Global Courant 2023-05-08 02:04:00
LONDON –
A day after a gilded coronation ceremony watched by millions, King Charles III and Queen Camilla had a much more relaxing time on Sunday when they attended a concert with Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and others at Windsor Castle.
Charles and Camilla seemed to be enjoying the show as Richie performed “All Night Long”, at one point standing up and swaying along to the music. Other members of the royal family, including Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince George, 9, waved Union flags, along with a crowd of some 20,000 gathered on the east terrace of the castle.
Charlotte and her mother, Kate, the Princess of Wales, sang along as Perry, dressed in a gold foil ballgown, performed “Roar”.
“Top Gun” star Tom Cruise appeared in a pre-recorded video message and said, “Pilot to pilot. Your Majesty, you can always be my wingman.” Other stars who performed at the concert included British boy band Take That, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls and opera star Andrea Bocelli.
Even Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog showed up, joking with host Hugh Bonneville.
Concertgoers sang “God Save The King” as UK landmarks were illuminated with colorful lights.
Earlier on Sunday, thousands of picnics and street parties were held across the UK in Charles’s honor. The community gatherings, part of a British tradition known as the Big Lunch, were a sober counterpart to the gilded spectacle of the King’s Coronation Saturday.
The events were designed to bring neighbors together to celebrate the coronation, even as support for the monarchy wanes. Critics bemoaned the cost of the coronation at a time of exorbitant living costs amid double-digit inflation.
But many took the opportunity to enjoy a party with friends and family. At London’s Regent’s Park, Valent Cheung and his girlfriend showed up to cheer on the new king with neighbors hugging them as they moved out of Hong Kong. They dressed up their loyal and “royal” fluffy white dog, Tino, with a little purple crown for the occasion.
“This is a new era for the UK,” Cheung said. “We didn’t have these things in Hong Kong. Now we embrace the culture. We want to enjoy it, we want to celebrate it.”
Charles and Camilla did not drop by at any of the picnics, leaving that duty to other members of the royal family.
His son, Prince William, heir to the throne, and his wife, Kate, surprised the people who were picnicking outside the castle before the concert. Dressed much more casually than the day before, they shook hands and Kate hugged a crying girl.
The King’s siblings, Prince Edward and Princess Anne, and their spouses took on the lunch service for the Royal Family at events across England. The King’s nieces, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Prince Andrew’s daughters, attended a luncheon in Windsor.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received US First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden at the Big Lunch party held in front of his office. Other guests included Ukrainian refugees and community activists.
Like the picnic in the park, Downing Street and Sunak’s spread – even his teapot – were decorated with the colors of the country.
Sausage rolls and salmon were served along with coronation chicken – a dish cooked 70 years ago for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – and coronation quiche, which was picked to Charles’ taste and made the buzz of social media. often for the wrong reasons.
The minor events followed regalia-laden pageantry with the king and queen being crowned together at Westminster Abbey. They were presented with ancient swords, sceptres, and a jewel-encrusted gold orb symbolizing the monarch’s power in a medieval tradition celebrated with liturgy, song, and hearty cheers of “God save the king.”
The pair then paraded through the streets in a gilded horse-drawn carriage led by the largest ceremonial military procession since the coronation of Charles’ mother. Some 4,000 troops marched in formation through the streets, their scarlet sleeves and white gloves swaying to the sound of drums and horns from marching bands, including a group of musicians on horseback.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the route in the rain to see it in person. Nearly 19 million more watched on television in the UK, according to viewing figures from Barb, a research organisation. That’s about 40 percent fewer viewers than Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last September.
Charles and Camilla said in a statement on Sunday that they are “deeply moved” by the celebration and are “deeply grateful to both everyone who helped make it such a glorious event – and to the many people who came to show their support. .”
Not everyone was there to celebrate and criticism continued on Sunday over the arrests of more than 50 protesters, including members of a Republican group who chanted “Not my king” and environmentalists who wanted an end to the use of fossil fuels. fuels.
Graham Smith, leader of Republic, an abolitionist group, said he was arrested as he planned a peaceful protest and spent 16 hours in police custody.
“These arrests are a direct attack on our democracy and the fundamental rights of every person in the country,” Smith said. “Any police officer involved on the ground should be ashamed.”
The Metropolitan Police acknowledged its concern over the arrests but defended the police’s actions.
“The coronation is a once-in-a-generation event and that is an important consideration in our assessment,” said Commander Karen Findlay.
In Regent’s Park, champagne was on ice and revelers spoke of the novelty of what they had seen. But the coronation was nothing new to 95-year-old Rosemary McIntosh, only much more vivid than the coronation she saw on television when she lived in Zimbabwe in 1953.
“We didn’t have TV all day and it was black and white, so it wasn’t as great as this one,” she said.
