Tina Brown, the doyenne of royal biographers, has suggested it is in fact in the new king’s interests to “go balls to the wall” and maximise the sheer spectacle and impact of his crowning. ![]() Seven decades later, a somewhat more measured Charles has finally acceded to the top job and faces questions about just what sort of monarch, particularly in the sphere of intervention in the issues of the day, he intends to be. The story has it that as the young prince made a beeline for the crown, which his mother had been wearing routinely for a number of weeks to practise, including during her children’s bath times, an eagle-eyed lady-in-waiting managed to snatch it away. It is of course a moment for which King Charles has served an epic apprenticeship.Īs a four-year-old boy he once spotted an opportunity to get his hands, somewhat prematurely, on the Imperial Crown – an object to be worn solely by the Sovereign – when his mother put it down at the Palace in the hours after her own coronation. ![]() The coronation must tread the line between the unveiling of the “slimmed-down, match-fit” modern monarchy that has long been talked about under Charles while also nodding sufficiently to the quasi-mystical “shock and awe” that is supposed to befit the crowning of a sovereign whose most solemn vows are made to God rather than his people. Indeed, this desire for a coronation “fit for the cost-of-living crisis” goes to the heart of the delicate balancing act to be achieved by the Earl Marshal and other advisers. ![]() The King is very aware of the era in which we are living and the struggles that people are facing.” One aide said: “There has been and will remain a desire for a more streamlined ceremony. Palace sources have already indicated that the new monarch is aiming for a coronation that is shorter (his mother’s Abbey service last three hours), smaller (the maximum capacity of the Abbey is now anyway 2,200), and cheaper (the £1.6m cost of the 1953 event is equivalent to £46m today) than the Queen’s coronation. It is, for example, entirely possible that the new king will wear the same coronation robes made for George V in 1911 and used by George VI in 1937 (Edward VIII did not stay on the throne long enough for a coronation). It is an ethos which will doubtless appeal to King Charles, who is already known for a thriftiness that ensured his suits were repaired wherever possible and who still wears a pair of shoes he bought in 1971. “There are plenty of examples of ways in which items have been renewed and reused.” King Charles arrives at Buckingham Palace following the Queen’s death (Photo: John Sibley/Reuters) The coronation canopy used for the Queen in 1953 was in fact made for her father’s coronation in 1937. She added: “What is true is that the Royal Family has in the past shown itself to be very keen on re-use and recycling when it comes to coronations. But we certainly still have what it takes to carry out coronation goldwork – it is our highest level of embroidery, you have to use a thicker padding so the light catches the gold threads in certain ways.” “In the past there has been a preference to keep these preparations secret, so the impact is preserved for the day. ![]() It is for this reason that the elite embroiderers of the Royal School of Needlework, whose predecessors spent 3,500 hours completing the needlework on the ermine-fringed Purple Robe of Estate worn by the Queen in 1953, are likely to need to ready the skills and gilded thread required for what is known as “coronation goldwork” – the highest form of embellishment reserved, as the name suggests, for the crowning of monarchs.ĭr Kay-Williams, whose institution counts Camilla, the Queen Consort, as its patron, said: “We are not privy to any plans for the coronation of King Charles, it is of course too early. It also offers “just” eight months in which to put in place the event which, far more even than the elaborate grandeur of the funeral of a sovereign as globally esteemed as the Queen, represents the apex of all the symbolism and sanctity the institution of royalty can muster.
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