The coronation of Charles III came to its climax: a detailed schedule

The coronation at Westminster Abbey and the concert at Windsor Castle will be televised and online. Millions of people around the world are expected to follow these events on their screens. In 1953, the coronation of Elizabeth II was the first televised coronation and drew an audience of over 20 million people in the UK alone.

So, on Saturday, the official celebrations will begin with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey from lookouts along the route opening at 06:00 British Summer Time (8 am BST).

Public access to areas along the Mall and Whitehall will be on a first come, first served basis.

Grandstands were set up in front of Buckingham Palace for invited guests, including veterans of the armed forces, employees of the National Health and Welfare Service.

Just under 200 troops – most of the royal cavalry – who will take part in the procession to Westminster Abbey will begin to assemble on Saturday morning.

Another 1,000 attendants will line the route, but the overall procession will be much smaller than in 1953, when other royal families and Commonwealth prime ministers took part.

The procession will leave Buckingham Palace at 10:20 (12:20 GMT), moving along the shopping center to Trafalgar Square, then along Whitehall and Parliament Street, before turning into Parliament Square and Broad Sanctuary to reach the Great West Doors Westminster Abbey.

In a break with tradition, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will ride in the “Diamond Jubilee Coach” rather than the older and more uncomfortable “Golden State Coach”. A more modern carriage was made in 2014 by order of Elizabeth II for her “Diamond Jubilee” and is equipped with air conditioning, heated seats and electric windows.

The procession is expected to arrive at the abbey shortly before 11:00 local time, with the king likely to don a military uniform instead of the more traditional breeches and silk stockings worn by kings before him. The BBC predicted that King Charles III could wear a military uniform similar to the one he wore to his mother’s wake last year, while his grandfather George VI wore breeches and stockings to his coronation.

King Charles will enter through the Great West Door and walk along the nave until he reaches the central chamber of the abbey.

It will be preceded by processions made up of religious leaders and representatives, as well as representatives of some Commonwealth countries, who will carry their country’s flags and be accompanied by governors general and prime ministers. Among them will be British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who will also deliver a speech later in the service.

The ceremony is due to begin at 11:00 am and will be accompanied by music chosen by the king, with 12 pieces recently commissioned, including one by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Greek Orthodox music in memory of the king’s father, Prince Philip.

The king’s grandson, Prince George, will be among the pages at Westminster Abbey, along with Camilla’s grandchildren Lola, Eliza, Gus, Louis and Freddie. Some of those who take part in the procession inside the abbey will carry the regalia in front of the king, and most items will be left on the altar until they are needed for the ceremony.

According to the Royal Family’s website, the UK is the only European country to still use regalia – symbols of royalty such as the crown, orb and sceptres – at coronations. Individual items symbolize various aspects of the service and duties of the monarch.

At the key moments of the ceremony, Charles III will be presented with a spherical orb, the Sovereign’s scepter with a cross and the Sovereign’s scepter with a dove, and other items.

And Camille will be given the queen consort’s baton with a dove and the queen consort’s scepter with a cross – a mirror image of the royal scepters.

The service consists of several stages, which are expected to last just under two hours.

For the first time, members of the public will be asked to swear allegiance to the king in what organizers call a “chorus of millions” service. In another departure from tradition, women clergy will play a prominent role, and religious leaders of other faiths will take an active part, the BBC notes.

So, the first stage: King Charles III will be presented to the “people” – this tradition dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. Standing next to the 700-year-old coronation chair, the monarch will turn to face the four sides of the abbey and be proclaimed “undoubted king” before parishioners are asked to pay their respects.

Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury will make the first statement, but for the first time, subsequent statements will be made by the Lady of the Garter and the Lady of the Thistle – representing the oldest orders of chivalry in England and Scotland respectively – and the Knight of the George Cross from the armed forces.

Parishioners will shout “God Save the King!” and trumpets will sound after each confession.

The Coronation Chair, also known as St Edward’s Chair or King Edward’s Chair, is said to be the oldest piece of furniture in the UK still in use for its original purpose. In total, 26 monarchs were crowned on it.

The chair was originally made by order of the English King Edward I to invest in it the Stone of Destiny, which was mined near Scone in Scotland. This stone – an ancient symbol of the Scottish monarchy – was returned to Scotland in 1996 but was transferred back to London for use in the service.

During a coronation, an oak chair is placed in the center of the historic medieval mosaic floor, in front of and facing the main altar, to emphasize the religious nature of the ceremony.

Next comes the second stage: the oath. Just before taking the oath, the Archbishop of Canterbury recognizes the diversity of faiths seen in the UK, saying that the Church of England “will strive to create an environment in which people of all faiths can live freely.”

