Coronation will be a family affair for Coldstream Guards officer

Coronation will be a family affair for Coldstream Guards officer set to carry flag from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace – his ancestor carried sword of state when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1661

• Lieutenant Lachlan de Klee said his relatives had taken part in the past two Coronations 
• He will carry the King’s Colour from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace 

The King’s Coronation Procession is set to be a family affair for some of the military personnel, with their ancestors playing key roles in processions as far back as the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Lieutenant Lachlan de Klee, who will be the Ensign for the Coldstream Guards, said his relatives had taken part in the past two Coronations, and his ancestor, John Leslie, the Duke of Rothes, carried the sword of state at King Charles II’s Coronation on April 23, 1661.

‘I think it’s become quite diluted now but it’s nice to have that link all the way back, but there is definitely a massive sense of pride,’ he said.

Lieutenant de Klee is due to carry the King’s Colour from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. He described the flag, which has all the battle honours on it, as the ‘beating heart of the regiment’.

He said his grandfather took part in the Coronation of the late Queen and his great-grandfather participated in George VI’s Coronation.

Pictured: Lieutenant Lachlan de Klee poses for a portrait after a rehearsal of the tri-service military accompaniment to the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla at Aldershot Barracks on April 28, 2023

Pictured: John Leslie, the Duke of Rothes, who carried the sword of state at King Charles II’s Coronation

Speaking about whether he believed he would have children participating in future Coronations, he joked: ‘I’ll have to make sure I’ve got some good to go in however many years’ time.’

Asked if he was nervous ahead of the event on May 6, Lieutenant de Klee said: ‘We’ve had the excitement of doing countless other ceremonial occasions. We did the Queen’s funeral, state visits, state opening of Parliament, so nerves should be okay.

‘But this one, I think, probably will top them all.’

Second Lieutenant Archie Denison-Smith is due to carry the same sword his great-grandfather held during the 1953 Coronation.

He said: ‘My great-grandfather joined the army in 1937, he served in the Second World War, and was an usher inside the abbey on Her Majesty’s Coronation in 1953.’

He added that the sword is ‘a pretty special thing to be carrying on this Coronation’.

A platoon commander in the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, 2nd Lieutenant Denison Smith, said his family’s affiliation with the armed forces has spanned four centuries, with an order of service for Queen Victoria’s Coronation sitting at home.

Speaking after a rehearsal for the King’s Coronation parade in Aldershot, Hampshire, the 24-year-old said: ‘It’s an opportunity to celebrate everything good with the fact that we’ve got a constitutional monarchy.

‘We’re all very excited to welcome the King into the job.

‘It’s a once in a generation opportunity. We’ve not seen anything like this since the last Coronation so not in any of our lives. So I’m nervous, but also really excited.’

Portrait of King Charles III, taken by Hugo Burnand in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace and released on April 28, 2023

Second Lieutenant Denison-Smith is also due to carry the King’s Colour as an ensign during the procession.

He said: ‘Both my father and grandfather who are luckily still alive are both in the regiment, so I know they’re going to be glued to the television and picking up everything I get wrong.

‘It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, put it that way.’

Millions watching the Coronation around the world are to be asked to cry out and swear allegiance to the King, with the public given an active role in the ancient ceremony for the first time in history.

The King’s Coronation has been modernised to include the first ever Homage of the People.

Lambeth Palace said it was hoped the significant change to the historic service will result in a ‘great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King’ from those watching on television, online or gathered in the open air at big screens.

It replaces the traditional Homage of Peers in which a long line of hereditary peers knelt and made a pledge to the monarch in person.

The liturgy has been revealed, having been decided upon in close consultation with the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Government.

The new Homage of the People was introduced to allow ‘a chorus of millions of voices’ to be ‘enabled for the first time in history to participate in this solemn and joyful moment’, Lambeth Palace said.

Pictured: The Anointing Screen which has been designed and produced for use during the Coronation Service on May 6 at Westminster Abbey. The Anointing takes place before the investiture and crowning of His Majesty

The Archbishop will call upon ‘all persons of goodwill in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other Realms and the Territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all’.

The order of service will read: ‘All who so desire, in the Abbey, and elsewhere, say together:

‘All: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.’

It will be followed by the playing of a fanfare.

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop’s office, said: ‘The Homage of the People is particularly exciting because that’s brand new.

‘That’s something that we can share in because of technological advances, so not just the people in the Abbey, but people who are online, on television, who are listening, and who are gathered in parks, at big screens and churches.

‘Our hope is at that point, when the Archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if they’re watching at home on their own, watching the telly, will say it out loud – this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King.’

The words printed in the service are for ‘everyone to share in’, the spokesperson said.

Before the Homage of the People, the Archbishop of Canterbury will pay homage representing the Church of England, followed by the Prince of Wales, performing what is the only Homage of Royal Blood.

Just like his grandfather, Prince Philip, did for his wife Queen Elizabeth II at her Coronation, Prince William will kneel before the monarch, place his hands between his father’s and vow to be his ‘liege man of life and limb’.

He will say: ‘I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.’

The symbolic act means the heir to throne, as ‘liege man’ to the King, has a mutual obligation to the monarch.

In the past, other dukes of royal blood would pay homage, but this time, with only Prince William taking part from the Royal Family, it removes the need for the controversial Dukes of Sussex and York to undertake this role.

The removal of the homages of hereditary peers also has the benefit of helping to reduce the length of the service, which is now two hours instead of around three, as it was at the late Queen’s Coronation.

Prince William has another duty during the service.

He will enter the Coronation theatre earlier in the ceremony in the investiture segment and help clothe the King in the robe royal, also known as the mantle, ahead of the crowning.

Prince William will join Baroness Merron, former Board of Deputies of British Jews chief executive, and help bishops to lift the ‘robe of righteousness’ on to his father.

The robe represents what the King, as sovereign, has been given by God.

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