More than 100 years ago, the Flying Scotsman was introduced as the first steam locomotive on the fledgeling London & North Eastern Railway, and eventually became an icon in British culture after it became the first UK locomotive to reach 100 mph in 1934. To celebrate its centenary, King Charles III visited Pickering Heritage Railway Station Monday, where posed for photos on the locomotive’s footplate. During his visit, he spoke to volunteers who run the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a heritage rail line that has ferried tourists around the region for the last 50 years.
While aboard the Flying Scotsman, the king spoke to Chris Cubitt, the train’s driver, but wasn’t able to stick around for tea. “He’s a regular because he has been here before when he opened the station in 2000,” Cubitt later told a reporter. “He’s on his way to Scarborough now through my village. I invited him in for tea, but he said he couldn’t come.”
The king arrived in Pickering on the royal train, which was pulled by the Flying Scotsman into the heritage railway station. In 2013, he told an onlooker that he has loved trains since he was a child, and he is said to ride in the cab along with the conductor when he can. He has also made multiple visits to the National Railway Museum in York, where he has celebrated milestone anniversaries for other famous trains and railways.
During the event, the king spoke with Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill, the custodian of the Flying Scotsman, and Judith McNicol, the director of the National Rail Museum. The Flying Scotsman went into regular service in February 1923, and it got its name because it did a daily mail route between London and Edinburgh before it was sold in 1963. When British Rail ended its steam locomotive lines in 1968, the Flying Scotsman was the last one to run, and its final journey was documented in a BBC program. In 2004, the railway museum did a fundraising drive to save and restore the Flying Scotsman, and it became a working museum exhibit in 2016.
Later on Monday, the king was greeted by schoolchildren as he visited shops in the Pickering town square, including a chocolatier and a butcher shop that sells produce from the Duchy of Lancaster, the estate that belongs to the British monarch. Before ending his visit, he stopped by St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, where he looked at their collection of medieval wall paintings, accompanied by Reverend Gareth Atha and Kate Giles, a professor at the University of York.
Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton excellently pulled off a ‘Royal Family coup’ which has made many believe she is the fresh face representing the Royals. This was after she nailed her split between traditional appearances and charity work. Experts say that Kate Middleton proves herself to be the most resourceful Princess of Wales. She is excellent in her new role after King Charles III’s coronation.
Is Kate Middleton becoming a fresh face of the Royal family?
According to expert Daniela Elser, Kate Middleton, the future queen is becoming the fresh face of the Royal Family as she is already making notable changes to the Royal traditions. Elser said, “Kate is not just nailing the dress code but the actual job too.” She added that in the last couple of years Kate has pulled off the biggest royal coup since the Stuarts got to have a go on the throne. The Princess of Wales is against the idea of just being there to “apathetically open things” and “practice ribbon cutting” and is pushing through with a major plan which was likened to the Stuarts’ coup of 1603.
On the other hand, working with Royal Foundation Centre For Early Childhood, Kate has been particularly praised as a “touchy feely kiddie initiative that is high on crayon funding and low on intellectual heft”. Elser continued to praise Kate. She praised the works from the Princess of Wales noting how the foundation had an aim to “tackle homelessness, addiction and mental health in the next generation.”
Kate Middelton, Royal Family’s spotlight
Crediting Middleton’s coup and the “desire” she has shown with the project, Elsar noted that Princess Kate has been a busy figure in the Royal Family’s spotlight. From a “business task force” made up of nine CEOs from around the world, to a “UK-wide advertising campaign” and a “op-ed piece for the Financial Times”, it seems the Princess is front and center. At the end, Elser added, “Someone has really been hiding not only their light but a helluva lot of ambition under her designer bushel” and Kate is nailing it strength to strength by going all around.
Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales made a sweet appearance recently with her family at King Charles III’s coronation. Her beautiful homage to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana also won her praise and appreciation from the Royal family fans.
Now that the coronation celebrations are over, King Charles III and Queen Camilla are enjoying a break at Sandringham, and the rest of the royals are getting ready for the future. Cohosts Katie Nicholl and Erin Vanderhoof take a look at what the king’s reign might hold from the perspective of global politics as well as family conflicts. Plus, they share listener reactions to the coronation.
