The six black components – three men and three women – of the Choir of the Ascension, who stood before the altar of Westminster Abbey in a beautiful circle of dance and rhythm, sang in honor of Carlos III on Saturday. But soon after, as the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the new monarch with holy oil on his chest, head and hands, a curtain hid the most intimate moment of the ceremony from cameras and guests. And Sadok the Priest rang out between the walls of the temple, the hymn composed by Handel in 1727 for the coronation of George II. There is no other composition more identified with the majesty ascribed to kingship. Modern, in moderate doses, mixed with pomp and tradition.
Carlos of England did not wait 74 years to turn the long-awaited moment of his coronation into a civil event. The duration and the number of participants were fewer than those of his mother Elizabeth II in 1953. But Operation Golden Orb, the instrument prepared by the Government, the Royal House, the BBC and the main British institutions, was an effort that by Success is to show the rest of the world that the UK remains a player to be reckoned with and that the monarchy is an integral part of its being.
Like the rain that hasn’t been missing at any of the last four coronations. And this Saturday there was no shortage in London, where thousands of citizens had waited patiently for hours just to glimpse, for just a few seconds, the carriage that took King Charles and Queen Camila from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. But above all to say in the future: “I was there.”
More soldiers – 6,000 – than those who marched to the funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965. A total of 23,000 police officers were deployed throughout the British capital. drones. Security Camera. facial recognition technology. A search in recent days by MI5 – the Secret Service for Homeland Security – for people suspected of causing unrest. And above all, no scruples about avoiding supposed shocks. In the early hours of the morning, London’s Metropolitan Police made half a dozen arrests. Among those arrested was Graham Smith, the founder and director of the Republic organization. He had spent months preparing the street protests to change the ceremony to a motto of “not my king” (not my king). He had gathered 2,000 supporters under the statue of Charles I (the king who was beheaded in 1649 for betraying Parliament) in Trafalgar Square, where the royal carriage was to pass.
Rishi Sunak’s government managed to pass new legislation this week to toughen the police response to the protests, after a year of street unrest by organizations like Just Stop Oil, many activists suspect. He has not hesitated to apply it rigorously. Police accused those arrested of handling wire ropes and harnesses, which they could later use to tie themselves to street furniture and disrupt the parade.
the Westminster ceremony
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Most of the abbey’s 2,200 guests had entered the temple hours before the start of the ceremony at 11 a.m. (midday Peninsular Spanish time). Almost half of them – doctors, nurses, volunteers, social workers… – were part of a diverse United Kingdom that Carlos III wanted to represent at his coronation. Although the new monarch, also unlike his mother, has included representatives of other nations and other royalty in the event. French President Emmanuel Macron with his wife Brigitte; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel; the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden; or the kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia.
King Charles III arrived in the gardens of Buckingham Palace this Saturday to receive greetings from the army following his coronation in London.PHOTO: PETER BYRNE (GETTY IMAGES) | Video: EPV
Aside from the boos as Prince Andrew of England, who was sentenced to social ostracism for his relationship with American pedophile millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, left Buckingham Palace in an official vehicle bound for the Abbey, the worries and concerns of a royal family are always on Edges of a new crisis were kept in a drawer this time. Prince Enrique arrived alone – Meghan Markle has stayed in the United States on the excuse that her son Archie turned four this Saturday – discreetly entered the religious compound and took his seat in the third row. At the other end his uncle Andrés. A few rows ahead sat the heir to the throne, William, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Catherine, dressed in formal robes.
Guillermo, like his grandfather Felipe of Edinburgh did before Elizabeth II 70 years ago, knelt before his father to pledge allegiance to him with his own life. And then kiss him on the cheek.
The rites and symbols of power
The Crown of Saint Edward and the Imperial Crown; bullets, scepters and swords; a throne built centuries ago solely for the purpose of establishing England’s dominance over Scotland; a Destiny Stone on which Carlos III, like his mother before him, had him carried from Edinburgh to London to fit in the hole provided under Eduardo’s chair. And oaths. And liturgy. Declarations of loyalty to the laws of the Kingdom and the Anglican Church, of which the monarch is supreme governor.
“I, Carlos, solemnly and sincerely confess and declare in the presence of God that I am a faithful Protestant and that according to the laws that ensure a Protestant succession to the throne, I will defend and uphold those laws,” the king said, raising his hand the Bible.
This was the limit of Carlos III’s commitment to integrating the various religious beliefs that coexist in the United Kingdom. Representatives of Islam, Hinduism and Judaism were present in the abbey, with whom the crowned king exchanged a few words as he was already leaving the temple to begin the coronation procession.
The Triumph of Queen Camilla
Few Britons could have imagined nearly 20 years ago that the most hated woman in the UK, the one who stood in the way of the ill-fated fairy tale that was the marriage of Charles of England and Diana Spencer, would end up at the altar of the abbey received in her mind the same crown that Queen Mary, wife of George V, wore for her coronation.
Few have escaped the complicit looks shared in that moment by a couple who have starred in the most interesting story of the resurrection and triumph of the United Kingdom in recent decades. Witnessing the moment were well-loved arts and entertainment personalities who were also guests, such as singers Nick Cave and Katy Perry and actor Stephen Fry. A barely disguised slap in the face to the tabloids that populistically ridiculed romance for years.
That, by coincidence and political circumstances, the Prime Minister responsible for reading a passage from the New Testament during the ceremony was Rishi Sunak, a man of Indian descent and Hindu religion, and not Boris Johnson, the papier-mâché churchill who sent to the Box the Brits went against each other, it had almost Shakespearean echoes: “All’s well that ends well”.
A veil of correction…or censorship
Nobody wanted to speak of censorship, but the opponents of the monarchy were still soaking wet in Trafalgar Square when the golden state carriage carrying the crowned kings left the Abbey to take them back to Buckingham Palace.
“Intimidating letters, accelerated anti-protest laws, facial recognition technology used by millions of people. And this morning people were arrested before the protests, despite police permission,” criticized the human rights organization Liberty in a statement. “This is a dangerous and troubling precedent for our democratic nation.”
The BBC cameras never showed any images of the protest, and its niche – minority, it must be said – in this story is recorded on thousands of mobile phones but not in the files of the public body, one of whose mission is this to preserve UK institutionality.
Half the world is looking at the balcony
Thousands of people flooded The Mall, the avenue that connects Trafalgar Square to Buckingham, like a big red carpet to get to the big square in front of the palace. The iconic moment. The Royal Family greets them from the balcony. With the traditional puzzle game about absence and presence. The kings came out to salute and both wore their crowns. Shortly thereafter, the Princes of Wales, William and Catherine, joined. And Carlos’ siblings, Eduardo and Ana. On this occasion, however, the change was spectacular for many generations. The focus was no longer on the woman with whom they spent decades they thought would always be there – Queen Elizabeth II – but on Carlos III and Camila, the most unexpected royal couple for the United Kingdom in the 21st century.
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