The 6th of May, 2023. This had been a day that the UK had been waiting for ever since Charles III came to the throne. The King’s Coronation. With such a change in the leadership of the country, and with the monarchy, many were wondering how the coronation would play out, or be received. With more criticism of the monarchy in recent years (from the controversies around Prince Harry and Prince Andrew), alongside the cost of over £100 million – especially in a ‘cost of living’ crisis – many have wondered if the coronation was necessary, and backlash to the coronation was much more significant than the last coronation in 1953. So how has the coronation weekend played out? Was the coronation overall a success? And where does the monarchy go after this?
Charles III was born on the 14th of November, 1984, as the eldest son of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It is fair to say that Charles III has not been as universally popular as his mother, with his divorce from Princess Diana and second marriage with Camilla often being seen controversially – an aspect of the monarchy that they would want us to speedily forget, with Buckingham Palace trying to ‘cut the breaks’ on the whole situation. His dicey relationship with his son Harry has also put him and the monarchy into question – especially in Harry’s book ‘Spare,’ or as South Park calls it, ‘waaagh.’ Just coming up to the coronation, the new Public Order Act had become contested as it was highly likely to be used to prevent any sort of backlash; (and) the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ which everyone was to be called upon to recite was backtracked to be ‘invited’ after backlash from the general public. But, these issues didn’t get in the way of the patriotic pride that was beginning to spawn in the country – with street parties for the day after, alongside the Coronation Concert and ‘Big Help Out’ – with Ashville even having their own celebrations to celebrate the occasion.
And the day itself went pretty smoothly. Starting out, the King and Queen (consort) entered their golden horse-drawn coach to parade their way to Westminster Abbey, escorted by a plethora of horses and 200 members of the armed forces. Whilst some of the horses began to do their best impression of ‘buckaroo,’ by shaking their heads about or briefly evolving into crabs by walking sideways, everything was still smooth. Cameras would continuously cut into Westminster Abbey to show key individuals such as the Prime Minister (and somehow Ant and Dec) arriving – alongside a brief cameo from the Grim Reaper – before Charles and Camilla themselves had reached the Abbey. Charles would enter, with four boys carrying his robe behind him, one of which being the young Prince George, who will someday be crowned king himself. Inside the Abbey, the King went through the ceremonial traditions of answering the call to be king and accepting two Christmases and a birthday’s worth of gifts. This section was notable for two reasons. Firstly, Penny Mordant caught a lot of attention for her Star Trek inspired attire as she acted as sword bearer for the event. Secondly, one of the religious representatives who presented the King with a glove began to shake quite profusely, so that Charles quickly snatched the glove from him so that Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, could quickly move him out of view of the cameras. The very presence of such as representative was also quite significant. Charles III’s coronation was a lot more diverse than his mother’s, with several different religious representatives (such as representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church in remembrance of Prince Philip). Another noticeable moment was the Ascension Choir, a Gospel Choir, singing Alleluia at the event. After Charles and Camilla had both been crowned, they were back to Buckingham Palace to stand on the Balcony, alongside many more royals (though Prince Harry had already skedaddled back to Luton Airport as to catch the end of his own son’s birthday party).
The day after was the official day for street parties, which were numerous, alongside the Coronation Concert, featuring the likes of Lionel Richie, Kermit, Katy Perry and still-after-his-knighthood-washed-up-singer Gary Barlow. The concert displayed remarkable drone shows and songs, and showed Rishi Sunak absolutely rocking it as ‘Never Forget’ by Take That played. And on the Monday the ‘Big Help Out’ occurred. This wasn’t another one of Rishi Sunak’s failed lockdown schemes, but rather a day to do work in the community and help others – and probably clean up after the more questionable celebrations, such as an illegal rave that happened over the weekend near the village of Skillingswell.
The coronation as an event in itself was pretty smooth and was a good way in which to look forward to the reign of Charles III and to share in some optimism for the future. But questions about the role of monarchy did not disappear after the event itself. Once all the major events had ended, it came out that the new Public Order Act had resulted in several temporary arrests of individuals who were planning to protest rather openly – with very few actual charges being pressed from the arrests. Many have cited that the coronation (and these arrests) is an attack on democracy, with several people opting to skip out on the event. Protestors were still up and about, although very few made it to air for the actual procession. With a peak viewership of 20 million as well, some may argue that the cost of £100 million was somewhat unjustified. Although, the coronation has been good for flag manufacturers domestically, producing Union Flags (as they should properly be called when not at sea) by the bucket load. Ashville’s own celebrations the day before were all taken very positively, although one member of the Lower Sixth (who shall remain anonymous) was very much disliked after getting the last ice cream before they ran out.
On the whole, King Charles III’s coronation has done very little to mitigate general issues surrounding the monarchy, and criticisms of the coronation (although somewhat drowned out) remain ever present. But, as an event in itself, Charles III’s coronation as the King has gone down positively, showing that in an ever growing age of discontent for the monarchy, that the presence of a head of state – and all of the traditions that surround him – is still very much prevalent, and the Royal Family will not be going anywhere any time soon.