A ceremony so medieval and spectacular that its modernization became a controversy.
Carlos III, the first king in 300 years who
waited 74 years to come to the throne,
was crowned on Saturday morning in Westminster Abbey with his wife Camilla, former lover, wife, later queen consort and by decision of the sovereign, the new british queen
The most luxurious Crown jewels and the centuries-old ceremonial clothes for the Coronation, with the Anglican church showing its ancestral rites and at the same time, a popular tribute of support to Carlos, who replaced the adhesion of the aristocrats, which made the sovereign uncomfortable.
A modern ceremony
.
The Parker Bowles, the ex-husband and children of the new Queen Camilla, arrived by bus and were placed in the front row.
The queen's grandchildren participated in her coronation, wore her long sovereign's train and were naturally received.
A royal family assembled but not reconciled.
A strange coincidence.
When the whole country rumors that Prince William has a lover and that is Prince Harry's true reproach to his brother, and the reason for their fight, the children of the accused countess were part of the pages that carried the king's tail together to his grandson, George, the other heir to the British throne.
Princess Kate, and her children Louis and Charlotte, during the coronation ceremony.
Photo: AP
Kate's complicities
Kate, Princess of Wales, and future queen, and her daughter Charlotte, who in her adulthood will be “the stand-in” like Harry, loomed large in the abbey and in the procession.
This time dressed the same by Alexander McQueen, with an identical crown of silver leaves, representing the four flowers of Great Britain and not a tiara.
A tribute to Princess Diana: she was wearing her jewelry. The pearls and diamond earrings that she used to wear, on the day that her throne was being occupied by her historical enemy..
With sublime music, where hymns were mixed, "God save The King", Handel's "Coronation", "Zadok the priest" and Greek hymns in homage to Prince Philip, his father, the ceremony was perfect.
The weight of responsibility had erased the smile of the newly crowned king.
"Thank you, William," said the king, moved, when the heir kissed him and touched the crown.
Camilla smiled at her family, at the grandchildren, who were looking at her, Queen Mary's heavy crown on her head, like in a fairy tale.
But it was the joyous and soulful "Hallelujah," performed by a Gospel choir, featuring black chorus girls in white, that
made King Charles and Kate
, Princess of Wales, smile at the same time.
As if they had agreed, they looked at each other.
Among the
royals
there are no words but
gestures
.
For those who were at Harry and Meghan's wedding, there was not only a sermon, very American, but a wonderful and unusual gospel choir in the Windsor Palace chapel.
After the brutal difference between William and Harry, was the coronation gospel a gesture and a request for "the boys not to turn my last years into a martyrdom?", as Carlos III asked his children?
Time will tell.
Meghan, "the people's princess"
Prince Harry had arrived on Friday by airliner for the coronation.
He slept at Frogmore Cottage and left immediately after for Montecito because his son Archie was turning 4 years old.
Due to the time difference, he could arrive on time.
He did not agree to attend the coronation luncheon
with his family at Buckingham Palace.
Prince Harry did not see any of his family who were not at the ceremony.
A car picked him up at the door of the Abbey and he left for California.
Prince Harry, at the Coronation of his father, King Charles III, and Queen Camilla, this Saturday.
Photo: REUTERS
But there was no physical gesture from his father at the coronation, as expected, towards him.
Harry bowed his head as he passed, toward the Abbey exit, as a sign of respect.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, decided not to come.
But the anti-monarchists in Downing St took her as a model.
When they claimed on their yellow signs "Not my king" or "abolish the monarchy", hand-painted signs with Meghan's face and a title: "People's Princess" appeared.
The same status that the then Prime Minister Tony Blair had given at the time of his death to Princess Diana, who had lost the status of Her Royal Highness after the divorce from Carlos.
A status that will infuriate Buckingham's courtiers.
The police arrested six anti-monarchists and their truck with posters. But the protest reached the palace.
Censorship
Organizing for the coronation was
a logistical challenge
that led to 11,000 police officers being deployed, snipers on the royal route, and 5,000 troops.
