Eight months after ascending to the throne after the death of Isabel II, Carlos III was solemnly crowned this Saturday together with his wife Camila in a lavish ceremony, unique in Europe, that the United Kingdom has not experienced for 70 years.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. spiritual leader of the Church of England, placed on the head of the 74-year-old monarch the crown of Saint Edwardwhich had not been used since the 1953 coronation of his mother, who died in September.
Queen Camilla was immediately crowned later, in a similar but simpler ritual.
Seated in the front row of the imposing Westminster Abbey, the heirs to the crown William and Catherine followed the ceremony religious, punctuated with songs and readings from the Gospel, conceived according to a pompous rite practically immutable for a thousand years.
They were accompanied by some 2,300 guests, among them figures such as the first lady of the United States Jill Biden, the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the kings Felipe VI and Letizia of Spain, as well as hundreds of representatives of British civil society.
Prince Henry, Carlos’s youngest son who maintains tense relations with the royal family, He sat next to his cousins in the third row, without his wife Meghan Markle, who stayed in California with their two children.
“God save King Charles!” shouted the attendees Kicking off the ceremony with this recognition, accompanied by a trumpet fanfare, after Charles III and Camilla, 75, entered dressed in ceremonial capes after a short carriage procession from Buckingham Palace.
With his hand on the Bible, the king took the oath. Then, in what is considered the most sacred part of the ceremony, Archbishop Welby anointed the hands, chest and head of the monarch, hidden from all view by a screen.
Substituting the traditional homage of the aristocrats, the religious then invited all the people, from where they were watching or listening to the coronation, to swear allegiance to the new king, a historical first that seeks the democratization of the ceremony, but which provoked strong criticism from anti-monarchists.
– Protesters arrested –
Despite the persistent rain, thousands of fans thronged the streets of Londonalong the route of the royal carriage, to greet the monarchs.
“We are very proud to be British,” Phyllis Taylor, 60, who traveled to London from Scotland with her husband for “this very special occasion,” told AFP.
On their way, however, the royal couple also passed the yellow banners of the anti-monarchist group Republic, which read “Not my king.” A group of these activists was arrested when preparing to protest sullying the ceremony before its commencement.
“They arrested six of our organizers and they confiscated hundreds of banners, they don’t tell us why they arrested them or where they have them,” one of the protesters told AFP.
About twenty members of the environmental group “Just Stop Oil” were also arrested and handcuffed in the area, as seen by an AFP photographer.
This “is something we would expect to see in Moscow, not London,” denounced Yasmine Ahmed, head of the NGO Human Rights Watch.
“Peaceful protests allow those in power to be held accountable, something the UK government seems to be increasingly averse to,” he added, referring to a new law rushed through this week giving police greater powers against protests.
– Gold jewelry and clothing –
Although the king wanted a more modern and simple ceremony than his mother’s, in a context of serious crisis due to the soaring cost of living, three crowns set with diamonds are used: one for Camila and two for Carlos III, since that of San Eduardo is only worn at the precise moment of the coronation.
Also several ancient clothes embroidered with gold that the king was wearing progressively during the ceremony, three sceptres, a sword covered with precious stones and a pair of gold spurs.
In a nod to the monarch’s environmental convictions, the oil used in the anointing was vegan, although it was consecrated as tradition requires in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was buried.
After the ceremony, the monarchs, accompanied by thousands of soldiers and members of the royalty, will return in a new procession to Buckingham Palace, where along with their family they will greet the crowd from the balcony.
Prince Harry is not expected to appear with them, unless there is a gesture of reconciliation between the family and the prince, who launched harsh criticism against the monarchy, especially against Queen Camila and her brother Guillermo.
