Prayer and contemplation will accompany pomp and celebration on Saturday when King Charles III is anointed with vegan holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem and the Archbishop of Canterbury places the St. Edward’s Crown on his head for the first time.
The coronation service liturgy at London’s Westminster Abbey will echo and depart from the ceremony that Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, underwent 70 years earlier, the last time Britain witnessed such a spectacle.
For the first time, the ceremony will include portions spoken in three languages — Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic — associated with the British Isles.
With a vast worldwide audience expected to tune in to watch, the service will be shorter than the 1953 event. It is expected to run just a little more than an hour. The guest list has been trimmed. About 2,000 people, including U.S. first lady Jill Biden and hundreds of the United Kingdom’s community volunteers, have been invited to attend the abbey ceremony. The last coronation had 8,000 guests.
Britain’s capital is bedecked with Union Jack bunting and crown decorations. Big Ben was lit up in red as part of late-night dress rehearsals around midnight on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. Royalty fans have already staked out prime viewing spots near Buckingham Palace for a view of the coronation procession.
Thousands of police have been deployed across London. Security officials are braced for any disruptions and anti-monarchy protests Saturday.
The sons of the 74-year-old king, Prince William, his eventual successor, and Prince Harry, who stepped back from royal duties and moved to the U.S. in 2020, will attend. Harry’s American-born wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their two children remain in California, according to Buckingham Palace.
William will pledge “my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you” as he kneels before the king during the service. This pledge will be supplemented with a new “Homage of the People.” Those viewing the ceremony are invited to pledge their loyalty to the monarch.
Harry, now fifth in line for the throne behind his brother and William’s three children, will not participate in the coronation ceremony.
Camilla, whom Charles married in 2005, will receive a crown and anointing during the service. Her title will be queen, as it was for Charles’ grandmother, who became Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on the death of her husband, King George VI, in 1952.
The coronation marks a first: Both the king and his wife are divorcees. Such a pairing would not have been permitted under Church of England rules in earlier years. Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, divorced in 1996 after four years of separation. She was killed in a car crash the following year.
Camilla Parker Bowles, who married the then-Prince of Wales in 2005, divorced her husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, in 1995. She and Charles had an affair during his marriage to Diana. Camilla was criticized in the early years of the marriage — Harry, reportedly, is not a fan — but public opinion has shifted in her favor. Her late mother-in-law expressed the hope that Camilla would be accepted as Queen Consort.
A later decision put Camilla on course to be known as queen.
Prince Andrew, the king’s scandal-plagued brother, will attend the ceremony but has no role in the proceedings. His ex-wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, will not be at the abbey.
As often happens with milestone events for the British monarchy, royalty from other nations will assemble to pay their respects. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain are on the guest list, as are the kings of Belgium, Bhutan, Thailand, the Netherlands and the former Greek royal Queen Anne-Marie. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco and Japanese Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko will join royalty from Norway, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Denmark and other nations at the ceremony.
‘Not be served but to serve’
In the ceremony, Charles, who became king when Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, will sit on the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, where the Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny, will be placed.
Legend holds that the stone was “Jacob’s pillow” from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, but author and professor Ian Bradley, an expert on the monarchy’s history, said the stone was made of material not found in the biblical world.
At the start, Charles will be greeted by Samuel Strachan, a 14-year-old chorister at the King’s Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace, and the king will reply, “I come not to be served but to serve.”
Charles will also recite aloud a specially written “King’s Prayer,” a coronation first. The text is drawn from the British hymn “I Vow to Thee, My Country” and St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the New Testament. The prayer is a response to the 1689 Coronation Oath, in which the monarch pledges to maintain “the true Profession of the Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Religion Established by Law.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury will introduce the oath by explaining the monarch’s present-day role in protecting all faiths in the nation.
The abbey, a worship space linked directly to the crown, has hosted the religious installation ceremony for more than 1,000 years.
Charles is also the supreme governor of the Church of England and bears the additional title “defender of the faith.”
In 1994, the then-Prince of Wales told BBC interviewer Jonathan Dimbleby that he wanted to be known as the “defender of the faith” but has since walked back that remark. In an address after his 2022 accession to the throne, Charles said he fully recognized his role within the Anglican Communion.
Elizabeth’s anointing was somewhat visible to those closest to the Coronation Chair, but Charles will be screened off behind an embroidered cloth.
Britain’s Sky News reported that the oil used for the 2023 anointing ritual was made from olives grown from groves on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives and pressed just outside Bethlehem. Unlike earlier consecration oils, no whale-based ambergris was used, making the oil “vegan-friendly,” according to media reports.
The oil was consecrated on March 3 by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem and the Anglican archbishop in Jerusalem.
Mr. Bradley noted that Charles respects the Greek Orthodox faith. His father, the late Prince Philip, was born into the faith, and his paternal grandmother was a nun in the church.
Opening up
In 1953, only male clergy participated in the service because only men were allowed to serve as priests and bishops in the Church of England.
This year, Dame Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London and dean of the Chapels Royal, head of the King’s personal clergy, will read a passage from St. Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus’ life.
Another innovation of the 2023 coronation is the involvement of Roman Catholic and other non-Anglican Christian leaders.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Catholic archbishop of Westminster, will be among those reciting a blessing on the new king, the first time in centuries that a Catholic cleric will participate.
The cardinal will be joined by Archbishop Nikitas, Greek Orthodox archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain; the Rev. Helen Cameron, moderator of the Free Churches; and Bishop Mike Royal, secretary general of Churches Together in England. Stephen Cottrell, Anglican archbishop of York, will also participate in the blessing, officials said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, will read from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians during the service, a first both for an elected official — this scripture is usually read by a bishop — and for a non-Christian. A church spokesman said Mr. Sunak’s participation is linked to his office and not his faith.
Members of the House of Lords representing Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism will also participate.
When the worldwide broadcast audience is included, the two-hour event may be one of the most-attended worship services in history.
“This coronation liturgy recognizes and celebrates the traditions of over 1,000 years, and it would be familiar to the king’s forebears over many centuries,” a Lambeth spokesman said at a video briefing on April 28. “At the same time, the service features newly written and revised texts and other elements and involves the active participation of people of all ages and many faiths and backgrounds.”
Charles and Camilla will ride to and from the abbey in special coaches with air conditioning and electric windows along routes thronged with massive crowds and thousands of Metropolitan Police and other security officers.
When the king and queen return to Buckingham Palace, they and the “working” members of the royal family will stand on a palace balcony to observe an aircraft “flypast” of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The aerial procession will include historic Spitfire planes and 16 helicopters, as well as some of the RAF’s latest aircraft.
Prince Harry is not expected to appear. Media reports say he will beat a fast retreat to California, where his son, Archie, is celebrating his fourth birthday.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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