King Charles and Queen Camilla
The crowning of King Charles and Queen Camilla was on Saturday, 6th May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. The images captured and shown in this post was in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, London, England.
I set out for Buckingham Palace in the early hours of Saturday morning with the full moon as the light by night that was eventually obscured by the clouds. Rain was predicted for Saturday. At 2:30 a.m. I sat down in my chair to get some sleep with the others in the park along the Mall. As morning light started to fill the sky you could see how many people had stayed throughout the night.
As it drew closer to the time for the start of the Coronation the crowd was gathering and stewards moved into their positions. Security services started doing their rounds. There were quite a lot of Union Jack outfits and also those who were opposed to the Monarchy.
There was a little bit of rain which started to fall and so the umbrellas came out. The crowd settled down in the park to watch the event on the big screen whilst others viewed everything from the Mall or on their mobile phones. At 10:20 a.m. a carriage left Buckingham Palace and proceeded to Westminster Abbey. King Charles and Queen Camilla travelled in the carriage.
The two hour service at Westminster Abbey started at 11 a.m. Whilst this was going on the soldiers from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth proceeded down the Mall to get ready for the parade that was to occur after the Coronation.
As predicted, the rain did arrive. Whilst the soldiers were waiting for the parade I captured the rain drenched animals and soldiers. People in the crowd sheltered under their umbrellas. The parade started moving down the Mall.
A carriage covered in gold carried King Charles III and Queen Camilla back to Buckingham Palace. Other carriages followed behind carrying members of the Royal Family.
There was an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the rain with the crowd gathered around Queen Victoria’s statue. There was a limited fly past by aircrafts which ended with the Red Arrows.
For the Big Coronation Lunch it was roast carrots and roast sweet potatoes with an Italian seasoned sauce which I made on the Friday night. The almond coated cake was made with 63% proof rum.