3 facts about King Charles III’s coronation that will leave you speechless

By Charlie Sawyer

Published May 2, 2023 at 03:04 PM

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Images courtesy of The Royal Family on Instagram

On Saturday 6 May 2023, something pretty momentous is going to happen—and no, it isn’t the kickoff of Eurovision, that’s on 9 May. In four days we’re going to officially stop having a Queen as Monarch, and instead we’re going to have a King. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no raging royalist. However, I’m thinking it’s going to be even harder to crush the patriarchy with a King in charge.

Brits have been preparing for the coronation of King Charles III for a long time now, in fact ever since Queen Elizabeth II died, we’ve been predicting how the festivities will play out—and of course how many bank holidays we’ll be getting. So, with the event just around the corner, we thought it’d be a good idea to run through three things everyone needs to know about the coronation, such as how much the entire thing is actually going to cost.

It’s no secret that the UK is currently in the midst of an incredibly difficult and gruelling cost of living crisis and that Brits are currently paying the highest electricity bills in the entire world. According to national charity Crisis, the combination of existing issues such as rising rents, low wages and lack of affordable housing, alongside high inflation and mounting energy costs, has resulted in an unrelenting pressure on people across the country.

So, you can imagine the nation’s surprise when it was revealed that the Crown would be spending over £100 million of taxpayer money on the highly opulent and simply unnecessary ceremony. The UK is not only facing extreme poverty levels, but we’re also having to cope with swathes of NHS worker strikes—a direct consequence of a lack of funding and fair pay from the British government.

A recent YouGov poll, which surveyed 3,000 adults, showed that 35 per cent stated they “do not care very much” about the historic event, and a further 29 per cent said they “do not care at all.”

What’s even more ludacris is that some supporters of the Royal family have suggested that the King has really scaled back the coronation, due to his sympathy for those struggling financially at the moment. Scaled back? Make it make sense, please.

Let’s also not forget the £400 million it’s going to cost to print legions of new stamps with King Charles’ face on them. The Royal family have never had any issues rinsing the pockets of British taxpayers, but to put on such a grandiose event—which will also feature two golden gilded stage coaches—during one of the most serious economic crises the UK has faced, just feels like a new low.

If it wasn’t cringe enough to host a massive ceremony, invite tons of nobility, and livestream it across the nation, (attention seeker much) King Charles will also be inviting the public to swear their allegiance to him during the coronation.

As reported by Sky News, the Archbishop of Canterbury, during the ceremony, will call on those watching or listening to the event to take part in a “great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King.”

The pledge is supposed to act as the people’s opportunity to pay “homage” to the monarch. Some netizens recently took to TikTok to impress upon people how worrying this prospect actually is.

Now, while I definitely won’t be pledging my personal allegiance, I think the homage is more of an ego-stroke for Charles rather than anything too overtly sinister—the Royal’s annual access to £86.3 million of taxpayer money is realistically far more frightening.

After Elton John, Harry Styles and Adele all turned down the opportunity to perform at King Charles’ coronation, you might have thought that the monarch’s event team may have had to instead put together one of the most bizarre and eclectic musical lineups of all time—and you’d be right.

Due to perform at the coronation is: Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Take That, and Tiwa Savage (who’ll be the first Nigerian artist to be invited to perform at a foreign royal coronation ceremony).

A myriad of musical performances will take place over the course of three days. Twitter users were particularly thrilled to see Savage on the line-up for the coronation.

However, some other fans of the Queen of Afrobeats artist were less pleased: One user wrote: “I’m not trying to be a hater but why the hell did Tiwa Savage accept to perform at the coronation??!? Literally almost everyone they asked declined. Last minute inclusivity.”

Wherever you sit regarding that particular discussion, Savage’s participation in the coronation is definitely something to note and recognise. And, her presence and performance is also likely to be the most entertaining aspect of the entire weekend, so, maybe I’ll tune in just for that part.