Apparently King Charles Will Roll Up to His Coronation in a Giant Gold State Coach

King Charles’ hotly anticipated (if you’re into such things) royal coronation ceremony finally has a date: May 6, which is, somewhat awkwardly, the same day as his grandson Archie’s birthday.

And while the ceremony is going to be completely over-the-top, apparently it’s not going to be quite as over-the-top as the coronation of Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth. Meaning, Charles’ ceremony is going to be shorter, “just” 2,000 people are expected to attend, the dress code will be a bit more chill, and Charles won’t be presented with gold bars.

But uh, speaking of gold, King Charles is expected to roll in on the royal family’s famous gold state coach. AKA this ol’ thing:

🙃

Royal expert and author Katie Nicholl tells Entertainment Tonight that “We’re expecting to see the king and queen consort taken to Buckingham Palace in the gold stage coach” and “That will be quite a spectacle that most of us have never seen before.”

According to the royal’s website, the coach itself is about 260 years old and was last “re-gilded” in 1977. Only the sovereign can ride in the coach, which is made of giltwood—aka wood with gold leaf over it. And turns out the Queen used the coach for her coronation, so Charles would be following in her footsteps.

Anyway! Nicholl also noted that—despite the slashed guest list—Charles’ coronation is still going to be fancy (I mean, clearly, based on the presence of this coach). “It’s not the case that the Abbey is going to look empty by any means,” she said. “And in terms of pomp and pageantry, what’re we going to see—lots of concerns over here in the U.K. that might also be scaled back, but my sources assure me that there will be plenty of spectacle, pomp and all the pageantry you can expect for a ceremony that is really nearly 1,000 years old.”

Source: Read Full Article