For one event, the king welcomed the public to a little-known corner of Windsor Castle, where he was celebrated by pop stars Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, whom he also counts as friends, and emphasized his love for nature and skills as a pilot. Can Charles’s emerging image succeed in drawing a skeptical younger generation to embrace the monarchy?
Buckingham Palace released official portraits that show the newly crowned monarch with the senior royals who will support him throughout his reign, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward. The photos were taken on May 6, after the coronation ceremony and before the informal family lunch. Prince Harry’s notable absence from the photos underscores that he is no longer a working royal, and had not even a moment to talk to his father—something that drew strong responses from DYNASTY fans, whether in empathy for Charles or outrage on behalf of Harry.
LONDON (AP) — London’s top police officer defended the department Friday from complaints of a heavy-handed response to protesters during the coronation of King Charles III, saying his officers intervened to prevent “serious disruption and criminality.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said officers responded to “rapidly developing intelligence” suggesting protests could affect the safety and security of the coronation events last Saturday.
Prompting the concerns were indications that demonstrators planned to use high-volume sound devices that could have panicked horses and to block the procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey by locking onto things along the route, Rowley said in a letter responding to questions from Mayor Sadiq Khan.
’’Had our officers not acted on the reasonable grounds based on the evidence in front of them in the moment and the potential risk to the event, there would now be much more serious questions to answer about the event,” Rowley wrote. “Serious and reliable intelligence told us that the risks were very real.”
Rowley’s assessment came after it emerged that a supporter of the monarchy who was waiting along the parade route in hopes of seeing the new king was arrested and detained for 13 hours simply because she was standing close to protesters in central London on Saturday. Alice Chambers has called on the police department to put new processes in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.
Anti-monarchy groups, environmental campaigners and civil liberties organizations have accused the police, and Britain’s Conservative government, of stifling the right to protest by using recently enacted police powers to clamp down on peaceful but disruptive demonstrations on coronation day.
Republic, a group that is campaigning to replace the king with an elected head of state, has pledged to take legal action.
The U.K.’s recently passed Public Order Act, introduced in response to recent environmental protests that disrupted transportation around the country, allows police to search demonstrators for items such as locks and glue. It allows penalties of up to 12 months in prison for protesters who block roads or interfere with “national infrastructure.”
The new rules came into effect three days before the coronation.
Rowley said peaceful demonstrations were allowed to continue, including a large group of anti-monarchist protesters along the parade route at Trafalgar Square.
“Protest was not banned,” he said. “While we said that our tolerance for disruption of the coronation celebrations was low, it was not zero.”
The British Royal family rift has been widening with each passing day and the reports on relationships between the family members getting strained more have been doing rounds over the past few months. The appearance of Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles III at his father’s coronation ceremony also created quite a stir on social media. It is also evident that the King’s elder son Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton don’t have a great equation with Harry and his wife Meghan Markle.
Did William-Kate oppose King Charles III’s concessions to Harry-Meghan?
According to the latest reports published by The Daily Beast, Prince William has been feeling ‘completely betrayed’ by his brother Prince Harry, owing to the explosive revelations and allegations he has made about the Royal Family over the last few months. The reports also suggest that William and his wife Kate Middleton are strictly opposing King Charles III’s frequent concessions to Harry and Meghan Markle. The Monarch, on the other hand, has been taking his elder son and daughter-in-law’s opinions with ample importance.
Prince William and King Charles III to stay away from Harry and Meghan
The reports published by The Daily Beast also suggest that Prince William and King Charles III have decided to stay away from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, hereafter. “King Charles and Prince William have decided to keep Harry and Meghan at arm’s length for the foreseeable future,” confirms the reports published by the American news website.
The haunting figure that made a fleeting appearance in the background during King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday has been revealed to be a verger, a lay minister who assists with religious services, a representative for the abbey told Newsweek.
Video of the cloaked and hooded person walking past an archway, carrying what could have passed as a scythe, went viral on social media during the ceremony and prompted jokes about the Grim Reaper, the embodiment of death, being in attendance.
The moment was one of many that captured viewers’ attention during and after the ceremony, with pop star Katy Perry, Prince Harry and the new British monarch himself also going viral online.
