Date set for King Charles’ coronation — the same day as Archie’s birthday

The coronation of Britain’s King Charles III will take place on May 6 2023, the royal family has announced.

The coronation will take place at Westminster Abbey in London and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Tuesday.

“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,” the palace said.

The event will take place on the same day as his grandson Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s fourth birthday. It is expected, though not confirmed, that his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will attend the ceremony.

Charles, 73, automatically became king after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last month. The queen died of old age at her Scottish holiday home with her eldest son and daughter, Princess Anne, by her side. She was 96.

Kings and queens of England, and later Britain and the UK, have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066. Charles is the 41st monarch in a line that traces its origins back to William, and he will be the oldest monarch to be crowned.

His mother holds the record for the longest reign at 70 years.

British media have reported Charles wants to scale down some of the customary grandeur around the coronation, mindful it would come as the country grapples with a cost of living crisis.

The palace said it would maintain the “core elements” of the traditional ceremony “while recognising the spirit of our times”.

Elizabeth’s coronation as queen on June 2 1953 was the first to be televised and was regarded as a milestone in modernising the monarchy, a move her husband Prince Philip was said to have pushed for strongly.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.