Charles III Is Crowned at Westminster Abbey

On 6 May 2023, Westminster Abbey staged the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, continuing a line of coronations at the abbey that reaches back to William the Conqueror in 1066. Charles had acceded to the British throne and become head of state for fourteen other Commonwealth realms on 8 September 2022, following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. The service was the first British coronation in seventy years, marking the first of a British sovereign in the twenty-first century.

Organised under the guidance of the earl marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, the ceremony adapted ancient conventions to a modern framework. Accommodations inside the abbey were limited to approximately 2,200 invited guests, down markedly from the expansive crowds of 1953, due in part to contemporary safety standards that ruled out temporary spectator galleries. Rather than commissioning an entirely fresh ceremonial wardrobe, the King reused historic garments worn by predecessors including George IV and George VI, and the holy anointing oil was reformulated without animal products.