During the coronation service for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday, one moment served to remind viewers of the family at the center of the ceremony: Near the service’s end, Prince William dropped to his knees and pledged an oath similar to the one his grandfather Prince Philip uttered at the 1953 coronation of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. “I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb,” he said. “So help me, God.”
In the audience three rows back sat Prince Harry, who had traveled from Los Angeles. He had kept the details of his trip so tightly under wraps, as cohosts Katie Nicholl and Erin Vanderhoof explain, that his family had to remove a place setting for him at their informal coronation luncheon when they realized that the spare was already long gone, having flown immediately back to California.
Despite the melancholy lingering over such tangled dynamics, the event went off without a hitch—not counting the rain.
We want to know your thoughts on the coronation of King Charles III. What kind of king will Charles be? What does he need to do next? Record a voice memo on your mobile and email it todynasty@vanityfair.com, and we might include your voice in the next episode.
King Charles III was officially crowned over the weekend as the U.K. celebrated its new monarch. Holly Williams takes a look back at the coronation ceremony and a weekend of celebrations.
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If the Platinum Party at the Palace in June 2022 was about honoring Queen Elizabeth II and London, the city that became a cultural capital during her reign, Sunday’s Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle was a moment for King Charles III to reintroduce himself to the world. It helped that two of the night’s headliners, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, were friends of the king’s and only too happy to shout him out for his personality and charity work. But the stage was constructed on the castle’s east terrace, where the public has rarely been allowed, turning the evening into an opportunity to invite the world—and the local community—into the royal family’s backyard.
For Alicia Tkacz, one of the partners at Stufish Entertainment Architects who helped design the concert stage, her first tour of the Windsor Castle site revealed a handful of challenges. “It’s a big empty lawn paddock, so we’ve taken over quite a large area of that,” she said in a video call a few days before the big show. “Although it looks kind of level, it’s not, so we have to take into account all the different changes in the ground level and slopes to make sure the audience can see the stage.”
Courtesy of BBC Studios.
Stufish is best known for its work designing stages and sets for pop performers at the highest level, like Adele, Madonna, U2, and the Rolling Stones, and it’s also the firm that designed the stages for last year’s Party at the Palace. Though some of the light show elements of the night were similar, the design team tried to take advantage of the unusual look at one of the UK’s most iconic structures.
“We really wanted to embrace the castle and the architecture of the castle. Obviously, it’s beautiful,” Tkacz said. “Within the design, we’ve incorporated parts of the parapet and the steps, which lead down to the lawn into the stage. So the stage kind of develops from the castle.”
For entertainment architects, the job is an opportunity to use all the various components of a concert to evoke an event’s purpose, and those at Stufish were thinking about how to use the design to fit the needs of the night and make something memorable. “Entertainment architecture provides the building blocks that can enhance an event and trigger the emotions that will be embedded in the memories of the collective consciousness,” said Stufish’s CEO, Ray Winkler. “We are honored to be working with BBC Studios to design this historic moment that will be remembered for many years to come.”
The design of the concert’s stage subtly embedded two iconic motifs that highlighted the event’s meaning. The various elements of the build formed a Union Jack that could be viewed from above, and the circular element over the center of the stage symbolized a crown.
It was the briefest of appearances but after much deliberation and creating a headache for organizers over whether he would attend, Prince Harry flew to Britain for King Charles‘s coronation after all.
On Monday, the Telegraph reported that Harry even visited Buckingham Palace during his time in London, “slipping in and out of the monarchy’s headquarters briefly without seeing the royal family.” However, there was no meeting with his father, and he didn’t exchange a single word with his brother Prince William during the fleeting trip.
According to one family friend, Harry’s 28 hours in the country has left his family “wondering why Harry bothered to come at all.”
“One makes one’s choices,” said a source close to the royal family. “To be honest there wasn’t much talk of Harry at all. The focus was very much on the occasion.”
Andy Stenning/Getty
The Duke of Sussex flew to England to witness the most important moment of his father’s life and arrived on Friday night. Meghan Markle, who was seen hiking over the weekend, stayed behind in Los Angeles with the couple’s children Archie and Lilibet and celebrated Archie’s fourth birthday with a small gathering at their Montecito home.
