The date for King Charles III's coronation at Westminster Abbey has been confirmed by Buckingham Palace. While there is no news yet on whether the historical occasion will be marked with a bank holiday, politicians have backed the idea.
Buckingham Palace announced that His Majesty will officially be crowned on Saturday 6 May next year, in a ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. A statement from the palace said the event will see Charles crowned alongside the Queen Consort, Camilla Parker Bowles.
It added: “The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.” Coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend, with the late Queen’s taking place on a Tuesday.
Read more: King Charles III coronation to have 'big changes' and will axe Queen traditions
Further details are to be released in due course, but the government and the royal household will be conscious of the scale of the coronation in light of the cost-of-living crisis facing the country. The late Queen’s coronation took place on June 2 1953 – 16 months after she became monarch.
While the palace has not yet confirmed whether a bank holiday will be put in place for the coronation, members of parliament have shown their support for a public holiday. Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said he expects the coronation will be honoured with a bank holiday, according to The Telegraph .
It comes amid reports that some government officials were afraid a bank holiday would stifle economic growth, after the additional bank holiday for the Queen's Jubilee this summer was blamed for a fall in GDP in June.
But Rees-Mogg said: "The coronation is an important symbolic act with constitutional resonance about the stability of our system. To have a day off for that is perfectly reasonable and the effect on growth will not be enormous."
By June next year King Charles III will be 74, making him the oldest person to be crowned in British history. The King acceded to the throne on September 8, immediately on the death of his mother, Elizabeth II – the nation’s longest reigning monarch.
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