The "Buckingham Hotel" is not five stars, nor is it a charming establishment, or even a youth hostel with a cold shower. It does not appear in any guide. This is the name given to the portable cots installed along the London Mall, covered with plastic tarpaulins to protect the occupants from the rain, royal fanatics, both national and foreign, who wanted to secure a place front row to watch King Charles III pass by on his way to the coronation at Westminster Abbey today.
The ceremony, a thousand-year-old ritual without an equivalent in any other European royal house, is sprinkled with modern touches that aim to set the tone for the reign of the English monarch, a character that holds few mysteries for subjects who follow his footsteps. vicissitudes for 74 years, and who has waited as if to say all his life to take the scepter. Secrets, few. There will be, as expected, crowns of solid gold studded with rubies and thousands of diamonds, carriages, elaborate robes, cloaks, hymns, chants, oaths, proclamations of allegiance, parades, lots of God save the king (and some he is my king ). But also a simulation of diversity and inclusion, female clergy, participation of leaders of faiths other than Christianity and readings of texts in the Gaelic languages of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. A mixture like the one you would find in the cave of Ali Baba and the forty thieves.
A first-class show, to which 2,200 delegates from 203 countries, a hundred heads of state, political leaders and members of the royal family will contribute with their presence. The list of guests has been kept with the utmost secrecy, because both the presences and the absences (Enric, yes; Meghan, no) are conflicting. Northern Irish Sinn Féin leader Michelle O'Neill will attend, despite her party emerging as the political arm of the IRA, responsible for the assassination of Charles III's godfather Lord Mountbatten (in contrast, the his daughter, Pamela Hicks, has not received the invitation). No less controversial is the presence of the Chinese Vice President, Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong in 2019, and since then relations between London and Beijing have experienced a lousy moment, the worst in decades . The UK increasingly sees the People's Republic as a threat to its security, values and economic interests, and has restricted its investments in nuclear power plants and "strategic projects".
Americans are almost more fascinated by the British monarchy than the English, but their presidents don't go to coronations. Eisenhower didn't go to Elizabeth II's in 1953, and Joe Biden won't attend Charles III's either. He will be represented by his wife, Jill, who will accompany Olena Zelenska (Zelenski's wife), the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and dignitaries from almost every country on the planet, except for those blacklisted by the Foreign Office, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Afghanistan, Burma and Venezuela. The Turkish Erdogan has excused himself citing reasons of internal politics, and on the part of Saudi Arabia (its royal house has close friendly relations with the Windsors), Prince Muhammad bin Salman, leader of facto, to whom the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is attributed.
The arrest at the beginning of the week of an individual who threw shotgun shells over the railing of Buckingham Palace triggered security alarms. As part of the so-called Golden Orb operation, eleven thousand five hundred police officers will be deployed in central London and, especially, along the route of the procession, between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, where the presence of hundreds of thousands of people is expected. In addition to those who have been sleeping for days in the Mall's portable cots, many more spent the night in the open, braving the elements, with sandwiches and thermoses of tea, to guarantee themselves the best places. "Monarchy tourism" is quite a phenomenon.
The Government has accelerated the approval of a controversial law that facilitates arrests for "disturbing public order". It was conceived to mitigate the impact of the actions of environmental activists who tie themselves to bridges and train tracks, until the traffic collapses, but it has been incorporated into the security measures of the coronation to combat protests anti-monarchical (a thousand republican militants are expected in the streets). Being the navel of the world, even if only for a day, comes at a price.
