Buckingham Palace has confirmed King Charles III will be crowned alongside Camilla on May 6 next year.

The grand ceremony will take place on a Saturday in Westminster Abbey a full eight months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It will ‘reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in long standing traditions and pageantry’, the palace said.

In line with the Queen’s wishes, Camilla will take her place on the throne alongside her husband as Queen Consort.

She had been expected to adopt the title of Princess Consort until the Queen intervened on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee to make it clear she wanted her daughter-in-law to reign alongside her heir.

The King acceded to the throne on September 8 immediately upon the death of the Queen but it’s traditional for a full ceremony to be held a significant time later as a mark of respect to the late monarch.

Full plans for the day – known as Operation Golden Orb – are still being finalised but the ‘deeply religious’ ceremony will be overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, reflecting the King’s role as the head of the Church of England. 

While the coronation will retain core elements that have been part of it for more than 1,000 years, the ceremony is expected to be significantly scaled back in scale and cost.

The ceremony is expected to last for around one hour – rather than the more than three hours his mother’s ran to in 1953 – and will likely have more faiths represented than in the past.

The King has reportedly been interested in making the monarchy more accessible for many years and will be keenly aware of the optics of holding a lavish ceremony during the economic crisis families are facing. 

Moves to freshen it up and keep costs down will see guest numbers slashed from 8,000 to 2,000, peers wearing normal attire rather than ceremonial robes and the dropping of more archaic rituals like the presentation of gold bars.

It’s uncommon for coronations to be held on Saturday and there has been no word from the Palace or government on whether a separate Bank Holiday will be declared.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

The Duke of Norfolk, who organised the Queen’s funeral, also has the role of staging the coronation.

He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone behind the wheel, despite claiming he needed his licence to arrange the forthcoming ceremony.

Charles was only four at the time of his mother’s coronation but has previously recalled his mother going to say goodnight to him the night before while wearing the crown so she could get used to its weight on her head.

He described the ‘thousands of people gathered in The Mall outside Buckingham Palace chanting “We want the Queen” and keeping me awake at night’.

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