King Charles and Queen Camilla have recently returned to work following their glorious coronation weekend, where the couple was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday before watching the coronation concert at Windsor on Sunday.
Despite the success of the weekend, concerns have been voiced over King Charles’ health.
The coronation was an expertly organized event with thousands of servicemen and women, volunteers, and formal proceedings planned down to the minute. Reports indicate that the royals had been to the Abbey before the ceremony to rehearse, though as is usually the case, there is always the possibility that something will not go exactly as planned.
Upon arriving at Westminster in their golden carriage on Saturday, King Charles and Queen Camilla were forced to wait for a few minutes, prompting the king to vent his frustrations to his wife. According to a lip reader, Charles grumbled, “We can never be on time. There’s always something…this is boring.”
The coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla was a huge success, despite the rather lousy weather. Thousands of people lined the streets of London to celebrate the king, while Brits even got a day off work on Monday. The coronation was watched by an average of 18 million viewers, with a staggering 32.5 million viewers tuning in to the BBC’s coverage.
While many agree that a coronation is a historical, no-expenses-spared event to be celebrated, others argue that the monarchy itself no longer warrants its place in modern society. British media outlets speculated that the coronation cost around $120 million all told, though neither Downing Street nor Buckingham Palace has confirmed the exact cost.
According to a recent YouGov survey, more than 50% of respondents agreed that the royals should fund the coronation themselves. That number was hardly helped after a recent investigation by The Guardian newspaper placed King Charles’s fortune at a staggering £1.8 billion (around $2.2 billion).
The total sum for the coronation was said to be double that of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953, with the main increase attributed to heightened security costs. As a result, security at the coronation was extremely tight, with the Metropolitan Police and British military carefully planning the coronation weekend to ensure the safety of all involved. There were reportedly a record 11,500 police working the event as part of the most extensive security operation in British history.
King Charles was, of course, heavily involved in planning the coronation, along with Camilla and other senior Royal Family members, including Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Prince George, who served as his grandfather’s Page of Honor. The official planned order of service issued by Buckingham Palace read, “Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Prince Louis of Wales, arrive at the Great West Door and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. Their Majesties The King and The Queen arrive at the West Gate. A fanfare is sounded. All stand.”
However, things did not go quite as planned on the big day. King Charles and Queen Camilla left Buckingham Palace in the legendary Gold State Coach, used at every coronation since King William IV’s coronation in 1831. It was constructed in 1762 and was used for the first time by King George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament the same year. The coach was drawn by eight horses on the coronation day and weighs a whopping four tons.
On May 12, 2023, King Charles and Queen Camilla of England were transported in the iconic Gold State Coach from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the coronation. The same carriage has been used for every coronation since King William IV’s coronation in 1831, and was first utilized by King George III for his travel to the State Opening of Parliament in 1762. The coach, which weighs a whopping four tons, was drawn by eight horses on the day of the coronation.
Compared to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, the route taken by King Charles and Queen Camilla to Westminster Abbey was shorter. However, upon arrival, the couple had to remain in the carriage for a while. They arrived five minutes early to the Abbey and had to wait for Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Charlotte, and Prince Louis to arrive. The plan had been for the latter group to arrive before and be in their positions as the monarch and his wife entered the historical church.
Lip readers later analyzed the footage of the royal couple waiting in their carriage and revealed that King Charles grumbled about the delay, saying, “We can never be on time. There’s always something…this is boring.” It was revealed that the delay was caused by William and Kate’s children.
The coronation ceremony went ahead smoothly, thanks to weeks of rehearsals that the royals took part in before the big day. A coronation concert was held at Windsor on the day after the ceremony. The concert included performances from artists like Take That, Lionel Richie, and Katy Perry, and a “coronation choir,” consisting of community choirs and amateur singers from across the UK, including refugee choirs, NHS choirs, LGBTQ+ singing groups, and deaf signing choirs. Ten thousand people, drawn from a ticket ballot, were in the audience, including volunteers from charities affiliated with King Charles and Queen Camilla and the royals themselves.
Prince William gave a speech at the coronation concert, in which he praised his father, King Charles, and paid tribute to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. He also threw in a dad joke, making a playful reference to performer Lionel Richie and his hit song “All Night Long.”
According to royal expert and author Katie Nicholl, King Charles was “exhausted” after the coronation weekend. He had to attend several pre and after parties and even did a skit for American Idol. After all the preparations that were planned while Charles still performed his duties to the crown, the monarch seemed to require a short break. The couple traveled to Sandringham to rest and missed that week’s Royal Windsor Horse show.