After all the buildup, the scandals and the controversies – How stripped down would the affair be? Would Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend? Would people take the oath of allegiance? – the coronation of King Charles III Saturday, May 6, at Westminster Abbey in London emphasized the profoundly religious aspect of the ceremony. Like a baptism or confirmation – with its special rituals, symbols, clothing and music – the coronation underscored the covenant between an individual and God, which in this case must also be a covenant between a king and his people, who are going through a tough time.
Indeed, everything about the service underlined the word service – from the texts and remarks to the superb music invoking the connection between heavenly and earthly kingship and heavenly and earthly stewardship. You can never go wrong with George Frideric Handel (“Zadok the Priest”) or Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel singing the “Kryie Eléison” (“Lord, Have Mercy”) or South African coloratura Pretty Yende, resplendent in yellow and diamonds, singing “Sacred Fire.” But for me the musical highlight was the otherworldly “Agnus Dei” (“Lamb of God”) by British American composer Tarik O’Regan, one of 12 commissions by the king, said to be the most cultured ruler of Great Britain since George III.
Contemporary classical music – under siege in Great Britain and elsewhere, like much classical culture – seeks to reconcile the traditional harmonies of the Baroque through Romantic periods (17th through 19th centuries) with the dissonance of 20th-century music. O’Regan achieved this exquisitely in a kind of call and response between the angelic soprano line (“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world”) and the yearning line for the lower voices (“have mercy on us”) that culminated with their harmonic convergence on the word “peace.” It was a sublime moment.
Much was made of the difference between this coronation and that of the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The main difference was that this one was in living color and by that I don’t mean only color TV as opposed to the black and white of the new-found medium of the queen’s day. Color reigned in the fashion but also in the faces of the king’s subjects who took part in the ceremony, representing different faiths, ethnicities and races.
There was also a humanity that seemed lacking in the 1953 coronation. Except for the then-4-year-old Prince Charles – watched over by his adored grandmother, the Queen Mother – there wasn’t a muscle moved that didn’t have to be at the queen’s confirmation. On Saturday, Charles adjusted his golden raiment just as Queen Camilla swept aside her feathery hairdo under her imperial crown. The king, visibly moved when son William, Prince of Wales, pledged his loyalty to him, then kissed him on the cheek, said, “Thank you, William.” You wonder what Prince Harry, exiled with his disgraced uncle, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, to the third row of minor royals without the presence of his wife, thought as he watched that and the rest of the proceedings? Was he thinking of the mother and what might’ve been?
Diana, the late Princess of Wales, was represented not only by her sons but by William’s wife – Catherine, the current Princess of Wales – who wore her diamond and drop-pearl earrings. The Princess of Wales also wore a diamond necklace that had been commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II by her father King George VI when she was Princess Elizabeth; a ceremonial blue cape; and a white gown by Alexander McQueen embroidered in silver with the floral symbols of England (the rose), Scotland (the thistle), Wales (the daffodil) and Ireland (the shamrock) and a tiara-like leafy silver headdress. While some were outraged that she didn’t wear an actual tiara, it was an outfit that crystallized the tone of the event, which threaded the needle to deliver an occasion of splendor in a lower key.
Still, the streamlined coronation weekend – which culminated in a concert from Windsor Castle Sunday, May 7, and a bank holiday Monday, May 8 – is estimated to have cost between $125 million and $315 million at a time when one in five Britons live in poverty. The “Sacred Fire” Yende sang of was the baptism by fire facing King Charles III if he cannot do what he has done with the Prince’s Trust on a smaller scale and help his people not only survive and thrive.
Without Charles making the most of the present, there may not be a future monarchy as foreshadowed by the youngest royals. Prince George, William and Catherine’s eldest, served as a page of honor, helping to carry his grandfather’s train, while sister Princess Charlotte – a mini me of her mother in a white McQueen ensemble and leafy silver headband atop an elaborate chignon – attended baby bro Prince Louis. As we saw last year at the queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Louis is something of a live wire.
Charlotte held his hand as they waited with their parents at the entrance of the abbey and listened attentively as the awed 5 year old pointed out people and things of interest. Clearly, she is the Louis whisperer.
Hey, somebody’s going to have to host the Christmas dinners one day. You go, Charlotte.