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.”

@ajplus

The UK government is spending millions on King Charles’ coronation while people are striking over poverty and 14 million people can’t afford food. #KingCharles #RoyalFamily #NotMyKing #Strikes #Poverty #Inflation #Coronation #Camilla #BritishRoyals #UK #Colonization

♬ News Reports Background Music / Serious, Breaking News(1233862) - Ney

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.

@citizenofearth.patrick

Will you bow down? 🤮 #NotMyKing #ukpolitics #abolishthemonarchy #ukcomedy #kingcharles #coronation #pledgeofallegiance #eggtheking

♬ original sound - Citizen of Earth Patrick 🔘

@mongreladam

I’m not falling for that spell 🪄 🧙🏼 🇬🇧 #coronation #kingcharles #kingcharlesiii #pledgeofallegiance #notmyking #royalfamily #spell #pov #relatable

♬ Power Of Three - Rhaegal Zmdna

@thefive8take

Australians have been asked to stand in front of their TV’s 📺 place their hand on their heart and resight a pledge allegiance to King Charlse on the 6th of May 👀 Will you be doing it? 🇬🇧🇦🇺 #KingCharles #coronation #sydney #melbourne #perth #brisbane #australia #aus #aussie #News #Breakingnews #five8 #thefive8take #fyp

♬ original sound - Diogo Correa

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.

Tiwa Savage performing at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III on the 6th of May is huge innnit, Queen of Afrobeats for a reason 🤑⚔️.

— Zahir 🌍🥷 (@TheOnlyQuam) April 30, 2023

Tiwa Savage to perform at the coronation of King Charles III this weekend,that’s huge

— Rasgoddey (@GodwinLade3) May 1, 2023

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.

With the price of everything skyrocketing—from rent to gas, electricity to the UK’s beloved Freddo chocolate bar—the cost of living crisis is impacting just about everyone. According to recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 93 per cent of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living from August to September 2022—a bite felt most by low-income households who now, on average, spend a significant proportion of their income on food and energy.

This crisis isn’t just impacting the price of physical goods either, it’s impacting our wellbeing too—with financial woes causing more people to struggle with their mental health or lose sleep.

But how is the cost of living crisis affecting our love life? There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer to this question; instead, to unpack such a deeply nuanced issue, we first need to explore how the crisis is impacting the dating behaviour of different demographics. By far the largest proportion of ‘active daters’ are gen Zers and millennials, and while we’ve seen trends such as cobwebbing or winter coating currently making the rounds on TikTok, there’s also a slightly more serious conversation to be had.

Over recent years, gen Z and millennial dating behaviour has witnessed a trend of becoming more ‘cash-candid’—being more open and honest about finances with potential partners. As first highlighted in a recent study conducted by Bumble, almost one in three individuals said they felt it was more important to talk about their financial situation now than at the start of the year. Moreover, ten per cent of those who responded said they would actively share their salaries with the people they meet on the first few dates.

Out of the 2,187 adults quizzed by the dating app, 30 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 reported being more conscious of their date’s budget when picking a venue. Just over one in five reported that they were more likely to set themselves a budget for the date compared to the start of the year. Lastly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the same survey found that one in five now cared more about being with someone who is more financially stable than they did at the beginning of 2022.

Although all research should be taken with a healthy dose of scepticism, this data reflects a clear change in the way young people approach their love life—a shift that has been significantly fuelled by the economic anxiety that is intrinsically connected to the crisis we’re facing. It therefore makes sense that we’re being more open about money—which, in a way, can be seen as a positive. It should, in theory, help destigmatise the way we approach income, allowing us to have open and transparent conversations about our financial position, and how it impacts our wellbeing.

Slowly overcoming this taboo could also push young people towards cost-free (or at least cheaper) dating alternatives—a walk in the park, a picnic, or a museum visit. Albeit small, this could be a positive culture shift that sees gen Zers prioritising healthier and free dating experiences over expensive cocktails or dodgy pints. This is reflected in Bumble’s research, with the data finding that one in three participants were now more likely to suggest a cost-free date activity, with more women than men looking for free and budget-friendly dates.

However, despite the small positives mentioned above, the cost of living crisis is having a profoundly negative and unhealthy impact on our love lives. “Of course it affects our romantic relationships,” sex and relationship coach, writer, and Feel Fully You founder, Juliette Karaman told SCREENSHOT. According to Karaman, this particular economic crisis is forcing “some people to stay and live together—even if they want to divorce and live separately.”

“It can be psychologically challenging because you’ve taken the step to get divorced and separate, and then you can’t physically make it happen. It means you’re still together while you want to start a new life,” Karaman continued. 

This is a scenario depicted by an individual in her thirties from Telford, England, who wished to remain anonymous. Speaking about her experience, she mentioned that the cost of living crisis had made her divorce “particularly hard” and had forced her to “stay living” with her partner for far longer than she would’ve liked. All of which had a detrimental impact on her mental health.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the cost of living crisis is also forcing people in relationships to live together prematurely to save costs. This was another issue raised by Karaman who mentioned she’d seen cases “where people start dating, live in different apartments, and then, due to the crisis, immediately start living together to save money.” This is the case for Oliver and Amelia, a London-based couple in their late twenties who decided it was best to move in together in a bid to keep costs to a minimum.

“We’re both working class and the cost of living plus rising rent prices in London was hitting us particularly hard,” Amelia noted, highlighting how the couple, who have been dating since early April, cementing their relationship as ‘official’ in August of that same year, both expressed their financial anxiety early on in their relationship. “It was a risk but it’s paid off,” she continued. “We definitely have less weight on our shoulders now, even if the cost of living crisis is getting worse. It just wasn’t sustainable for us both to be living on our own.”

Despite Oliver and Amelia’s situation, Karaman warns couples to take caution when jumping into commitments just for the sake of cutting costs. “They need to ask themselves: Am I ready for this? What are my boundaries?”

Ultimately, this crisis is impacting every aspect of our lives, with our relationships being particularly in the crossfire. The ways in which it’s changing how we love isn’t black and white, it depends heavily on our financial position and individual circumstances. What is more certain, however, is that the current economic squeeze is transforming how we approach romantic relationships—a shift that, more likely than not, isn’t for the better.