After two days of celebrations, first very solemn on Saturday with the coronation at Westminster Abbey then more festive on Sunday with thousands of neighborhood lunches and a big concert, Monday is a day of volunteering.
Hundreds of thousands of volunteer assignments are to be filled with the more than 1,500 associations that participate in this “Big Help Out”.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will not take part but other members of the royal family are expected to make an appearance. William and Kate, for example, are expected by scouts and Prince Edward – brother of the king – and his wife Sophie are in Reading (west of London) with a training association for guide dogs.
Monday was declared a public holiday to conclude the long coronation weekend of Charles III, consecrated on Saturday in his role as monarch after a lavish religious ceremony and procession.
Eight months after his accession to the throne on the death of his mother Elizabeth II, Charles III, 74, was crowned at Westminster Abbey in front of 2,300 guests according to a millennial Anglican rite. His wife Camilla, 75, was also blessed and crowned.
It was the first coronation in 70 years, when Elizabeth II was crowned queen in 1953.
More than 14 million viewers – far fewer than at the Queen’s funeral – watched live on the BBC as the heavy crown of St Edward was laid on Charles’ head.
On Sunday, the British organized tens of thousands of neighborhood lunches. A big concert, featuring stars like Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, took place in the evening outside Windsor Castle.
Arrests criticized
Little motivated by this coronation, however, more than 70% of the British had no intention of participating in any celebration this weekend, according to a recent YouGov poll.
Charles is less popular than his mother Elizabeth and anti-monarchists demonstrated on Saturday in London as the carriages passed, as well as in Scotland and Wales. Some 15% of Britons think the monarchy should be abolished.
Six officials of the anti-monarchy group Republic, including its leader Graham Smith, were arrested by police on Saturday morning, drawing heavy criticism. They were released late Saturday evening.
On the BBC, Graham Smith strongly criticized on Monday the law which came into force this week and which gives more means to the police to arrest people suspected of wanting to cause “serious disturbances” to public order.
“They arrested us because the law was hastily introduced last week to give them the power to arrest us on any frivolous pretext,” he said.
“This law means that we no longer have the right to demonstrate in this country, we only have the freedom to demonstrate with the authorization of the police and politicians.”
In total, London police made 64 arrests on the day of the King’s coronation, including environmental activists.