LONDON: King Charles III and the Queen Consort will make their historic carriage trip to Westminster Abbey for the first coronation in seventy years on Saturday morning.
Despite rainy weather predictions, crowds have already assembled along the parade route, the BBC said.
With 100 heads of state expected to attend the coronation, there will be a significant security operation in the heart of London. Those who reject the monarchy have vowed to protest.
Around 2,300 guests, including Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who flew in from the United States on Friday on a commercial aeroplane, will attend the almost two-hour Coronation service.
Prince Harry will be accompanied by his brother, Prince William, the Prince of Wales, for the first time since the publication of his biography.
After the ceremony, Prince Harry is rumoured to go back to the US to reunite with his wife Meghan.
When his mother Elizabeth passed away in September after 70 years as monarch, Charles was proclaimed king of the United Kingdom and 14 other nations. The crowning ceremonies, the 40th to take place at Westminster Abbey since 1066, have been meticulously planned for months.
On the night before the Coronation, the King strolled along the Mall while being accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales and a large security detail. He appeared unconcerned.
A “Coronation Street” flag was carried by Barbara Crowther, 69, and her companion Pauline as they joined the throngs.
“We weren’t going to camp, but there are so many people here, we thought that if we don’t camp out, we won’t get anywhere near the front,” said Ms. Crowther.
On Friday, Wiltshire resident Katie Gordon and her two kids painted faces. The new King and Queen, in her opinion, “are going to be great.”
“They are painting everyone’s faces as they pass by while we are camped here in preparation for the Coronation,” Gordon added.
“We’re not making any money out of it; it’s simply something we do. Why not do it for other people as well? we reasoned after purchasing the face paints for ourselves.
The Coronation road was lined with hundreds of tents as the sun set on Friday, with people gathered in anticipation of the historic occasion.
The event will be officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and include performers Ant and Dec as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and US First Lady Jill Biden.
At a pre-Coronation reception on Friday at Buckingham Palace, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also met.
After exchanging pleasantries with the First Lady of Ukraine, Charles was seen shaking Mary, the Crown Princess of Denmark’s hand and giving her a cheek kiss.
The question of whether residents of the country were being urged to swear loyalty to the King has generated debate.
This is fully optional, according to the Church of England, and people are welcome to have a “private moment of reflection” instead.
King Charles’ opening prayer at the Abbey, which serves as the fundamental message of the Coronation, begins with the words “I come not to be served, but to serve.”
The placing of the St. Edward’s Crown on the King’s head, which will be signified by the Abbey bells ringing and a gun salute at adjacent Horse Guards Parade, will be the highlight of the ritual.
Along with Charles, Camilla will be crowned, earning the title of “Queen Camilla” during the couple’s protracted and occasionally contentious marriage.
More multifaith components than at any previous coronation, including contributions from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh dignitaries, the event will promote diversity and inclusiveness.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, will read a passage from the Bible, and music will be sung in Welsh, Scottish, and Irish Gaelic.
In a nearly a thousand-year-old coronation ritual, there will be female bishops participating for the first time.
Following the service, at roughly 13:00 BST, King Charles and Queen Camilla will ride the Gold State Coach in a grand mile-long (1.6 km) parade with 4,000 troops and 19 military bands back to Buckingham Palace.
The procession was meticulously practised by walking along a simulated route that included traffic cones to mark out locations like the Cenotaph.
It is yet unknown who will accompany the King and Queen for the customary balcony appearance when they arrive at the Palace.
Anti-monarchy organisations have made a number of loud demonstrations in the lead-up to the Coronation, and the Republic campaign group has declared its intention to conduct a protest along the route of the procession.
The Metropolitan Police will deploy 11,500 officers in what it claims will be its largest ever single-day deployment, creating a mammoth security operation.
Despite the police’s warning that “tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low,” anti-monarchy organisations have maintained their right to demonstrate.
The inclusion of Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who is accused of overseeing a crackdown on civil freedoms in Hong Kong, has drawn criticism from those who disagree with the guest list.
But with TV crews from all around the world coming in London, this event will be broadcast to a vast worldwide audience.
With King Charles III being crowned in a 700-year-old Coronation chair, in a ceremony that the majority of people will never have witnessed before in their lives, they will witness pomp, religious symbolism, and historical customs.
