King Charles III and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, have Saturday, May 6, 2023, officially been crowned as the Monarchs of the United Kingdom. The coronation ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London, where all the British monarchs have been crowned since 1066.
The crowing ceremony comes after 70 years in the history of the United Kingdom, when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, succeeding her father, King George VI.
King Charles, 74, became the Monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, crowned and anointed King Charles III with holy oil, placing the solid gold St. Edward’s Crown on his head as a sacred and ancient symbol of the monarch’s authority. After the crowning, the King’s son, Prince William, kneeled before the King and pledged his loyalty.
After the coronation ceremony, the royal couple returned to Buckingham Palace and is expected to make a traditional balcony appearance in front of cheering delegates and subjects.
Charles was anointed out of sight of the congregation behind a three-sided screen in front of the High Altar to the strains of Handel’s soaring anthem “Zadok the Priest”, sung at every coronation since 1727
