King Charles III's coronation: Buckingham Palace reveals details of three-day celebration

London CNN —

Buckingham Palace on Saturday revealed details of King Charles III’s coronation, which was set to be less extravagant than his mother’s ceremony 70 years ago amid the cost of living crisis many Britons are going through.

There will be three days of celebration, with the coronation on Saturday 6 May, a Coronation Big Lunch and Coronation Concert the following day, and an additional bank holiday on Monday. The public is invited on the final day to join The Big Help Out by volunteering in their communities.

The coronation itself will be “a solemn service, as well as an occasion for celebration and pageantry” conducted by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the palace said.

It will, the palace reiterated, “reflect the role of the monarch today and look to the future, while being rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry”.

This line from the palace has been interpreted by experts as indicating that Charles’ coronation will be different and more subdued than that experienced by his late mother seven decades ago, with a shorter ceremony and changes to some of the ritual’s feudal elements. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth was the first live televised royal event and lasted three hours.

Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, will arrive at Westminster Abbey in a procession from Buckingham Palace known as The King’s Procession, and later in a larger ceremonial procession known as The Coronation Procession, accompanied by others Returning members of the royal family.

The King and Queen Consort will then appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside members of the Royal Family to wrap up the day’s events.

At this point, the palace has yet to determine which family members will appear in the procession and on the balcony, following Prince Andrew’s continued ban from public life amid historic sexual abuse allegations and the release of Prince Harry’s memoir that railed against it his family.

“It would help Charles a lot in terms of his image if Harry and Meghan were there,” royal historian Kate Williams previously told CNN. “It will look particularly bad for him if his son isn’t there because of course Harry is still very high in line to the throne, as are his children.”

The following day, May 7, is expected to see thousands of events across the country as part of the “Coronation Big Lunch,” while yet-to-be-named “global music icons and contemporary stars” converge for a “Coronation Concert” to be held at the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, the palace said.

The concert will be attended by a public audience made up of volunteers from the King and Queen Consort charities as well as several thousand members of the public selected by a nationwide vote conducted by the BBC.

You’ll see a “world-class orchestra play renditions of musical favorites led by some of the world’s greatest entertainers, alongside performers from the world of dance… and a selection of spoken-word sequences created by stars of stage and film.” be presented,” the palace said, adding that a schedule would be released in due course.

A diverse group consisting of British refugee choirs, NHS choirs, LGBTQ+ singing groups and deaf choirs will form The Coronation Choir and will also perform at the concert alongside The Virtual Choir, made up of singers from across the Commonwealth.

Well-known locations across the country will also be illuminated with projections, lasers, drone displays and illuminations as part of the concert.

The celebrations will conclude on Bank Holiday Monday with ‘The Big Help Out’ which aims to ‘bring communities together and create an enduring legacy of volunteering from Coronation weekend’.