A shifting father-son second. Prince William participated within the coronation of his father, King Charles III, by paying homage to the brand new monarch.
After presenting Charles, 74, with the Stole Royal and the Gown Royal, the Prince of Wales, 40, delivered the standard homage. “I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you, and religion and fact I’ll bear unto you as your liege man of life and limb, so assist me God,” the Duke of Cornwall stated earlier than kissing his father on the cheek.
Friends on the coronation then paid homage as a gaggle, saying, “God save King Charles. Lengthy stay King Charles. Could the king stay endlessly.” Prince Harry, sitting within the third row, might be seen saying the oath together with cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.
The homage is a convention the place royal blood princes and senior friends pay tribute to the brand new king or queen by putting their palms between the monarch’s knees, swearing allegiance, touching the crown and kissing the sovereign’s proper hand. Probably the most senior peer delivers the phrases of homage.
Whereas earlier coronations have included a number of friends paying homage, Charles determined that his eldest son can be the one peer to take part within the custom. Because the Prince of Wales and direct inheritor to the throne, William is probably the most senior peer in England, so he was tasked with delivering the standard speech of fealty.
When Charles’ late mom, Queen Elizabeth II, was topped in 1953, her husband, Prince Philip, delivered the phrases of homage, however he was adopted by a number of different dukes who carried out the ritual of putting their palms between her knees and swearing their loyalty.
Had Charles enlisted different dukes to take part within the homage, William would have been joined by his brother, Harry, 38, who maintained his Duke of Sussex title after stepping down as a senior working royal in 2020. The opposite friends concerned would have been the king’s brothers — Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh — and the queen’s cousins Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester.
The slimming down of the homage is just one of many modifications Charles made to his official coronation ceremony. For starters, the occasion was deliberate to final just one hour, whereas his mom’s went on for 4 hours. Invites solely went out to 2,000 friends, whereas 8,000 have been despatched for the coronations of Elizabeth and her father, George VI.
The modifications are consistent with what royal specialists have stated about Charles’ plans to streamline the monarchy following Elizabeth’s demise in September 2022.
“I’ve had this extraordinary feeling, for years and years, ever since I can bear in mind actually, of desirous to heal and make issues higher,” the previous Prince of Wales defined in a 2013 Time cowl story. “I really feel greater than the rest it’s my obligation to fret about all people and their lives on this nation, to attempt to discover a method of bettering issues if I probably can.”
