King Charles III Coronation
- May 6, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
King Charles III Coronation
Subject : International Relations
Section: International Events
Concept :
- Britain’s King Charles III will join the long list of British queens and kings who have been crowned at the Westminster Abbey church in London, when his coronation will take place.
- Since 1066, when the monarch William the Conqueror invaded England with his army and was crowned here, 39 coronation ceremonies and 16 royal weddings have taken place in the cathedral.
History of Westminster Abbey
- An abbey refers to a religious building, which can either mean a church or a place where monks or nuns live.
- This abbey’s story begins with King Edward, also known as Edward the Confessor, who was born in the 11th century into a royal family but was forced to flee his homeland after Danish attacks in the region.
- Abbey was originally founded around the year 960 as a monastery on what was then a marshy delta called Thorney Island, formed where two streams met the river Thames. Today there is no trace of the land being part of an island.
- The Abbey was consecrated in 1065, but this church was mostly demolished by Henry III around 200 years later to build the present Gothic structure in honour of Edward.
- King Edward was later made a saint in 1161 by the church after his death. “His canonisation was essential in creating the holiness of Westminster Abbey as a house of Kings or Queens.
- And starting with Edward, thirty kings and queens have come to be buried here.
- Every Westminster Abbey coronation has taken place in the vicinity of his shrine and, therefore, in the saint’s presence, Gross adds.
- Successors were placed in St Edward’s Chair, famously known as the Coronation Chair, carrying the Stone of Scone, and monarchs are typically crowned with St Edward’s Crown.