A scenario not seen since the death of Sir Winston Churchill.
The guests began to arrive at the Abbey from 7:30 in the morning.
The women with rigorous hat.
The British Prime Ministers sat together.
Even Cherie Blair gave an unexpected kiss to Gordon Brown, whom she loathes.
The BBC handled the image rights and Buckingham Palace had permission to censor the images.
British channels protested against this restriction.
That is why
not a single close-up of Prince Harry or Prince Andrew was seen
, hidden behind a column.
He had not been allowed to wear the military uniform but rather the Garter Order robes and cloak, which his mother gave him before she died, as well as Princess Anne.
Nor was it seen that the Middlelton family, Kate's parents, had gone.
There her parents, her sister Pipa and her brother James were impeccable and discreet.
A traditional but modern carriage
The King and Queen arrived for the ceremony in a traditional yet modern Australian-built carriage with heating and air conditioning. They returned to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach, built in 1760 and used in every coronation since William IV's in 1831. For the Windsors, some traditions cause enormous back pain but are respected.
The King and Queen took a short, bumpy ride back to Buckingham Palace.
Camilla, the woman some thought would never be queen, had been crowned, in her crystal ivory gown and diamond necklace.
The ancient carriage is made of gilded wood, covered with a thin layer of gold leaf, and includes ornate panels painted by the Italian painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani.
At every corner, trees decorated with symbols of the Seven Years' War sprout from lion heads.
In 1762, when the carriage was built as a gift to George III, the war with France was drawing to a close.
Many monarchs have complained about the uncomfortable ride offered by the ornately decorated carriage.
Queen Victoria commented on the "distressing wobble" of the luxurious velvet cabin.
Elizabeth II referred to her trip in 1953 as "not very comfortable".
The kings return to Buckingham Palace after the coronation, in the royal carriage.
Photo: EFE
a popular party
The day finally came.
The forecast was right and it rained heavily.
For most people, this was the first opportunity to witness the pomp and splendor of a coronation.
Millions of people around the world watched it on television.
Tens of thousands risk the rain and wind to line the procession route. Some spent two nights sleeping in sleeping bags on The Mall for a quick look at the Kings.
Others celebrate it with street parties and banners.
The official beginning of the reign
The King, dressed in the robes of State and carrying the sovereign's scepter and orb, leaves Westminster Abbey behind Penny Mordaunt, President of the Privy Council, unrecognizable in her royal dress and
cloak
.
During the years of waiting for the throne, the then Prince of Wales always proposed himself as a
defender of all religions
in multicultural Britain.
An impossible mission when he was going to be appointed head of the Anglican church.
But the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had to deal with the king's whims and tantrums these days, indulged him.
As he left the Abbey, the king was greeted by religious leaders, including Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi.
Despite the rain, a crowd came out to welcome the new kings on their way to Westminster Abbey in London.
Photo: REUTERS
Sir Ephraim must have felt like royalty this Saturday, having slept in a palace overnight.
To ensure he could attend the ceremony while observing Shabbat, which prohibits Orthodox Jews from using vehicles for about 25 hours from Friday nightfall, the king invited Mirvis and his wife, Valerie, to stay at the Palace of St. James to be able to walk to Westminster Abbey.
Mirvis noted that the world would witness the rare sight of a "chief rabbi in a church on a Shabbat morning."
Mirvis said he had consulted the judges of the Beth Din rabbinical court about his attendance: they obliged because it was at the sovereign's personal request.
Last week he said the king had brought in a kosher vendor to serve him: the menu was coronation chicken, the meal that had been served at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
The true reign of Carlos III and Queen Camilla begins.
Officially they maintain that the budget amounted to between 100 and 250 million pounds sterling, a fraction of what the coronation of George IV cost in 1821. But these are different times and the 21st century has landed in Great Britain.
London correspondent
BC
look also
Coronation of Carlos III: the king who was "born" weak
The coronation of King Carlos III: Camilla, the lover who ended up being the Queen of England
