King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, will travel to and from their coronation next month in Britain's oldest and newest royal carriages.
The grand procession will be shorter than the one taken by Queen Elizabeth II 70 years ago, Buckingham Palace said on Sunday.
The King will be crowned at London's Westminster Abbey on May 6, in a ceremony full of pomp and pageantry, with traditions dating back 1,000 years.
The palace has been slowly releasing details of the event, which is set to have a few differences from the King's mother in 1953, most notably in its scale, partly reflecting the modern age and the current cost of living crisis.
But in an example of the modern nature of the coronation, the palace has also announced that a new emoji had been unveiled to coincide with the event.
The new Twitter emoji is based on the historic St Edward's Crown which will be placed on Charles's head during the service.
It will appear whenever the hashtags #Coronation, #CoronationConcert, #TheBigHelpout, #CoronationWeekend, #CoronationBigLunch are used.
The Big Help Out is a call to volunteer announced as part of the three-day coronation event.
Australian-built carriage taking Charles to coronation ceremony
The King and Camilla will be taken from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, built to commemorate Elizabeth's 60th year on the throne and first used in 2014.
It was built in Sydney by W J Frecklington, at the time only the second royal carriage constructed in a century.
Mr Frecklington also built Queen Elizabeth's Australian State Coach, which was given to her during the Australian Bicentennial in 1988.
The carriage, which has been referred to as a "living time capsule" by royal experts, is topped by a piece of oak from Lord Nelson's HMS Victory, carved into a golden crown.
The air-conditioned interior was carved using wood from multiple ships, castles and cathedrals including the Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, Balmoral Castle, the Royal Pavilion, Windsor Castle, the Mayflower and others.
Its two door handles, made in New Zealand, are decorated ech with 24 diamonds and 130 sapphires.
Also included are fragments of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree, wood from the door of 10 Downing Street and metal from a musketball from the Battle of Waterloo.
After the service, the couple will return in the Coronation Procession, which while much larger in size than their journey to the Abbey, will be about a third of the 7.2 km route taken by the Queen when millions thronged the streets of London to watch.
For this, Charles and Camilla will travel in the 260-year-old Gold State Coach which has been used at every coronation since King William IV's in 1831.
It was first used by King George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament in 1762, when he was still king of Britain's American colonies.
It is 7 metres long, 3.6 metres tall and weighs four tonnes. Eight horses are required to pull it.
"Because of that it can only be used at a walking pace, which really adds to the majesty and stateliness of this great royal procession," said Sally Goodsir, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Royal Collection Trust.
However, in a documentary aired in 2018, Queen Elizabeth II described her journey from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey in the coach as "horrible", saying it was not very comfortable.
Royals gather for traditional Easter service
The King and senior royals gathered at Windsor Castle for their traditional Easter service on Sunday, the first of the new monarch's reign.
Charles was joined by Camilla, and his extended family including son and heir Prince William, his wife Kate and their three children, in a walk from the castle to the nearby St George's Chapel.
Also present was the king's younger brother Prince Andrew, who was removed from royal duties before settling a US sex abuse lawsuit last year.
The occasion, one of the few events which bring all the royals together in public, is particularly poignant this year, being the first since the death of Queen Elizabeth and also falling two years to the day since her husband Prince Philip died.
Both are buried in the King George VI chapel at Windsor.
It is also the 18th wedding anniversary for Charles and second wife Camilla, who tied the knot in Windsor in 2005.
As king, Charles is the symbolic head of the Church of England as its Supreme Governor, and the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that there was disagreement between the monarch and church leaders over the role other faiths might play in his coronation, a solemn religious occasion, on May 6.
The paper said the discussions were delaying the release of the coronation's Order of Service, but said both Buckingham Palace and the Church had said details would be released in due course.
Sources have denied there was any delay.
ABC/Reuters
