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LONDON — When the heir to the Dutch throne became king in 2013, he was inaugurated before parliament and delivered an address.
In 2014, Spain’s new king was sworn in before lawmakers in a ceremony at which the 18th-century crown was displayed but not placed on his head. The menu at the reception for 2,000 guests that followed? Afternoon tapas.
In Britain in 2023, the coronation of a new king brought a public holiday, a two-hour televised religious service, and a mile-long procession of mounted and marching troops, with musicians on horseback and His Majesty traveling in the gilded Gold State Coach used in every coronation since its construction in 1762.
Would the British do it any other way? Probably not.
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Can pomp and pageantry on such a grand scale endure? Much harder to say.
For some, the splendor — or royal razzmatazz — triggers inspiration and patriotism just not possible from politics. We’re here because we’ve been following the House of Windsor for years, enjoying the spectacle from afar, especially when the royals’ humanity is visible behind the hierarchy and protocol. But it’s an open question how long the Royal Theme Park that is central London can keep humming along amid Britain’s self-inflicted troubles (cough, Brexit) or other economic and political instabilities. Did the back-to-the-future coronation give reason to hope for new relevance from this institution? Can a man who waited 70 years to get this job do anything interesting with it?
The coronation of King Charles III and associated events (street parties, a televised concert and a community service initiative on Monday’s bank holiday) underscored that change comes slowly to Britain’s royal institution, even when it has the biggest opportunity in nearly a century to rebrand itself. It was not the monarch but his heir who spoke this past weekend about the new reign’s goals.
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“As my grandmother said when she was crowned, coronations are a declaration of our hopes for the future,” Prince William, center stage, told the concert crowd outside Windsor Castle on Sunday night.
No surprise, William’s invocation of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, drew cheers. But it’s worth recalling that the late queen, still the most popular royal, wasn’t always so beloved. During the 1990s, the monarchy was rocked by marital scandals, public pushback at the suggestion taxpayers would cover the costs of Windsor Castle fire damage and outrage after the death of Princess Diana.
More recently, the palace moved slowly, and only when public dismay had reached potentially dangerous levels, to effectively banish the king’s brother Prince Andrew over his disturbing ties to Jeffrey Epstein and a lawsuit from an Epstein victim who said she was trafficked to the prince as a minor. (Andrew, who has denied the allegations, settled out of court last year.) The king’s son Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, fled their official roles and cooperated with a Netflix docuseries about their difficulties with royal life. Harry’s memoir alleges that his stepmother, Queen Camilla, and royal staffers traded negative stories about the prince and his wife for positive coverage in the British press. It appears that something ugly lurks in the palace machinery.
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William’s brief remarks on Sunday were straight out of the palace playbook on charm offensives; as when Charles was the heir and spoke at star-studded concerts to mark the late queen’s jubilees in 2012 and 2022, William used an endearing personalization (“Pa”). He lauded the king’s service to environmental causes and disadvantaged youths. “My father has always understood that people of all faiths, all backgrounds and all communities deserve to be celebrated and supported,” he said.
As with Charles’s changes to his coronation ceremony, we’re watching to see what traditions will and won’t be maintained — and whether countries debating colonialism’s legacy or the value of republicanism drop the monarch as head of state. One thing that stood out to us this past week, emphasized by another William remark (“I commit myself to serve you all. King, country and Commonwealth.”): This heir to the throne participated in the coronation, publicly declaring his loyalty to the crown, as a 40-year-old. When his time comes, he can say with considered experience what feels necessary and relevant for both the moment and the future.
👑 📰 Programming note: This is the last of our regular updates from London, but you can always find Post coverage of royal news and events on washingtonpost.com. 📰 👑
Let them eat cake! Also, tarts and scones. This past weekend’s “Big Lunch” festivities were an invitation to host street parties, picnics and other community gatherings. Buckingham Palace said that 50,000 such events were planned around Britain, reported The Post’s London bureau chief, William Booth, and photographer James Forde. Here are photos from their experience dropping in on one.