Harry was determined to get back to the United States in time to see Archie and declined an invitation to join the king and his family for an informal lunch after the coronation. The duke was on his way to the airport before the official photographs (released Monday afternoon along with a message from King Charles) were even taken.
His fleeting visit has left the family underwhelmed, according to the family friend, and his father “saddened.”
There was hope Harry might make a brief appearance, but while he is reported to have stopped at the palace so that he could take a breather before heading to the airport, the duke did not see any of his family.
London — The official photos taken for King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s coronation ceremony were being released Monday by Britain’s royal family. The first of the photos, published on the royals’ official Twitter page, shows the king, who was formally crowned Saturday, seated in ceremonial robes with his Sovereign’s Sceptre in one and the Sovereign’s Orb in the other.
Britain’s King Charles is pictured in full regalia in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, London. The king is wearing the Robe of Estate, the Imperial State Crown and is holding the Sovereign’s Orb and Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross.
Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/Handout via REUTERS
As the official photographer for the coronation, Hugo Burnand was entrusted with capturing the portraits of the royal couple that will forever symbolize the beginning of Charles’ reign. But Burnand told CBS News the weight of that responsibility would be the last thing on his mind as he looked through his camera to frame up the royals.
In an interview before Saturday’s coronation ceremony at London’s ancient Westminster Abbey, Hugo told CBS News that one secret behind pulling off such a monumental task, is good old fashioned personal relationships — such as his own, with the king and queen.
“Deep down, it’s about emotion, and to get the right emotion, I have to have the right emotion,” Burnand told CBS News. “If you’re thinking too much your mind is distracted, and you can’t connect with the person.”
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, London, May 8, 2023.
Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/Handout via REUTERS
He stressed that focusing on the enormity of the task at hand simply wouldn’t “work for me.”
“I remain true to myself and my relationship with him through the camera and trust that, historically, that has worked,” he said.
Burnand has spent years photographing Britain’s high society elite, plying his trade at events and parties for Tatler magazine. Rubbing shoulders so frequently with the upper classes eventually led him to photograph Camilla Parker Bowles — back when her only title was “Miss.”
Britain’s Queen Camilla is pictured in The Green Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace, London, wearing Queen Mary’s Crown and Robe of Estate, on May 8, 2023.
Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/Handout via REUTERS
His reputation as a royal photographer was cemented when he was asked to photograph then-Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005. It was a career-defining job he nearly had to turn down, as he was in South America at the time with his family and all their passports were stolen.
Burnand described bringing in his own mother, also a photographer, as his “number one assistant” for the royal couple’s big day. He said the circumstances around the wedding shoot ended up proving vital to firming up his connection with the royal family.
“From that moment on, we’ve had a relationship which is more than just photographer,” he said.
“So, when you asked me, ‘What does it look like to look through the lens and see King Charles III?’ Obviously, I take notice of what I’m looking at,” Burnand said, becoming visibly emotional. “We’ve worked together with this rather nice relationship for such a long time that I see someone I know already well.”
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla are pictured with “working” members of the royal family: the Duke of Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Gloucester, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Princess Royal, King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, the Duke of Edinburgh. Picture date: Monday May 8, 2023. Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/Handout via
Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/Handout via REUTERS
Building trust with the royals also earned him the opportunity to photograph the wedding of Prince William and Kate, the now-Prince and Princess of Wales, in 2011. One of the pictures he’s most proud of captured the newlyweds surrounded by the bridesmaids and pageboys in playful, relaxed poses, during an otherwise extremely formal event.
“It is the real characters of every individual that has come through in that moment,” Burnand said proudly. “What you see in that picture is real life.”
But as important as his personal connection with his subjects might be, another secret to his success as a royal photographer is Burnand’s meticulous planning.
Keen to never keep his A-list clientele waiting, he practices every step of a photoshoot by holding stopwatch-timed dress rehearsals, going so far as to get staff to step in and play each of the royals. The goal, he said, is to be prepared for every eventuality and keep the process running as smoothly as possible. He even brings spares of every single piece of equipment that could fail.
“We’ve even practiced putting in the spare [light] bulb,” he said, “just to see how I would react and how it would affect the timing of the whole thing.”
