King Charles III is crowned in Westminster Abbey, amid pomp and pageantry
Service a shorter, less formal affair than the 3-hour coronation for his mother
King Charles III, a man who waited almost 74 years to become King, was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey with all the pomp and pageantry Britain couldmuster.
Outside the abbey,thousands of troops, tens of thousands of spectators and a smattering of protesters converged in the rain along the The Mall, the grand avenue to Buckingham Palace in central London, to see Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as they made the two-kilometre journey to the churchin theDiamond Jubilee State Coach.
Charles took an oath during the coronation service to govern the people of the United Kingdom with "justice and mercy."
Shouts of "God save the King" rang out and trumpet blasts echoed after Archbishop of CanterburyJustin Welbyplaced St. Edward's Crown on Charles's head, while Camilla received Queen Mary's Crown for her coronation.
As the day began, the abbey buzzed with excitement and was abloom with fragrant flowers and colourful hats as the congregation of international dignitaries, nobles and other notables arrived.
Those in attendance included actors Judi DenchandEmma Thompson and musicians Lionel Richie and Nick Cave, who satalongside politicians, judges in wigs, soldiers with gleaming medals attached to red tunics and members of the House of Lords in their red robes.
Dignitaries and world leaders in attendance included U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada's Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, andeight current and former British prime ministers.
Heir to the throne Prince William, his wife, Catherine, and their three children were all in attendance. The couple's eldest son, Prince George, was one of four honour pages carrying the train of his grandfather's robe.
During the service, William knelt before his fatherto pledge his loyalty to the monarch.
"I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God," William said.
Prince Harry, the King's younger son who has publicly sparred with the family walked alone to his seat after entering the abbey. AsCharles and otherroyals joined a military procession afterward,Harrystood waiting outside the abbeyuntil a car arrived to drive him away.
Harry'swife Meghan and their children remained at home in California, where the couple has lived since quitting as working royals in 2020.
After the service, Charles switched to the lighter Imperial State Crown for the trip back to Buckingham Palace in the theGold State Coach. Once at the palace,they appeared alongside younger generations of royalson the balcony to wave at the crowd below and watcha flypast of military aircraft.
Protesters arrested
Earlier, the anti-monarchy group Republic said sixof its members, including chief executive Graham Smith, were arrested near Trafalgar Square in central London as they prepared to protest the coronation.
On the south side of the square, thousands swelled behind metal fencing along the processionroute. In the middle of the crowd, dozens of anti-monarchy protesters, held tall yellow banners that read "not my king" which they frequently chanted.
Some of those in the crowd shouted back, "Yes, he is,"or "My king,and I am proud of him."
Thousands decked out in their finest Union Jack attire, along with rain coats and ponchos, easily drowned out the noise from theprotest, but they were irritated thatdemonstrators were taking up prime space andblocking someonlookers with their flags.
"They can protest, but they can't hold their flag,"shouted Karen from Devon insouthwest England.
'People will stop and stare'
"Even in a world where people are sated with on-demand entertainment, people will stop and stare," said Michael Cole, a former BBC royal correspondent. He called the coronation"a spectacular procession and a ritual" and"a ceremony, unlike anything that occurs anywhere in the world."
But like the best dramas, it wasa show with a message.
For 1,000 years and more, British monarchs have been crowned in grandiose ceremonies that confirm their right to rule. Although the King no longer has executive or political power, he remains the U.K.'s head of state and a symbol of national identity.
At a time when double-digit inflation is making everyone in the U.K. poorer, Charles was keen to show that he can still be a unifying force in a multicultural nation that is very different from the one that greeted his mother.
So this wasa shorter, less formal affair than the three-hour coronation for Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1953, Westminster Abbey was fitted with temporary stands to boost the seating capacity to more than 8,000.Aristocrats wore crimson robes and coronets, and the coronation procession meandered eightkilometresthrough central London so an estimated threemillion people could cheer for the glamorous 27-year-old Queen.
Queen Elizabeth IIdied last September at age 96, after a seven-decade reign.
Pared-down ceremony
Organizers cut Charles's service to less than two hours and sent out 2,300 invitations. Aristocrats weretold to avoid ceremonial dress and the procession travelled a shorter, direct route back to Buckingham Palace from the abbey. This followedCharles's instructions for a pared-down ceremony as he has been seekingto create a smaller, less expensive royal machine for the 21st century.
Charles scrapped the traditional moment at the end of the service when nobles were asked to kneel and pledge their loyalty to the king. Instead, the Archbishop of Canterbury invited everyone in the abbey and people watching on television to swear "true allegiance" to the monarch.
During the Anglican service,Charles, clad in crimson and cream robes, swore on a Bible that he is a "true Protestant."But a preface was added to the coronation oath to say the Church of England "will seek to foster an environment where people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Britain's first Hindu leader, read a passage from the New Testament of the King James Bible.
A gospel choir performed a newly composed Alleluia,and, for the first time, female clergy took part in the ceremony. It was also the first to include representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh faiths.
Almost 20 per centof the population in the U.K. now come from ethnic minority groups, compared with less than one per centin the 1950s. More than 300 languages are spoken in British schools, and less than half of the population describe themselves as Christian.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story said Queen Elizabeth was 25 years old at her coronation. Although she was 25 when she became Queen, she was in fact 27 at the coronation.May 08, 2023 7:46 AM ET
With files from CBC's Briar Stewart
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