Buckingham Palace has released the planned date for when the King and Queen Consort will be crowned alongside each other.
It has been announced that the coronation will be held on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at Westminster Abbey - eight months after Charles III ascended the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The religious ceremony will be "rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry", according to the palace.
However, referencing the modern attitudes that have been widely reported concerning King Charles, the Palace added that the ceremony will also "reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future".
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Announcing the date of the coronation, the Palace said: “Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023. The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort. The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.”
What will happen at the King's coronation?
During the coronation - the plans for which have been given the codename Operation Golden Orb - Charles III will be anointed with holy oil by the Archbishop and will be given the orb, coronation ring, and sceptre to immortalise his position as King of the United Kingdom. To finalise the process, he will be crowned with St Edward's Crown and blessed.
Meanwhile, Charles's wife, Camilla, will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned - a similar process happened when the Queen mother was crowned Queen in 1937. While it is understood that the ceremony as a whole will keep with the tradition spanning over 1,000 years, the Palace has reassured that it will keep with the modern times.
Charles's coronation is expected to take place on a smaller scale than his predecessors while also lasting for less time - usually, a coronation would take three hours of service, with suggestions that the new King's could last only one hour.
It is also expected that next year's coronation will be more inclusive to the multiple faiths present in Britain, while sustaining as an Anglican Christian service. Furthermore, guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to 2,000 - peers will also be expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes.
The King will also be expected to sign a proclamation declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation last took place in June 1953 when Charles was only four years old.
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