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LONDON (AP) — King Charles III, a Waited almost 74 years to become kingThe coronation will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, with all the pomp and pomp the UK can muster.
It can gather a lot.
There will be crowns and diamonds, blaring music and perhaps thunderous pledges of allegiance from Charles’ subjects across the country.
On top of that, 4,000 troops will march to Buckingham Palace in the post-ceremony parade, the largest Trooping the Color parade in the UK for 70 years. At the back are the newly crowned king and queen in a 261-year-old carriage that is gilded from start to finish.
“Even in a world where people are comfortable with on-demand entertainment, people will stop and stare,” says former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole, “because it will be a spectacular procession and ceremony, a ceremony, different anywhere in the world.”
But like the best dramas, this is a show with a message.
For more than 1,000 years, the British monarchy crowned with pomp and ceremony confirm their dominion. Although the king no longer holds executive or political power, he remains Britain’s head of state and a symbol of national identity.
at this time double digit inflation is making everyone in the UK poorer Abandon the monarchy and establish a republic Preparing to protest by chanting ‘not my king’, Charles was keen to show he could still be a unifying force multicultural country It was very different from his mother’s greeting.
As such, it will be a shorter and less formal event than Queen Elizabeth II’s three-hour coronation.
In 1953, temporary stands were installed at Westminster Abbey, increasing the seating capacity to more than 8,000, as nobles wore crimson robes and crowns, and the coronation procession snaked 5 miles (8 kilometers) through central London, estimated There are 3 million people available for the glamorous 25-year-old queen.
Organizers have reduced Charles’ service time to less than two hours and sent out 2,300 invitations. Lords have been told to avoid formal dress and the procession will take a shorter and more direct route from the abbey back to Buckingham Palace.
It’s a downsizing rite at Charles’ behest as he tries to create a smaller, cheaper royal machine for the 21st century.
Around the theme of “calling to service”, the coronation will honor the king from one of the youngest members of the congregation – the Chapel Royal choir. Charles would respond, “In his name and by his example, I have not come to be served, but to serve.”
The moment was meant to underscore the importance of the young — and was a new service, replete with centuries-old rites of passage of power to new monarchs.
But that’s not the only innovation.
Charles did away with the traditional moment at the end of the service requiring nobles to kneel and swear allegiance to the king. Instead, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will invite everyone in the abbey and those watching on TV to take an oath of “true allegiance” to the monarch.
The pledge has sparked debate in the UK, with some observers seeing it as a blind effort to ask the public to support Charles. Welby responded that it was not an order and that people could participate at their own discretion.
Coronation expert George Gross, visiting fellow at King’s College London, said public reaction to Prince Charles was important during the ceremony and along the procession route.
“None of this matters if the public doesn’t show up,” Gross said. ”If they didn’t care, the whole thing wouldn’t really work. Everything is about this interaction. “
And the public today is very different from the audience that witnessed Elizabeth’s coronation.
Almost 20 percent of the population is now from an ethnic minority group, up from less than 1 percent in the 1950s. More than 300 languages ​​are spoken in British schools and less than half say they are Christian.
The ceremony will be held for the first time, although organizers say the coronation remains a “sacred Anglican service”. Include Active Participation of Other Faithsincluding representatives of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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