Three cheers for King Charles III: The BSS celebrates the Coronation
- Posted by Amy Bell
- On May 11, 2023
On Saturday 6 May was the long-awaited Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London. The King was crowned alongside the Queen Consort Camilla, in a ceremony attended by heads of state, dignitaries and foreign royalty including King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.
BritishSpanish Society chairman Jimmy Burns Marañón was active on Spanish media over the weekend, contributing to coverage on La Hora de La 1 on RTVE, to a profile of the King on RTVE led by former London correspondent Anna Bosch, and to El Pais online. Our members took part in celebrations around the country.
Here Burns reflects on the coronation, constitutional monarchy and the Queen’s coronation in 1953:
“I was just a few months old in 1953 when Prince Charles, aged 4, watched his mother crowned Queen. It was a different era, and today only one per cent of the population of the UK were adult enough at the time to remember. Today was quite simply a memorable day for many of all ages and across nations watching the Coronation of King Charles III, drawing on centuries of tradition, deep faith and engagement with the diverse nature of modern society – a monarchy with enduring history, one for our times and for the future.
Its organisation, not least the sacramental service and military parade, is a real showcase to the world with 6,000 journalists covering live coverage in 22 countries. As they say of James Bond, no one does it better – no country could stage such an event or have a better sense of its identity.
No politician in the works has had Charles’s popularity rating, still less that of his son William. The magic of constitutional monarchy is that it cuts across faiths and party politics and touches the divine in its service to others and personification of the common good.
Long Live the King!”
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