6th May 2023: there was nothing more special than the coronation of King Charles III.
Everyone knows that Charles III has been crowned a recently in front of 4 billion spectators at Westminster Abbey. Thousands of people were expected to line the Mall and the areas around Buckingham Palace to catch a glimpse of the coronation procession and 2,000 guests attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately I was at school and I was doing my Math test so I could just imagine how a modern monarchy was able to revamp a medieval ritual into something accessible to a younger, more diverse United Kingdom. Anyway it’s normal that every coronation is an important moment for all British citizens and the Britain itself. I did my research and I discovered there are a lots of symbolic items related to this historical moment and it is packed with tradition in Westminster such as the “Stone of Scone” also known as the Stone of Destiny, it is an oblong block of sandstone with a cross carved into one surface and iron rings at each end to help with transport. It is located under the Coronation Chair that will host King Charlesd III and that was used for the inaugurations of Scottish kings hundreds of years ago, seized from Scotland in 1296 by King Edward I of England and its first use was to crown a Scottish king in 840 AD. Since then, about 60 kings and queens have sat upon it during their coronations in the famous Coronation Chair and later it was immortalised by William Shakespeare. Another important item is the king’s crown, made of a solid gold, a foot tall, capped with velvet, lined with ermine and encrusted with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, topazes, tourmalines and a garnet. It’s heavy nearly 5 pounds . After the coronation we’ll see the king wearing it once in a year, only for special events because it is too heavy and the king doesn’t want to look with his wealth. The crown was named after St Edward the Confessor and it has been used to crown English and British monarchs since the 1300s. A new version of this crown was made in 1661, because the old one got melted down during the Civil War. The king held the Sovereign’s Orb in his right hand and two scepters during the service. The most significant and “strange thing” was the anointing. The archbishop of Canterbury poured consecrated oil from a 17th-century golden ampulla into a 12th-century spoon. The oil is harvested from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. (This time it’s vegan, but in past coronations it reportedly contained additives from the glands of small mammals and the intestines of whales.) He was anointed probably in three places — hands, breast and head.
There are also many legends related to the king’s coronation but as we can see everyone is talking about a hooded mysterious figure apperead in the background of a video shared on social media. Who’s under these dark clothes? Why is he wearing something so strange during an incoronation? Is he a reaper?
a mysterious figure appeared during the coronation ceremony in the United Kingdom, where he appeared wearing a black robe and holding a machete as if he was a “grim reaper” !!#Coronation #QueenCharlotte pic.twitter.com/AuTXwgYvct
— Mystery Empire (@mysteryempiire) May 6, 2023
Everyone associated this to the appereance of the death and others talked about it with the strangest theory! Fortunately someone clarified saying it is only a member of a clergy but we are not sure and the mystery goes on….
Anyway the only thing I can say is : “Long life to the King” and a regert came to mind: I wish I had been there!
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