CHARLES AND CAMILLA TO BE CROWNED SIDE BY SIDE
REVEALED: Prince of Wales’s plans for a scaled-down Coronation – and the moment that will cement his wife’s place in history
CAMILLA will be crowned alongside Charles in a Coronation that will be radically streamlined, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The service at Westminster Abbey will be markedly shorter and cheaper than in the past under plans being drawn up with the codename Operation Golden Orb.
The Prince of Wales has already let it be known that he favours a leaner, more modern Monarchy and his Coronation service – whenever it comes – is expected to set the tone for his reign.
Last week the Queen declared it was her ‘sincere wish’ that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort when, ‘in the fullness of time’, her son becomes King. There is no suggestion that the Queen is unwell – despite coming into contact with Prince Charles two days before he tested positive for coronavirus last week – but her comments started a national conversation about the future of the Monarchy.
Behind the scenes, plans are under way for an overhaul of the only remaining religious Coronation in Europe.
A source said that it would be ‘shorter, sooner, smaller, less expensive and more
representative of different community groups and faiths’.
The Coronation will happen within a year of Charles’s accession and its acknowledgement of the religious and cultural diversity of modern Britain will mark a significant departure from the Queen’s Coronation on June 2, 1953, which reflected the nation and empire of the time.
Prince Philip, as a male consort, was not entitled to be crowned, but instead knelt before his wife during the Coronation and pledged to be her ‘liege man of life and limb’.
The last time a Queen Consort was crowned was in 1937 when the Queen’s mother, Elizabeth, sat alongside King George VI.
This newspaper also understands that Charles wishes to use a new design on the official insignia which appears on postboxes and police officers’ uniforms – choosing the simpler Tudor Crown to replace the current St Edward’s design.
The new plans will mark a radical departure from the Coronation of Elizabeth II, who had been Queen for 16 months by the time of her lavish ceremony. A long carriage procession transported more than 8,000 dignitaries to Westminster Abbey where many were accommodated on makeshift benches. More than 40,000 troops were involved in the parade, including 30,000 lining the streets. The ceremony, the first to be televised, lasted more than three hours and required the Queen to make several outfit changes.
But seven decades on, guests will be limited to a maximum of 2,000, and the service will be ‘far shorter because you have to consider Charles’s age’, a source said.
There will be far fewer protectorates who will expect to be invited. In 1953 the Queen of Tonga refused to put the cover up on her carriage despite the pouring rain and delighted the crowds by beaming and waving regardless. But Tonga is no longer a British protectorate, becoming fully independent in 1970. And Barbados recently dropped the Queen as head of state.
While aspects of the service will be overhauled in favour of reflecting a ‘modern day Britain’, it will remain an Anglican service with the vows not expected to change.
At one time it was reported that Charles wanted to be known as ‘Defender of Faith’ to reflect Britain’s multicultural society, but a source close to the Prince said: ‘Charles will definitely be Defender of THE Faith. There’s been debate over that, but that’s certain.
‘Charles was considered progressive 50 years ago when he spoke about inter-faith dialogue and that will certainly be part of the ceremony. He thinks of the UK as a community comprising different
‘It’ll be shorter – you have to consider Charles’s age’
‘Paperwork is stacked up on the Coronation’
communities and you should expect all those communities represented.’
Not only will the number of guests be a quarter of the contingent in 1953, there will also be fewer members of the Royal Family. A source said: ‘It will be a slimmed-down Monarchy on display throughout. I wouldn’t be surprised to see just Charles and Camilla, Kate and William and their children on the Buckingham Palace balcony afterwards.’
The organising committee is shrouded in secrecy but several key figures have been driving discussions between the Palace, the Cabinet Office, the Church and the military, among others.
Sir Stephen Lamport, a former private secretary to the Prince of Wales and now Vice Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, has been instrumental in reviewing the plans along with the Duke of Norfolk, whose family have held the job of Earl Marshal in organising major state occasions since 1386.
A Clarence House spokesman said last night: ‘The detailed planning for a Coronation begins at the point of accession. So there are no plans of this nature at this stage.’
But a source said: ‘There are binders and binders of paperwork on the accession and Coronation all stacked up and each has various appendixes. It’s very complex. The Golden Orb committee used to meet twice a year but now they’re meeting much more frequently, sometimes once a month. Compared to the last Coronation, there will be a lot less fuss.
‘Last time, special green chairs were commissioned and guests were able to have them delivered to their homes afterwards.
‘You won’t see that sort of thing this time.’
The Coronation service was first rewritten several years ago to bring the language up to date and vastly shorten proceedings.
Similarly, the antiquated Court of Claims, where the Lords are invited to claim their right to be included in the Coronation, could also be scrapped.
It last sat in late 1952 when it had to consider claims including those from the Lord High Steward of Ireland to carry a white wand; from a number of peers seeking to carry the ‘great gold spurs’; and from the Duke of Somerset to
carry the Orb or Sceptre for the new Queen.
After the Coronation, Charles and Camilla are expected to honour the tradition of touring the major cities of the UK.
Unlike a Royal Wedding, where the security costs are met by the taxpayer and the cost of the ceremony is met by the Family, a Coronation is funded by the Government.
It is estimated that the 1953 Coronation cost £1.57 million – the equivalent to £46million today.
A source said the next Coronation would be ‘far cheaper’ and it was Charles’s wish that any celebration
should be considered ‘good value’. It is thought the Palace will be paying particular attention to this year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and anything they might reveal about the relationship between the Crown
and a much-changed country in the past 69 years.
A source said: ‘The thinking is similar to that of Edward VII’s Coronation. At that point, it had been such a long time since his mother
Queen Victoria had been crowned. When Edward came to the Throne, they used the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as a guide.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, courtiers will look not just to the successes of past Coronations but will seek to avoid their failings. Queen Victoria’s Coronation was said to be disorganised, with the ring forced on to the wrong finger, while Edward VII’s crown was placed on his head back-to-front.
However, in a world where the entire Coronation will be televised live around the globe, there can be no room for error.
There are also health and safety considerations today that would
They put Edward VII’s crown on back-to-front
not have been thought to be an issue 69 years ago.
Then metal scaffolding and wooden benches were erected within the Abbey as thousands of guests were crammed in. Extra lavatories were installed to avoid the indignity suffered by Samuel Pepys who was forced to leave during the Coronation of Charles II.
While church attendance has dropped significantly since the last Coronation, a report published in 2016 by religion think-tank Theos revealed that 57 per cent of Britons thought the ceremony should be Christian while only 19 per cent thought it should be multifaith and 23 per cent thought it should be secular.