The deeply religious affair will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6, eight months after the monarch’s ascension and the queen’s death.
The Palace said the ceremony will be “rooted in long-standing traditions and splendour” but will also “reflect the monarch’s role today and look to the future”.
Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and scepter, be crowned with the majestic crown of Saint Edward and blessed during the historic ceremony.
King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort will be crowned next year.
Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just as the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937.
The Palace said: “Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty the King will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023.
“The coronation ceremony will take place in Westminster Abbey, London and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned next to the Queen Consort.
“The coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look to the future, while being rooted in long-standing traditions and splendour.”
It is understood that the ceremony will include the same basic elements of the traditional service, which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, while recognizing the spirit of our times.
Charles’ coronation is expected to be on a smaller and shorter scale, with suggestions it could last just an hour rather than more than three.
It is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than previous coronations, but will be an Anglican service.
The number of guests will be reduced from 8,000 to about 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses rather than ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold bars, will be eliminated.
Traditionally, coronations have not been held on a weekend, while the late Queen’s take place on a Tuesday. The Palace has not yet commented on whether there will be any agreement for a public holiday.
More details are to be released in due course, but the government and royals will be aware of the scale of the coronation in light of the cost of living crisis facing the country.
The late Queen’s coronation took place on 2 June 1953, 16 months after she became monarch.
Special seating structures were built inside the church to increase the regular congregation from 2,000 to 8,000.
Security will be increased given the high profile nature of the day.
The King will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop.
Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the coronation date at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year.
The king acceded to the throne on September 8, immediately following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, the nation’s longest-serving monarch.
The plans for the big event are known under the code name Operation Orbe d’Or, which establishes the project of the service and the prestige that surrounds it.
Charles will be anointed by the archbishop and take his oath to “maintain and preserve inviolably the establishment of the Church of England, and the worship of the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, as the law established in England”.
The Queen Consort will be crowned and take her place on a throne.
Elizabeth II pulled off a masterstroke on the eve of her platinum jubilee in February 2022 when she endorsed the then-Duchess of Cornwall to be known as Queen Consort when the time came.
Royal aides insisted when she married Charles that Camilla did not want to be queen and originally said she “intended” to be known as a princess consort – the first in British history – when Charles acceded to the throne .
A king’s wife automatically becomes queen and only a change in legislation would prevent her from doing so, but there had been much controversy over whether Camilla would use the title, being Charles’ former lover who became the your partner
The royal website used to state: “A queen consort is crowned with the king, in a similar but simpler ceremony.”
But, after Charles’ marriage to Camilla, he added the ‘unless otherwise decided’ termination clause.
The late Queen’s coronation was a carnival of celebration and a morale boost for a prestige-starved nation after the Second World War.
People started sleeping on the streets of London as early as 48 hours before Tuesday, June 2, 1953, just to make sure they had a standing place to watch the Queen pass by in the golden state coach in a huge procession
On Monday evening, with torrential rain and a strong wind, half a million people were already lining the route of the procession.
Charles, who was only four at the time, attended the service.
He recalled that his mother was going to say goodnight to him the night before while wearing the crown so he could get used to the weight on his head.
Charles described the “thousands of people gathered in the mall outside Buckingham Palace singing ‘We want the Queen’ and keeping me awake at night.”
The 1953 coronation was shared with a wider audience through the relatively new medium of television, which came of age with the ceremony being shown for the first time.
An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched the ceremony live on their black-and-white televisions, and the footage was also broadcast around the world.
The Duke of Norfolk, who organized the Queen’s funeral, also has the role of staging the coronation.
He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone at the wheel, despite claiming he needed the license to organize the upcoming ceremony.