King Charles Coronation: U.S. Networks Play Up Royal Pomp With A Dose Of Reality Show Drama

Ted Johnson
·5 min read
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A common theme in U.S. network coverage of King Charles’ coronation was, why are Americans so fasciated by this?

Starting around 5 a.m. ET, the better question might as well have been, why are they up watching this?

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As the king started their procession down the streets of London, commentator after commentator weighed in. On MSNBC, historian Jon Meacham quoted Shakespeare’s Henry V and said of the pageantry unfolding, “It is this marvelous cocktail, if you will, of the human, the divine, the democratic, the monarchial, the English and to some extent American.”

Others mentioned the colonial history of the U.S. and the special relationship between the two countries.

Perhaps the most succinct explanation came from Fox News’ Benjamin Hall, recently returned after recovering from severe injuries while covering the war in Ukraine, who said, “You’ve got pomp and circumstance, you’ve got a bit of a reality show as well with Harry. I think so far, it’s got everything.”

All the major cable and broadcast networks dispatched teams of correspondents and commentators to cover the event which, as were reminded many times, the first of its kind in 70 years. As always there was a bit of a contrast in what was going on on the BBC and what was going on with their U.S. counterparts, with the former obviously more informed on the roots of tradition and ceremony taking place. That said, U.S. networks largely resisted the urge to break in for commentary during the Westminster Abbey ceremony itself, a kind of restraint that’s not always the case at other live events.

Outside of the solemn service, filled with grand choral hymns and reverential works linking God and king, there was plenty of talk.

On Fox News, author Christopher Andersen recalled being up close to the royal family for the silver jubilee in 1977. “This was three years before Diana appeared on the scene, and yes they were famous, there were people of course globally known, but it was a waxworks bunch, Madame Tussauds walking towards you. It wasn’t an exciting group. Diana enters the picture, everything changes. When I look at this I think, ‘Gee, the elephant in the Abbey is still Diana, because the impact that she has and she still has.”

He was soon interrupted for the arrival of Prince Harry, the now estranged royal whose memoir and interview tour has kept the reality show going. He was shown smiling upon arrival, but commentators quickly gave their takes on body language and other signals. He was “sort of straggling in among this group of cousins,” as one royal watcher noted. He was seated a few rows back from his brother, and even behind his aunt. After the service, Fox News even zeroed in on the view Harry had: Princess Anne’s “large red plume obliterated his face, which will not be an accident, I can tell you,” Piers Morgan noted.

CBS News also provided a photo marking Harry’s positioning vis a vis the other royals. Tina Brown gave her view of the scene, “I think Harry feels more and more alone. He look like he needed a hug when he arrived.”

On CNN, though, Christiane Amanpour gave some perspective, that the current royal drama pales to that of yesteryear: The first King Charles, she reminded, “had his head chopped off.”

Throughout the morning, networks generally stuck with a similar mix of coverage of the proceedings laced with analysis, with some exceptions. In Washington, D.C., the ABC affiliate WJLA switched to Wildlife Nation with Jeff Corwin, this episode focused on snakes, just as the Westminster Abbey service was starting at 6 a.m. ET. The station later cut back to the network coronation feed.

Getting one of the better vantage points along the coronation parade route was NBC News’ Molly Hunter. As the four-ton gold royal carriage carrying the newly crowned king and queen went by, Hunter said, “That was pretty exciting. I think I just made eye contact with King Charles.”

“Well, congratulations,” said Savannah Guthrie, before quoting Charles’ mother, “The queen has to be seen to be believed.”

As the hours went on, anchors and correspondents seem to run out of royal tidbits in their marathon of coverage, and instead turned to other things, like the weather.

That was true as King Charles III and Queen Camilla stood with other members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, sans Harry or Prince Andrew. Under rather dreary gray skies and rain falling again, with military helicopters flying overhead, Amanpour, best known for her reporting from war zones, said she was having “a bit of a D-Day moment. Obviously it wasn’t the aircraft on D-Day, but it was the boats and the ships that all landed. The weather was absolutely terrible,” noting the symbolism of the moment.

“There haven’t been a lot of moments of great joy,” said anchor Anderson Cooper, perhaps referring to Charles’ serious face throughout the day.

“It’s a solemn occasion, isn’t it?” said correspondent Max Foster. “Tomorrow is the big party.”

Then, as if cued by the need to rev things up a bit, there was a military flyby with the contrails in red, white and blue, not all that different from what happens at a presidential inauguration.

“That was cool,” Cooper said. “That was a big crowd pleaser here,” he added. The centuries-old regal traditions of a coronation may strike many U.S. viewers as unusual, but surely not the Top Gun moment.

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