LONDON — Britain’s King Charles III will be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey next May in a ceremony set to follow the traditional pageantry used for anointing monarchs over the last 1,000 years, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday.
Charles, 73, automatically became king on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, last month, but the grand coronation ceremony for him and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, will now take place on Saturday, May 6.
Kings and queens of England, and later Britain and the United Kingdom, have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066.
Charles is the 41st monarch in a line that traces its origins back to William, and he will be the oldest monarch to be crowned.
Charles is king and head of state not only of the United Kingdom but of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.