The ceremony will be filled with pomp and pageantry: There will be crowns and diamonds, soaring music, purple robes, magnificent hats — and a rousing cheer of “God Save the King” inside the abbey and in the streets outside
LONDON — King Charles III is being crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony built on ancient traditions, at a time when the monarchy faces an uncertain future.
To the royal family and government, the occasion — code-named Operation Golden Orb — is a display of heritage, tradition and spectacle unmatched around the world.“I’m used to ceremony on a national level. Even I think this is pretty jaw-dropping,” he said. These days, the king no longer has executive or political power, and the service is purely ceremonial since Charles automatically became king upon death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September.
In 1953, Westminster Abbey was fitted with temporary stands to boost the seating capacity to more than 8,000, aristocrats wore crimson robes and coronets, and the coronation procession meandered 5 miles through central London so an estimated 3 million people could cheer for the glamorous 27-year-old queen.
The moment is meant to underscore the importance of young people — and is a new addition in a service laden with the rituals through which power has been passed down to new monarchs throughout the centuries.
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