The Story of the Only Truly Joint Coronation in British History

When King Charles III is crowned on May 6, his wife Camilla will be crowned alongside him as his queen consort. However, that is not the same thing as them being crowned as joint monarchs, which has only happened once in British history.

The coronation of King William III and Queen Mary II in 1689 is remarkable as it was the first and only time that two British monarchs have been crowned alongside each other as joint rulers. This extraordinary set of circumstances came about following the Glorious Revolution, which saw James II and VII (he was James II of England and Ireland but James VII of Scotland following the union of the crowns in 1603) deposed.

“James’s overt Roman Catholicism, his suspension of the legal rights of Dissenters, and the birth of a Catholic heir to the throne raised discontent among many, particularly non-Catholics,” the Encyclopedia Britannica notes. “Opposition leaders invited William of Orange, a Protestant who was married to James’s daughter Mary (also Protestant), to, in effect, invade England.”

The invasion took place in November 1688 and James fled to France, with William and Mary then accepting the throne as joint monarchs. They were crowned at Westminster Abbey on April 11 1689. The Abbey notes that he was seated on the Coronation Chair and another chair was made specially for Mary to sit in. He was crowned with the traditional sovereign's regalia including the St Edward’s Crown and a new set of regalia was made for Mary.

Another significant aspect of William and Mary’s coronation was that it was the first time the monarch(s) swore to recognize the sovereignty of Parliament in their oath. “William III and Mary II had to swear to govern according to ‘the statutes in Parliament agreed on’ instead of by ‘the laws and customs ... granted by the Kings of England,’ the UK’s Parliament notes. This acceptance of what became the Bill of Rights has been pivotal to the way Britain is governed since. It laid out the rights of Parliament and limitations of the sovereign and is considered the base for which today’s constitutional monarchy exists. The new oath also required the monarch to swear to uphold the Protestant religion.

The circumstances in which William and Mary came to rule as joint monarchs were exceptional and as such it is hard to see a situation in which Britain ever has two sovereigns in the future. However, there have been many queens consort crowned alongside sovereign kings in the same way that Camilla will be crowned as queen consort alongside Charles. Male consorts, such as Prince Philip and Prince Albert, are not crowned alongside their wives and are given the title Prince instead of King. This is because a king would outrank a queen so when a queen is sovereign her husband is given a lesser title to make his lesser status clear.

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