LONDON: Around 5,000 personnel of the British armed forces will be participating in the coronation of King Charles scheduled to take place in May, joined by soldiers from over 30 Commonwealth countries to form one of the biggest ceremonial military displays in decades.
Charles is scheduled to be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey on May 6 in a royal ceremony splendid with pomp and pageantry, with traditions dating back around 10 centuries. Gun salutes will sound out all over the country to mark the moment the king is crowned, before a flypast of more than 60 aircrafts.
“From the procession on The Mall, to the flypast over London, with gun salutes at sea and across the country, it will be a spectacular and fitting tribute,” said Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in a statement Sunday.
The coronation comes less than eight months after large crowds thronged the London streets to see the grand processions and ceremonies that marked the last rituals of Queen Elizabeth who died after 70 years on the throne.
The palace has been releasing details of Charles’ coronation, which will be a bit differenr from that of Elizabeth’s in 1953, most notably in its scale, partly reflecting the the cost of living and modern age crisis.
According to Buckingham Palace, Charles had also been involved in the commissioning process, details of the music programme with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing a coronation anthem and film composer Patrick Doyle a coronation march.