Bernard said knowing when he’s captured the images he really wants is something he just has to feel. He said he’s found that he naturally snaps is fingers when he feels he’s got what he was looking for — and that was the moment he was looking forward to the most ahead of coronation day.
On Sunday, the “American Idol” judge took the stage for a performance in honor of the new king at Windsor Castle. For his set, Richie kicked things off with “Easy (Like Sunday Morning).”
Sitting at the piano, Richie got the audience singing along as they waved their hands and lit up phones from side to side.
He then got them on their feet with his upbeat hit, “All Night Long.” It was obvious that the royal family was happy to have the “Hello” singer there as they sang along to his songs, with Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s children, George and Charlotte, waving little union jack flags in excitement and Charles himself showing off some of his dance moves.
Speaking to ET at the 9th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, Richie recalled the feeling of getting such an invitation to perform at the king’s coronation.
“It’s an honor,” Richie told ET. “I mean, first of all, when you’ve been in the business a long time, and, of course, when you get an invitation like this, the answer is absolutely. We’ve been friends a long time, I’ve known him a long time, but to be asked is the whole thing.”
Richie was in good company with fellow Idol judge Katy Perry performing as well.
The televised concert comes one day after Charles and Camilla were officially crowned during the historic coronation ceremony.
King Charles III‘s coronation took place at Westminster Abbey and formalized his role as the head of the Church of England and marked the transfer of his title and powers. It was also the official moment he is crowned king.
King Charles was crowned with the St Edward’s Crown from the 17th century, which weighs nearly five pounds, has a solid gold frame and 444 stones.
Meanwhile, his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, was anointed and crowned as queen. Camilla is the first divorcee to be crowned, and the coronation invitation that was released in April made headlines when it referred to her as Queen Camilla for the first time. Until then, she was described as queen consort.
As for Prince Harry, he attended the coronation, but his wife, Meghan Markle, did not join him. This news came amid tension within the royal family after the December release of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, and the Duke of Sussex’s bestselling memoir, Spare, which came out in January. Both the doc and the book were critical of Harry’s family and also shared intimate details about the royals from the couple’s perspective.
From marveling at his mother’s robes in Westminster Abbey to mastering a new double handed royal wave, all eyes were on little Prince Louis at King Charles’s coronation on Saturday. While Prince George had a starring role as a page of honor in his scarlett red tunic, it was little Louis who everyone was watching out for after his memorable debut appearance at the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The five-year-old’s attendance at Westminster Abbey was only confirmed by Kensington Palace aides on Saturday morning. Prince William and Princess Kate were keen for their youngest to experience the grandeur of the Coronation and see his grandfather crowned, however as with most five-year-olds, the prince has a limited attention span. Royal watchers will remember last summer’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, where he was seen fidgeting and pulling funny faces at his mother during the street pageant before being handed over to Charles, who happily bounced Louis on his knee and distracted him. During the fly past, an animated Louis was seen covering his ears pulling a series of funny faces.
While Prince George had one of the most important roles, assisting King Charles with his many robes, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis had a starring role in the procession following the King into the abbey.
By WPA Pool/Getty Images.
Sources close to the Prince and Princess of Wales said the plan was for the prince to retire from the Abbey after the royal procession and before the two-hour service started. However, Louis stayed longer than expected because he was enjoying the music and spectacle before him. After yawning following the first hymn however, he was discreetly whisked away but he returned for the national anthem and was excited to take part in the carriage procession back to Buckingham Palace.
According to a family friend, Charles is very close to his youngest grandson and wanted him to be at yesterday’s service so he would have been delighted that Louis got to witness some of the special day. The Prince and Princess of Wales also wanted Louis to be a part of it, according to a family friend. He was too young to attend the Queen’s funeral, which was the first state occasion attended by George and Charlotte, and he was not at the Easter Service at Windsor last month. However, the Coronation was deemed a moment too important for Louis, who started school in September, to miss.
King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, were both formally crowned in the first coronation ceremony the United Kingdom has seen since Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.
