What to expect at the king’s coronation: key events and timings
Jamie Grierson
Saturday 6 May
6am BST: Viewing areas open along the 1.3-mile procession route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.
7.15-8.30am: Guests for Westminster Abbey begin to arrive.
9am: Congregation to be seated inside the abbey.
9.30-10.45am: Heads of state, overseas government representatives, government ministers, first ministers, former prime ministers, foreign royals and members of the royal family arrive.
9.45am: The Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry begin to gather for the procession from Buckingham Palace.
10.20am: The king and queen consort’s procession sets off from the palace.
10.53am: The king and queen consort arrive at Westminster Abbey.
11am: They enter the Abbey through the Great West Door and the service begins.
12pm: The king is crowned. The archbishop of Canterbury places the St Edward’s crown on his head. Trumpets will sound and gun salutes will be fired across the UK.
1pm: The service ends and the newly crowned king and queen begin their coronation procession back to Buckingham Palace in the gold state coach.
1.33pm: The king and queen consort enter Buckingham Palace through the Centre Arch.
1.45pm: The king and queen receive a royal salute from the military in the palace gardens
Approximately 2.15pm: The king, queen and members of the royal family appear on the palace balcony to watch the flypast – weather permitting.
Sunday 7 May
The monarchy wants Sunday to be a day of street parties and coronation “Big Lunches”, with about 3,000 road closures for parties, and members of the royal family attending some events.
At 7pm BST there will be a concert in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The event will be watched by a crowd of 20,000 members of the public and invited guests and broadcast on television and radio.
Key events
Ella Creamer
A children’s biography of King Charles III has topped the UK book chart before the coronation on 6 May.
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara’s King Charles is part of the Little People, Big Dreams series, which includes illustrated biographies of notable figures such as Stephen Hawking and Michelle Obama.
The nonfiction book, illustrated by Matt Hunt, is the first of the Little People, Big Dreams series to reach No 1. It sold 15,786 copies in the seven days to 29 April, overtaking Marian Keyes’ novel Again, Rachel, a sequel to romcom Rachel’s Holiday.
Other coronation-themed titles to sell well last week include the Official Coronation Souvenir Programme, Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the King, and Nicholas Allan’s The King’s Pants, a follow-up to the 1993 book The Queen’s Knickers. “Interestingly, most of them appear within the children’s market rather than the adult one,” said Philip Stone at Nielsen BookData, the company that publishes the UK book chart. The Mr Men Little Miss series has also published a themed title, The New King.
Read more here: Illustrated children’s biography of King Charles hits No 1 on UK book chart
PA Media have spoken to one of the people already camping out for the coronation, a married mother of four who joked that her children think she is “mad” and having a “midlife crisis” because she is already on the Mall in central London for the coronation.
Kim Bilson, 54, from Poole, Dorset, said: “It’s too big of an occasion to miss really, don’t want to look back at it and think, why didn’t we do it. It’s a lovely atmosphere here, meeting people from all over the place.”
She arrived at about 6pm on Thursday and said it was a “cold” and “noisy” experience camping out overnight.
But she added: “People are just so friendly. It’s just Britain at its best, everybody nattering to everybody. There’s no stiff upper lip, everybody’s here for the same reason and it’s just really nice.”
Harriet Sherwood
Perhaps the most interesting development so far today has been the suggestion from someone close to the king that he does not approve of the idea of the people’s oath, as Harriet Sherwood reports:
King Charles finds the idea of people paying homage to him “abhorrent”, his friend Jonathan Dimbleby has said while seeking to pin the blame for the proposal on the archbishop of Canterbury.
There has been a widespread backlash against the idea of a “homage of the people”, in which the general public is invited to swear allegiance to the king during the coronation on Saturday.
Dimbleby told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I can think of nothing that [Charles] would find more abhorrent. He’s never wanted to be revered. He’s never wanted, as far as I know, to have anyone pay homage to him, except in mock terms as a joke.
“He wants, I think, to feel that people will share in the event – and I don’t quite know how this might have happened. I don’t know for certain but it would seem to me that this was an initiative by the archbishop who, as we know, is strongly evangelical, who thought it would be a good thing to give everyone a chance to pay that homage. I think it was well-intentioned and rather ill-advised.”
Dimbleby, a veteran broadcaster who has been a close friend of Charles for about 30 years and has recorded many interviews with him, is likely to be familiar with the king’s thinking.
You can read more on that here: Charles would find oath of loyalty ‘abhorrent’, says Jonathan Dimbleby
In the UK’s press today, most of the papers to feature a royal story have a focus on the Prince and Princess of Wales out and about yesterday on London’s Crossrail and in a pub. The Daily Mail has a slightly more political angle, expressing outrage at the choice of Chinese delegate in Westminster Abbey, while the Telegraph curiously opts to lead with a piece about the music for the ceremony.
Speaking of the Guardian’s attitude to the coronation and the monarchy in general, that was the topic of an editorial in print today. Here is an extract:
The coronation is certainly not taking place because of public demand or enthusiasm for the monarchy or the new king. A mere 9% of British adults say that they care “a great deal” about this weekend’s events. Only 7% describe themselves as committed royalists, willing to give uncritical support to the monarchy. It seems gratuitous to be paying £250m for a coronation during a cost of living crisis.
Nor can it be seen as a symbolic new chapter for the nation. The 1953 coronation of the then 27-year-old Elizabeth was widely depicted as an event designed to bring colour and hope to postwar Britain – perhaps even as the start of a new age. Charles, by contrast, is the oldest monarch to take the British throne. His life story, his family problems and his ways are familiar. Britain will not change this weekend.
