• Live Coronation
  • Guests Royal conclave at the first coronation with invited foreign monarchs

With the utmost pomp and pageantry, like Elizabeth II 70 years ago, Charles III ceremoniously picked up the baton of the British Crown before the eyes of more than 100 heads of state and representatives of 200 countries who vibrated with the emotion of the historical acts under the warheads of Westminster Abbey.

More than 7,000 soldiers and 19 military bands wrapped up King Charles and Queen Camilla in their triumphant return to Buckingham Palace after the liturgical act that lasted for two hours, while tens of thousands of Britons crowded along the two kilometers of route to sing the familiar "God save the king!". With his ermine cape and imperial crown of State, Charles emerged next to Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham to the enthusiasm of the public, which vibrated to the passage of the "red felchas", in a version reduced by bad weather but spectacular enough to enhance the occasion.

The heavy rain and the arrest of several anti-monarchist protesters in Trafalgar Square put the lackluster counterpoint to an event that will go down in the annals of the twenty-first century as the beginning of a new era for the British monarchy, already baptized by some historians as the 'Carolingian era'.

The other two dissonant notes at the Coronation were the solitary presence of Prince Harry, who will return to the United States in 24 hours, and the appearance of Prince Andrew, booed by the crowd and dressed in the robe of the Order of the Garter.

Charles wanted a sober and reduced ceremony, but agreed in the end to a celebration compared to all intents and purposes with the coronation of his own mother in 1953, also rivaling the state funeral of Winston Churchill.

The largest police operation in the history of the United Kingdom, with 11,500 officers deployed on the streets and an "exclusion zone" in the rainy skies of the British capital, guaranteed the safety of the monarch, who traveled with his wife in two royal carriages the route between Buckingham and the abbey.

The cries of "Not my king!" ("He's not my king") reached the ears of the monarch as he passed through Trafalgar Square, where more than 200 militants of the Republic group gathered with their yellow badges. The director of the anti-monarchist group, Graham Smith, was arrested without further explanation at 7.30am while distributing several banners. The police eventually arrested more than two dozen protesters in compliance with the draconian new Public Order Act.

The bad weather did not deter the crowd that was congregating since early Saturday morning and that resisted despite the rain until the long-awaited moment of the departure of the kings to the balcony of Buckingham.

The still recent memory of Elizabeth II in her last public appearance during the Platinum Jubilee, 11 months ago, surely weighed on Charles. For Camilla, dressed for the occasion by Bruce Oldfield (who was also Diana's favorite designer for years), it was the defining moment of her redemption before the British.

Crowned with her husband (with the 2,000-diamond crown of Mary of Teck),Chamilla was a comforting presence for Charles during the lengthy ceremony in which he was anointed with chrism oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who served as master of ceremonies.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more