--- title: How King Charles’ Coronation Differs from Queen Elizabeth's description: The last time a coronation ceremony took place for a King and Queen Consort was on May 12, 1937, when George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth assumed the throne. canonical: https://time.com/6273771/king-charles-iii-coronation-queen-elizabeth-ii/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-04-24T15:52:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:46:19.650Z article:section: History og:title: How Charles' Coronation Will Differ From Queen Elizabeth's og:description: The last time a coronation took place in Britain was when the late Queen was crowned on June 2, 1953. og:url: https://time.com/6273771/king-charles-iii-coronation-queen-elizabeth-ii/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33e7edc37ac87bd0/698a3c35e6e84a7e302b008a/coronation-king-charles-queen-elizabeth-king-george-57.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Coronations og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Charles' Coronation Will Differ From Queen Elizabeth's twitter:description: The last time a coronation took place in Britain was when the late Queen was crowned on June 2, 1953. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33e7edc37ac87bd0/698a3c35e6e84a7e302b008a/coronation-king-charles-queen-elizabeth-king-george-57.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # How King Charles III's Coronation Will Compare to the Ceremony for His Mother and Grandfather > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: How King Charles III's Coronation Will Compare to Previous Ceremonies [Watch (HLS stream): How King Charles III's Coronation Will Compare to Previous Ceremonies](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MjEbtHz7.m3u8) (3:34)  _Published 2023-05-02. King Charles III will be officially crowned head of the British monarchy on May 6 in Westminster Abbey, eight months after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96. The formal coronation rituals mostly haven’t changed for a thousand years, but each ceremony has also become an opportunity to reflect on how much Britain has changed._ Apr 24, 2023 3:52 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 24, 2023 3:52 PM UTC [King Charles III](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269819/king-charles/#:~:text=King%20Charles%20Is%20on%20the%202023%20TIME%20100%20List&text=TIME,-Connect%20Wallet) will be officially crowned head of the British monarchy on May 6 in Westminster Abbey, eight months after his mother, [Queen Elizabeth II](https://time.com/4619423/queen-elizabeth-dies/), died at the age of 96\. The formal [coronation](https://time.com/6270908/king-charles-coronation-guests/) rituals mostly haven’t changed [for a thousand years,](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/coronations-past-and-present/) but each ceremony has also become an opportunity to reflect on how much Britain has changed. The events, which are funded by the British taxpayer, also serve as a bright spot in dark times, and are a show of stability in the royal household during times of family drama. While most Britons are still in favor of a monarchy, some [polling](https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/monarchyroyal-family-trends-monarchy-v-republic-1993-2022) suggests that number has been steadily slipping over the last decade. An Ipsos poll shows 68% support the monarchy in 2022, down from 80% in 2012\. Young Brits tend to be more anti-monarchy, and that’s been the case for the [last three decades](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/public-support-for-the-monarchy-is-lowest-among-young-britons-but-thats-nothing-new). While the U.K. has previously gone all out for coronations, there is a [smaller guest list](https://time.com/6266973/king-charles-iii-coronation-latest/) for this year’s doo, and British pop stars—including Elton John and the Spice Girls—even [turned down invitations to perform](https://time.com/6259327/king-charles-coronation-performers-turned-down/). But the show will go on. The last time a coronation ceremony took place for a King and [Queen Consort](https://time.com/6211954/camilla-queen-consort-meaning/) was on May 12, 1937, when [George VI](https://time.com/4560425/king-george-death-the-crown/) and his wife Queen Elizabeth (known as the Queen Mother) assumed the throne after his brother Edward VIII [abdicated](https://time.com/5037780/prince-harry-meghan-markle-engaged-wallis-simpson/) to marry American divorcée [Wallis Simpson](https://time.com/5793482/wallis-simpson-100-women-of-the-year/). Their daughter, the future [Queen Elizabeth II](https://time.com/5411825/british-royal-household-memoirs/), was [an 11-year-old Princess](https://time.com/5298945/queen-elizabeth-princess/) back then.  With two weeks before the coronation of King Charles III takes place, his face and other royal merchandise is on display in the window of a party and balloon shop business in Kensington, on April 19, 2023. Richard Baker—In Pictures/Getty Images  A spectator stand is constructed near Buckingham Palace on April 18, 2023. Carl Court—Getty Images “In the case of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, it was really their opportunity to show that the monarchy was in good shape, after the trauma of the abdication which had only occurred five months earlier,” says Sally Bedell Smith, author of _George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy._ The 41-year-old King had assumed the position when Edward VIII [stepped down](https://time.com/3623760/abdication-edward-viii/) Dec. 10, 1936, so the coronation was basically a religious ceremony. “Legally and technically George VI was every inch as much a King the moment after Edward’s abdication was signed as he was after last week’s ceremony,” TIME explained to readers in the May 24, 1937, issue published after the ceremony. “What went on in the Abbey was a purely religious rite sanctifying King George as a monarch, anointing him as a persona mixta (half priest, half layman) and inheritor of the divine right of kings.”  