More than 67,000 lunches are being held across the bank holiday weekend to mark King Charles’s coronation as part of the nationwide Big Lunch.
The annual event, run by Eden Project Communities, is this year part of the official coronation celebrations, with groups around the UK signing up to host a get together.
Members of the royal family are getting involved on Sunday with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh attending a Big Lunch at Cranleigh in Surrey, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence visiting a community street party in Swindon and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie heading to one in Windsor.
Buckingham Palace has said the king and Queen Camilla will not be attending any celebrations.
The queen has been patron of the Big Lunch since 2013, which describes itself as bringing “neighbours and communities together to share friendship, food and fun”. It first began in 2009 and is usually held on the first weekend of June.
An interactive map shows where more than 3,700 lunch parties are happening across the UK and farther afield, with events happening in Canada, the US, France, Germany, Greece and New Zealand.
Farthest north, there will be an intergenerational Coronation Big Lunch at a youth centre in Scalloway, Shetland, while at the other end of the UK, there is a Saint Martin’s island party on the Isles of Scilly.
One of the biggest Coronation Big Lunches will be at Morecambe Bay, which is aiming to beat last year’s world record with 900 tables stretching along 1.5km of its promenade, from The Battery to Morecambe town hall on Sunday. Attenders are invited to come along to enjoy a range of entertainment including sand art on the beach, a carnival parade, and a special cake-cutting moment.
At the Eden Project in Cornwall, home of The Big Lunch, celebrations are taking place across the bank holiday weekend, with a big screen showing the coronation ceremony and a programme of speakers including paralympian Ade Adepitan MBE.
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In central London, there is “a big knees-up” at Regent’s Park with bunting on the broadwalk, a wandering band and face painting as well as prizes for best dressed hat, table and dog.
Smaller events include a village hall Big Lunch in rural Stocksmoor, West Yorkshire, while people will share home-cooked dishes and a three-day celebration at a care home in Bridgend, Wales, with a specially crowned king and queen for the weekend, carved fruit platters and memories of the previous coronation to be shared with family members.
This is not the first royal Big Lunch, with thousands of people taking part in events in celebration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee last year, raising more than £22m for local charities.
