Coronation route revealed
- Thread starter Blackleaf
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The Gold State Coach
The King and the Queen Consort will use the 260-year-old Gold State Coach for the first time on their journey BACK TO Buckingham Palace after being crowned in Westminster Abbey on May 6. The 7-metre-tall carriage weighs 4 tonnes and will travel at a walking pace due to its size. According to curator Sally Goodsir, this adds to the "majesty" of royal processions.
Coronation coach has electric windows and air con
Diamond Jubilee State Coach
On their journey TO the Coronation at Westminster Abbey, the King and Queen Consort will ride in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, first used in 2014, before returning in the Gold State Coach used in every coronation since the 1830s.
The return procession route will be much shorter length of Queen Elizabeth II's in 1953.
Crowds can watch the procession going along the Mall and Whitehall in London.
The carriage procession will be one of the spectacular sights of the coronation on 6 May.
The royal couple and other members of the Royal Family will head out from the gates of Buckingham Palace and travel to Westminster Abbey, where the coronation service will begin at 11:00 BST.
The 1.3 mile (2.1km) journey will take them down The Mall, through Admiralty Arch, along Whitehall and to Parliament Square before arriving at the Abbey.
Some 70 years ago, the Queen also travelled along Victoria Embankment by the River Thames, making her outward journey a slightly longer 1.6 miles (2.6 km).
The return leg, which has been named the Coronation Procession, will take the same 1.3 mile route back - but will be much larger in scale and feature military from across the Commonwealth as well as all services of the UK armed forces.
The Queen's return trip was around four times longer, covering 5 miles (8km). It took two hours and saw her waving to crowds along Piccadilly, Oxford Street and Regent Street.
It is understood the King's shorter route has been chosen for practical reasons.
The traditional Gold State Coach will be used on the way back to Buckingham Palace
On the route to Westminster Abbey the King and the Queen Consort will be in the newest of the royal carriages, the Australian-built Diamond Jubilee State Coach, instead of the traditional - but notoriously uncomfortable - Gold State Coach.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach looks traditional, but is actually modern, with air conditioning, electric windows and up-to-date suspension.
"It's made of aluminium, which is quite unusual, because most of them are made of wood, and it's also got hydraulic suspension, meaning that the ride is incredibly comfortable," says Sally Goodsir, curator at the Royal Collection Trust.
Matthew Power, head coachman, says with all the crowds he will have to keep the horses calm
It incorporates pieces of wood from historic ships and buildings, including HMS Victory, the Mary Rose, Balmoral Castle, Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
Viewed close up at the Royal Mews, the carriages are an explosion of gold and glass and polish. They are basically crowns on wheels.
It means the royal couple will be spared a bumpy ride on the way to the Abbey.
Recalling her coronation in 1953, Queen Elizabeth had described the ride in the 18th-Century gold state coach as "horrible" and "not very comfortable".
One of her predecessors, William IV, crowned in 1831, described his trip in the carriage as like being on a ship "in a rough sea".
Coronation coach has electric windows and air con
The coronation procession route will be much shorter than for the late Queen in 1953.
www.bbc.co.uk
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How is it a nothing event when it will be watched by millions of people in this country and millions or billions around the world? The Coronation of the British and Canadian monarch isn't a nothing event. It's one of the biggest national and international events you can think of.
Something that happens in a country called Canada. You've never been there.
Based on the banners on the top of the Scotiabank Arena, I have been alive for 4 Maple Leaf Stanley Cups. The oldest I was for them was 5.
It was the ancestor of the guy who invented the Stanley Cup who committed the Bolton Massacre here in my hometown during the English Civil War in 1644. Bolton was a Parliamentarian town and Lord Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby, was the leader of the Royalist army who committed the atrocity. So the Stanleys were, and probably still are, Royalists. It was the Governor General of Canada - the 16th Earl of Derby - who created the Stanley Cup.
Bolton was strange in that whereas most towns in northern England supported the monarchy during the Civil War, Bolton supported Parliament, which went on to win the war.
What I also think is weird is that the other leader of the Royalist army that committed the Bolton Massacre in 1644 was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the nephew of King Charles I and cousin of the then future King Charles II, yet I used to live near Rupert Street, which was named after him.
What I also think is weird is that the other leader of the Royalist army that committed the Bolton Massacre in 1644 was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the nephew of King Charles I and cousin of the then future King Charles II, yet I used to live near Rupert Street, which was named after him.