Charles III is crowned King of Britain
King Edward’s Crown, the sacred symbol of throne power made of solid gold and used once during the reign, will be placed on Charles’ head at 11.00 GMT to cries of “God save the King”. (AFP)
Trumpets will sound across London’s Westminster Abbey and ceremonial cannons will be fired from land and sea to mark the first coronation of a British monarch since 1953, and only the fifth since 1838.
Church bells will ring across the country, before enthusiastic infantry and cavalry parade 7,000 soldiers through the streets of the capital. King Charles and his wife Camilla, who will be crowned queen, will return to Buckingham Palace in the gilded carriage that is rarely used, in front of large crowds, before watching an aerial show from the palace balcony.
The coronation ceremony is the second of its kind to be broadcasted on television and the first in color and on the Internet streaming service. It is a religious confirmation of Charles’ accession to the throne. And Charles, 74, has been the British monarch since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022, seven decades after he assumed the throne.
