekend, which will be prolonged by the bank holiday on Monday 8th May. Also on Monday members of the public will be invited to take part in the Big Help Out, which will encourage people to try volunteering for themselves and join the work being undertaken to support their local areas.