In this episode of Royal Insight, India McTaggart guides us through the shorter and more pared back procession we can expect in May
The Coronation procession will be a triumphant moment of King Charles's investiture, giving thousands of wellwishers who have thronged to London a chance to catch a glimpse of the newly crowned monarch.
Full pomp and pageantry will be on display as the Gold State Coach and mounted escort make their way through the streets of central London.
But the King's procession will be notably shorter than the five-mile route back to Buckingham Palace that Queen Elizabeth took in 1953.
In this episode of Royal Insight, our Royal Correspondent India McTaggart guides us through the expected routes of the King's Coronation processions, and how they will differ from his late mother's.THE KING’S PROCESSION 'The King's Procession' will take the King and Queen Consort from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, likely down The Mall and through Whitehall. They are expected to travel past hundreds of thousands of spectators in the 1762 Gold State Coach, as was the case at the last coronation.
The Telegraph revealed last month that the monarch had opted not to emulate his mother’s journey that wound its way along Regent Street, Oxford Street and Park Lane, and would instead return to the palace via Whitehall, Admiralty Arch and The Mall.
The procession itself is also set to be significantly pared back, with only one mounted escort provided by the Household Cavalry.
This Sovereign’s Escort will be “found” by The Life Guards, the most senior regiment of the British Army, dressed in their scarlet tunics and metal helmets with white plumes.In 1953, the grand procession from Westminster Abbey comprised more than 12,000 military personnel in a cavalcade that stretched two-and-a-half miles, taking 45 minutes to pass any given point on streets lined with flag-waving crowds.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II’S PROCESSION ROUTE In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II travelled through Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, passing through Pall Mall, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch and Oxford Circus on the journey back to Buckingham Palace.
A further 16,000 service personnel lined the route, shoulder to shoulder. The procession involved so many carriages that some had to be borrowed from Elstree Studios and civilian coachmen had to be drafted in and fitted out with royal livery.
It is thought that this year, the King’s procession, while including representative detachments from all British military contingents from all three services, is unlikely to feature personnel from Commonwealth nations and foreign leaders.
Meanwhile, senior members of the Royal family who take part will do so without a mounted escort, and the troops lining the route will be further spaced apart.
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Related TopicsThe Royal Family, King Charles III coronation, King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort