It’sKing CharlesandQueen Camilla’scoronationday!
King Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 75, made their way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in a parade known as the King’s Procession. Crowds lined the streets to see the new monarch as he made his way through London.
The royal couple rode to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, a horse-drawn carriage that was commissioned to commemorateQueen Elizabeth’s 60th anniversary of acceding the throne in 2012. Six horses — Windsor Greys — pulled the coach on the way to the coronation: Icon, Shadow, Milford Haven, Echo, Knightsbridge and Tyrone.
King Charles.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The carriage departed Buckingham Palace through the Centre Gate and proceeded down The Mall, passing through Admiralty Arch and south of King Charles I Island, down Whitehall and along Parliament Street before they arrived at Westminster Abbey, where the coronation began at 11 a.m. local time.
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The ride back to the palace in the Gold State Coach will likely be less smooth.Queen Elizabethcalled traveling in the carriage “horrible,” while Queen Victoria spoke of its “distressing oscillation,“Associated Pressreported. Similarly, William IV, the Sailor King, likened riding in the coach to “being aboard a ship tossing in a rough sea.”
The 1.3-mile procession route is just afraction of Queen Elizabeth’s ridefollowing her crowning ceremony. She and Prince Philip rode 4.5 miles around London, making sure to see as many of the three million people who lined the streets as possible. The ceremonial carriage ride took the 16,000 participants two hours to complete, theRoyal Familystates.
King Charles and Queen Camilla.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
“He’s one of the first people in the family to end up making the most of that role,” his sonPrince Harrytold the BBC’sPrince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70.
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King Charles and Queen Camilla are alsomaking history at their coronationas the oldest monarch and queen consort crowned in British history.
RELATED VIDEO: How King Charles and Queen Camilla Will Be Each Other’s ‘Source of Strength’ on Coronation Day
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According toSky History, the oldest British monarch to be crowned before King Charles was King William IV, who became sovereign at age 64 in 1830.
source: people.com
