King Charles' coronation date confirmed

The date for King Charles' coronation has been confirmed.

Buckingham Palace has announced the ceremony for the new monarch will be held on Saturday 6 May next near, with the Queen Consort Camilla being crowned alongside her husband.

The ceremony will be ‘rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry’ but will also ‘reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future’.

King Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, be crowned with the majestic St Edward’s Crown and blessed.

Meanwhile Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was during the coronation of her husband, King George VI on 12 May 1937.

The date was also the wedding anniversary of the late Queen’s sister Princess Margaret, who married Antony Armstrong-Jones on 6 May 1960.

The Palace said: “Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023.

“The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

“The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in long standing traditions and pageantry.”

The same core elements and traditions which have been retained for more than 1,000 years are expected to be included while also recognising the spirit of our times, such as the cost of living crisis.

Charles’ coronation is expected to be on a relatively smaller and shorter scale, lasting only an hour rather than the usual three.

Guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, axed.

While many of us weren’t alive during Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on 2 June 1953, they are not usually held at the weekend. The Queen’s for instance took place on a Thursday.

And we know you’re wondering so before you ask, it has not yet been confirmed whether there will be any arrangements for a bank holiday.

Further details are due to be released in due course. Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year.