What you need to know about the coronation of King Charles III

SINGAPORE – The

coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla

on Saturday will be filled with pomp, pageantry and tradition and watched by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will preside over the regal ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which will be the first of its kind in Britain in 70 years, and only the second in history to be televised.

Here is what to expect at the coronation, which has been dubbed Operation Golden Orb by courtiers.

Who is King Charles III?

Charles Philip Arthur George, born on Nov 14, 1948, is the eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Charles was the first heir to the throne to earn a university degree. He studied archaeology and anthropology in his first year at the University of Cambridge, and switched to history for the remainder of his degree before graduating in 1970.

He was crowned Prince of Wales during this time, in 1969, when he was 20.

He married Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981. The year after, their first son, William, was born, followed by Harry in 1984.

Charles and Diana divorced in 1997, and he married Ms Camilla Parker-Bowles in a civil ceremony in 2005.

He became monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms when

Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022.

She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

The King’s procession

In a break from tradition, King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will use the Diamond Jubilee State Coach instead of the older Gold State Coach. The six-horse-drawn carriage was made to mark the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, and will be drawn by six Windsor Grey horses.

The procession will set off from Buckingham Palace at 10.20am (5.20pm, Singapore time) towards The Mall and Trafalgar Square, then to Whitehall and Parliament Street before turning into Parliament Square and Broad Sanctuary and ending at the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey.

The ceremony

British kings and queens have long been crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that has changed little through the centuries. King Charles will be the 40th sovereign to be crowned at the abbey.

The coronation service will begin at 11am (6pm, Singapore time).

For the first time since 1937, the coronation will include the crowning of a queen consort. Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, was the last queen consort to be crowned.

The King will be crowned in St Edward’s Chair, which has been part of the coronation ceremony for more than 700 years. Its permanent home is Westminster Abbey.

The King, like his predecessors, will also sit upon the Stone of Destiny, also called the Stone of Scone, which will be placed within the chair.

The oblong block of sandstone, with a cross carved into one surface, is seen as an ancient symbol of Scotland’s monarchy, and has been used for centuries in the inauguration of its kings.

The stone was moved to London for the coronation from Edinburgh Castle for the first time in 25 years.

Orb, sceptres and regalia

During the coronation service, the King will first be anointed with sacred chrism oil, then dressed in coronation robes, and invested with a number of ornaments, including spurs, swords and mediaeval bracelets called armills, followed by an orb, ring and sceptres.

A coronation spoon has been used at every coronation since 1349 to anoint the monarch. The oil that will be used to anoint King Charles III is made from olives harvested from groves on the Mount of Olives, not far from the crypt of Charles’ grandmother, Princess Alice, in Jerusalem.

At noon on Saturday (7pm Singapore time), the Archbishop of Canterbury will place the St Edward’s Crown – made of solid gold in 1661 and weighing about 2.2kg – on the King’s head.

Trumpets will sound, and gun salutes will be fired across Britain.

Queen Consort Camilla will wear Queen Mary’s Crown, which once featured the controversial 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond. The massive jewel has now been replaced with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds from Queen Elizabeth II’s personal jewellery collection.

The Koh-i-Noor has been at the centre of a long-running diplomatic row between Britain and India, which has demanded that Britain return the diamond to atone for its colonial past.

At the end of the coronation service, the King will exchange St Edward’s Crown for the Imperial State Crown, or Crown of State, before joining the procession out of the abbey as the national anthem is played.

The coronation procession

The newly crowned King and Queen will begin their coronation procession back to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach at 1pm (8pm, Singapore time).

They will enter Buckingham Palace through the Centre Arch and receive a royal salute from the military in the palace gardens.

The King, the Queen and members of the royal family will then appear on the palace balcony to watch the fly-past.

According to the Evening Standard, the aerobatic team of Royal Air Force Red Arrows, 16 helicopters, and historic Spitfires will be involved in the procession, with more than 60 aircraft taking to the skies.

Who will be attending

More than 2,200 guests are expected to attend the coronation, with a guest list that includes foreign royals, British leaders and MPs, foreign heads of state, celebrities and religious representatives.

Members of the House of Windsor will also attend, including Charles’ sister, Princess Anne, and Charles’ son William and daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales. Prince George, his grandson, will be a page of honour.

Prince Harry will attend,

but Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will not.

Among the foreign dignitaries will be Singapore’s

President Halimah Yacob and her husband Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee

.