King Charles with his wife Camilla
On Wednesday, Scotland will celebrate King Charles and his wife Camilla’s coronation with a grand procession, a fly-past, and a thanksgiving ceremony.
In May, King Charles and Camilla were crowned in front of about 100 world leaders in London’s Westminster Abbey, in Britain’s largest ceremonial ceremony in seven decades.
When Queen Elizabeth died in September, the 74-year-old took over as monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms.
However, in recognition of the fact that England and Scotland had separate rulers until the crowns were united in 1603, there will be separate Scottish celebrations on Wednesday to mark his coronation.
A People’s Procession with roughly 100 people representing various areas of Scottish life, as well as a Royal Procession of hundreds of service personnel, will be held along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
Charles will be presented with the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels at a thanksgiving service in the city’s St Giles’ Cathedral, including the new Elizabeth Sword, named after his mother and made to replace the one gifted to Scotland’s James IV by Pope Julius in 1507 but now too fragile to use.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf said, “The Honours of Scotland have immense historical significance, having been present at many major ceremonial events over the past 500 years”.
“Designed and handcrafted with care by some of Scotland’s finest artisans, the Elizabeth Sword is a fitting tribute to the late queen as Scotland prepares to welcome the new king and queen”, Yousaf added.
The historic symbol of Scotland’s monarchy and nationhood, the Stone of Destiny, will be relocated to the cathedral for the service, for which the king has commissioned five new pieces of music.
King Charles will be accompanied by his eldest son Prince William and his wife Kate.
From Edinburgh Castle, a 21-gun salute will be fired, followed by a march back to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. A flypast will be performed by the Red Arrows aerobatic team will.
Protests by Republicans will take place on the Royal Mile, as they did during the coronation.
“This pointless vanity parade in Edinburgh will cost Scottish taxpayers millions of pounds, and for what? So Charles may be the focus of attention for a day again”, said Graham Smith, the chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic, who was arrested at the coronation in May.
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