Coronation E’en
The Coronation takes place on Saturday 6 May and there will be a big screen in Princes Street Gardens for anyone who wants to watch it there (although check the weather forecast first).
There are alternatives – the Our Republic meeting on Calton Hill or join the Edinburgh & Lothian May Day March & Rally which assembles from 11.30am at Johnston Terrace.
In London here is what will happen and when:
The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla will take place on Saturday 6 May.
The first procession will begin at 10.20am. Their Majesties will travel in procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. This is known as ‘The King’s Procession’. Their Majesties will travel in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, drawn by 6 Windsor Grey horses. The Household Cavalry will provide the Sovereign’s Escort.
The King’s Procession will travel along The Mall, through Admiralty Arch, passing to the south of the King Charles Island statue in Trafalgar Square before turning onto Whitehall. The procession will continue down Whitehall and along the east and south sides of Parliament Square, arriving at Westminster Abbey.
The Coronation service at Westminster Abbey will begin at 11am and finish at 1pm.
After the Coronation service, Their Majesties will return to Buckingham Palace as part of a larger ceremonial procession, known as ‘The Coronation Procession’. The Coronation Procession will last for around 30 minutes. Their Majesties will travel in the Gold State Coach, drawn by 8 Windsor Grey horses.
The procession will arrive at Buckingham Palace at around 1:30pm. Their Majesties will receive a salute from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Armed Forces in the Buckingham Palace Gardens, and appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony. At 2:30pm, there will be a Coronation flypast by the Armed Forces over The Mall and Buckingham Palace (subject to weather, serviceability, and operational commitments).
The Rt Hon Lord Provost, Robert Aldridge is off to London to see the King being crowned, but has chosen to wear a lounge suit, and not morning dress. He told us he has to be seated by 8.30am in Westminster Abbey, although the Coronation does not begin until much later. We hope to have the Lord Provost’s account of the historic event next week.
The Lord Lyon King of Arms, Dr Joe Morrow, will be wearing his full regalia – which he told us weighs more than a stone if he wears the red coat and the tabard over it.
Others who we know are going to London include The First Minister, Humza Yousaf, and the Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone. Bridgend Farmhouse have a Coronation Champion in their midst which John Knox writes about here.
At Edinburgh Castle gun salutes will sound at the moment of The King’s Coronation to celebrate the historic occasion.
What will you be doing on Saturday? If it is anything Coronation related then do tell us in the comments below.
Gardening at The Botanics – today!
The sessions have been organised by Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC). The organisation works towards a prejudice free society “where everyone is treated with respect, integrity and justice”.
Pilton Equalities Project have a new minibus
The project which works to provide day care services for the community in North Edinburgh for older and other vulnerable adults has just taken delivery of its twelfth minibus.
PEP run five local day-care clubs, a four day mental health provision and a weekend resource for isolated individuals. The group enables people to take part when they might not have been able to.
Environmental campaigners say it in numbers
Environmental campaigners protested on Wednesday outside Queen Elizabeth House, the UK Government’s headquarters in Scotland.
The campaigners brought bags of littered cans and bottles found last week by litter picking group Fife Street Champions, one of the many litter picking groups across Scotland that are campaigning for deposit return.
The significance of the number in the photo below is that an estimated 499,068,504 drinks containers will be littered, landfilled or incinerated during the seven months that the legislation has been delayed according to data from Reloop, an international non-profit organisation specialising in resource and waste policy.
The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS) have called on the UK Government to stop blocking Scotland’s deposit return system and to grant an exemption to the International Market Act (IMA), legislation which means devolved powers can only be used where Westminster agrees.
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