UK

New photos of King and Queen Consort released ahead of coronation

Three photographs of the King and Queen Consort have been released a week ahead of the coronation weekend, and a new partition for the ceremony has been unveiled. 

And details of a new partition which will shield the King for the ceremony have also been revealed.

The screen features an embroidered design by painter Aidan Hart, celebrating the Commonwealth.

The latest images of the royals – set in Buckingham Palace’s blue drawing room – were taken by Hugo Burnard, who also took Charles and Camilla’s wedding pictures in 2005.

They were taken last month, and show the pair together as well as individually.

In the joint photograph, the couple stand side by side in front of a portrait of King George V painted shortly after his coronation in June 1911.

Charles is dressed in a blue Anderson and Sheppard suit, with a blue tie and white Turnbull and Asser shirt.

Camilla is wearing a blue wool crepe coat dress from British designer Fiona Clare, the late Queen’s pearl drop earrings set, which is adorned with sapphire and ruby gemstones, and a pearl necklace from her private collection.

In the other two photographs, the King and Queen Consort sit individually: Charles in a giltwood and silk upholstered armchair which dates back to 1829, while Camilla is in a giltwood and silk long-seated upholstered armchair from 1812.

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Mr Hart took inspiration from the Golden Jubilee stained glass window at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, which depicts the “family of nations” as a tree, when creating the partition.

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The Coronation Anointing Screen receives blessing.

The main panel of the screen, which will face the congregation, features a tree with the names of the Commonwealth’s 56 member states embroidered onto individual leaves.

Elizabeth II used just a canopy during her 1953 coronation, but Charles will be enclosed on three sides by the central decorated screen and two further screens on either end.

Before the archbishop crowns Charles, Justin Welby will anoint Charles by making the sign of the cross on his hand, breast and head with holy oil.

This oil – chrism – is made from olives harvested on the Mount of Olives in Israel, and was consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem in March.

Project co-ordinator Nick Gutfreund described working on the screen as a “privilege and absolute pleasure”.

Mr Gutfreund said: “Previously it was just a canopy over the top, so it was figurative privacy rather than actual privacy.

“Whereas the King this time wanted actual privacy and wanted to take the opportunity to communicate with people rather than it just being something that’s just decorative, it’s actually communicating a message.”

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The chrism oil which will be used to anoint the King on 6 May 2023 has been consecrated in Jerusalem.

Mr Hart specialises in painting and sculpting sacred icons and drew on the stained glass window that marked the 50th year of the late Queen’s reign.

He said: “The inspiration of the Chapel Royal stained-glass window was personally requested by His Majesty the King.

“Each and every element of the design has been specifically chosen to symbolise aspects of this historic coronation and the Commonwealth, from the birds that symbolise the joy and interaction among members of a community living in harmony, to the rejoicing angels and the dove that represents the Holy Spirit.”

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