From the elite to the common people. The celebrations for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camila change tone this Sunday with thousands of community parties organized in cities and towns in the United Kingdom and the staging at sunset of a macro-concert of music, dance, theater and poetry in the historic setting of Windsor Castle, on the outskirts of London. In the aftermath of the splendid ceremonial day of the previous day, criticism remains about the actions of Scotland Yard, which made fifty arrests to prevent protest actions in an "event that happens once in a generation."
The Big Lunch, the great lunch, is bringing together thousands of British and foreign neighbors on the festive coronation bridge. They are festivals of a neighborhood, a neighborhood or a community of traditional roots, which arise spontaneously before events of national caliber. The initiative, which was relaunched by the organization Eden Projects Community, gained popularity with the entry of Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, on its board of trustees in 2013.
The kings will be absent from communal meals, but the Dukes of Edinburgh, Edward and Sofia, will sit at the table in Cranleigh, a town in Surrey close to their family home, Princess Anne and her husband Tim Laurence will share dishes in Swindon, in the English county of Wiltshire, and Beatriz and Eugenia de York will join a lunch in Windsor. And, although it was not officially planned, shortly after two in the afternoon, the princes of Wales, William and Catherine, have surprised the crowds with their surprise appearance at one of the street parties in London. Nor has the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, wanted to stop adding one of them, who has also done so together with the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden.
Steve Winwood, Lionel Richie, Kate Perry and the Take That band stand out among the cast of musicians who will perform at the Coronation Concert after dark. Some 20,000 guests selected by lottery or for their dedication to volunteering and charitable causes will occupy the stands provisionally set up on the lawn of the castle that was Elizabeth II's preferred official residence in England. Millions more will have the opportunity to follow the show in live and deferred broadcasts through the different platforms of the BBC, organizer of this popular event.
The stage is inspired by the British flag, the Union Jack, with its distinctive crossed crosses and the trio of colors red, blue and white, and can accommodate an orchestral ensemble of 74 members and varied backgrounds. It is also designed to house the Coronation Choir, a 300-voice ensemble made up of members of regional and social groups, from the South England Maritime Rescue Service to a community of Northern Irish farmers, refugees settled in Wales or gay collectives. A second virtual chorus includes voices from countries in the Commonwealth, the commonwealth of independent nations created after the fall of the British Empire.
The poster of the event fits with the love of the kings for dance, theater, music and art in general. In the classical spectrum, the Chinese pianist Lang Lang will interpret excerpts from the soundtrack of Mulan, the Disney film, while Andrea Bocelli will sing a duet aria with the baritone Bryn Terfel, according to the program advanced by Buckingham Palace . A stellar moment will undoubtedly be provided by the collaboration of three great British firms with a monarchical tradition: the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Ballet, the Royal Opera Chorus and the Royal College of Art.
Meanwhile, the actors Joan Collins and Tom Cruise, the singer Tom Jones and other super stars will reveal, in two pre-recorded interventions, "little little-known facts" about the king, whose coronation at 74 years of age represents the culmination of a long wait and six decades of experience as Prince of Wales.
Paddington Bear had tea with Elizabeth II during the glittering Platinum Jubilee show, staged three months before the queen's death in September 2022. Her heir and daughter-in-law are now preparing a surprise with another famous character from fiction, Winnie-The Pooh, created by the writer AA Milne from a stuffed animal that he bought for his son, back in the twenties of the last century.
On the other hand, the London Police defended the "proportionate" performance of its troops on Saturday, who arrested 56 individuals in the hours before the royal parades to prevent possible attacks against the king or interruptions of the ceremonies. "There is no longer the right to peaceful protest in this country," Graham Smith, director of the anti-monarchy organization Republic, protested on Twitter, who was arrested near Trafalgar Square as he was unloading banners from a van.
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