King Charles and Queen Camilla's Coronation Procession Coaches Revealed in Latest Palace Update

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The King and Queen Consort will use two gilded carriages for horse-drawn transport to and from Westminster Abbey, including one that has been used at every coronation since 1821

Joseph Okpako/Getty
Joseph Okpako/Getty

King Charles and Queen Camilla will ride in storybook style to their historic coronation on May 6.

In the latest coronation update, Buckingham Palace announced how the King and Queen Consort will travel to and from the crowning ceremony. King Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 75, are set to ride to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and return to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach.

The Diamond Jubilee State Coach was commissioned to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's 60th anniversary of acceding the throne in 2012 and has only ever conveyed the monarch, though occasionally accompanied by the consort or a visiting head of state.

According to the palace, the gilded crown on the top of the Diamond Jubilee State Coach was carved from oak from HMS Victory, and the coach's interior is inlaid with samples of woods, metals and other materials from buildings and places with specific connections to Britain and its history, including royal residences such as Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse; cathedrals including St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey; and historic ships, such as the Mary Rose. The coach will be drawn by six Windsor Greys.

The Diamond Jubilee State Coach will be part of the parade known as the King's Procession. The carriage will Buckingham Palace through the Centre Gate and proceed down The Mall, passing through Admiralty Arch and south of King Charles I Island, down Whitehall and along Parliament Street before arriving at Westminster Abbey, where the coronation will begin at 11 a.m. local time.

Related:See King Charles' First Coronation Appearance — When He Was 4! — to See Queen Elizabeth Be Crowned

Matthew Lloyd/Getty
Matthew Lloyd/Getty

The Diamond Jubilee State Coach is likely a smoother ride than the 261-year-old Gold State Coach, which will carry the newly crowned King Charles in a grander procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace known as the Coronation Procession following the ceremony.

The Gold State Coach was constructed in 1762 and first used by King George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament that year. The coach, which weighs four tons and will be drawn by eight horses on May 6, has been used at every coronation since King William IV's crowning ceremony in 1831. Queen Elizabeth rode in it to and from her coronation in 1953, and the coach was ceremoniously rolled down the Mall during her Platinum Jubilee pageant in June 2022.

The spectacular carriage is typically displayed at the Royal Mews in London, the working stables of Buckingham Palace.

Upon returning to Buckingham Palace following the coronation, King Charles and Queen Camilla will receive a royal salute from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Armed Forces who participated in the parade. The salute will be followed by three cheers from the assembled service personnel.

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty
Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty

In addition to the spectacular carriages, the coronation will feature historic jewels.

Charles will be crowned as King in the commanding St. Edward Crown before swapping the headpiece for the Imperial State Crown at the end of the coronation. The Imperial State Crown, which was last seen on Queen Elizabeth's coffin during her funeral in September, is also used on ceremonial occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament.

Camilla will wear Queen Mary's Crown, which was commissioned by Charles' great-grandmother Mary for the 1911 coronation of her husband, King George V. The Queen Consort will wear Queen Mary's Crown with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds that were part of Queen Elizabeth's personal jewelry collection. The late monarch often wore them as brooches.

The palace also announced that a new emoji to mark the coronation has been unveiled, based on the St. Edward's Crown. It will appear on Twitter when any of the following hashtags are used: #Coronation, #CoronationConcert, #CoronationWeekend, #CoronationBigLunch and #TheBigHelpOut.

The palace also confirmed the use of other coronation regalia, including the Sword of State, a symbol of royal authority which has been used at several coronations and, in 1969, Charles' Investiture as the Prince of Wales. Three other swords will also be used: the Sword of Temporal Justice, signifying the monarch's role as Head of the Armed Forces; the Sword of Spiritual Justice, signifying the monarch as Defender of the Faith, and the Sword of Mercy or Curtana, which has a blunted tip, symbolizing the sovereign's mercy. The swords were first used at the coronation of King Charles I in 1626, and the steel blades date back to the sixteenth century, with early seventeenth century gilt-iron hilts.

Other regalia includes the golden St. Edward's Staff, the silver-gilt Coronation Spoon (believed to be the oldest object in use at coronations, dating back to 1349), the Sword of Offering, the Sovereign's Orb, the Sovereign's Ring and two sceptres: the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove.

Queen Camilla's coronation regalia includes the Queen Consort's Ring, the Queen Consort's Rod with Dove and the Queen Consort's Sceptre with Cross.

Related:King Charles III's Coronation: Everything to Know About the Ceremony and Celebration

The Chrism oil, with which the King and the Queen Consort will be anointed, was consecrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in March, will be contained within the Ampulla, made from gold and cast in the form of an eagle with outspread wings. The oil is poured through anaperture in the beak. The Ampulla was supplied for the coronation of King Charles II in 1661 by the Crown Jeweller, Robert Vyner, and is based on an earlier, smaller vessel, which in turn was based on a fourteenth-century legend in which the Virgin Mary appeared to St Thomas à Becket and presented him with a golden eagle and a vial of oil for anointing future kings of England.

The Tower of London announced last month that it will unveil a new display for the crown jewels on May 26, just twenty days after the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. The presentation will be unveiled in the Jewel House and shine a brighter light than ever before on the history and significance of the royal collection. The exhibit will turn back time with a display dedicated to coronation processions through history, showing a court suit worn at the coronation of George IV in 1821 and a herald's embroidered tabard from around the same time. The display closes with the "most important and sacred" St. Edward's Crown, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign's Orb.

Samir Hussein/WireImage
Samir Hussein/WireImage

The news marks the latest update from Buckingham Palace on the upcoming coronation celebration, which is officially just one month away. Though Charles became King immediately upon the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth in September, his symbolic crowning is its own separate event — and extravaganza.

"Charles became King Charles the moment his mother died, but the coronation is to do with the job and being the monarch in the eyes of all the people," royal historian Robert Lacey previously told PEOPLE.

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In other exciting updates, courtiers recently unveiled the coronation invitation and revealed the special role Prince George, 9, will play during the church service. The second in line to the throne will serve as a Page of Honor alongside Queen Camilla's grandsons, Freddy Parker Bowles, Gus Lopes and Louis Lopes, all 13. As part of a group of eight, the boys will process together through Westminster Abbey.

Freddy is the son of Camilla's son Tom Parker Bowles and Sara Buys, who also share a daughter, Lola Parker Bowles, 15. Gus and Louis Lopes are the twin sons of Camilla's daughter, Laura Lopes, who also shares her daughter 15-year-old daughter, Eliza, with her husband, Harry Lopes.

Queen Camilla's children and grandchildren all attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September.

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