King Charles III will be the 40th monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The first was William the Conqueror in 1066, and since then only two monarchs (both named Edward) have not had coronations. Here’s a look at some of the ceremonies held at the abbey over almost 1000 years.
Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
The coronation of 27-year-old Elizabeth II, held on June 2, 1953, made history as the first coronation to be fully televised. It was watched by 27 million people in the UK and another 250 million around the world.
The ceremony was three hours long and attended by 8000 guests. Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill described it as “a day which the oldest are proud to have lived to see and the youngest will remember all their lives.”
As throngs of people lined the procession route in the rain, the news was relayed over loudspeakers that the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mt Everest, had been reached for the first time, by a British expedition led by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary. The Queen had actually been
