In what is considered the most sacred and spiritual part of the coronation ceremony of Britain's new king, King Charles III is expected to be anointed with holy oil specially brought from Jerusalem for this purpose, where the official enthronement of the ruler of the kingdom will be completed in a tradition that stretches back hundreds of years.

What is the story behind this oil, and what is its importance and usefulness for the ceremony?

The tradition of anointing the king of Britain with sacred oil

The "most holy" part of the coronation, according to the British website Royal Collection Trust, is the so-called "blessed anointing" on the king with holy oil.

Although the coronation is seen as a great moment of national ceremonies and historical rituals, there is a strong religious element in the equation.

The tradition of anointing the king with oil is borrowed from baptism or priesthood ceremonies and religious orders in Christianity, during which the king is symbolically touched with a "holy oil" with a specific mixture, on the forehead, chest and hands.

The importance of oil and its relationship to the city of Jerusalem

Although the new recipe differs from the mixture in practice dating back to the reign of King Charles I in the first half of the seventeenth century, Charles III decided to receive the full official ceremony of tradition as a successor to and tribute to his predecessors.

The tradition of anointing with holy oil, specially brought from Jerusalem, comes from the "Exodus" texts of the Bible. The oil was installed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Jesus is believed to have died and been buried.

Oil wiping is therefore a very sacred moment within the ceremony, so much so that television cameras were not allowed to film it in 1953 during Elizabeth's coronation, and there is speculation about whether the anointing will be shown on television during the coronation of King Charles III.

The "most holy" part of the coronation is the so-called "blessed anointing" on the king with holy oil (French)

Family value for the new British King

The tradition also has a family symbolism for King Charles III as well as religious value: Princess Alice, Princess of Battenberg, who was married to Prince Andrew, Prince of Greece and Denmark, and had 5 children, including Prince Philip, who became the husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

After overcoming the tragedies of living in exile, mental illness, separation and widowhood, the princess eventually founded her own group of nuns in Greece, before living her final years at Buckingham Palace until her death in 1969.

Her last wish was to be buried in the Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the grave of her Russian aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria who was assassinated by the Bolsheviks in Siberia in 1918.

The fulfillment of her ultimate wish was fraught with political, diplomatic, and security issues. It was not until 1988 that Princess Alice's body was transferred from the crypt of Royal Windsor Castle to the olive grove church in Jerusalem.

From the preparations for the coronation ceremony of King Charles III (Reuters)

Change the oil recipe to suit the new age

Traditionally, holy oil was prepared from a traditional mixture of spices and vegetable and animal essential oils. This time, the oil was extracted using olives harvested from the groves of the Mount of Olives around the Ascension Monastery, the Church of Mary Magdalene, the burial place of Charles' grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece.

According to a report by the agency "Reuters", the oil has been perfumed with sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, benzoin and orange blossom, while in the past, the fat oil used in the coronation ceremony contained civet cat glands, amber extracted from the belly lining of the whale's stomach in addition to musk deer secretions.

The reason for this change is the desire of the British royal family to avoid conflict with animal rights organizations. Despite this attempt, however, the royal coronation ceremony is still "anti-animal", with many royal robes and ornaments being designed from large quantities of animal fur.

The oil was supposed to have been transported and shipped to London in secret before coronation day on May 6, where the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will oversee the inauguration, blessed him.