King Charles’ Historical Decision About Coronation Thrones Revealed

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned in less than a week, and new details came to light about the ceremony on Sunday evening. 

In a touching detail that pays tribute to the King’s grandparents and the monarch’s concern for the environment, the royal couple will recycle throne chairs from King George VI’s coronation. 

After Charles is crowned, he will move to a throne chair used by his grandfather. Although now re-upholstered, it features the original embroidered coats of arms on the front and back. 

The Queen Consort has an identical chair, used by the Queen Mother during George VI’s 1937 coronation, but featuring Camilla’s coats of arms.

Caroline de Guitaut, the deputy surveyor of the King’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust, said: “For His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation he has wanted very much to re-use things where possible and obviously it’s an incredibly efficient and sustainable thing to do. 

“So, it’s giving the chairs a new life in a slightly different guise, but at the same time respecting that they are historic objects, and conserving them for the future.” 

During the coronation service, a succession of chairs will be used by the King. He will move from a chair of the estate to sit in the ancient coronation chair to be crowned, and then finally take his seat in the throne chair. 

The Queen Consort will also be seated in a chair of the estate where she will be crowned and later take her place in a throne chair. 

The chairs of the estate, originally made for Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to use during the late monarch’s 1953 coronation, have also been re-upholstered, and Charles and Camilla’s ciphers embroidered onto the backrests. 

The following day, a huge concert will be held outside Windsor Castle to celebrate the couple’s new reign. In newly-released rendered images, the spectacular staging, which will be appreciated by 20,000 people in person and many more across the globe, can be seen. 

For the first time, the East Terrace of Windsor Castle will be host to an event of this scale, compared by Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville and featuring performances by musical stars including Take That, Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Paloma Faith, Lang Lang, Nicole Scherzinger, Sir Bryn Terfel, and winner of The Piano, Lucy. 

The show will be broadcast live from the grounds of Windsor Castle on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2, and BBC Sounds on Sunday, May 7th from 8pm.