The British Monarchy’s transition: a Contemporary picture of a Traditional event

Tania Ceniccola
5 mag 2023
Tempo di lettura: 5 min

Aggiornamento: 1 dic

A Coronation is a momentous Ceremonial Event which takes place early in a monarch’s reign. It is conducted in accordance with a number of Traditions and is centred around a Religious Ceremony.

Westminster Abbey lists three Key Purposes Of Coronations:

· Religious significance: the monarch makes promises to God during the coronation ceremony.

· Public significance: the monarch makes promises to the people they serve during the ceremony (and people watching the Coronation will be invited to join a "chorus of millions" to swear allegiance to the King and his heirs)

· Public celebration: coronations are an occasion for the public to celebrate the new monarch in a way that would be inappropriate directly after the death of the previous monarch.

The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will be held on Saturday 6 May 2023. According to Buckingham Palace, it will begin with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, followed by a coronation service at Westminster Abbey which will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Following the service, there will be a second procession from Westminster Abbey back to Buckingham Palace where the King and Queen Consort, along with other members of the Royal Family, will appear on the balcony. The Coronation is paid for by the UK Government.

Despite its powerful symbolic meaning, a coronation is not what makes someone a King or Queen. Technically speaking, King Charles III became King automatically when Queen Elizabeth II passed away, becoming king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms, ending a wait of more than 70 years – the longest by an heir in British history. This is called ‘accession’, signifying that King Charles III already has the status and authority of a monarch before the coronation.

Admittedly, though, in perceptional terms, technicalities actually do not make a King: in fact, the challenge now facing the country is how to move on without Britain’s guiding light and a source of comfort at a time of seemingly unending turbulence.

At the same time, the biggest test facing the new King in the new daunting role, in spite of the typical Pragmatism of British Monarchs, is whether he can emulate his mother’s image of stability and preserve the institution that she spent so much of her life trying to protect.

His late mother was overwhelmingly popular and respected, but she has left a royal family that has seen reputations tarnished and relationships strained, including over lingering allegations of racism against Buckingham Palace officials.

Charles confronts those challenges at the age of 73, the oldest monarch to take the throne in a lineage that dates back 1,000 years, with his second wife Camilla, who still divides public opinion, by his side, and in a country now vastly different from when Elizabeth became queen. The empire has gone and despite having nuclear weapons, the UK is no longer a global military power. In the aftermath of World War II, the UK was Europe’s largest economy, whereas it now lags behind Germany and struggles to keep up with France and Italy. Even so, Britons are far richer than they were and socially much more liberal.

To detractors, the new king is weak, vain, interfering, and ill-equipped for the role of sovereign. On the other hand, supporters say that is a distortion of the good work he does, that he is simply misunderstood and that in areas such as climate change he has been ahead of his time.

Indisputably, the coronation of King Charles III will deploy to the full the symbolic resources of the British state. Yet British society feels poorly prepared for the singular nature of a coronation. There is no lack of appetite among the public for coronation-related material, nonetheless the early media narratives have tended to evade broader questions about the meaning of the ritual and its contemporary significance, which, in its form and much of its language, represents the survival of medieval liturgy, thus shaping its meaning.

The coronation service has a unique capacity to pose difficult questions about religion in the modern United Kingdom: the meaning of establishment, the nature of the monarch’s commitments as Supreme Governor, and the role of the Anglican church in a multi-faith society increasingly less accustomed to church attendance.

Furthermore, British taxpayers, along with the rest of the world, seem to be increasingly concerned about a stalled economy, high inflation, waves of public worker strikes, and soaring food and energy costs.

As a matter of fact, according to YouGov polling only 9% of respondents care “a great deal” about the ceremony, and sentiments get even grimmer when sorted by age, with 75% or 18-24 year-olds not interested and 51 % of adults stating the coronation should not be government-funded.

Nonetheless, public indifference is a conundrum not just for the royals, who have been working to revamp Camilla’s image and update an ancient ceremony to conform with 21st-century sensibilities and attention spans. It’s also an issue for media outlets (BBC) typically supported by license fees paid by viewers.

Aside from the financial concerns, at a time when 62% are in favour of the monarchy as an institution,the Uk, as well as Global attention, turn to the value of Charles’ coronation and its implications on the possible future conduct of the Reign, to religious, environmental and political themes and to how the alledged Modern Monarchy will deal with national and international issues, redefining, or not, its role in a global context.

Preserving the Royal Family’s symbolic value is only part of the new King’s challenge. Ensuring that the institution remains fit for purpose at a time when monarchies and heredity privilege seem increasingly anachronistic, is another.

However these dilemmas are resolved, one may be sure that the service on 6 May will enact, as its forbears, a necessary dialogue between Past and Present.

What’s your opinion on Modern Monarchies?

I'd love to hear all about it.