King Charles Remembers Mother Practicing Coronation Crown During His Bath Time

King Charles has recounted how his mother rehearsed wearing the crown for her Coronation while bathing him as a child. The King also discussed his own Coronation, expressing that he felt “slightly anxious” about donning the heavy St Edward’s Crown and concerned it might “wobble.” Despite being only four years old at the time of his mother’s Coronation in 1953, he stated that many of his memories from the period leading up to the ceremony remained vivid. These comments were made in a documentary focusing on a group of 50 Canadian women who, at the age of 17, attended the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. In 2023, twelve of these women made an emotional return to London, where they participated in an unexpected tea party with King Charles. “I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening,” King Charles conveyed to the now-senior Canadian visitors, recalling the preparations for his mother’s Coronation. “My mama used to come up at bath time wearing the crown to practise.” “You have to get used to how heavy [the crown] is.” “I’ve never forgotten, I can still remember it vividly,” he informed them during their tour of Buckingham Palace, which was followed by tea with the King, in segments filmed in December 2023 for the documentary Coronation Girls. “It is very important to wear it for a certain amount of time, because you get used to it then,” King Charles explained to them concerning the crown. “But the big one that you’re crowned with, the St Edward’s Crown, it weighs 5lbs.” “It is much heavier and taller, so there’s always that feeling of feeling slightly anxious, in case it wobbles.” “You have to carry it, you have to look straight ahead.” The King additionally recalled his haircut from his mother’s Coronation and “what the barber did to me.” The golden St Edward’s Crown, dating from the 17th Century, is donned by the monarch at the instant of their coronation and has a weight of 4.9lb (2.23kg). However, both the King and his mother opted for the considerably lighter Imperial State Crown upon their departure from Westminster Abbey. The film, Coronation Girls, chronicles the experiences of 50 women from various regions of Canada who received sponsorship from Canadian businessman Garfield Weston to be present at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation. A significant number of them had not previously ventured outside their local communities. Their 1953 trip to the UK involved travel by train and ship, preceding a seven-week stay. Not all of them had even encountered a television set at that point, making their journey to London, adorned for the Coronation, an overwhelming event that left a profound impact on the adolescents. Their professional trajectories in adulthood have been diverse – with two becoming professors, one a climate activist, and another a nun – and many have maintained contact with each other. The 90-minute documentary explored the courses of their lives, featuring 12 surviving members of the cohort discussing challenges they now face in their later years. Averaging 89 years of age, they traveled to London last winter to revisit the landmarks they had initially seen as young women, which included a tour of Buckingham Palace. During their exploration of the palace, their visit was punctuated by an unexpected invitation to partake in tea with the King, an occasion where they recounted their recollections of the 1953 events. Coronation Girls, a film by Douglas Arrowsmith, is scheduled for broadcast on 26 December on WNED PBS in Canada. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.