The archbishop will then take the coronation oath, a legal requirement. He will ask King Charles III to confirm that he will uphold the law and the Church of England during his reign, and the king will lay his hand on the Holy Gospel and swear to “keep and keep” those promises.

The king will also take a second oath in which he will declare that he is a “faithful Protestant”.

Then comes the third stage – the anointing. The king’s ceremonial robe will be removed and the monarch will sit in the coronation anointing chair, emphasizing the spiritual status of the sovereign, who is also head of the Church of England.

The archbishop will pour special oil from an ampule – a golden flask in the shape of an eagle – onto the coronation spoon before anointing the king in the form of a cross on his head, chest and arms. The ampoule was made for the coronation of Charles II, but its shape goes back to an earlier version and the legend that the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Thomas Becket in the 12th century and presented him with a golden eagle with which future kings of England would be anointed. The coronation spoon is much older, having survived the destruction of the regalia by Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War. The oil itself was made for the coronation from olives harvested from two groves on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and consecrated in a special ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the city.

A screen will be placed around the chair to hide the king from prying eyes, since this stage is considered the most sacred part of the service.

Fourth stage: investment. There comes literally the moment of coronation – when the king puts on the crown of St. Edward for the only time in his life.

The crown is named after a much earlier version made for an Anglo-Saxon king and Saint Edward the Confessor and is said to have been used at coronations after 1220 until Cromwell ordered it to be melted down. It was made for King Charles II, who wanted a crown similar to the one worn by Edward, but even more majestic. King Charles III will be only the seventh monarch to wear it after Charles II, James II, William III, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II, who last wore it to her own coronation in 1953.

First, the king will be given a shimmering golden cloak, as well as items such as the Orb of the Sovereign, the Coronation Ring, the Sovereign’s Scepter with a cross, and the Sovereign’s Scepter with a dove.

The archbishop will then place the crown of St Edward on the king’s head, and the abbey’s bells will ring for two minutes, trumpets will sound and gun salutes will sound throughout the UK.

A 62-shot salute will be fired at the Tower of London, and a volley of six guns will be fired at the Horse Guards parade. Twenty-one shells will be produced at 11 additional locations across the UK, including Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, as well as on deployed Royal Navy ships.

Finally comes the fifth stage: enthronement. In the final part of the ceremony, the king will ascend the throne. Traditionally, a succession of royalty and peers would then pay their respects by kneeling before the new king, swearing allegiance and kissing his right hand. However, Prince William will be the only duke of royal blood to kneel and pay homage to King Charles III.

And instead of peers, the archbishop will, for the first time, invite the people in the abbey, as well as those watching and listening at home, to swear allegiance in what organizers call “a new and significant moment in the coronation tradition.”

After the homage ceremony, Queen Camilla will be anointed, crowned and enthroned in a simpler ceremony, although she will not have to take an oath. She will be surmounted by the Queen Mary Crown, originally made for the coronation of Queen Mary with George V, but is currently being modified to remove some of the arches and replace with Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds.

In the final part of the service, the king and queen will receive Holy Communion – the main act of worship of the Christian church.

The King and Queen Consort will disembark from their thrones and enter St Edward’s Chapel behind the high altar – here Charles III will remove St Edward’s Crown and put on the Imperial State Crown before joining the procession leaving the abbey to the playing of the national anthem.

The King and Queen Consort will then return to Buckingham Palace on the return route they came, this time in the 260-year-old Golden State Carriage that has been used at every coronation since William IV.

The Prince of Wales’s three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, will reportedly join the procession along with their parents in a carriage behind the carriage.

Nearly 4,000 members of the UK Armed Forces will take part in the largest military ceremonial operation of its kind in a generation. They will be joined by representatives of the Commonwealth countries and the British Overseas Territories. And the Royal British Legion will provide a guard of honor of 100 people, which will line up along the route of the procession on Parliament Square.

The procession route passes 2.29 km from the abbey directly to the palace grounds. The King and Queen will receive a royal salute and three cheers from the military personnel who are present at the parade.

After the coronation of Edward VII in 1902, it became customary for the new monarch to greet the crowd at the mall from the balcony of Buckingham Palace – in 1953, the queen was joined by her mother, children and sister, as well as other members of the royal family, as she watched planes fly by.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla will continue the tradition, although which other members of the royal family will be involved has yet to be confirmed. Those in attendance will witness the end of the festivities at 2:30 p.m., a six-minute flyby involving members of the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, culminating in a demonstration by the RAF Red Arrows aerobatic team.

A Grand Coronation Dinner is scheduled for May 7, allowing the public to celebrate the event with street parties. A coronation concert is scheduled for the same day at Windsor Castle, with representatives from Carl and Camilla’s charities and members of the public. The Big Help initiative, which will take place on May 8, is designed to encourage community service and volunteerism.