King Charles coronation: Here’s what you should know about Saturday’s ceremony

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King Charles
III will be crowned
as the United
Kingdom’s latest monarch on Saturday.
It will be the first such ceremony in more than 70 years
and continue a tradition that spans centuries.

Charles,
who legally became king after the death
of his mother, the late Queen
Elizabeth II, in September, will honor the royal
occasion in a three-day celebration that centers on the
coronation ceremony at Westminster
Abbey.

Here
is everything to know heading into the coronation.

How and when to
watch the coronation

The Washington Examiner will
be livestreaming the event, but viewers hoping to
witness the ceremony on television can stream the
service through CBS or ABC News. Coverage of the
coronation is expected to start around 5 a.m. EDT and
2 a.m. PDT on Saturday, May 6. However, the ceremony
itself will not start until 6 a.m. EDT and 3 a.m. PDT.
It begins at 11 a.m. in England.

What to expect
from the ceremony itself

Coronations are often broken
into six separate sections. Charles and his wife,
Camilla, will arrive at Westminster Abbey via the
Diamond Jubilee State Coach at 6 a.m. Eastern, where
the Archbishop of Canterbury will make the recognition
by introducing the royal couple to the congregation.
The audience will respond with “God save the king!”
Then trumpets will sound.

The second part is the oath of
allegiance, which will be led by the archbishop and
repeated by Charles. The king will vow to uphold the
law and the Church of England. Third is the anointing
of the monarch with holy oil, which will take place
behind a canopy because it is considered too sacred to
be witnessed by the public. This represents the
monarch’s designation as the head of the Church of
England and God’s consecration of Charles as monarch.

Fourth is considered the
investiture. Charles will be seated on the coronation
chair and given the crown jewels of
the United Kingdom, which include the Sovereign’s Orb
that dates back to the 17th century, two Sovereign’s
Sceptres, St. Edward’s Crown, and the Imperial State
Crown. Charles will wear both crowns during the
ceremony.

Fifth comes the enthronement, in
which Charles will transition from the coronation
chair to the throne. The final stage is the closing
procession, wherein Charles and Camilla will leave the
abbey for Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach.
At Buckingham Palace, they will be greeted with a
royal salute and three cheers from the military.

Camilla will also be crowned the
queen in a similar but shorter ceremony on Saturday,
according to Buckingham
Palace.

Changes to
Charles’s coronation compared to that of previous
monarchs

Charles’s coronation is expected
to be a much smaller and shorter affair than previous
coronations. What was usually a three- or four-hour
demonstration of the wealth and power of the British
monarchy will instead be scaled back to between one
and two hours, and it will be more inclusive of other
cultures and religions.

One major change in particular
is the king’s oath. Typically the monarch promises to
be the “defender of the faith” and vows to uphold the
rights and laws of the Church of England. However,
Charles is expected to change the language to make it
more inclusive to other religions, considering himself
a defender of all faiths. However, the monarch is
still considered the leader of the Anglican church.

Another major change will be the
public swearing an oath of allegiance to the monarch
instead of his hereditary peers. The oath will be: “I
will pay true allegiance to your majesty and to your
heirs and successors according to law. So help me
God.”

There will also be 12 new
musical compositions, including a new coronation
anthem composed by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. The others
were selected to better represent a more diverse
commonwealth.

A look at who made
the guest list

Another scaling down for the
coronation is the number of guests at Westminster
Abbey. In the past, the monarch invited 8,000 guests
to witness the ceremony in person, but this year there
will only be 2,000.

Included on the guest list are:

Members of the royal
family, including Princes
William and Harry, William’s wife,
Kate, and their children, Princes George and Louis and
Princess Charlotte. All three of Charles’s siblings
will also be at the ceremony, including his brother
Andrew, who has been engulfed in a scandal over his
friendship with late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Other royal families and world
leaders will also be in attendance, along with British Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak and former
British prime ministers, including Liz
Truss. Also in attendance will be 850
representatives of the public who have been chosen for
their charity work.

Notably absent are President Joe
Biden, who is sending first lady
Jill Biden instead, and Harry’s wife, Meghan,
the Duchess of Sussex, who will remain in California
with the couple’s children. The duchess’s absence is
notable due to the tension between the royal family
and the Sussexes, which includes allegations of racism
in the royal family. The feud has been thoroughly
documented in multiple press interviews, a memoir by
Harry titled Spare, and a six-part
Netflix documentary.

How to celebrate
the coronation in DC

Locals hoping to celebrate the
momentous occasion for the United States’s strongest
allies can attend several parties, including viewing
parties at the Hillwood Estate’s Merriweather
Cafe for $38 a person, Duke’s
Grocery for $10 a ticket, or the King’s Coronation Tea
at the Four Seasons for $125 a person.

The Four Seasons event starts at
11:30 a.m. on Saturday and will include rare treats
like Charles’s coronation quiche or Queen Elizabeth’s
coronation children’s sandwich. It will also feature a
string quartet and bubbly drinks. The event at
Hillwood will include pastries, scones, and tea. The
Duke’s Grocery event will start at
6 a.m. and include a livestream of the ceremony and
British-themed food and drinks.

Those looking for a free event
can visit the British Embassy’s sidewalk
celebration, which includes cutouts
of the royals for photos, activities for children, and
British-themed refreshments.

There will also be additional
events in London and the U.K. over the weekend to
celebrate Charles’s ascension, including street fairs
and concerts. A full list of events in the U.K. can be
found here.