A wobbly crown, playful Prince and a King’s joke about ‘sausage fingers’ – behind the scenes at the coronation
It was one of the most watched TV events of the year, but it’s the moments we didn’t see that are the most fascinating. Harry Mount pulls up his chair for a preview of the Boxing Day documentary that captured it all on camera
Trigger warning for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Do not snuggle up on Boxing Day for the BBC’s Christmas schedule offering – Charles III: The Coronation Year. There isn’t a single mention of the Montecito couple in the 90-minute programme – although you do briefly glimpse them, at the edge of the screen, in the moving footage of Elizabeth II’s funeral. Nor is Princess Diana mentioned once.
The omission is fair enough. This charming behind-the-scenes film is about two things: the build-up to this year’s coronation after the Queen’s death; and the day-to-day work of Charles III and Queen Camilla. The Sussexes now feature in neither aspect of royal life – and after a year of dignified royal silence in the face of the publication of both Spare and Endgame, this programme speaks for itself.
A senior source tells me the King has wisely decided to emulate his late mother and not give any direct interviews. Instead, the film’s writer, Robert Hardman, the author of the first biography of the King, Charles III, out in January, has got some marvellous never-seen-before footage of the King and Queen going about their royal duties – and taking the odd break from them.
A documentary fit for a king
After the ill-advised documentary, Royal Family, in 1969 – let alone the catastrophic It’s a Royal Knockout in 1987 – the family have been understandably wary of the cameras. But this has been beautifully crafted and, while clearly planned with the cooperation of Buckingham Palace, it manages to be gripping all the same.
Hardman has secured some first-rate interviews, notably with Princess Anne. The Princess Royal is, of course, deeply moved by her mother’s death. But she is also candid and astute, confessing that she “felt it was right” when the crown was removed from the Queen’s coffin; that it was a “relief” and the “responsibility moved on”.
And you really do see what a huge responsibility it is to be King, particularly when it comes to the coronation and the weight of legacy behind it. Hardman has a deep understanding of royal history – there is no dreaded BBC dumbing-down here. We get a proper look at – and understanding of – the crown jewels, with close-ups of St Edward’s Sapphire, reportedly worn by Edward the Confessor at his 1066 funeral. Nor is there any right-on hand-wringing. We see the Cullinan Diamond without any diversions about blood diamonds.
It’s fascinating to see how a thousand years of history echo through the coronation and its preparations
We watch as the King is also enlightened by the intricate details and preparations for his coronation. He’s surprised to hear one crown was reduced for the coronation of his great-grandfather George V but another wasn’t shrunk for the “very small head” of his grandmother, the Queen Mother.
And, when it comes to the coronation rehearsal with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the King is genuinely worried the Archbishop won’t put the crown on right: “You jam it here [on top of his head] first and then push down. It’s so huge – it’s got to be on right and I can’t do anything about it.”
In one sympathetic rehearsal scene, the Archbishop fluffs his lines in front of the King, who laughs along with him. It’s consoling, too, that the Westminster Abbey clergy found the coronation service as complex as many of us viewers did. The Rev Mark Birch, the Abbey Precentor who plans the ceremony, says, just before the big day: “The bits with the swords still confuse me.”
You get a real sense of how serious the coronation is and how intense the run-up was. The cameras go to Jerusalem to film the olives being harvested for the olive oil with which the Archbishop anointed the King. Part of the job of this documentary – from the palace’s point of view – is to show how hard-working the King is, contrary to unfair reports suggesting otherwise. The programme does sometimes run close to becoming propaganda – not least in its closing credits, where we are told the King carried out 571 engagements in his first year on the throne.
Still, doing more engagements than there are days in the year is not nothing. We see him digging into his red box when he’s supposed to be on holiday at Balmoral. And, in moving scenes, the King visits Ukrainian soldiers on Salisbury Plain and tells them how much he admires them. He meets two brothers from Liverpool who were helped by the Prince’s Trust 40 years ago and are effusive in their praise of him. This could be a little too much – except for the fact that the Prince’s Trust has been remarkable, helping 1.2 million young people in its 47-year history.
A look behind the loftiness
The documentary is also very supportive of Queen Camilla. Princess Anne goes on the record to say how “outstanding” she is and that she brings a welcome “change of speed and tone”.
Camilla is a sympathetic soul, joking as she rehearses for the coronation, in her dress with its huge train, that she feels like a horse “put in a carriage”. You see what a steadying presence she is on the King. The only moment he reveals a bat squeak of tetchiness (he’s fine when he’s using a pen, this time) is when he is being photographed with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Everything has been set up to the nth degree – the lighting, the poses, the exact spot they stand on the carpet, marked with tape. And yet you can see him bristling at any millisecond of waiting. Through subtle body language, you sense the Queen calming the King down and politely urging the photographer to accelerate.
The documentary also debunks the rumour mischievously put about by Omid Scobie –author of Endgame – that Charles and William do not get on.
That certainly isn’t the case in the footage of the coronation rehearsal. William cheerfully kisses his father on the cheeks and playfully tickles them, too. As he fixes a clasp around his father’s chest, the King says, self-mockingly, “You haven’t got sausage fingers like mine.”
The Princess of Wales cheerfully embraces her father-in-law, too, and she happily curtseys to him repeatedly – there’s none of the mocking of royal ritual that Meghan delighted in during her Netflix show with Harry.
Of course, this is not a programme for republicans, who will bristle at the sight of Rishi Sunak and the Archbishop of Canterbury cheerfully deferring to the monarch. In fact, it is telling that the only people in the programme who don’t defer to him are his wife, Princess Anne – and Frankie Dettori. At Royal Ascot, Frankie urges the King to get a move on to the paddock because he’s got a ride in the next race.
However, I am betting that most viewers will talk about this rarely-seen, behind-the-scenes footage as a compelling highlight of Christmas telly. It’s fascinating to see how a thousand years of history echo through the coronation and its preparations. You also realise what a lot of work is needed to keep the show on the road.
Yes, it is a carefully choreographed documentary. But it is crafted in plain sight – you know that, to get this sort of access, you have to play ball with the palace. Still, I’m told by a senior source, the palace did not have editorial control over the final programme. I can’t believe that they won’t be happy with the final result. But so will anyone with an interest in history and what makes us who we are.
‘Charles III: The Coronation Year’ is on Boxing Day, 6.50pm, BBC1
Harry Mount is author of ‘How England Made the English’
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