King Charles’ coronation will take place in London’s Westminster Abbey on May 6 amid much fanfare
The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry will attend the once-in-a-lifetime event alone. This will be the first time that Prince Harry will be seen with the Royal Family ever since his memoir Spare released in January
Prince Harry’s wife and Duchess of Sussex Meghan will not attend the coronation. She will remain with her kids, four-year-old Prince Archie and one-year-old Princess Lilibet, in the US
While Meghan Markle might have decided to give the coronation a miss, the Palace sent an invitation to Simon Abbey-Hastings in Australia. Hastings will be the one person other than those in the line of succession, who is likely to have a claim on the throne. Simon being pegged as ‘Britain’s real monarch’ is based on the research claiming King Edward IV was illegitimate and Simon’s direct ancestors had the actual claim to the throne
The King will be crowned with the 17th Century St Edward’s Crown, which weighs over two pounds and will only be used during the ceremony. The king will wear the Imperial State Crown towards the end of the ceremony and will also wear it when he appears on the balcony of the Buckingham Palace
King Charles’ Queen Consort Camilla will not wear the Queen Mother’s crown for the coronation as the contentious Kohinoor diamond has been set in it. She will instead go for the Queen Mary crown, commissioned and worn by King George V’s Queen Consort for the 1911 coronation
The Queen Consort will wear the coronation robes made for her mother-in-law and Britain’s longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II. A brand-new Robe of Estate has also been made for Camilla to wear at the ceremony in purple velvet to match the King’s ensemble
Produced and broadcast by the BBC, the coronation concert will take place on Sunday at the Windsor Castle. Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli will reportedly perform at the event
Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor will be joined by the likes of Tom Cruise, cartoon character Winnie the Pooh, and Bear Grylls to reveal the ‘little-known facts about the King’ in pre-recorded VTs
A coronation is a symbolic and religious ceremony wherein a monarch is crowned. The event also formalises the transfer of a monarch’s role and their powers. The coronation for Charles III has been planned for years and is codenamed as Operation Golden Orb
Some 2,200 attendees have been invited to the event including the youngest members of the Royal Family, 9-year-old Prince George and his younger siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. A select group of former Prime Ministers and members of Parliament, world leaders, foreign monarchs and faith leaders have also been invited
The mega event to crown the monarch will cost around 100 million pounds or more than Rs 1,021.50 crore, as per media reports. The UK government will bear the entire cost of the coronation since it is a state event