King Charles’ Scottish coronation in Edinburgh: Thousands line streets for celebration

King Charles and Queen Camilla have joined the Prince and Princess of Wales at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh to mark their Scottish Coronation. 

Charles and Camilla travelled by car along the Royal Mile with a ceremonial military escort, including the Household Cavalry. 

They followed the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, which left Edinburgh Castle accompanied by a military guard. 

The earlier People’s Procession set off from the castle esplanade at 1.15pm, with participants chosen to reflect all walks of life in Scotland. 

However, anti-monarchy activists could be heard booing and shouting ‘Not My King’ from a protest spot just yards from the procession route – leading to criticism from royalists who believe they should have been given a less prominent spot.  

The Prince and Princess of Wales, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, will be among those at the coronation ceremony as will the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf will give a reading during the service, while others attending from the world of politics include Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton

The service will feature centuries-old aspects of Scottish royal tradition along with new additions such as pieces of music written specially for the occasion, a psalm sung in Gaelic and the use of passages from the New Testament in Scots.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, will preach the sermon and then provide a blessing to close the service.

Others involved will include violinist Nicola Benedetti, who will be among the musicians playing, and Olympic rower Dame Katherine Grainger who will carry the Elizabeth Sword which is being used in place of the Sword of State.

Among the congregation will be individuals from the People’s Procession, a group around 100-strong reflecting all aspects of Scottish society from the arts and politics, to education, civil society and business, including charities which the King supports as patron.

Among those represented were NHS Scotland, celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Robert Burns World Federation, College of Master Kilt Tailors, the Scottish Parliament, the Prince’s Trust, Glasgow Life – museums and the Trades Houses of Scotland, from coopers to goldsmiths. 

Major General Alastair Bruce, governor of Edinburgh Castle, watched the people’s procession set off from the fortress’ esplanade, and it was joined by four mounted elements of the Scots Dragoon Guards, the Pipes & Drums of Robert Gordon’s Combined Cadet Force and the 51 Brigade Cadet Military Band.

Crowds lining crash barriers along the royal mile to watch Corporal Cruachan IV, the Shetland pony regimental mascot of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, leading the men of women in the procession.

The Honours of Scotland, crown, sword of state and sceptre, will soon follow escorted by military personnel from across the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force and the Royal Company of Archers, who act as the King’s body guard in Scotland.

Three sisters, Julie Avery, 51, from Birmingham, Karen Shortiss, 54, from Penicuik, Midlothian, and Linda Halfpenny, 67, from New Zealand, were among those gathered along the Royal Mile to see Charles and Camilla. 

Mrs Halfpenny has lived in New Zealand for 42 years and is in Britain to see her two sisters.

Her time at home coincided with Charles and Camilla’s visit to Scotland, so she phoned her sisters and asked if they could attend the event with her.

Mrs Avery said: ‘Linda is over here visiting and last week she sent me a message asking if I could have Wednesday off and could I come up, so I said ‘Yes alright.’

‘I came up last night and I’ll go home tomorrow morning to go to work tomorrow afternoon.’

Mrs Shortiss said: ‘We’ll spend the day together as well.’

Mrs Halfpenny said she had ‘come a long way’ and the sisters wanted a ‘good position’ to be able to see the royal procession.

Also in the crowd were four women from Italy, wearing fascinators and carrying royal family teacups.

They are on a business trip in Scotland and came along at midnight yesterday to scope out their position in the crowd, but arrived at 8.30am today.

Ciara, from Bologna, said: ‘We like the royal family and we want to share with our community to show what happened.’

Paula, also from Bologna, added: ‘We want to show our support to the new King.’

Elsewhere in the crowd was Margaret Jenkins, 62, from East Lothian, who said: ‘I’m excited to see King Charles, my King, and I know not everyone would agree.’

Anne Connolly, 65, from South Shields, said: ‘It’s a good day out. We’re looking forward to seeing the King and Camilla.’

Referring to an area fenced off for protesters outside the cathedral, she said: ‘They’ve given the protesters the best spot here, the best view. It isn’t fair.’

Protesters gathered outside the High Court building holding placards saying ‘Not My King’. 

One of the protesters said that the royal family is a ‘symbol of the state the country is in’.

She said: ‘They are a classic example of people who have too much when people have so little.

‘It’s not a personal thing against the King, but it is a democratic disgrace that he has this unelected position in a modern country.’

She said protesters had received an ‘absolutely fabulous’ response from passers-by.

She added: ‘It’s mostly tourists and they all find it very strange that we still have this odd constitutional quirk.’

Footage showed the republicans being greeted with an equally loud response from supporters of the Royal Family chanting ‘Charles King of Scots’ while waving Union flags.