The Mar. 8, 1937 cover of TIME, showing George VI PICTURES INC. American skepticism of the monarchy was clear from the way TIME summed up the point of the event: “Five months of intensive propaganda had told them what this 1937 Coronation was held for: a gorgeous and expensive pageant of the solidarity of the British Empire and the permanence of British institutions in a changing world.” But Smith argues that Britons welcomed the celebration in dreary times. “We had Hitler in power, busy rearming and preparing for war, the terrible economic depression—lots of menacing situations, particularly in Europe but also in Britain,” she says. “But nevertheless, the coronation was very elaborate. Millions of people were there, and I think people really wanted to see a major celebration.”  A woman sews Queen Elizabeth's crest for the Chair of Recognition, for the coronation ceremony of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on March 18, 1937. Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images  Steeplejacks fix colored map bulbs to the pinnacle of the Town Hall, ahead of the Coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on April 8, 1937. Ward/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images  People in the crowd use cardboard periscopes to catch a glimpse of the Gold State Coach en route to the coronation ceremony on May 12, 1937. Becker/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Britain was also in dire shape when George’s daughter [Queen Elizabeth II](https://time.com/6211771/when-did-queen-elizabeth-ii-become-queen/) succeeded him upon his death on Feb. 6, 1952\. By the time of her coronation more than a year later, Britain was still suffering from the deprivations following World War II, and shortages of basic goods were common, according to Smith, who also wrote _Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch_. And yet, Britons chose to go all out with a traditional coronation ceremony—which TIME pointed out cost 25 times more than the first inauguration for President Eisenhower. Support for the monarchy was still high as Elizabeth took the throne. TIME’s issue published after her coronation declared, “Five emperors, a dozen kings, and a score of minor dynasts have vanished in the wars, revolutions and other dislocations of the 20th century. Britain’s empire, too, is diminished, yet neither hot war nor cold war, nuclear nor social fission has tarnished the bright gold of the British crown. In an age that tends to reject ritual, scoff at virtue and call magic coincidence, the crown that was set this week on the head of Elizabeth II was more generally accepted because better understood, better loved because more respected, than it had ever been before.”  Students and artists from the Royal College of Art paint large scale emblems of the Commonwealth countries for the stands for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, on April 28, 1953. Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images  A crowd gathers to watch the return of Queen Elizabeth II to the Palace after the Coronation State Drive through London, on June 2, 1953. Reg Burkett—Keystone/Getty Images  Queen Elizabeth II, wearing the Imperial State crown and carrying the Orb and Sceptre, returns to Buckingham Palace from Westminster Abbey, London, following her Coronation. Topical Press Agency/Getty Images By contrast, King Charles III’s coronation has been billed as a stripped down affair as millions of Britons face a cost of living crisis due to inflation and energy costs. Smith sees a parallel in today’s bleak economic climate, arguing, “Now we have a situation where there is a lot of division and economic uncertainty. And so we see the King trying to strike a balance between honoring that tradition and underlining the continuity of this ceremony while acknowledging that Britain is very different.” Age is also a notable difference between King Charles III and his predecessors. Charles is 74 and Camilla is 75\. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was only 27 on her coronation day and walked down Westminster Abbey alone, representing “the promise of youth,” says Smith. Her father George VI was only 41 and the Queen Mother was only 36 on their coronation day. But the “promise of youth” will be represented at the 2023 coronation by Charles’s eldest son William, the Prince of Wales who is next in line to the throne and who will be the only one allowed to kneel before his father and kiss his right cheek during the ceremony, [the Sunday _Times_ reports](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-royal-family-reconcile-prince-harry-book-spare-interview-qbfxqxtlm). As Smith puts it, by being “front and center” in this way, he will show “what the next generation is going to look like.”  A window is cleaned on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on April 18, 2023. 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