King Charles III.Photo: Hugo Burnand-Pool/Getty
King Charles IIIis taking a modern approach to his upcoming coronation.
Though the 73-year-old King is expected to be crowned next year at Westminster Abbey in London, where British sovereigns have been coronated since 1066, he reportedly plans to scale back the ceremony’s length and guest list, as well as some ancient rituals and the opulent dress code seen at the investiture of his motherQueen Elizabethin 1953, according toThe Mail on Sunday.
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AsPrince Philipsteered much of the organizing for the Queen’s historic coronation 70 years ago, heir to the thronePrince Williamwill reportedly play an important role in helping his father plan the ceremony. This may include a more relaxed dress code without coronation robes — the ermine-edged, floor-sweeping crimson velvet cloaks paired with coronets (crowns) that indicate a peer’s rank, perDebrett’s.
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“No Coronation robes. Give them to a museum where they belong,” Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Mather, who is involved in the plans, told theMail.“It’s not going to be a tweed jacket and pair of jeans — but morning suit or lounge suit.'
The Mailreports the coronation of King Charles III will also be “more religiously and culturally diverse” to meet the modern world. The King won’t change outfits during the day as his mother did, and the program’s language itself will “will be adapted so as to be understandable to a more modern audience,” a source told theMail.
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“The King has stripped back a lot of the Coronation in recognition that the world has changed in the past 70 years,” another insider added.
The public can still look forward to some classic fairytale trappings, however. Charles is expected to ride in the Gold State Coach, recently refurbished for the Queen’sPlatinum Jubilee, in a ceremony televised as his mother’s was before. The royal family will come out to support the final and most formal step of Charles' accession as sovereign.
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Though Elizabeth became Queen following the death of her fatherKing George VIon Feb. 6, 1952, her coronation was not held until 16 months later.
source: people.com
