Photo: PA Images via Getty Images; Samir Hussein/WireImage
The distance is a fraction of the 4.5-mile cavalcadeQueen Elizabethmade in 1953 to see as many of the three million people who lined the streets of London as possible. The ceremonial carriage ride took 16,000 participants two hours to complete, theRoyal Familystates.
After the route was announced for King Charles' coronation, BBC radio host Jeremy Vine shared a map on social media to illustrate how the travel plans differ from then to now. Though he wasnot crownedlike Queen Camilla will be,Prince Philipaccompanied his wife in her carriage on coronation day.
Courtiers said King Charles and Queen Camilla will take the same route to and from the crowning ceremony, riding to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and returning to Buckingham Palace in theGold State Coach.
LikeQueen Elizabeth, and every coronation since King William IV in 1831, Charles and Camilla’s royal transport includes the gilded Gold State Coach. Unlike the King’s mother, however, the royal couple is only taking the spectacular carriage one way.
Samir Hussein/WireImage
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach is likely a smoother ride than the 261-year-old Gold State Coach.Queen Elizabethcalled traveling in the carriage “horrible” while Queen Victoria spoke of its “distressing oscillation,“Associated Pressreported. Most memorably, William IV, the Sailor King, likened the ride to “being aboard a ship tossing in a rough sea.”
Meanwhile, the nine-year-old Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which was commissioned to commemorate the 60th anniversary ofQueen Elizabeth’s accession in 2012, has air conditioning, electric windows and modern suspension — making it an ideal vehicle for the big day.
Matthew Lloyd/Getty
The lower-key trip to Westminster Abbey, called the King’s Procession, will take the royal couple from Buckingham Palace through the Centre Gate, down The Mall, through the Admiralty Arch and south of King Charles I Island, down Whitehall and along Parliament Street, around Parliament Square to Broad Sanctuary and reach Westminster Abbey just in time for the morning service.
The King and Queen Consort will take the same route in reverse after the crowning ceremony, and Coronation organizer Edward Fitzalan-Howard — otherwise known as Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk — said fans can look forward to a grand parade back to Buckingham Palace.
“After the coronation service itself, they’ll return in the Gold State Coach, with an enormous procession with all the pageantry that Britain can muster,” the Earl Marshal said in a new video the Royal Family shared onTwitter.
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The countdown continues to the crowning ceremony of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6. In other exciting updates, courtiers revealed last week thatPrince Georgewill serve as aPage of Honoralongside Camilla’sthree teenage grandsonsand gave a first look at theintricate invitationbeing sent to2,000 select guests.
source: people.com