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The Duke and Duchess of Wales’ social media account on Saturday posted a 1-minute behind-the-scenes video of the royal couple and their children getting ready to embark on the eventful day. The video, set to a regal soundtrack, begins with Princess Charlotte and Prince George emerging out of their royal residence ahead of William.
Charlotte appears awe-struck at what awaits the family outside the residence. Kate, looking elegant as ever in her royal garb, emerges last before they all hop into their waiting caravan to take them to their carriages. The video then transitions to the family along The King’s Procession, with a shot of Charles and Queen Camilla waving to the crowd from inside the Gold State Coach.
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 6, 2023
After hearing the crowd’s roar, the royal family takes its place on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, where they undoubtedly had the best view for the military flyovers. The royal couple didn’t need too many words to describe the momentous occasion, while also thanking “everyone who made it happen.”
Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 5, had the cutest reactions during the coronation carriage ride back to Buckingham Palace, like when Louis looked out the window and his father told him to give the crowd a wave. George and Charlotte proved they were pros when it came to waving to the public, as they were spotted doing just that as they passed.
But once they got to the balcony, it was Louis who stole the show with his facial expressions, at times looking intrigued and at other times bored. He also waved to the crowd with a bit of sassiness. Louis stood alongside his parents, both of whom appeared to get a kick out of his antics.
Patrick Thelwell, 23, could be seen in the video posted to social media with his hands behind his back as a small crowd of law enforcement encircled him and escorted him away from the scene of a protest against Britain’s monarchy.
“This is fascism! I am being arrested just for being here!” Thelwell shouts in the video, wearing a brightly colored fleece and a yellow “Not My King” sticker.
He was found guilty and sentenced to one year of community service in April over the attempted egging last November; none of the projectiles appeared to hit their intended targets as Charles and Queen Camilla toured the English city of York. Video of the incident showed members of the public who turned out to see the royals loudly booing Thelwell, who was subsequently barred from carrying eggs in public by a judge.
Thelwell told The Guardian he believed police had spotted him from an observation post near the coronation protesters.
“They saw me on their watchtower, and next minute I was in handcuffs and being searched on suspicion of having eggs, I suppose,” he told The Guardian. “I didn’t have anything in my pockets besides condoms and a lighter, so they had to let me go.”
He told the outlet: “I’ve absolutely not brought any eggs. My parole officer tells me counter-terrorism is following me.”
Today I was arrested at the #Coronation on suspicion of carrying eggs. I was identified by facial recognition cameras, and snatched from the protest in handcuffs so tight they cut my skin. For the second time I was dragged through a crowd of monarchists baying for my blood….1 pic.twitter.com/i014GTOOuW
He wrote on Twitter: “For the second time, I was dragged through a crowd of monarchists baying for my blood.”
HuffPost requested comment from the Metropolitan Police but did not receive an immediate reply.
Other demonstrators waved yellow “Abolish The Monarchy” flags, carried “Not My King” signs and held yellow umbrellas on what turned out to be a gloomy day in central London. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of supporters flocked to the city — some from overseas — to witness the estimated £100 million day of pomp and circumstance.
Authorities were sharply criticized for arresting some of the British Republicans trying to make their voices heard. At one point, police reportedly raided a truck filled with “Not My King” signs, alleging that the string used to tie them in bundles could be used by protesters to illegally tie themselves to fixed objects on the street.
A new law enacted just this week gave police new power to crack down on protesters, even those engaged in peaceful demonstrations. The U.K.’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act of 2022 also broadened police power over protesters, who have drawn increasing conservative ire in recent years.
“I’m deeply concerned that people have been arrested while just preparing to peacefully express their support for a Republic, a view held by 25% of the public,” Labour MP Richard Burgon wrote on Twitter. “This must stop. It’s a basic democratic principle that people have the right to peacefully express their opinions.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement earlier in the week that “tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low” throughout the Coronation.
More than 50 people were arrested Saturday, police told CNN.
Britain’s King Charles III was officially crowned in a lavish coronation ceremony on Saturday, along with his wife, Queen Camilla. Here is a look at how the historic day unfolded in pictures.
Coldstream Guards and London Metropolitan Police march in the procession ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
/ Getty Images
It was 57 degrees Fahrenheit and raining in London, but that didn’t stop crowds from camping outside Buckingham Palace.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, accompanied by the Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry, travels along The Mall en route to Westminster Abbey.
