One might have believed that the year’s main royal events were all over. Hold on though, there’s one more to come. Scotland will hold its own celebrations on Wednesday to mark the coronation of King Charles III. The ceremonial activities are a part of Holyrood Week, also known as Royal Week, which is an annual celebration of Scottish culture, accomplishment, and community in which the queen is known to tour the country. Prince William and Kate, who travel north of the border on the Scottish titles of Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, will be joining King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Scotland will host a number of Coronation-related activities in July in honor of the new King and Queen. “The National Service of Thanksgiving, a Gun Salute, a People’s Procession, and a Royal Procession will all take place in Edinburgh on July 5,” the city’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, said in a statement.
Yousaf announced that participants will come from a range of groups and communities, and that there would also be chances for the general public to take part in the fun.
The Thanksgiving Service will take place in St. Giles’ Cathedral, which many people will recognize from the Queen’s farewell trip from Balmoral to London last year. The King will be given the Scottish Crown Jewel there.
Picture by: BBC
The crown, scepter, and sword, which come from the early 16th century, are the most significant items in the regalia. The oldest royal jewels in Britain are the Honors of Scotland, which are comprised of gold, silver, and priceless stones. James V donned the crown for the first time at Queen Mary of Guise’s coronation in 1540.
More enigmatic is the origin of the solid silver scepter. Some people think Innocent VIII gave it to James IV as a papal gift in 1494. When Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned at the age of nine months in 1543, the objects were used together for the first time.
The priceless regalia is stored at Edinburgh Castle, but between 1651 and 1660, the royal jewels were stolen from their original location to avoid Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers. Following the monarchy’s restoration, new pieces of the period’s English regalia had to be ordered because so much of it had been destroyed.
Picture by: BBC
The Honours were hidden away in a box following the Act of Union in 1707, which merged the Scottish and English parliaments, until they were rediscovered in 1818 by renowned author Walter Scott, along with a strange silver wand.
The Stone of Scone, often known as the Stone of Destiny, which some ardent royal fans may recall was used at the Westminster Abbey coronation in early May, will also be on display. Although it is presently retained in Scotland, the stone that had served as a throne for Scottish monarchs’ coronations for centuries was brought to London for Charles’ first significant event.
The King’s Body Guard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers, an honour guard of members of the armed forces, as well as Corporal Cruachan IV, the Shetland pony mascot of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, will lead a grand People’s Procession carrying 100 representatives of Scottish life from Edinburgh Castle to St. Giles’. Cadet musicians from the 51 Brigade Cadet Military Band and the Combined Cadet Army Pipes and Drums will play music as they march down the Royal Mile.
The Royal Marine Band (Scotland) and the Pipes, Drums, and Bugles of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) will accompany a royal procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the cathedral. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the 12 Regiment Royal Artillery will fire a 21-gun salute before the royal procession makes its way back to Holyroodhouse.
It would be a “poignant moment” for Charles, who held vigil over his mother’s coffin in the same location less than a year ago, according to George Gross, an exchange student in theology at King’s College London.
Picture by: BBC
In a period of devolution and with the SNP in charge of the government at Holyrood, he remarked, “This service of thanksgiving is a complex and important event for the monarchy that must as always stand above politics.”
It will be a difficult effort to incorporate and honour Scottish nationalist traditions and symbols, such as the Stone of Destiny and the Honours of Scotland, in a ceremony of thanksgiving while avoiding the politics of independence.
