Buckingham Palace has dismissed claims that King Charles’ coronation date has been confirmed. After Bloomberg reported that Charles would be crowned fittingly on June 3 next year, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told The Mirror on Wednesday that it was “purely speculation”.
But if the new king’s coronation does take place on June 3 it will be 70 years and one day since Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The intricate details for King Charles III's coronation have been years in the making, and are closely guarded under the codename, Operation Golden Orb.
The ancient religious tradition is a service in which every monarch must swear an oath before the nation to serve them as king or queen. They are then anointed in a ceremony that was considered too sacred for television broadcast during the Queen’s coronation in 1953. You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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An official date has not yet been publicly announced for Charles III’s coronation but it is unlikely to be for many months. It is traditional for there to be a wait between a new monarch’s ascension to the throne and their coronation. That allows time for the past sovereign to be properly mourned before officially welcoming in the new era. Elizabeth II became Queen after her father’s death on February 6, 1952.
But her coronation at Westminster Abbey did not take place for another 16 months, with her being anointed Queen on June 2, 1953. After the abdication of his brother, King George VI would wait five months until being crowned in public in May, 1937. Plans for Edward VIII's coronation were abandoned after he vacated the throne in order to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson.
Like all coronations of UK monarchs for the past 1,000 years, the coronation will be held at Westminster Abbey. Every sovereign since William the Conqueror in 1066 has been crowned at the famous London cathedral. Earlier this week, Charles was hailed as the “people’s King” at his first official reception as monarch, which saw hundreds of people pack into Holyroodhouse.
The King and the Queen Consort Camilla met around 300 members of the British south-east Asian community at a reception in Edinburgh on Monday. Shahid Khan – a DJ better known as Naughty Boy, who also appeared on I’m A Celebrity last year – was one of the first guests to meet the King in the palace’s Great Gallery.
He labelled Charles the “people’s King” after their conversation which touched on Khan’s 68-year-old mother Zahida. “My mum’s in hospital at the moment and she said to tell the King he will always have a mum in her because she loves the Royal Family, and he said to send his love to her,” said the former Prince’s Trust bursary winner.
“It was nice because it’s human, and I really, really feel this King is like a people’s King. It’s quite evident. And that’s what this country needs right now.”
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