Charles is now king of the United Kingdom, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose seven-decade reign meant she was the only sovereign most people in the country have ever known.
There are multiple processes and ceremonies to acknowledge Charles becoming the new monarch, which will span well beyond Elizabeth’s initial mourning period.
Charles is officially being announced as King at the First Proclamation on 10 September.
There will be a ceremony at St James’s Palace and he’ll be given the title King Charles III. However, he will not be formally crowned at the ceremony. The proclamation is set to take place at midday.
While Charles became King on the death of his mother on Thursday, it is tradition to wait a sufficient amount of time to mourn before officially coronating a new monarch.
While a date hasn’t been officially announced, the Telegraph has reported that the coronation is likely to be in “spring or summer of next year after a period of mourning“.
When Elizabeth II became Queen, after her father’s death on 6 February 1952, her coronation ceremony wasn’t held until 3 June the following year.
The coronation of Charles will be a streamlined event compared to the service for his mother seven decades ago and will reflect the new King’s vision for a smaller, more modern monarchy.
When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned Queen, a special commemorative medal was issued to mark the occasion.
It was given to over 120,000 chosen people, including royals, government officials and members of the army, air force, navy and police. It has not been confirmed whether there will be a King Charles III medal yet.
The coronation ceremony is a long, intricate process seeped in tradition. Senior members of the government and the Church of England will attend, alongside the Prime Minister and other leading members of the Commonwealth.
The ceremony will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and has remained relatively unchanged for more than 1000 years. It will take place in London’s Westminster Abbey, as it has for the past 900 years.
The Archbishop will first confirm Charles’s acceptance of becoming king by reading the coronation oath.
Charles will be asked if he will govern the United Kingdom and other nations of the Commonwealth, if he will do so with law and justice, and if he will maintain Christianity in the nation.
King Charles, seated in the Coronation Chair – known as Edward’s Chair – will hold the sovereign’s sceptre and rod, to represent control of the nation, and the sovereign’s orb, to represent the Christian world.
Charles will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop, who will then place the crown of St Edward on Charles’s head.
The wife of the newly coronated king is traditionally crowned during the ceremony as well, becoming the Queen Consort.
For some time it was unknown whether Camilla would be afforded this honour. However, in February, the Queen confirmed she wanted the Duchess of Cornwall to take the title upon Charles becoming King.
In a statement released ahead of her Platinum Jubilee, which marked the milestone of 70 years on the throne, the Queen said it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort when the time came.
In a message congratulating the Queen on the “remarkable achievement of serving this nation”, Charles wrote: “We are deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother’s wish.
“As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout.”
There had long been questions about how well the Queen and Camilla got along, but through this intervention, Elizabeth II was seen to be publicly giving the Duchess her stamp of approval.
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