With the utmost pomp and pageantry, like Elizabeth II 70 years ago, Charles III ceremoniously accepted the baton of the British Crown before the eyes of more than 100 heads of state and representatives of 200 countries who vibrated with the emotion of the historic acts under the Warheads from Westminster Abbey.
More than 7,000 soldiers and 19 military bands wrapped up King Charles and Queen Camilla on their triumphant return to Buckingham Palace after the liturgical act that lasted for two hours, while tens of thousands of Britons packed along the two kilometers of tour to sing the well-known "God save the king!". With his ermine cape and imperial state crown, Carlos emerged with Camila on Buckingham's balcony to the enthusiasm of the public, which vibrated to the passage of the "red arrows", in a reduced version due to bad weather but spectacular enough to enhance the occasion.
The heavy rain and the arrest of several anti-monarchist protesters in Trafalgar Square provided a lackluster counterpoint to an event that will go down in the annals of the 21st century as the beginning of a new era for the British monarchy, already baptized by some historians as the ' she was Carolingian.
The other two dissonant notes at the Coronation were the solitary presence of Prince Harry, who will return to the United States in 24 hours, and the appearance of Prince Andrew, booed by the crowd and dressed in the robes of the Order of the Garter.
Carlos wanted a sober and reduced ceremony, but in the end agreed to a celebration compared in all respects to the coronation of his own mother in 1953, also rivaling the state funeral of Winston Churchill.
The largest police operation in the history of the United Kingdom, with 11,500 agents deployed through the streets and an "exclusion zone" in the rainy skies of the British capital, guaranteed the safety of the monarch, who traveled with his wife in two royal carriages the journey between Buckingham and the abbey.
Shouts of "Not my king!" ("He is not my king") reached the ears of the monarch as he passed through Trafalgar Square, where more than 200 militants from the Republic group gathered with their yellow badges. The director of the anti-monarchist group, Graham Smith, was detained without further explanation at 7:30 in the morning while he was distributing several banners. The police eventually arrested more than twenty protesters in compliance with the new and draconian Public Order Law.
The bad weather did not deter the crowd that had been gathering since early Saturday morning and who resisted despite the rain until the highly anticipated moment of the departure of the kings to Buckingham's balcony.
The still recent memory of Elizabeth II in her last public appearance during the Platinum Jubilee, barely 11 months ago, surely weighed on Carlos. For Camila, dressed for the occasion by Bruce Oldfield (who was also Diana's favorite designer for years), it was the defining moment of her redemption from the British.
Crowned alongside her husband (in Mary of Teck's 2,000-diamond crown), Camila was a comforting presence for Charles during the lengthy ceremony in which he was anointed with chrism oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who served as master. of ceremonies.
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