The coronation of King Charles III is an event that will go down in history as one of the most important moments in British royal history. The world will be watching as the new monarch is crowned. Let’s look at ten of the most interesting facts about the coronation of King Charles III.
1. The coronationΒ is at 11am on 6th May 2023.
Coronation Weekend is taking place between Saturday 6th and Monday 8th May 2023.
On Saturday, the King and Queen will be officially crowned in a very special ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
It’s a very exciting event and lots of people from all around the world will be attending many many billions more watching it on TV!
You might even be having a street party like many others across the UK!
2. The official dish of the coronation is a coronation quiche!
King Charles and Queen Camilla have spoken.
They have made an announcement and have revealed that the official dish of the coronation is⦠coronation quiche!
3. We get an extra bank holiday day for King Charles’ coronation.
On Monday 8th May we will have an extra bank holiday.
This is because Coronation Day falls on a Saturday and so we get an extra day in the week to celebrate.
It means that you won’t go to school and lots of businesses will be closed and some (not all!) parents won’t be working.
4. The coronation will take place in Westminster Abbey, London.
The coronation of a new British monarch takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
Westminster Abbey is a very special place in the UK, it’s a 900-year-old church that has been the site of coronations, weddings and funerals of royals for hundreds of years.
It’s the perfect setting for a new monarch to be crowned.
5. The coronation procession route is much shorter than Queen Elizabeth’s.
In 1953, Queen Elizabeth’s coronation procession was 5 miles long and took two hours.
This time, King Charles’ and Queen Camilla’s procession is only 1.3 miles long – just a quarter of the length of Queen Elizabeth’s.
They will travel from Buckingham Palace in a special coach called the Diamond Jubilee State Coach.
The procession will take them along The Mall via Admiralty Arch, to Trafalgar Square, before going down Whitehall and Parliament Street. They will then go around Parliament Square to Broad Sanctuary, which is where Westminster Abbey is located.
6. There are lots of traditions that will be followed during the coronation.
At the start of the Coronation ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury will introduce the King to the crowd.
Next, King Charles will take an oath to protect the Church of England and the law.
Then, he will sit in an old wooden chair called the Coronation Chair, which was made in 1300 and will have holy oil put on their head, chest and hands.
After that, the King will be given a big golden orb and a sceptre.
Finally, the most important part – Charles is crowned with a special crown. He will move to the throne and everyone will kneel down to show their respect.
Queen Camilla will go through the same steps.
7. King Charles will wear the St Edward’s Crown and Queen Camilla will wear Queen Mary’s crown.
King Charles will be crowned, like how it has been done for centuries, with the St Edward’s Crown.
The crown was named after St Edward the Confessor and it has been used to crown English and British monarchs since the 1300s.
A new version of this crown was made in 1661, because the old one got melted down during the Civil War.
The current crown is made of solid gold and has 244 precious stones on it!
Queen Camilla will wear Queen Mary’s crown which is made of silver and gold and has 2,200 diamonds on it.
8. The King has asked for 12 musicians to create music for the coronation.
The King has asked twelve special musicians to create new music for his special coronation at Westminster Abbey.
This is a chance to show off the talent of some of Britain’s best composers and musicians!
Buckingham Palace has announced that the King’s coronation will include a new song by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and eleven other pieces created especially for the King by British composers.
9. There are 2,000 people attending.
King Charles is having a much smaller coronation than Queen Elizabeth’s – she had 8,251 guests, but Charles is only inviting 2,000.
He’s also doing something different and inviting other monarchs to the ceremony, like Prince Albert of Monaco.
There will be other important people like representatives from the government, and members of the extended royal family.
Queen Camilla’s grandsons will be page boys in the ceremony.
Take a look at the special invitation below:
10. King Charles III has a coronation emblem.
King Charles revealed a special coronation emblem!
It was designed by Sir Jony Ive, who used to work at Apple. The emblem has flowers from the four countries in the UK: the rose from England, the thistle from Scotland, the daffodil from Wales and the shamrock from Northern Ireland.
All of these flowers are wound together to look like St Edward’s Crown and the colours of the Union Jack are used. This emblem will be on lots of different things including coronation merchandise.
Take a look here:
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