Historical past, after all, had been made already: Charles ascended to the throne upon the loss of life of the queen. However the coronation sanctifies a monarch’s rule and, by a nationwide celebration, goals to bind the sovereign to the individuals.
If Elizabeth’s coronation was one of many world’s first mass-media occasions, its black-and-white photographs transmitted globally by the BBC, this was the primary coronation of the digital age, shared by spectators on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Fb.
“I’m simply intrigued,” mentioned Zoë Boyce, 24, as she waited on a blanket in a park with a good friend, Sarah Chappell, 23. Ms. Boyce insisted she was “not a giant fan” of the monarchy, however mentioned, “I believe you possibly can respect it with out supporting it.”
“It’s only a day in historical past isn’t it?” Ms. Chappell added.
There have been discordant notes. Hours earlier than the service started, the police arrested the pinnacle of Britain’s most distinguished republican motion, Graham Smith, and others who had deliberate to protest in Trafalgar Sq., alongside the procession route.
Mr. Smith mentioned this previous week that the anti-monarchists would chant and brandish placards saying, “Not My King,” however wouldn’t disrupt the proceedings. But the police, armed with a much-disputed new regulation that permits them to crack down on demonstrations, rounded up Mr. Smith and others, nicely earlier than Charles appeared.