It has been 70 years since the United Kingdom last witnessed a Coronation. Saturday May 6th is a day steeped in history for the nation. A day that will be remembered for years to come: the crowning of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, culminating in a glorious procession as Their Majesties return to Buckingham Palace.
It’s 7.30am and a cloudy morning in Whitehall, 14°C, the crowds are already standing already four deep, some patiently walking in single file, waiting to find their place.
In a rush to cross the road to get into position opposite the Cabinet Office, I almost collide with some marching Royal Marines. The crowds had been arriving for hours. ‘We’ve been up since 4.30am trying to get here, but we got a bit stuck in the roadblocks,’ said devoted Royalist Helen, who arrived last night from Somerset with her son Theo to stay in a local hotel. ‘We need to have the Royal Family so that we can carry on as a country in the way the Queen reigned,’ she adds. ‘I have been here for all the royal weddings and jubilees, but not the funeral as it was too upsetting.’
King Charles and Queen Camilla appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside their Pages of Honour and members of the Royal Family
But today the mood is jubilant. As we wait for the procession to begin, the police are standing by, arms behind their backs, and at 7.40am the marching bands begin to file past us.
It’s another three hours until the King’s procession arrives. It was starting to rain, and despite the umbrellas, it didn't do much to dampen the mood. A ‘Just Stop Oil’ protestor caused a minor scuffle as the police stepped in, while onlookers craned their necks. Anticipation was building, the press photographers were poised and brollies snapped shut as the procession neared. At 10.20am, the King and Queen were due to leave the palace and, suddenly, the echo of cheers could be heard in the distance. The Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry were filing past, and at exactly 10.40am, the King and Queen swung into view: immediately recognisable in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach drawn by six Windsor Greys, which had been dressed in royal blue for the occasion. The crowd roared: ‘God Save The King.’ It was a moment weighted with emotion, the pomp and pageantry as majestic as you might expect. The carriage, weighing three tons, was created for Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate 60 years of her reign in 2012. The gilded crown on top is carved from oak from Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory.
There were two magnificent Coronation processions, involving two State Coaches: the Gold State Coach and the Diamond Jubilee State Coach
We glimpsed the King and Queen and I wondered now how their nerves were holding up. Some 2,200 guests had been arriving at the abbey since 7.30am. As the service was relayed over loudspeaker, the crowd fell silent. And when, an hour later, the King was crowned, the crowd roared. They’d waited in the cold and rain, but all was well, they had a new King.
At 1.15pm, the Coronation procession approached us in Whitehall to huge cheers as onlookers caught sight of the newly crowned King Charles III and Queen Camilla, now travelling in the Gold State Coach drawn by eight Windsor Greys. Someone close by screamed in delight: ‘The King waved at us.’ I think she was right. Gazes were fixed on the ornate gold carriage – a 260-year-old living part of British history that has been used in every coronation since that of William IV in 1831. It was clear that the rigorous midnight-till-dawn rehearsals had paid off as the armed forces from the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories processed alongside the new monarch in perfect unison, a procession of 4,000 personnel, the largest military ceremonial procession since the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Was every guardsman in the country parading today? Close behind the King and Queen was the carriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince Louis. The crowd cheered and screamed as they passed, little Louis waving enthusiastically through the window. More carriages and cars followed with family members, including the Edinburghs, the Gloucesters, and Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, whose wife, Princess Anne, was riding behind her brother the King, serving as Gold-Stick-in-Waiting.
As the crowds began to head in the direction of the Mall in the hope of seeing the flypast, we all knew that by being here today, we had witnessed history. A spectacular and fitting Coronation procession to hail our new King and Queen.
