King Charles' coronation: Visual guide to everything that will happen
A visual explainer of everything that will happen at King Charles’ coronation
Story by Samantha Grindell, Maria Noyen
Illustration by Nathan Hacket
King Charles III will be crowned in a historic coronation on May 6, formalizing his role as monarch in the UK.
The ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, where coronations have been held for the last 900 years. King Charles will be the 40th monarch crowned at the Abbey, and Camilla will be crowned as Queen alongside him in a similar ceremony.
Before the ceremony, King Charles and Camilla will process from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey, similar to how the king and other royals did ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
When they process through the nave of Westminster Abbey for the ceremony itself, four pages of honor will accompany each of them. Prince George will serve as one of the king’s pages, and Camilla’s grandsons and great-nephew will accompany her.
About 2,200 guests are expected to fill Westminster Abbey to capacity for the event. Despite the large guest list, the event will still be much smaller than Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation, which had more than 8,000 guests.
There will also be cameras in Westminster Abbey to televise the ceremony worldwide, which has been a tradition since King George VI’s 1937 coronation procession.
The ceremony itself consists of five phases.
It kicks off with King Charles being presented to the attendees, who then greet him with “God Save the King!”
Next, the king makes his oath, promising to support the Church of England and the law.
In the third phase, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will conduct the anointing, traditionally called the Act of Consecration, with sacred oil. King Charles will be the first monarch to use animal cruelty-free oil for his anointing.
The fourth step is the investiture, where King Charles will receive his royal regalia, including the crown his mother wore when she was crowned over 70 years ago.
The ceremony ends with the enthronement and homage, where the king will sit on his throne for the first time. Traditionally, all of the royal dukes then kneel to pay homage to the monarch, but Charles will only have Prince William perform this rite — leaving Prince Harry out.
When King Charles III is proclaimed monarch, choristers from Westminster School will sing the Latin call "Vivat", a long-held tradition for coronations, including Elizabeth’s.
Camilla will then be crowned in a similar ceremony with Queen Mary’s crown, and she will be known as Queen Camilla following her coronation. It’s tradition for queen consorts to be crowned alongside kings, but not the other way around.
After the ceremony, members of the royal family will process back to Buckingham Palace, where King Charles III will make his first balcony appearance as monarch.