.png)
Stephen Alan's Jewellers - The Jewellery Blog
It’s happening on Saturday 6th May 2023. Of course, we’re talking about the Coronation of King Charles III, who became King of the United Kingdom plus 14 other Commonwealth realms after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
There will be those reading this post that remember the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II back in the 1953, and if that’s you, we’d love to hear about your experiences, what it was like, and whether there was a buzz of excitement around the country.
For most of us though, King Charles III’s coronation will be the first coronation of a British monarch we’ve seen, and understandably, a few of us are wondering how the traditional and religious occasion will play out.
To answer some of the questions you might have, we’ve put together this short blog post listing the main stages of the coronation, including how some of the Crown Jewels will feature as part of the ceremony itself.
Oh, and for a bit of fun, we’ve also added a short section at the bottom (which you can jump to here), about whether it’s proper to use the word coronated or coronate, when talking about crowning of a monarch.
To start with…
The coronation will take place at the same church British monarchs have been crowned since 1066, Westminster Abbey, and the whole thing will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the main stages will be –
The Recognition
This tradition dating back to Anglo Saxon times, is where the sovereign is basically on show to ‘the people’, and will involve the sovereign (King Charles III) standing in Westminster Abbey’s central space.
The Oath
This part of the ceremony will be where King Charles takes the coronation oath. Similar to the oath Queen Elizabeth II took, Charles will swear to ‘rule according to law, to exercise justice with mercy and maintain the Church of England’.
The Anointing
During this part of the coronation, which will happen after The Oath, the King will be seated in King Edwards chair (with the Stone of Destiny underneath), and be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop.
The Investiture
Next is the Investiture, where the King will have to wear the Colobium Sindonis and the Supertunica, then be presented with various crown jewels, including –
The ceremonial sword and spurs
The armills (medieval-style bracelets)
The Sceptre with the Cross and Rod with the Dove
The Coronation Ring (which will be placed on the fourth finger of the right hand by the Archbishop)
The Crowning
This part of the ceremony is, as the name suggests, where King Edwards (solid gold) Crown, with its 444 precious and semi precious stones, will be placed on the Kings head whilst he’s still sat in King Edwards Chair.
The Homage
At this stage of the coronation, a host of people pay homage and swear allegiance to the new monarch. The people/peers will include –
Royal blood princes
The Archbishop
Other senior peers
Previously, the monarch would also have dukes kneel before them, but according to some sources King Charles has decided against this tradition.
The Crowing of the Queen
This part of the coronation is where the Queen Consort, Camilla Parker Bowles will be crowned with Queen Mary's crown, and will happen after the crowning of the King in a much shorter ceremony.
And finally…
Can you say ‘coronated’ when referring to King Charles coronation?
The simple answer to this question (grammatically speaking) is no, you can’t say coronated when speaking in past tense about the coronation of a monarch, and should actually say ‘crowned’.
But…
…that’s not to say the word coronated doesn’t exist (it’s actually existed since the 17th century) but it’s improperly derived from the word coronation.
And to go into a little more detail…
The word ‘coronate’ is an adjective which means ‘crown-shaped’, so, you could say ‘the plant had coronate flowers with red petals’.
We hope this settles a few arguments, but if you disagree we’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Sources:
Comments