What a moment in history! The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday was a spectacular, moving and unifying event for our country. It demonstrated where we come from as a nation, but also where we’re going in the future.
I was fortunate to attend the service in the Abbey, dressed in the full-bottomed wig and heavy seventeenth century robes of the Lord Chancellor, with their distinctive gold lace embroidery. On such a historic day I wanted Cheltenham to be front and centre, so I pinned a badge of our town’s crest into the folds of the gown.
From my seat just by the choir, I witnessed a service which for all the notes of modernity would have been recognisable to kings hundreds of years ago, not least with the use of Edward I’s coronation chair. It has been the centrepiece of coronations for over 700 years.
There were so many poignant moments, but in my view the most powerful came right at the beginning. As the service started, a young chorister stepped forward to welcome the King on behalf of the ‘children of the kingdom of God’, to which the King replied that he had come ‘not to be served but to serve’.
Public service is the very essence of kingship, and indeed of leadership for all those in positions of responsibility. It is a principle I believe in very deeply, and I was really pleased to see it given such prominence in the coronation.
Sometimes what doesn’t happen is as important as what does. And despite the Abbey being full of foreign leaders and other dignitaries the day passed off without security incident. I pay tribute to the unseen work of our country’s intelligence agencies. Staff at GCHQ, MI5 and elsewhere will have been working for months to identify and mitigate potential threats to national security. We owe them a debt of gratitude.
I wish HM the King every success as he discharges his duties. May his be a reign of service to our nation and the Commonwealth