Photos of the coronation ceremony of the late Queen Elizabeth will show us the scale, grandeur and luxury of this event.

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth, then 27 years old, was crowned at Westminster Abbey. It is an event imbued with history and tradition. And then for the first time in 70 years, the coronation of King Charles took place and still carried many echoes of the past. Let’s look at the photos below to see the difference between the coronation ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles.

Number of attendees

At the 1953 coronation ceremony, an estimated 3 million people flocked to London to celebrate the event. Many people camped on the streets of London to welcome this historic event. According to the Royal Collection Trust, more than 11 million listeners watched the coronation on radio, along with 27 million who watched the live broadcast of the ceremony on TV, creating a record number of viewers at the time.

About 8,000 people were invited to attend the 1953 coronation ceremony, including heads of state of the Commonwealth and representatives of 129 countries and territories.

Sharing with iNews in June 2022, a British woman could not hide her excitement when recalling the coronation time, when she was only 10 years old: “My mother, aunt, uncle and 14-year-old sister tried to sleep that night but we really couldn’t sleep. At that time, if a group of people sang, the surrounding groups would also sing along in unison.”

This is also the first coronation ceremony in the history of the British monarchy to be broadcast live at the request of Prince Philip. According to Smithsonian magazine , he wants the Royal Family to become more open and closer to the public, breaking away from its long-standing secrecy and tradition.

Meanwhile, Charles’s ceremony was smaller in scale with more than 2,000 guests. In particular, monarchs from several other countries will attend the ceremony. Telegraph said that this year the number of guests was reduced to just over 2,000 to ensure the safety of the ceremony. In addition, according to many sources, King Charles wanted to diversify his guests, he even invited representatives of his charities and volunteers.

Transportation

The Queen passed through the crowd in a splendid carriage called the Gold State Coach. At that time, the car was nearly 300 years old and the cost to refurbish it cost 10,000 pounds (nearly 300 million VND).

According to The Yorkshire Post , the late Queen Elizabeth described the journey to Westminster Abbey on the Gold Stage Coach as a “terrible” experience due to the car’s lack of suspension (a system on cars that ensures the vehicle is stable). can operate gently and smoothly) was originally designed for the coronation of King George IV in 1821.

Even King George had to compare a car trip to “being on a ship facing rough seas at sea”.

Unlike the coronation ceremony in 1953, King Charles’ ceremony used two horse-drawn carriages: Diamond Jubilee State Coach and Gold State Coach to transport King Charles and Queen Camilla from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and vice versa.

The role of the spouse

The only person sitting in the Gold Stage Coach next to the Queen was her husband, Prince Philip. Although he was with her, Philip was not crowned at the ceremony. Because Royal tradition stipulates that the Queen can be crowned alongside the King, but the Queen’s consort, the Crown Prince, cannot be crowned.

At the ceremony, the royal dukes, especially her husband Philip, knelt before her to pay their respects. It is known that dukes across the UK must attend the coronation and kneel before the new monarch to “pay their respects” before touching the crown and kissing the monarch’s right cheek.

At King Charles’s coronation, Queen Camilla accompanied him to Westminster Abbey, but she had an even greater role in the event because she was crowned alongside King Charles.

Clothing for the coronation ceremony

Queen Elizabeth wore a luxurious white satin dress, custom-made for her, with the emblems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth embroidered in gold and silver thread. She then changed into a linen robe for the anointing ceremony, which was not broadcast live because of its solemnity and sacredness.

Meanwhile, King Charles wore a military uniform instead of his coronation gown, as part of King Charles’s plan to reform and modernize the monarchy.

Anointing oil for the coronation ceremony

The holy oil at her coronation was made from orange, rose, cinnamon, musk and ambergris. Among them, ambergris is an ingredient taken from sperm whales.

In contrast, the anointing oil of King Charles was the first holy oil that did not contain animal-based ingredients. According to BBC, the reason is because King Charles is a lover of nature and environmental protection, so he had to act consistently with his views, which was choosing a “vegan” holy oil formula.

Coronation ceremony duration

Queen Elizabeth’s coronation lasted 4 hours due to the many traditions kept in this event.

However, King Charles abandoned these traditions for the sake of ritual improvement and innovation. Therefore, King Charles’ coronation ceremony only lasted about 2 hours.

Parties and food

Coronation street parties were held across the United Kingdom on 2 June 1953. One of the main dishes served at many of these parties was “Poulet Reine Elizabeth”, also known as coronation street parties. optical, according to BBC.

The dish was created by florist Constance Spry and chef Rosemary Hume for a competition. The ingredients for the dish include curry powder, apricots and whipped cream.

May 8 will be a bank holiday in the UK (bank holiday, an official holiday, on this day banks are closed). Buckingham Palace has encouraged the public to attend the Coronation Big Lunch on this day.

A number of recipes have been shared on the UK Government website, including strawberry and ginger sponge cake, lamb with Asian dressing and eggplant.