The coronation of the British monarch is a strange animal. It is a modern media happening that is adapted to a vanishingly small extent to a modern media audience. It is a ceremony that is followed by audiences all over the world, but which is the way it is because of the power relations in England during the Middle Ages. Perhaps this is part of the reason why royal ceremonies continue to bring people to the sofa, even if the reverence for royalty may not be what it once was. SEVENTY YEARS AGO: When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, Westminster Abbey was filled to the brim. It was the first time a coronation was broadcast live on television. Photo: AP So much of what we are offered as TV viewers is premeditated, specially designed for different target groups, characterized by a certain nervousness that we will not like it. The coronation follows its own rhythm, has its own symbols. Royal weddings and funerals are reminiscent of ceremonies we experience on a regular basis. The coronation does not. It is rare. Part of the reason why it arouses such interest is probably that the audience can feel like flies on the wall in Westminster Abbey. We witness something we are not meant to fully understand. LONG TRADITIONS: But the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be easier than the previous coronation. The aristocracy will play a less central role. Photo: Victoria Jones / AP Actually, what is happening is not particularly mysterious. When we look at a coronation, we are really looking at a hard negotiation, wrapped in gold and ermine and beautiful words. Traditionally, the coronation consists of five stages. First, the king is shown to those present, and they accept him as the rightful king. Then he must take an oath, promising to act in accordance with certain laws and values. Then he is anointed. This ritual is considered so sacred that we mere mortals are not allowed to see it. A canopy will ensure that the TV cameras cannot film the king as he is anointed. Then comes the moment when the king is crowned, with the huge St. Edward crown, the one that weighs almost 2.3 kilos. FOLKEFEST: In the best British tradition, St. Edward’s crown is recreated in chocolate. Photo: Jacob King / AP This crown is only worn at the coronation, and only three people are allowed to touch it: the monarch, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the court jewels. And finally the king is praised by the assembly. These stages are as they are because the British kings have often been in conflict with the powerful nobles of the realm. Traditionally, it is these men who have been present during the coronation. And when they say publicly that they accept the king as ruler, it is because the people might otherwise have good reason to doubt that they did just that. And when the monarchs take their oath, it shows that they accept that their power has limits. This oath is why not all kings and queens have been so excited about the idea of being crowned. When King Charles I became king in 1625, he considered dropping the entire coronation, because he believed that he was only responsible to God. He strongly disliked the idea of having to promise anything to other people. THE EVERYDAY CROWN: During the coronation ceremony, the monarch changes to the lighter Imperial State Crown. It is this krone that they henceforth use in public contexts. Photo: REUTERS Then it was this king who managed to end up at war with his own parliament. The king lost the war, he was sentenced to death and beheaded in 1649. The Puritan Oliver Cromwell, who emerged victorious from the civil war, saw to it that the crown jewels were melted down. He didn’t want the followers of the dead king to have anything to rally around. But when Cromwell died, having presided over a moody and oppressive religious republic, the appetite for royalty was rekindled. The dead king’s son returned from exile, and was crowned King Charles II. For this coronation, new crown jewels had to be made, and it is these regalia, from 1661, that have been used in the coronations that have followed. THE NEW KING: Charles II was crowned in 1661, many years after the beheading of his father, Charles I. Meanwhile, the crown jewels had been melted down and new ones had to be made. It is these regalia that will be in use during Saturday’s coronation. Photo: Ap Something that has arrived later is The Imperial State Crown, the lighter crown that the king will change into during the coronation. It is this crown that he will wear on official occasions, including at the opening of parliament. It is also not very easy to handle. The late Queen Elizabeth once said that one had to be careful when reading from a script with a crown on it. Then you had to hold the script up in front of you, and not bend your head too far down, because then she thought her neck might break across. Now, of course, it is not entirely true that Saturday’s coronation will not be adapted to its time. The aristocracy will have a far more subdued role than they did during Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. ACCIDENT: When King George VI was crowned in 1937, the Archbishop of Canterbury had put a cotton thread on the crown of St. Edwards, to see what which was front and back. The thread disappeared, and the crown was placed incorrectly on the king’s head. Here he is with the lighter Imperial State Crown after the ceremony. Photo: AP Instead of his mother’s more than eight thousand guests, Charles will have just over two thousand people present in Westminster Abbey, and the ceremony itself will be shorter and simpler. Buckingham Palace probably thought that it would not be entirely tasteful with a ceremony that was too lavish, reserved for the country’s most distinguished, while ordinary Britons struggle to afford the electricity bill. Some of the large diamonds in the crown jewels are controversial, because they come from parts of the world where the British strictly speaking had nothing to do. One of them, the famous Koh-i-noor diamond, has been removed from the crown to be placed on Queen Camilla’s head. But there are simply limits to how modern a coronation can be. The power play that it once symbolized no longer exists. The king has no formal influence, and the promises of loyalty, which he will receive, therefore do not mean terribly much. In this sense, the coronation has no other function than precisely this: to be a legacy from another time, and to bring with it a whiff of the adventurous and the incomprehensible from there. At the same time, the ecologically conscious king has also made sure to put his personal touch on the ceremony. The crowning oil is vegan.
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We witness something we are not meant to fully understand. – Speech
