The traditional swearing in of the United Kingdom’s monarch will take place May 6.
Topline
King Charles will be crowned on May 6 in the United Kingdom’s highly traditional coronation ceremony—the first in 70 years and the first to take place in the age of the internet, much less social media—and Prince Harry will attend without Meghan Markle in a high-profile reunion with the Royal Family, just months after the publication of his explosive memoir Spare.Key Facts
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be crowned on May 6, at Westminster Abbey, eight months after he ascended to the throne upon Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. British Standard Time (6 a.m. EST) and will be broadcast by British media, including the BBC News channel, as well as American media outlets: CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, Fox News and CNN will offer televised coverage beginning at 5 a.m. EST.
About 2,000 guests were invited to the coronation—making it just a quarter of the size of Elizabeth II’s coronation—including members of the royal family, foreign heads of state and dignitaries, British political leaders and 850 people recognized for their charity work.
Prince Harry will attend the coronation, Buckingham Palace announced Wednesday, but Meghan Markle and their children will remain home in California.
Charles and Camilla will first travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the six-horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, a carriage first used in 2014, and return to Buckingham Palace in the eight-horse-drawn Gold State Coach, used for every coronation since King William IV in 1831.
Charles’ procession will be much shorter than that of Elizabeth II, whose journey from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace in 1953 stretched for five miles, while this will take a shorter, 1.3-mile route.
The famed, more than 360-year-old St. Edward’s Crown, a foot tall and weighing nearly five pounds, will be used to crown Charles: It’s made of 22-carat gold and 444 precious and semiprecious stones, including 345 rose-cut aquamarines, 37 white topaz, 27 tourmalines, 12 rubies, seven amethysts, six sapphires, two jargoons, one garnet, one spinel and one carbuncle.
Camilla will be crowned with Queen Mary’s crown—which has a gold-lined silver frame, 2,200 diamonds and will feature Elizabeth II’s Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds, which are 94.4, 63.6 and 18.8 metric carats respectively—and hold a scepter made of ivory, a decision that’s attracted some controversy, as Prince William has campaigned against the ivory trade.
