You may have thought all the major royal moments of the year were over… but hold your horses because one more is coming up. Scotland will celebrate the accession of King Charles III with its own festivities on Wednesday.
The ceremonial events are part of Holyrood Week – also known as Royal Week -- which takes place annually and customarily sees the monarch travel to various regions in the country celebrating Scottish culture, achievement and community.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will be joined by Prince William and Kate, who go by their Scottish titles of the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when north of the border.
“Scotland will welcome the new King and Queen in July with a series of events to mark the Coronation. A People’s Procession, a Royal Procession, a National Service of Thanksgiving and a Gun Salute will take place in Edinburgh,” First Minister Humza Yousaf said in a statement ahead of the event on July 5.
Yousaf said individuals representing various communities and organizations would take part and said there would be opportunities for the public to join the fun too.
The Thanksgiving Service will be held at St. Giles’ Cathedral – which many will remember as a stop on the Queen’s final journey back to London from Balmoral last year. There the Scottish Crown Jewels will be presented to the King.
The most important pieces of the regalia are the crown, scepter and sword – which date back to around the early 16th century.
Known as the Honours of Scotland, the items are made of gold, silver and precious gems and are the oldest crown jewels in Britain. The crown was first worn by James V at the coronation of Queen Mary of Guise in 1540.
Where the solid silver scepter came from is more mysterious though. Some believe it was a papal gift from Innocent VIII to James IV in 1494. The items were first used together at the coronation of the nine-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots in 1543.
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The precious regalia is kept at Edinburgh Castle – but the crown jewels were once spirited from their home for protection from Oliver Cromwell’s army, between 1651 and 1660. Much of the English regalia of the time was obliterated during these years and new items had to be commissioned following the restoration of the monarchy.
After the Act of Union in 1707, when English and Scottish Parliaments united, the Honours were locked away in a chest until their rediscovery in 1818 by famous novelist Walter Scott, who also found a mysterious silver wand.
Another item that will be present will be the Stone of Scone or Stone of Destiny – which some keen royal fans will know featured in the Westminster Abbey coronation in early May. The stone, which had been used as a seat in the coronation of Scottish kings for centuries, is now kept in Scotland but was carried down to London for Charles’ first big day.
The Honours will move from Edinburgh Castle to St. Giles’ in a grand People’s Procession featuring 100 individuals representative of Scottish life and escorted by the King’s Body Guard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers and an honor guard of Armed Forces personnel, as well as the Royal Regiment of Scotland Shetland pony mascot Corporal Cruachan IV. As they file down the Royal Mile, music will be provided by cadet musicians from the Combined Cadet Force Pipes and Drums, 51 Brigade Cadet Military Band.
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There will also be a royal procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the cathedral, supported by the Royal Marine Band (Scotland) and the Pipes, Drums and Bugles of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS). A 21-gun salute from the 12 Regiment Royal Artillery will sound at the end of the service before the royal procession returns to Holyroodhouse.
George Gross, a visiting research fellow in theology at King’s College London, said it would be a “poignant moment” for Charles, who stood vigil over his mother’s coffin in the same space less than a year ago.
“This service of thanksgiving is a complex and important event for the monarchy that must as always stand above politics, all the more so in an era of devolution and with the SNP in charge of government at Holyrood,” he said.
“How to combine and respect traditions and symbols of Scottish nationalism, from the Honours of Scotland to the Stone of Destiny, in a service of thanksgiving, whilst avoiding the politics of independence, will be an intricate task.”
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The Prince of Wales believes the UK can end homelessness. His evidence? Finland. William is launching a five-year, locally led plan in six parts of the UK to demonstrate it is possible to end homelessness, Kensington Palace announced Monday. He has called the scheme “Homewards,” and it aims to “create and deliver a tailored plan to prevent homelessness” in each area, the palace said. The six locations will each receive up to £500,000 ($637,000) of flexible seed funding to support projects, in the hope that the UK can devise a model that can be used elsewhere.
The inspiration for the scheme was found in Finland, whose homelessness policy “has been the leading example for a number of years,” Matt Downie, CEO of homeless charity Crisis, told reporters. In Finland, people experiencing homelessness are unconditionally offered rental homes, as well as support if needed and wanted. “Through Homewards, I want to make this a reality and over the next five years, give people across the UK hope that homelessness can be prevented when we collaborate,” William said.
Learn more about the Prince’s ambitions here.
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Financial accounts show a costly past year for the family.
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The British Royal Household spent more than it earned in the last year, according to its annual financial statement released Thursday. The year 2022-2023 was the busiest for the family in decades. The household attributed the high annual costs to the “exceptional period of transition” it underwent, which saw Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year and the coronation of King Charles III in May, as well as an ongoing refurbishment project at Buckingham Palace. In total, net expenditure was reported to be £107.5 million ($136 million), compared to the total Sovereign Grant – that is, an annual lump sum from the government – of £86.3 million (109.1 million) and the additional income of £9.8 million ($12.4 million). Read the full story of the family’s finances here.
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Harry’s lawyer makes closing remarks in phone-hacking case. |
Earlier this month, Prince Harry became the first senior British royal to give evidence on a witness stand in 132 years, continuing his bitter fight against the UK’s tabloid press by suing Mirror Group Newspapers. Harry alleged that the publisher’s journalists hacked his phone and used other illicit means to gather information about his life between 1996 and 2009. His lawyer, David Sherborne, delivered his closing remarks to a judge in London’s High Court on Tuesday. The judge is not expected to hand down his decision for several more weeks.
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Catherine, Princess of Wales, opened Hope Street – a residential community trialing a new approach to provide support for women in the justice system. Hope Street, in the southern English city of Southampton, is the first of its kind in the UK: A safe community alternative for women who would otherwise be imprisoned unnecessarily due to a lack of safe accommodation, which allows children to stay with their mothers in a homely environment.
During her visit, Kate toured the new facility and met with staff and partners to learn more about the unique support offered to residents. The scheme aims to prevent the trauma of mothers being separated from their children in the justice system – furthering the princess’s previous work raising awareness of the critical importance of nurturing, loving and consistent relationships in early childhood.
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King Charles attended the Climate Innovation Forum to mark London Climate Action Week. The forum discussed what more can be done to transition to a sustainable future – a cause Charles has championed for decades. More than 1,500 government representatives, academics, business leaders and others gathered in the capital, where they were joined by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. The King and the Mayor witnessed a “Climate Clock” begin counting down the six years that remain to act to limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees celsius.
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“As our planet’s life support system begins to fail, and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud.”
– Then-Prince Charles, addressing the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in 2009
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These famous words spoken by Charles, then the Prince of Wales, at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, were brought to life again by a cast of actors in commemoration of the King’s “50 years of speaking up for the planet.” A video, posted on YouTube, created a collage of remarks Charles has made in half a century of speeches on the need to conserve the natural world – from an address in 1970 to a countryside steering committee in Wales, all the way up to the landmark speech in Copenhagen and beyond. In the video, Charles begins to speak but his address is quickly turned into a fugue, overlaid with voices of the actors Olivia Coleman, Woody Harrelson, Idris Elba and others, as part of London Climate Action Week. Watch the full video here.
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