After the Big Lunch came a televised concert outside Windsor Castle, with a crowd of about 20,000 members of the public — ticket holders via a lottery — gathered on the grounds in shockingly good weather. Audiences (some 10 million tuned in) saw “an eclectic mix of dance, music, spoken tributes and skits,” reported The Post’s Karla Adam, but also “a dazzling drone show, which lit up the night sky with the colorful outlines of a whale, lion, rabbit, flower and other images.”
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This review called drones and Muppets the highlight. (We agreed.) The castle backdrop and setting lent star wattage not present in the lineup. Performers included Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, pianist Lang Lang, and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Welsh baritone-bass Bryn Terfel. Cheers erupted when Hollywood royalty Tom Cruise, shown flying a plane in a prerecorded video — a nod to Charles’s long-ago training — said, “Pilot to pilot, Your Majesty, you can be my wingman any time.”
To us, the best bits were the castle and Princess Charlotte having fun in the royal box (where, BTW, divorced exes Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were seated together).
Monday’s Big Help Out, a massive volunteering drive, was on brand for the coronation’s service theme. (Some context: Volunteering is at a historic low in England.) Members of the royal family fanned out, with the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children helping to renovate a scouting hut (the princess is joint president of the Scouting Association and was overheard Monday using an adorable nickname for her youngest son). Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, joined a class training puppies to be guide dogs.
Today we warmly welcomed Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh - who visited our Reading Hub as part of the volunteer focused initiative, @TheBigHelpOut23, which encourages people to try volunteering for a charity in the local community (1/3) 👇 pic.twitter.com/rDQ6v5iMWr
— Guide Dogs (@guidedogs) May 8, 2023Herewith, alternative coronation oaths, courtesy of the Financial Times.
Dress do-over: “I think you were too harsh on Camilla’s outfit,” one reader in Virginia wrote to us. “For her that was about as good as it gets 😂.” We looked again at the queen consort’s coronation gown — and this reader is right. If you get wedding-dress vibes, well, that’s appropriate for a garment in a ceremony that effectively marries a person to a role. We remain cool toward Camilla’s cipher being sewn into her dress. But we *love* other embroidered symbolism, including the names of her children and grandchildren, plus two gold dogs to represent her rescue pooches, Beth and Bluebell.
“The nice thing about dogs is you can sit them down, you could have a nice long conversation, you could be cross, you could be sad and they just sit looking at you wagging their tail!”
The Duchess on her love for Beth and Bluebell, the dogs she adopted from @battersea_. 🐶 pic.twitter.com/1VYM4IhWVt
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) July 6, 2020Fashion, cont.: Camilla is the royal who looks like herself, writes Rachel Tashjian. For decades, clothes were something of a quagmire for her, but lately “she seems to have undergone something of a glow-up.”
Official coronation portraits were released Monday, sparking a social media guessing game about whether the Princess of Wales, seen in two different necklines on Saturday, wore two Alexander McQueen dresses (we’re on Team Cape). Nice to see Princess Anne, the king’s sister, so prominent. Did no one consider a chair for Princess Alexandra, 86, seen aided by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh on the right? (Speaking of the duchess, this is a fun look at her Suzannah London dress.)
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Cousin closeness: Princess Eugenie’s Instagram post includes sweet shots with Prince Harry.
Share this articleShareOh, Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Saturday that Canada would add an image of King Charles to its $20 note.
And that’s a wrap! Here is King Charles’s statement marking the end of the long coronation weekend.
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Catch up fast on key coronation moments with this three-minute video.
Editorial cartoon by Michael de Adder.
In Belize, questions about whether to keep the British monarch as head of state. Last year’s death of Queen Elizabeth II resurfaced debates throughout the Caribbean over whether to split from the monarchy, as Barbados did in 2021, write Joshua Lott and Ruby Mellen. “Especially in this region, the monarchy is a reminder to many of colonial occupation, slavery and exploitation.”
We remain charmed that the king and the Prince and Princess of Wales greeted superfans on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace the day before the coronation.
Here’s a visual history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the infamous jewel not used in Saturday’s coronation. Paul Schemm and Satwik Gade report that the jewel, whose name means “mountain of light,” once adorned the crowns of Britain’s queens. But the diamond, fought over for centuries, is claimed by four countries.
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Send us your royal questions and comments! Follow @washingtonpost and @postopinions for more coverage.
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