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Coronation fever is running high but Charles’ big day will be less elaborate than his mother’s crowning 70 years ago 

- NICI DE WET

THIS time 70 years ago the world was abuzz with excitement. A beautiful young woman was preparing to be crowned queen and, for millions of people wearied by war and weighed down by lingering austerity measures, it was a golden light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Queen Elizabeth, with her dashing husband by her side, had movie star status and the lead up to her coronation captured the imagination of the globe. 

But the world is a very different place now. And if one person knows that, it’s King Charles III.

For starters, he’s 74, his mother was 26. Back then the royal family – although it’s always had its critics – was on a pedestal, almost untouchable.

These days it’s conflicted and complex, riven by scandals and drama and at the mercy of the internet generation who regularly question and criticise. The UK is also in the midst of one of the biggest cost of living crises in history and the monarch is well aware that an over-the-top occasion wouldn’t be good for optics.

Which is why he’s been at pains to ensure his coronation on Saturday 6 May will be a scaled-down event with fewer guests, less extravagance and a far shorter ceremony.

But make no mistake: this doesn’t mean it’s not going to be grand. There will be carriages, there will be jewels, there will be anthems, there will be bells ringing out on the streets.

“It’s still going to be everything you’d expect of a coronation,” says Jennie Bond, former BBC royal correspondent. “Except more inclusive, relevant and less archaic.”

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