Protesters arrested, pomp running with military precision – and yet the king seemed weighted down, physically and metaphorically
When King Charles III, the oldest monarch ever to succeed to the British throne – and 14 other related thrones for that matter – was formally crowned in a traditional coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, it came with all the flummery, pomp, circumstance and ceremonial that the country can still manage.
We may not be able to make the trains run on time or fill in the potholes in our roads, but we can muster immaculately marching troops, their bearskins bobbing through the drizzle down the Mall, and military bands in perfect unison thanks to the electronic commands in the drummers’ earphones. The slightest hint of dissent was stamped out: the small group of anti-monarchists of the pressure group Republic gathering in Trafalgar Square were not even allowed to gather up the placards from their van before some were arrested and bundled off. Only the drizzle could apparently be allowed to rain on this parade.
Stephen Bates, a former Guardian correspondent, is the author of The Shortest History of the Crown (Old Street Publishing)
