From the investiture ceremony to the Coronation Big Lunch, the first weekend in May will be full of celebrations for the new monarch.
Later this year, King Charles will be crowned alongside the Queen Consort in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
The investiture will be part of a long weekend of festivities for the new monarch, including street parties and concerts.
The King ascended the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year, making him the country’s oldest new monarch.
Plans for the much-anticipated Coronation weekend, code-named Operation Golden Orb, have since been made public.
When is the King’s Coronation?
The Coronation service at Westminster Abbey will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 6.
Following the ceremony, there will be a weekend of events, including a concert at Windsor Castle.
What will happen at the Coronation ceremony?
The King and Queen Consort will arrive at Westminster Abbey in The King’s Procession, which will begin at Buckingham Palace.
Their Majesties will be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a service led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
According to Buckingham Palace, the ceremony will reflect the monarch’s current role and look to the future while remaining rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry.
“The Coronation is a solemn religious service, as well as an occasion for celebration and pageantry,” the Palace said in a statement.
“For over a thousand years, the ceremony has maintained a similar structure, and this year’s Coronation is expected to include the same core elements while acknowledging the spirit of our times.”
“The ceremony has been held at Westminster Abbey in London for the past 900 years.” Since 1066, the Archbishop of Canterbury has almost always led the service.”
The service will include representatives from various faiths and community groups, in keeping with the King’s desire to reflect modern Britain’s ethnic diversity.
He will still pledge to be a “Defender of the Faith” in the Coronation oath, but palace aides and church officials plan to add additional words that will allow the King to acknowledge that he serves all religions.
Many of the ceremonies seen during the late Queen’s reign, such as anointing with consecrated oil, the delivery of the orb, and the enthronement itself, will be included in the Coronation.
According to The Telegraph, the anointing will not be broadcast on television and will be kept secret, as it was for the late Queen’s coronation in 1953.
What music will be played during the ceremony?
The King has requested that Greek Orthodox music be performed in the service as a tribute to his late father, the Duke of Edinburgh, by the Byzantine Chant Ensemble.
King Charles has commissioned Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber to write his Coronation Anthem, which the composer hopes will “reflect the joyful occasion.”
The anthem is one of 12 new pieces of music chosen by the new monarch himself for his ceremony.
The Ascension Choir, a group of eight “hand-picked” singers from the choir that sang at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has been chosen to perform at the King’s ceremony on May 6.
The Ascension Choir, led by Abimbola Amoako-Gyampah, will perform ‘Alleluia (O Sing Praises)’ at the ceremony on May 6, becoming the first gospel group to perform in Westminster Abbey for a Coronation.
The choir will perform as part of a two-part composition commissioned by award-winning TV and film composer Debbie Wiseman during the main service.
The Welsh language performance of Paul Mealor’s ‘Coronation Kyrie’ will be another first at the King’s Coronation ceremony.
During the main part of the service, bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel and the Choir of Westminster Abbey will sing the song.
Six of the new songs have been composed for orchestra and will be performed before the service begins, prior to the arrival of the King and Queen Consort at the Abbey, according to the Palace.
This pre-service commission will be composed by Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music, and will be performed by the Coronation Orchestra for the first time.
The Coronation Orchestra features musicians from eight of the then-Prince of Wales’ patron orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Vasko Vassilev, the Royal Opera House Orchestra’s Principal Guest Concert Master, is in charge of the orchestra on this particular day.
The Royal Harpist, Alis Huws, will join the Coronation Orchestra for Sir Karl Jenkins’ ‘Tros y Garreg (Crossing the Stone),’ a song that reflects the King’s abiding affection for and support of Welsh culture.
During the pre-service interval, Iain Farrington’s organ commission ‘Voices of the World’ will be performed as a celebratory musical offering honoring the Commonwealth’s diversity.
His ‘Coronation March’ commission, written by film composer Patrick Doyle, is described as a ceremonial and pageantry-filled song that builds to a triumphant finale.
According to the Palace, five of the new commissions will be featured in the main service, with voices from the Choir of Westminster Abbey and The Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, as well as girl choristers from Truro Cathedral and Methodist College, Belfast, joined by singers from the Monteverdi Choir.
After hearing Tarik O’Regan’s music at Lincoln Cathedral in 2006, the King commissioned him for the main service.
Mr. O’Regan composed ‘Agnus Dei’ for the ceremony, which will be performed at a reflective moment during the historic service.
Over 8,000 guests from 129 countries attended Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, but the King’s Coronation will be limited to 2,000 due to health and safety concerns.
Only a small number of MPs and peers are expected to attend the ceremony, but it is understood that Buckingham Palace is pleading with Westminster Abbey to secure more guest spaces.
Charles is said to want a diverse congregation to witness the historic event, and he has invited representatives from his many charity affiliations as well as from the broader voluntary sector.
On April 8, it was announced that over 1,250 volunteers and young people had been invited to attend the ceremony or one of its associated events.
During the ceremony, the King will be asked if he will govern the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth with law and justice and if he will keep Christianity alive in the country.
