Royal Family marks one year anniversary of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation with tribute video featuring poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage (and Prince Harry makes a very fleeting appearance!)
The Royal Family has marked the one year anniversary of King Charles and Queen Camilla‘s coronation by releasing a tribute video featuring a new poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.
The three-minute highlights video – which the Duke of Sussex makes a fleeting appearance in – includes footage from the Westminster Abbey service and the royals greeting fans who had lined the Mall in London.
Over 2,000 guests were invited to watch the historic service, including foreign royals, dignitaries and members of the public who had been recognised for their charity work.
The poem ‘An Unexpected Guest’ imagines the day through the eyes through the eyes of a member of the public and also includes prose from Samuel Pepys.
The video opens with a view from a train carriage speeding through the English countryside as the Poet Laureate reads the opening lines.
Pictured: Footage from King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation featured in a new Royal Family video posted on X this afternoon
The poem begins with the guest travelling to London on a train before later taking her seat beside ‘ambulance drivers and nurses and carers and charity workers’ who had also been invited.
The Poet Laureate even makes reference to Max Woosey, the boy who has raised over £700,000 for the North Devon Hospice by sleeping in a tent in his parents’ garden for three years.
The video then shows footage of members of the public soaking in the atmosphere along the Mall in the lead-up to the Coronation before jumping to a clip of Tower Bridge during golden hour.
Following this, viewers are shown the exterior of Westminster Abbey as Armitage’s ‘imagined guest’ arrives at the historic site to attend the Coronation.
The video jumps to a fleeting shot of Prince Harry inside the Abbey sitting beside cousin Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbank.
The Duke of Sussex was in the UK for just 28 hours to attend his father and step-mother’s coronation before returning to Montecito, California.
After this, the clip shows the Coronation procession – including Lord President of the Privvy Council Penny Morduant carrying the Jewelled Sword of Offering.
Armitage continues: ‘There are golden and sacred things going on: glimpses of crimson, flashes of jewels
‘Like flames, high priests in their best bling, the solemn wording of incantations and spells.’
The video jumps to a fleeting shot of Prince Harry inside the Abbey sitting beside cousin Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbank
Viewers are shown the exterior of Westminster Abbey as Armitage’s ‘imagined guest’ arrives at the historic site to attend the Coronation
Pictured: Poet Laureate Simon Armitage with King Charles – then Prince of Wales – in Wales in July 2021
Left: King Charles seen greeting royal fans ahead of the Coronation. Right: A security guard seen along the Mall during the celebrations
Following the Coronation reimagining, Armitage asks: ‘She’ll watch it again on the ten o’clock news from the armchair throne in her living room:
‘Did the cameras notice her coral pink hat or her best coat pinned with the hero’s medal she got for being herself?’
The video has amassed over 92,000 views since it was uploaded on X, formerly known as Twitter, this afternoon and proved to be a hit with royal fans.
One gushed: ‘This is so lovely.’
Another added: ‘Simon Armitage’s poem “An Unexpected Guest” captures the anticipation and pride of a community member attending the coronation a year ago.
‘It beautifully portrays the blend of personal pride and communal celebration on such a grand occasion.’
A third added: ‘I love this especially the part that says, “the medal she received for being herself”.’
Meanwhile, a fourth added: ‘Wow! Goosebumps.’
Gun salutes were heard across London today in celebration of the Coronation with 41 volleys fired at noon by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Green Park.
One hour later the Honourable Artillery Company fired a 62-gun salute from Tower Wharf – an extra 21 for the City of London. Gun salutes also took place at Cardiff Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Hillsborough Castle and at York’s Museum Gardens.
Charles is thought to want to mark the anniversary ‘in his mother’s mould’ with very little fuss, because his accession is so bound with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
And the Royal Family account tweeted at about 8.20am this morning: ‘Today marks the first anniversary of The King and Queen’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey.
The carriage procession (left) and the drone show at the concert (right) were in the video shared this morning
Children also featured in the highlights video released by the Royal Family this morning
Pomp and pageantry reigned at the Coronation of King Charles, as shown in the new video
‘As well as the service itself, the Coronation Weekend saw a carriage procession through central London, a fly-past, a Royal Salute by 4,000 troops in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, a Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle and a UK-wide volunteering initiative. What’s your favourite memory of the weekend?’
The video accompanying the post featured various clips of highlights including the carriage procession, concert and Charles meeting royal fans.
It comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury praises Charles’s ‘sense of duty’ as he returned to public-facing events following his cancer diagnosis.
Charles attended three events last week as he resumed public-facing royal duties, indicating the positive effect of the cancer treatment he is receiving as an outpatient.
Justin Welby said anointing and crowning the King during last year’s ceremony was the ‘privilege of a lifetime’, and he paid tribute to the King’s ‘openness in sharing his condition’ – a ‘characteristic of his willingness to help and support others’.
Mr Welby said in a statement: ‘As we mark a year since the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, we celebrate their service and give thanks for their contribution to the life of our nation.
‘On that historic day in Westminster Abbey, King Charles said he came not to be served but to serve – following the example of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.
‘It was the privilege of a lifetime to anoint and crown His Majesty, surrounded by so many of the charities and organisations he supports, as well as hundreds of people who are serving their communities.
‘The Coronation weekend inspired millions up and down the country to volunteer, and I’m delighted that the Big Help Out is returning in June, for us to get together and make a difference.
‘The past year has presented the King with some great personal challenges. But I have been struck by his continued sense of duty, having recently returned to royal engagements following treatment.
‘His openness in sharing his condition has been characteristic of his willingness to help and support others.
‘I continue to pray for King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Royal Family. May God guide, comfort and strengthen them in their service to us all.’
