Queen Camilla smiled as she appeared to share a joke with King Charles III about the inclement British weather as they stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Camilla raised her outstretched palm towards the sky as rain fell on the thousands of people who had come to catch a glimpse of the royal family.
Charles and Camila, in lavish robes and wearing their crowns, were cheered by the crowds as they appeared on the balcony. They were accompanied by other members of the royal family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Bad weather is a feature of coronations past and rain has now been seen during the previous four ceremonies. Britain experienced cloudy and wet conditions when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, with a reported maximum temperature of just 11.2C. Similar weather also blighted King George VI’s crowning in 1937.
The downpours on the Mall meant that Charles’ military flypast was scaled back, with just helicopters and the Red Arrows performance team making an appearance.
The original plans had involved a total of 60 aircraft, including a group of Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Lancaster.
The rain didn’t put off the royal fanatics however. Michelle Roycroft, from London, was one of the first people to make it to the railings in front of Buckingham Palace ahead of the balcony appearance from the royal family.
“I’m absolutely blown away. So excited,” she said. Ms Roycroft had been waiting since 7am and said standing in the rain was fine.
“It didn’t matter at all,” she said. Speaking about her experience of watching the balcony moment and the flypast, she said: “Absolutely made my day. The most memorable, magical day.”
A sea of Union Jack rain ponchos could be seen in the streets and parks surrounding the procession route around the Mall and Whitehall. With Green Park and St James’s Park at capacity, undeterred by the bad weather, the crowds trampled through mud and puddles to the screens in Hyde Park.
Throngs of people huddled under umbrellas as they queued to get into the park to watch the ceremony. Families, still in high spirits, set up picnic blankets on the damp ground and settled in to watch the ceremony.
Paula Clayton and Alexia Sheraton from Manchester told The Independent after the festivities: “It’s been wet and soggy but it hasn’t dampened our spiritis. We’ve met really nice people from all over the world, it’s incredible.
“We didn’t know whether we would be nervous because of all the threats, but we’ve not felt nervous at all. It’s been a fabulous day.”
Across the country, retailers have experiencing “unprecedented” demand for tents and gazebos as royalists rushed to save their tea parties from the rain.
Google searches for “gazebo next day delivery” and “gazebo hire” have reportedly spiked. And retail company The Range said: “As a home and leisure retailer we are used to seasonal swings... but this spike in sales for gazebos is unprecendented.”
Weather forecaster, the Met Office, said many southern parts of the UK were likely to be cloudy with some outbreaks of rain throughout Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday, Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said it was definitely wet weather gear” weather, adding: “It’s not going to be very nice this afternoon.
“A lot of standing water around, puddles. Things could be a lot better, to be honest, not looking nice at all.”
He said Saturday’s conditions were “certainly good for reservoirs” but “not particularly good if you are doing events out and about as many people are”.
