The King savours his soggy coronation triumph as two million wellwishers flood the Royal Mall
For the briefest of moments, the King stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alone, savouring the most spectacular, and the soggiest of royal coronations.
For the briefest of moments, the King stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alone, savouring the most spectacular, and the soggiest, of royal coronations.
Two million wellwishers were in The Mall to celebrate the formal crowning despite heavy rain nearly all day. The King had told wellwishers before his big day that inclement weather was “a blessing”, and like the coronation of his mother Elizabeth II in 1953 and his grandfather George VI in 1937, the day was a gifted washout.
Not that the public, invariably wearing plastic ponchos and red, white and blue regalia, cared.
The select members of the royal family having given their waves and watched the heavily scaled-back fly-past of the Red Arrows, the King went to follow them through the door, before slowly turning and taking yet another peek at the incredible sight.
The balcony appearance – the King’s first as monarch – and standing alongside his beloved Queen, Camilla, after the rollercoaster of their romance signified a deep partnership and a sharper-focused royal family.
For only the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three dutiful children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, were joined by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie, and their two children, the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice-Admiral Tim Laurence. Older royals, cousins of Elizabeth II, were also there as a mark of respect for their service.
No Prince Harry: he was at that moment at a London airport about to jet across the Atlantic without any interaction with Prince William, Princess Catherine or his father at the Westminster Abbey coronation ceremony – where he was seated in the third row, neatly obscured by the feather in Princess Anne’s cap.
Harry’s scant London appearance without wife Meghan Markle, who chose to stay home preparing birthday celebrations for four-year-old Prince Archie, and the dash home, marked a British farewell of sorts for the best-selling author. Although it was remarkable he looked nervously happy being back among the pomp and pageantry he so derided in his books, celebrity chats and broadcasts.
But Harry’s irrelevance, and that of Meghan, was magnified with the emphasis firmly on the King, and the succession of his older brother, the heir to the throne.
William knelt before the King vowing to be his liegeman, and Prince George, the second in line to the throne, carrying the heavy coronation robes that one day he will wear. Lip readers were divided whether the King, in his heavy King Edward crown, thanked William or said “well done”, but they were soothing words that bound the intimacy of their family with the grandeur of the history-making occasion.
Royal outcast Prince Andrew wasn’t on the balcony either, yet for the ceremony he donned the elaborate Order of the Garter robes, looking imperious. Or was that furious, after being booed by the crowd en route to the Abbey.
This day was about cementing the stature of King Charles and Queen Camilla and his four heirs next in line. And, with the absorbing medieval and religious rituals of the coronation, the 100 heads of state in attendance as well as foreign royals, and the riveting military precision of three cheers to the King by 4000 military in the garden of Buckingham Palace, they pulled it off.
George carried out his page of honour duties impeccably and he stood apart from his family on the balcony – another first.
Eight-year-old Charlotte, wearing a mini-me outfit to mirror her mother, helped look after Louis, her irascible five-year-old brother, who didn’t disappoint with some fist-thumping of the balcony and enthusiastic waves.
He had been so well behaved through the coronation service, only disappearing with an aide, as predetermined, for the final hour to have a break.
And then the beauty of the family, Catherine, imperial and magnificent.
Overnight, the royals will attend the coronation concert at Windsor Castle, and the weather forecast? Sunshine all afternoon and clear skies.
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