He will sit in the Coronation Chair, also known as Edward’s Chair, holding the sovereign’s scepter and rod to represent his control over the nation, as well as the sovereign’s orb to represent the Christian world.
After the Archbishop has anointed, blessed, and consecrated Charles, the crown of St Edward will be placed on his head, officially crowning him as King Charles III.
Meanwhile, Prince George has been named one of his grandfather’s four Pages of Honour, making him the youngest future king to play an official role at a coronation.
The nine-year-old will carry the King’s robes alongside three other Pages of Honour: Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 13, Nicholas Barclay, 13, and Ralph Tollemache, 12. All three are the sons of friends of His Majesty.
The Queen has chosen her three grandsons, twins Gus and Louis Lopes, 13, and Freddy Parker Bowles, 13, as her own Pages of Honour, as well as her great-nephew, Arthur Elliot, 10.
Will the Coronation be televised?
The Coronation will be broadcast live to both British and international audiences. It follows the first-ever broadcast of the Accession Council in September of last year.
The late Queen’s coronation was the first to be televised, and she requested it. An estimated 27 million people in the United Kingdom watched the ceremony on television, with another 11 million listening on the radio.
The King may also become the first monarch in British history to be publicly anointed at his Coronation, with a transparent canopy custom-made for the occasion.
The most sacred part of the ceremony, when the Archbishop of Canterbury pours holy oil from the ampulla onto the Coronation Spoon and anoints the sovereign on the hands, breast, and head, is traditionally hidden from view by a canopy.
According to The Telegraph, an alternative canopy with a see-through top is being created to give the King the option of allowing the anointing to be captured on camera for the first time.
The BBC will broadcast a live Coronation Concert from Windsor Castle on Sunday, May 7.
More than 57 locations across the UK, from Bournemouth to Belfast, will install big screens, allowing more than 100,000 people to watch the event in their own communities.
Cardiff Castle, Belfast City Hall, and Manchester’s Picadilly Gardens are among the locations that have already been confirmed.
Huge television screens will also be installed in London’s Hyde Park, Green Park, and St James’s Park for public viewing. The Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle will also be shown on screens in St James’s Park on Sunday, May 7.
What will happen the day after the Coronation?
The Coronation Big Lunch will be held across the United Kingdom, with neighbors and communities invited to share food and fun.
The Prime Minister will host a Big Lunch at Downing Street on Sunday, and guests will include community volunteers from across the country, according to the government.
Meanwhile, the Culture Secretary has asked the public to share their local celebrations on a digital map as the event approaches in less than two months.
When is the Coronation Bank holiday?
On Monday, May 8, there will be an additional bank holiday to commemorate the Coronation.
It will take place throughout the United Kingdom, and in recognition of the King’s concern for strengthening local communities, the public will be encouraged to volunteer and participate in projects in their own communities as part of the Big Help Out.
The King and Queen Consort hope that the Big Help Out will have an impact across the country, leaving a lasting legacy and attracting more volunteers.
What Crown does the king wear?
The St Edward’s Crown, made of solid gold and adorned with over 400 gemstones, including rubies, garnets, and sapphires, will be used to crown the King. He will leave the Abbey with the Imperial State Crown on his head.
The King is expected to arrive at his Coronation in military uniform, which will serve as his primary attire for the ceremony.
It would be a more modern look than his predecessors’ silk stockings and breeches.
He will enter Westminster Abbey wearing the State Robe, also known as the Parliament Robe because it is worn at the State Opening of Parliament.
Throughout the ceremony, he will wear a variety of sacred garments.
What is Operation Golden Orb?
The codename under which plans for King Charles’ Coronation were developed was Operation Golden Orb.
What will happen after the Coronation?
Following the ceremony, the King and Queen Consort will ride in The Coronation Procession back to Buckingham Palace.
The procession will be a fraction of the length of Queen Elizabeth’s, raising concerns that many royal well-wishers will miss out on seeing the new monarch.
The 1.3-mile route will take the King and Queen from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace while avoiding large sections of the capital that Queen Elizabeth II’s five-mile Coronation procession covered in 1953.
It will be the inverse of their journey to the Abbey, so those who have secured a spot along the route will see the King twice.
The King will then join the Queen Consort and other senior members of the family on the Buckingham Palace balcony to conclude the day’s ceremonial events.
During the Coronation, Prince William will be given new titles, including the title of Prince of Wales.
Who will pay for the Coronation?
The Coronation is paid for by the government, and the King has reportedly expressed a desire that his service be regarded as “good value” given the current cost of living crisis.
Will Camilla become Queen?
During her husband’s Coronation, the Duchess of Cornwall will be crowned Queen alongside him.
Buckingham Palace used the title Queen Camilla for the first time on the Coronation invitation, as it was revealed that “Consort” will be officially dropped after next month’s ceremony.
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September, Camilla has been referred to as Queen Consort by the Palace.
However, royal aides revealed that Queen Camilla was now regarded as an “appropriate title” to oppose King Charles.
