In Monty Python country, it would be sacrilegious not to make fun of the powerful. As with every royal event, apart from the funeral, Channel 4 has planned a weekend of “counter-programming” to salute the accession to the throne of Charles III. For those who would like to escape the marathon of celebrations commented by the BBC’s top experts, the channel has recruited the cream of comedians for a program which openly declares itself “irreverent”.
Known for his dark humour, Scottish Frankie Boyle will deliver his “Farewell to the Monarchy”, a very personal version of a thousand years of royal history. Actor Harry Enfield will orchestrate a “scandalous satire” on the Windsors in the midst of a purchasing power crisis. He will play the role of Charles and we will see him having a nervous breakdown when William, played by actor Hugh Skinner, tries by all means to reduce royal expenses. Finally, the former BBC star journalist, Emily Maitlis, will tell in a two-hour documentary the backstage of her famous interview with Prince Andrew in 2019, when the latter tried in vain to minimize his links with Jeffrey Epstein, the American billionaire and sex criminal. This interview – which will be adapted on the big screen in 2024 with Gillian Anderson in the role of the journalist – had put an end to the royal functions of the younger brother of Charles III.
The monarchy to reconcile a divided country
But if our British friends like mockery, it’s as much out of defiance as out of modesty. Once their act of irreverence has been accomplished, they will be able to indulge in the emotion and mystique of the coronation and its age-old traditions. As summarized by John Crace, author of a famous caustic parliamentary column for the daily The Guardian “I’m a Republican at heart but… I don’t want to miss this!”
This coronation comes eight months after the death of Elizabeth II, which strongly marked the spirits. The choreography of his funeral during the ten days of national mourning, leading his heirs from Scotland to England, and from Wales to Northern Ireland, fully played its role of national reconciliation after six years of turbulence and heartbreak post -Brexit. We will remember the coffin of the queen resting in the cathedral of Saint-Gilles in Edinburgh and the processions in each capital of the kingdom. In Cardiff, the Welsh anthem was sung after God Save the King, and in Belfast, Charles was received by an elected representative of Sinn Fein, the former enemy, and that under the eyes of the Irish president. Which makes Dan Wincott, professor of law at Cardiff University, say: “The care and attention with which Charles cultivates ties with the leaders of the four nations contrasts with the political abrasiveness of the various Conservative governments since 2016.”
We remember that Boris Johnson, during the pandemic, never consulted his counterparts before his decision-making and that his short-lived successor, Liz Truss, did not hide her enmity towards them, qualifying one day Nicola Sturgeon, the former First Scottish minister, from “mourner in need of affection.” After the reconciliation around the remains of Elizabeth, will the coronation of Charles III mark the beginning of a refoundation? Historians who have a long-term view of these events are convinced of this.
For all Britons under the age of 70, it is indeed the first crowning achievement of their existence. They will be the witnesses of an exceptional moment, founder of their history and their identity. We tend to forget it, but the pageantry and pomp are there to underline the political essence of the coronation. Because in the United Kingdom, the political, the ceremonial and the constitutional are one. As summarized by Ian Bradley, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History at the University of Saint Andrews and author of God Save the King: The Sacred Nature of the Monarchy : “In the absence of a written constitution, it is the oaths taken by the monarch at his coronation which serve as principles of governance.” The first two oaths date from the coronation of King Edgar in the year 973 and were written by the Archbishop of Canterbury: the sovereign undertakes to enforce the laws of the kingdom according to two cardinal principles, justice and compassion. The third oath, religious, has been revised many times through the ages.
Charles would have liked a more open formulation than “Defender of the Faith” and Supreme Leader of the Anglican Church. He who is interested in Islam and the orthodox rites of his father gladly prefers to call himself “protector of all beliefs”. But only Parliament can modify this title and it will probably be necessary to wait for the next sovereign to see the amended formula. For the first time however, and at the request of Charles III, four peers of the kingdom sitting in the House of Lords, in turn Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jew, will play a leading role in this Westminster Abbey, where unfolds the coronation of the kings of England for 900 years. Each will bring to the monarch an insignia of his royal power: the toga, the ring, the bracelets of sincerity and wisdom and the glove. Their presence is only symbolic, but it is precisely in these moments that the symbol takes on an unequaled force of unification and refoundation.
“A ritual perpetuated without interruption since the Bronze Age”
These ecumenical additions to the tradition, desired by Charles III, demonstrate the adaptation of a thousand-year-old institution to the ethnic and religious evolution of British society. And it is on this ground of inclusion, which he has been preparing for many years, that the reign of Charles III will be judged. The sovereign knows that the support of the British must be constantly renewed and the link with his subjects maintained. The polls show that nothing is ever certain. If 65% of them consider the monarchy as important for the country, they were 86% to think so in 1983. The coronation should strengthen the links between the institution and its subjects.
These are the historians who speak best of these meteorites of History which suddenly come to enlighten a modern society. “This coronation is the constitutional equivalent of a visit to the zoo, during which you come across a triceratops” – these three-horned dinosaurs from the Cretaceous era – illustrates Tom Holland. “Charles III owes his throne to the branch of Wessex dating from the 6th century and the first king of Scots descended from the Picts. Apart from Japan and the Vatican, there is no older royalty.”
As for the divine anointing, the most solemn and sacred moment, which will not be filmed by the cameras, “it comes directly from the Old Testament and from the verse describing the anointing of King Solomon. We are going to be the witnesses of a ritual perpetuated without interruption since the Bronze Age.” At this key moment, the king gets rid of his sumptuous clothes to wear only a simple white shirt. Seated on the throne of Saint-Edouard, a gothic-style oak seat dating from 1308 and only used on the day of the coronation, he then receives the blessed oil poured with a spoon, used for this purpose since the 12th century. Beneath the throne is the Stone of Destiny, which represents union with Scotland.
For Tom Holland, there will always be voices to ridicule this pomp, this splendor and this mystique, but there will be as many, and undoubtedly many more “who will realize with wonder the fabulous antiquity of our roots and the supernatural side of our constitutional legacy.” As Queen Elizabeth II said, “You have to see us to believe it.” Charles understood the lesson well.