King Charles III and Queen Camilla have been crowned in Britain’s biggest ceremonial event for seven decades.
Thousands packed in front of Buckingham Palace despite the rain, after a deeply religious Coronation service at Westminster Abbey and a huge procession through London.
The King and Queen waved from the Palace balcony as the RAF Red Arrows painted the sky red, white and blue.
According to media, the Duke of Sussex was not invited to join them.
Image source: Getty Images
Prince Harry had been at the ceremony in Westminster Abbey earlier, sitting two rows back from his brother Prince William – the first time they had been seen together since Harry’s sensational memoir, Spare, was released. The duke left for the US straight afterwards.
The coronation day began shortly after 10:00 AM, local time, with the procession to Westminster Abbey in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, past cheering crowds and an honour guard of 1,000 members of the armed forces.
Faith leaders and commonwealth leaders began the processions, with the King and Queen following behind.
The two-hour ceremony – the first to crown a monarch in 70 years – was watched on TV around the world, as well as some 2,300 people inside the abbey.
After the crown was placed on Charles’s head cries of “God Save the King” were heard inside and outside, and gun salutes were made across the UK.
Celebrity guests were among those inside Westminster Abbey – including Emma Thompson and Katy Perry.
First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan arrived in a three-car motorcade, although President Biden did not travel to the UK. French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska were also in the abbey, as were UK’s PM Rishi Sunak and leaders of the Commonwealth countries.
In all, 90 heads of state attended, the Foreign Office said.
Charles was proclaimed as the “undoubted King” in the first stage of the ceremony. The congregation was then asked to show their homage and service, shouting “God Save the King”.
Traditions rarely seen elsewhere in modern life were maintained – such as the inclusion of the orb and sceptre and the carrying of the gilded Sword of State.Prince William also made a pledge of loyalty to King Charles, and kissed him on the cheek, before members of the congregation were invited to offer their own support.
Returning to the Palace, it was a spectacle of pomp and pageantry as the newly crowned King and Queen travelled up The Mall in the Gold State Coach flanked by thousands of servicemen and women.
In total, 4,000 armed forces personnel and 19 military bands took part – making it the biggest state occasion since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Queen Elizabeth II has joined 2,000 guests for a service at Westminster Abbey to mark 60 years since her Coronation.
Some of those who took part in the 1953 service were among the congregation.
Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby said the event honored “60 years of commitment”.
The Queen was accompanied by more than 20 members of her family, including Prince Philip who pulled out of an engagement on Monday night because he was feeling unwell.
Several key items from the Coronation were placed in Westminster Abbey for the service.
They included the heavy, solid gold St Edward’s Crown, displayed on the High Altar – the first time it has left the Tower of London since 1953.
Beside it was the Ampulla, the gold, eagle-shaped bottle from which the holy oil was poured for the Queen’s anointing.
The Coronation Chair, one of the oldest pieces of English furniture still in use, was also on show.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh entered Westminster Abbey to the same music that greeted her in 1953.
Back in 1953, at the age of 27, she was the 38th sovereign to be crowned in an abbey that has been the scene of such ceremonies since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066.
The Archbishop of Canterbury told those gathered in the abbey that the Coronation had been “an ordination, a setting aside of a person for service”.
Dr. Justin Welby said that during the ceremony the Queen knelt at the abbey’s altar and prayed.
“We do not know what was prayed. Her Majesty knelt at the beginning of a path of demanding devotion and utter self-sacrifice, a path she did not choose, yet to which she was called by God.
“Today we celebrate 60 years since that moment, 60 years of commitment.”
Queen Elizabeth II has joined 2,000 guests for a service at Westminster Abbey to mark 60 years since her Coronation
At the time the Coronation was a major television spectacle, with an estimated 27 million Britons tuning in.
The weather was dull and wet, but warm sunshine greeted those gathering in London for the anniversary on Tuesday.
The Archbishop said the Coronation had been “the first time the whole nation had watched anything as it happened”.
He called it “pomp and ceremony on a rainy June day, all so very British, wrapped in time and custom”.
Her Majesty wore an Angela Kelly dress, hat and coat – made from oyster-colored silk-satin brocade – for the anniversary service.
The Queen was joined at the abbey by the Prince of Wales – who was just four in 1953 – and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke of Cambridge and the pregnant Kate Middleton.
It is the first time Kate Middleton and Prince William, whose first baby is due next month, have attended a public event at the abbey since they married there two years ago.
Other royals present include Prince Harry, the Duke of York, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor, the Princess Royal and Zara Phillips with her husband Mike Tindall.
The congregation sang the National Anthem before UK Prime Minister David Cameron gave a reading from the Book of Kings.
Secretary general of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma also gave a reading.
Actress Claire Skinner read a poem called The Throne, written for the anniversary by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend John Hall, said the service marked “60 years of duty done with a glad heart”.
Lady Glenconner was one of the Queen’s six maids of honor in 1953.
She said: “I remember standing by the door… I remember a roar coming round, we could hear everybody shouting. Then suddenly around the corner came this amazing golden coach, it was like a fairy tale.
“She was so beautiful. When she got out of the coach, the tiny waist she had, the wonderful complexion, she just looked the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”
The Queen, whose reign began in 1952, practiced wearing the crown around Buckingham Palace in the weeks before her Coronation, including at her children’s bath time.
The Coronation was a strictly Anglican Christian event, but 60 years later Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and other faiths were represented.
Last year’s Diamond Jubilee marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne.
Prince Philip had been due to accompany the Queen to a gala reception for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) at St James’s Palace in London on Monday but was unwell.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West relationship is going from strength to strength, with Kim apparently planning her wedding to the rapper – although he has yet to propose.
According to reports, Kim Kardashian wants a wedding to rival that of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Although Kim Kardashian is still legally married to Kris Humphries she is reportedly already planning her nuptials and wants a huge English event.
A source said: “Kim would love to wed at Westminster Abbey like William and Catherine, but that won’t be possible.
“Instead she’s been looking at castles near London. She wants the most spectacular wedding and she’s talking about having guests like Jay-Z and Beyonce, Eva Longoria, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna and Katy Perry arrive in horse drawn carriages – just like the royal wedding.”
Kim Kardashian wants a wedding to rapper Kanye West to rival that of Prince William and Kate Middleton
Kim Kardashian reportedly also wants children with Kanye West and has her heart set on twins and is even planning a nursery even though she isn’t pregnant.
The source added to America’s OK! magazine: “It’s going to be huge – at least 2,000 square feet. And luxury is top priority from the carpet to the light fixtures. Kim and Kanye love Old Hollywood so that’s going to be a theme with lots of white and cream with splashes of butter yellow and black and some leopard print.”
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