Gareth Fuller / Getty Images
King Charles and Queen Camilla rode in the Diamond Jubilee Coach from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. The king waved to the crowd during the 1.3-mile King’s Procession through central London.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla traveled in the Diamond Jubilee Coach from Buckingham Palace en route to Westminster Abbey for their coronation on May 6, 2023 in London, England.
Getty Images
Britain’s King Charles III waves as he rides in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, during the “King’s Procession.”
CHARLES MCQUILLAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Military personnel marched down the Mall in the King’s Procession ahead of the coronation.
Military personnel march down the Mall in the King’s Procession ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Gareth Fuller / Getty Images
Meanwhile, around 2,000 invited guests, including royalty and world leaders, gathered at Westminster Abbey to await the ceremony.
First lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden, and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden ahead of the coronation.
Andrew Matthews / Getty Images
American first lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter, Finnegan, were in the crowd at Westminster Abbey. President Biden did not attend, but U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Jane Hartley told CBS News that Mr. Biden spoke by phone with the king and is looking forward to visiting.
Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte arrive at Westminster Abbey.
ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, arrived at Westminster Abbey with two of their children, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte. At one point, photographers captured the 5-year-old prince yawning during the ceremony.
Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis arriving at Westminster Abbey.
Andrew Milligan / Getty Images
Prince Louis yawned during the coronation ceremony as he sat with his parents, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, and his sister, Princess Charlotte.
Yui Mok/Getty Images
William and Kate’s oldest son, Prince George, served as a Page of Honor for King Charles.
Prince George of Wales served as a Page of Honour during the coronation of his grandfather, Britain’s King Charles III.
GARETH CATTERMOLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Charles’ younger sister, Princess Anne, arrived at the coronation. Anne took part in the ceremony as the Gold-Stick-in-Waiting, a privilege that dates back to the 15th century. The Gold Stick and Silver Stick are entrusted with the personal safety of the sovereign.
Anne, Princess Royal arrives at the coronation.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, arrived with his daughter, Princess Eugenie. Andrew, who is not a “working” royal, did not take part in the procession.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Princess Eugenie of York traveling in the state car.
/ Getty Images
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, attended the coronation without his wife, Meghan, or two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives for the coronation.
PHIL NOBLE / Getty Images
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attends the coronation of his father, King Charles III.
BEN STANSALL / Getty Images
As with Andrew, Harry did not take part in the official procession since he is not a “working” royal.
James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh and Lady Louise Windsor arrive ahead of the coronation.
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King Charles’ youngest brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, arrived at the coronation with their children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were also among the world leaders at Westminster Abbey for the coronation.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty arrives ahead of the coronation.
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Coronation ceremonies for British kings and queens have been held at Westminster Abbey for the last 900 years.
Queen Camilla arrives for her coronation at Westminster Abbey, on May 6, 2023.
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Queen Camilla wore a long ivory gown for the ceremony.
In 2022, Queen Elizabeth announced that Camilla would have the title of Queen Consort when Charles became king. While Charles said he and Camilla were “deeply conscious of the honor represented by my mother’s wish,” when his coronation invitations went out, Camilla’s title was changed to simply “Queen.” On Friday night, the palace referred to Camilla as the queen for the first time. Britain’s PA news wire said the change had taken effect as of the beginning of coronation day, even before Camilla was formally crowned.
Queen Camilla is crowned with Queen Mary’s Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby during the coronation.
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Queen Camilla was crowned with Queen Mary’s Crown. The St. Edward’s Crown was used for King Charles.
Nicholas Lyons, Lord Mayor of the City of London carries the St Edward’s Crown during the coronation.
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St. Edward’s Crown, the crown historically used at the moment of coronation, was made for the coronation of King Charles II in 1661. The crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band and the frame is made of solid gold set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines.
King Charles III is crowned with St Edward’s Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby during his coronation ceremony.
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Reverend Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, crowed King Charles III during the coronation ceremony.
King Charles III after being crowned with St Edward’s Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby during his coronation ceremony.
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Prince William kissed his father and he pledged loyalty to him during the coronation.
