King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6 in a ceremony that will embrace the past but look to the modern world after the 70-year reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Per the AP, Tuesday’s announcement from Buckingham Palace comes amid speculation that the coronation will be shorter and less extravagant than the three-hour ceremony that installed Elizabeth in 1953, in keeping with Charles’ plans for a slimmed-down monarchy. While the palace provided few details, British media reported that the guest list would be pared to 2,000 from 8,000.
Charles will be crowned in a solemn religious ceremony conducted by Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, the palace said in a statement. Camilla, the queen consort, will be crowned alongside her husband. “The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry,’’ the palace said. Plans for the coronation—known as Operation Golden Orb—are underway as Charles and his heir, Prince William, seek to demonstrate that the monarchy is still relevant in modern, multicultural Britain. While there was widespread respect for Elizabeth, as demonstrated by the tens of thousands of people who waited hours to file past her coffin, there is no guarantee that reverence will transfer to Charles.
While most of the coronation ceremony, which has changed little in the past 1,000 years, is expected to remain intact, some of the trappings of pomp and circumstance may be trimmed as Britain struggles with soaring inflation and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. "The idea of this very opulent coronation coming on the back of a winter of austerity … could chime very awkwardly," Anna Whitelock, professor at City University London, told the BBC. Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the ceremony at a meeting of his senior advisers, known as the Privy Council, later this year. (More King Charles III stories.)
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