King Charles coronation date confirmed by Buckingham Palace

Plans for ‘Operation Golden Orb’ are underway

The King’s coronation will be held on Saturday 6 May 2023, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be crowned alongside the King in Westminster Abbey, eight months after the monarch’s accession and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Palace said the ceremony will be “rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry” but will also “reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future”.

Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, be crowned with the St Edward’s Crown and be blessed during the historic ceremony.

Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937.

“Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023,” a Palace statement begins.

“The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

“The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry.”

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, in Scotland, on 11 October 2022 (Getty)

The coronation is expected to be a slimmed-down ceremony avoiding extravagance, due to the cost of living crisis that is impacting many throughout the UK.

Guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, axed.

The ceremony is also expected to last just one hour, rather than three.

The King has confirmed he will take an oath to the Church of England at his coronation but has made clear he wants to head a Britain that respects all faiths.

The ceremony is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than past coronations but will be an Anglican service retaining the same core elements that have been in place for more than 1,000 years.

Coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend, with the late Queen’s taking place on a Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth II on her coronation day in June 1953 (AFP/Getty)

Buckingham Palace has yet to comment on whether there will be any arrangements for a bank holiday.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a Privy Council meeting later this year.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

The Queen Consort will also be crowned during the ceremony and take her place on a throne.

The Duke of Norfolk, who organised the Queen’s funeral, also has the role of staging the coronation.

He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone behind the wheel – despite claiming he needed his licence to arrange the forthcoming ceremony.

An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on black and white televisions in 1953.