Prince William, Prince of Wales kisses his father, King Charles III, wearing St Edward’s Crown, during the coronation ceremony.
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Following the ceremony, the royal family set out in a procession back to Buckingham Palace.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla traveling in the Gold State Coach sets off from Westminster Abbey on route to Buckingham Palace.
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King Charles and Queen Camilla departed in the Gold State Coach, which was built in 1760 and used at every coronation since that of William IV in 1831.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony following their coronation.
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King Charles and Queen Camilla waved from the Buckingham Palace balcony in a symbolic moment with members of the royal family gathered alongside them.
King Charles III, wearing the Imperial State Crown, and Queen Camilla, wearing a modified version of Queen Mary’s Crown, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following their coronation.
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Left to right: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor; Sir Timothy Laurence; Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh; Princess Charlotte of Wales; Princess Anne, Princess Royal; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prince Louis of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Wales; King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation.
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Thousands of people lined the Mall outside Buckingham Palace to celebrate King Charles’ coronation.
Members of the public along The Mall following the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023 in London, England.
Prince Harry attended his father King Charles II’s coronation without his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, or their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. He also had no formal role during the ceremony and did not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony with other members of the family.
In April, Buckingham Palace announced Harry, who is fifth in line for the throne, would attend the coronation while Meghan remained in California with their young children. The day of the coronation, May 6, happens to be Archie’s birthday.
Harry’s brother, Prince William, who is first in line for the throne, had a key role in the ceremony. After their father was crowned king, William kissed his father and pledged his loyalty to him. William’s 9-year-old son, Prince George, also served as a Page of Honor for King Charles, and Camilla’s grandsons served as three of her Pages of Honor.
Harry has been estranged from his family since he and his family moved to California in 2020. In the Netflix documentary released last year, he and Meghan said she faced racism and mistreatment from the British press and claimed the royal family did not offer support. Her mental health suffered and with a lack of help from the family and they worried about the lack of security for their family, leading the pair to decide to leave their roles as senior royals.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leaves Westminster Abbey following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023 in London, England.
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Harry made further accusations and other public comments about the royals in his book, “Spare,” and during the press tour for the book.
The invitation to the coronation seemed like an olive branch from his father, but it appears Harry’s relationships with his family members are still strained.
He and his uncle, the disgraced Prince Andrew, did not have roles during the ceremony and did not join the procession, as neither are “working” members of the family. Instead, Harry arrived with his cousin, Prince Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice.
Where did Harry sit at the coronation ceremony?
Harry did not sit with other senior royals, instead he was three rows back during the elaborate ceremony. He did, however, appear to be smiling in many photos from the event.
During the ceremony, he sat next to Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbank, and behind his aunt, Princess Anne, and Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, according to BBC News.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex during the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, on May 6, 2023 in London, England.
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He was seen getting into a car alone after the ceremony. Prince Andrew, who also appeared in the third row, left with Eugeine and Brooksbank.
Was Harry allowed to join the “working royals” on the balcony?
Harry did not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the ceremony, a longtime tradition for senior members of the royal family. Instead, newly-crowned King Charles III and Queen Camilla stood with the “working” members of the family as well as their grandkids — many of whom played roles during the ceremony.
Left to right: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor; Sir Timothy Laurence; Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh; Princess Charlotte of Wales; Princess Anne, Princess Royal; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prince Louis of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Wales; King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation on May 6, 2023.
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Harry and Meghan attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year, but tension remained behind the scenes, according to Valentine Low, royal correspondent for the Times of London newspaper. “There was definitely not any great personal warmth between the two couples,” Low told CBS News about Princes Harry and William and their wives. Low said Meghan may have skipped the coronation so as to lessen the drama.
U.K. publication The Sun reported Harry would only be in the U.K. for about 24 hours and would leave promptly after the coronation ceremony. CBS News contributor Tina Brown confirmed that he would not attend the private lunch for the family members.
Is Prince Harry still in line to the throne?
Harry is still fifth in line to the throne. His father is king, his brother, Prince William is first in line and William’s children – Prince George, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis – are second, third and fourth in line, respectively. Harry’s son Prince Archie is sixth in line for the throne and daughter Princess Lilibet is seventh in line.