The overwhelming truth is that the coronation is taking place for anachronistic religious and constitutional reasons. This weekend’s events are centred on a religious service in which Charles vows to uphold the Protestant religion, is anointed with holy oil and swears an oath which, in words that the archbishop of Canterbury will intone in Westminster Abbey on Saturday, commits to making Britain “a holy nation” under “a royal priesthood”.
Yet modern Britain is not a holy nation. Nor is it even a largely Protestant one. Britain instead is increasingly secular, even though it remains deeply imprinted, in ways it sometimes does not grasp, by its long Christian history. England and Wales have become minority Christian countries. Yet England, although not Scotland, Wales or either part of Ireland, has an established state church. Whether this can or should continue ought to be a subject of serious public debate. But it never is.
You can read it in full here: The Guardian view on the coronation of Charles III – a dated pageant that should be rethought
You may have noticed recently that we have been testing a new way for readers to message live bloggers directly. You should – on mobile web or desktop at least, it hasn’t been rolled out in our app – find an option to message me near to my byline. These aren’t public comments, they go directly to me. I will try and read everything, but I can’t guarantee I will reply, although hopefully it will improve the blog for everybody.
What sort of messages are useful? For a start if you spot my inevitable typos, or notice that I’ve mistaken the Earl of Devesham for Sir Cheldon Bonniface in a picture caption, or you think I’ve got some aspect of the ceremony wrong, that is very useful to know. I’m also keen to hear from you if you think there is something I’ve missed in our coverage, or something you don’t understand and would like more context for.
What is less useful? The comments are just going to me. If you want to let the Guardian know how you feel about the very existence of the monarchy, and our coverage of the coronation in general, can I gently direct you to [email protected] instead?
In a slightly less expected development ahead of tomorrow’s coronation, PA Media reports that train passengers on platforms across the UK are being reminded to “mind the gap” by King Charles in a pre-recorded message.
Charles and Camilla have recorded an announcement which is being played between Friday and Monday at every railway station across the UK and all London Underground stations, industry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said.
In the message, the king begins by telling passengers: “My wife and I wish you and your families a wonderful coronation weekend.”
Camilla then says: “Wherever you are travelling, we hope you have a safe and pleasant journey.”
The message concludes with Charles adding: “And remember, please mind the gap.”
It was recorded at Highgrove earlier this year by the audio team from Transport for London.
Jamie Grierson
A coronation washout is forecast for many this weekend with rain and drizzle likely to provide a quintessentially British backdrop to the royal pomp and pageantry.
Saturday, the day of the formal ceremony, is forecast by the Met Office to be a cloudy and wet day for many, including in the capital around midday, just as King Charles III is being crowned.
Showers are likely to develop in central, eastern and northern areas, as well as across Northern Ireland, but not expected to be as intense or as heavy as those on Friday.
The Met Office’s deputy chief forecaster, Steven Keates, said: “A further area of rain is expected to move into south-west England early on Saturday, moving east and north through the day with some heavy bursts at times.
What to expect at the king’s coronation: key events and timings
Jamie Grierson
Saturday 6 May
6am BST: Viewing areas open along the 1.3-mile procession route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.
7.15-8.30am: Guests for Westminster Abbey begin to arrive.
9am: Congregation to be seated inside the abbey.
9.30-10.45am: Heads of state, overseas government representatives, government ministers, first ministers, former prime ministers, foreign royals and members of the royal family arrive.
9.45am: The Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry begin to gather for the procession from Buckingham Palace.
10.20am: The king and queen consort’s procession sets off from the palace.
10.53am: The king and queen consort arrive at Westminster Abbey.
11am: They enter the Abbey through the Great West Door and the service begins.
12pm: The king is crowned. The archbishop of Canterbury places the St Edward’s crown on his head. Trumpets will sound and gun salutes will be fired across the UK.
1pm: The service ends and the newly crowned king and queen begin their coronation procession back to Buckingham Palace in the gold state coach.
1.33pm: The king and queen consort enter Buckingham Palace through the Centre Arch.
1.45pm: The king and queen receive a royal salute from the military in the palace gardens
Approximately 2.15pm: The king, queen and members of the royal family appear on the palace balcony to watch the flypast – weather permitting.
Sunday 7 May
The monarchy wants Sunday to be a day of street parties and coronation “Big Lunches”, with about 3,000 road closures for parties, and members of the royal family attending some events.
At 7pm BST there will be a concert in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The event will be watched by a crowd of 20,000 members of the public and invited guests and broadcast on television and radio.
Welcome and opening summary …
In roughly 24 hours, Westminster Abbey will be staging its first coronation since 1953 as Charles III is formally crowned King. We’ve had the debate about who is and who isn’t coming, the night time rehearsals, the new waxworks, the merchandise and a rather lukewarm response from some Guardian readers to the people being asked to offer up an oath, and now it is time for the final preparations.
Follow the build-up live with us to a day of constitutional significance not just for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but for all of the countries and territories who are tomorrow seeing their new King annointed as their sovereign. Here is where we are today …
-
People have already started gathering along the route of tomorrow’s coronation procession.
-
The King and Queen Consort have arrived at Westminster Abbey for their final rehearsal ahead of the coronation.
-
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has greeted his New Zealand and Australian counterparts Chris Hipkins and Anthony Albanese at Downing Street.
