KING Charles III has said he came not to be served but to serve, as tens of thousands of people crowded into Central London in spite of the rain to catch a glimpse of the new king and his wife, Queen Camilla.
The new monarch of Great Britain made the pledge in his first remarks at his coronation ceremony on Saturday, May 6 to set the tone for much of what should be expected during his reign.
He says, “I come not to be served, but to serve.”
King Charles became the new British monarch following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed on September 8, 2022.
The ICIR had reported that Queen Elizabeth, the British’s longest-serving monarch, died at age 96 and reigned for 70 years.
King Charles, Britain’s first new monarch in 70 years, was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday as the coronation witnessed an eighth-century ritual ceremony that incorporated some modern touches.
How King Charles was crowned
King Charles was crowned the new British monarch on Saturday at the age of 74.
He was anointed with holy oil, symbolising the sacred nature of his rule and was vested with an imperial mantle as the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the ancient crown of St. Edward onto his head.
After the service, Charles and his wife, the newly crowned Queen Camilla, are expected to return to Buckingham Palace in a golden stagecoach used by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, for her coronation procession.
Charles and his wife had traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, escorted by four divisions of the Household Mounted Cavalry regiment.
Parts of the coronation ceremony
There will be a procession after the coronation where 19 military bands and 4,000 troops will stretch a mile from the palace gates.
The king and his family will watch from the balcony as more than 60 aircraft — fighter jets, helicopters and World War II-vintage Spitfires — roar overhead in a display that is, by custom, the grand finale of a royal celebration.
Notable moments of King Charles’ coronation
During the service, King Charles swore to uphold the Church of England, although the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, encouraged the king to “foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs can live freely.”
It is one of several modifications to the liturgy, as the church and Buckingham Palace have sought to adapt a 1,000-year-old service to today’s ecumenical world.
Approximately 2,300 people reportedly attending the ceremony included new faces, old lineages, world leaders, pop music icons and others — a coterie that spoke to Charles’s efforts to embrace a modern, multicultural Britain, but also to the monarchy’s dynastic identity.
After years of family tensions, Prince Harry attended his father’s coronation, alone. Harry’s wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stayed at home in California with the couple’s children, Prince Archie, who turns four on Saturday, and 1-year-old Princess Lilibet.