Foreign monarchs will be invited to the King’s coronation in a historic break with ancient royal protocol
Foreign monarchs will be invited to King Charles’ coronation in a historic break with a long royal tradition.
‘Save the Date’ notices are expected to go out to invitees this week and official invitations will follow in April.
And while the guest list has shrunk from the 8,000 who attended the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 to 2,000, there is one area where the King has expanded.
For centuries, convention has dictated that no other crowned royal should be present at a British monarch’s coronation because the sacred ceremony is meant to be an intimate exchange between the monarch and his people in the presence of God.
But as part of his plan to update the ceremony, King Charles decided to break away from the 900-year-old tradition by inviting his crowned friends, including European royals and rulers of Arab states.
Foreign monarchs will be invited to King Charles’ coronation in a historic break with a long royal tradition
A source said: “Inviting the King of Jordan (left), the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals, who are all friends of Charles, will be a good dose of soft power and diplomacy.” Pictured: The King and Queen of Jordan at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral
A source told The Mail on Sunday that the tradition is being reviewed in the name of diplomacy, saying: “I think the rule started because a coronation is meant to be a private event of a monarch with God.”
‘At the Queen’s Coronation there were no crowned monarchs, only protectorate rulers like the Queen of Tonga. It has been a tradition for centuries.
The source added: “Inviting the King of Jordan, the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals, who are all friends with Carlos, will be a good dose of soft power and diplomacy.”
Another well-placed source said: “You can expect the guest list for the Coronation to look more like a royal wedding than the Coronation of 70 years ago.”
The Sultan of Brunei (pictured), who is a friend of Carlos, will be invited to the coronation.
Queen Elizabeth II receives the Sultan of Oman (pictured), who will also be invited to the coronation, in December 2021.
Prince Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden are also on the guest list.
The decision on whether or not Carlos will invite foreign monarchs has been kept a closely guarded secret. Prince Albert of Monaco was about to blurt out that a big break with tradition was coming when he revealed in January that he was expecting an invitation, along with his wife, Charlene of Monaco.
He said at the time: “I don’t know how many coronations of an English monarch I’ll see in my lifetime, so we’ll try to take advantage of that.” Prince Albert added that he does not expect his children to be invited.
It is not yet clear if Prince Harry will visit for the occasion from his California home with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Inviting foreign monarchs is the latest change made by Charles as part of a coronation review. He has already whittled down a long section of the ceremony known as the ‘homage’, during which ermine-clad hereditary peers line up to pay their respects.
It also intends to give greater prominence to representatives of a number of charities.
The Royal Family website says: “The coronation ceremony is an occasion for pomp and celebration, but it is also a solemn religious ceremony and has remained essentially the same for a thousand years.”
The Coronation was designed, in part, by retired Colonel Anthony Mather, who also wrote the Queen’s funeral plan. The project is being carried out by the Duke of Norfolk, who is Earl Marshall and Britain’s oldest peer.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
