An explanation of the events that will take place and when on the day of King Charles’s coronation. The coronation of King Charles is scheduled on Saturday, May 6, and millions of people are anticipated to watch.
Here is a detailed hour-by-hour schedule of events for King Charles’s coronation day.
The procession of the King’s coronation
At 10.20 am, “The King’s Procession” will lead off the big day through central London.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach carrying King Charles and Queen Camilla will leave Buckingham Palace and go to Westminster Abbey via The Mall, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, up Parliament Street, and around Parliament Square.
The two will be transported back to the palace in the Gold State Coach, which was infamously derided for being unpleasant by several monarchs, including the late Queen.
The coach, which is more than 260 years old and only intended for usage by the sovereign and their consort, will be their first ride on it.
When viewing spots along the route open to the public at 6 am, thousands of people are anticipated to throng the streets.
A week before the coronation, several fervent royal enthusiasts began camped out in front of Buckingham Palace to get a good place.
The King’s coronation is unquestionably the most significant royal occasion this year and probably for some time to come.
King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation route is only 1.3 miles long, which is about a fifth of the length of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s five-mile journey in 1953, so it will be a scaled-back, slimmed-down ceremony compared to the late Queen’s.
The coronation gathering
On Saturday, May 6, starting at 11 a.m., the real coronation ceremony where King Charles and Queen Camilla are crowned will take place.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will preside over it, and according to Buckingham Palace, it will “reflect the Monarch’s role today and look toward the future, while being rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry.”
The King will swear under oath at a “solemn, religious service” to rule faithfully with justice and mercy, to uphold the Gospel, and to protect the beliefs and practices of the Church of England.
The King will be anointed with holy oil behind a screen after the sermon.
Later in the event, the King will be seated in the coronation chair and be holding two scepters when the Archbishop will place the St. Edward’s crown on his head.
The Archbishop will instruct him to “stand firm, and hold fast from henceforth” during the enthronement, which takes place after the King is crowned and moves to his throne.
Following the Homage of the People, which invites those present to swear loyalty to the King, the Queen will be anointed, invested, and crowned.
In a departure from custom, the anointing of Queen Camilla will take place without a screen or canopy to obscure her from the public’s gaze.
The newly crowned King and Queen will return to Buckingham Palace at 1:33 p.m. after leaving the abbey.
When will the coronation start?
| Timing | Event |
|---|---|
| 6:00am | Viewing areas open along the procession route |
| 7:15-8:30am | Guests to Westminster Abbey arrive at security checkpoints in Victoria Tower Gardens |
| 9:00am | Congregation seated inside Westminster Abbey |
| 9:30-10:45am | Heads of state, overseas government representatives, Government ministers, First Ministers, former PMs, foreign royals, and members of the Royal Family arrive |
| 9:45am | Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry begin to gather for the procession from Buckingham Palace |
| 10:20am | King and Queen’s procession sets off from Buckingham Palace |
| 10:53am | King and Queen arrive at Westminster Abbey |
| 11:00am | Charles and Camilla enter the abbey through the Great West Door and the service begins |
| 12:01pm | King is crowned. Archbishop of Canterbury places the St Edward’s Crown on Charles’s head. Trumpets will sound and gun salutes will be fired across the UK |
| 1:00pm | Service ends and newly crowned King and Queen begin their coronation procession back to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach |
| 1:30pm | Charles and Camilla expected to enter Buckingham Palace through the center gate |
| 1:45pm | King and Queen receive a royal salute from the military in the palace gardens |
| Around 2:15pm | King, Queen, and members of the Royal Family appear on the Palace balcony for the flypast by aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force, including the Red Arrows |
Right after the coronation
Over the course of the weekend, tens of thousands of street celebrations are planned to honor the King’s crowning.
Everyone is encouraged to attend a “coronation big lunch” on Sunday.
The Big Lunch, an initiative centered at the Eden Project that brings neighbors and communities together to celebrate friendship, food, and fun, has organized the national event. Queen Camilla is a patron of the Big Lunch.
The Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle is expected to draw roughly 20,000 spectators in the evening.
Take That, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Paloma Faith, Olly Murs, seasoned rock guitarist Steve Winwood, and Nicole Scherzinger of The Pussycat Dolls will all play on the Hugh Bonneville-hosted program.
Starting at 8 p.m., BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2, and BBC Sounds will all air the Coronation Concert.
Additionally making video messages will be actor and explorer Bear Grylls, singer Sir Tom Jones, and Dynasty actress Dame Joan Collins.
Choreographed lasers, projections, and drone displays will be broadcast across old bridges and structures at ten different places across the nation as part of the Coronation Concert.
On Monday, May 8, there will be a bank holiday in the UK two days after the King and Queen are crowned.
It will take place in conjunction with the Big Help Out, a campaign to inspire and enlist a new generation of volunteers, which is being organized by the Together Coalition and a wide range of partners, including the Scouts, the Royal Voluntary Service, and faith organizations from around the UK.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will not be physically attending any of the events, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace on Monday. However, they are “wholly supportive” of the Big Help Out efforts.
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