The bronze statue of Charles I on horseback on the corner of Trafalgar Square had been boxed off for the day, with armed police stationed above it. The symbolism was not lost on the protesters from the Republic organisation, those latter-day parliamentarians, who had chosen that spot on the coronation procession route to voice their opposition to the monarchy.
They had come for the day dressed in spring yellow, in contrast to the uniform red, white and blue of the hats and waistcoats and umbrellas of the crowds around them. As the royal procession passed on its way to Westminster Abbey they made sure that the three-word opinion of perhaps a quarter of the British public was heard above the clatter of the Household Cavalry, at a volume unfamiliar from previous state occasions: “Not my king!”
