Resources for the Coronation of King Charles III
On 6 May 2023, the coronation of King Charles III will take place at Westminster Abbey in London. We know that many churches and chaplaincies will be celebrating this occasion with services, prayers and events. This page will share all the resources, news and updates available to our chaplaincies across Europe to support you with your planning.
Please do get in touch with us if you have any questions, and also please share your local plans, stories and photographs with us at communications@europe.anglican.org
About the Coronation
His Majesty the King will be crowned in a formal Coronation service conducted by The Archbishop of Canterbury. It will be a service rooted in Christian symbolism, reflecting the King's role today whilst looking to the future.
The Royal Family have announced plans for a special weekend of activities that will include shared community lunches and activities to help inspire community spirit.
The full timetable is as follows:
Saturday 6th May: The Coronation service, Westminster Abbey.
Churches are welcome to broadcast this service in their buildings. No special licence is needed, so long as you don't charge a fee.
Sunday 7th May: The Coronation Big Lunch.
Communities, churches and local organisations are invited to share food and celebrate this historic occasion together. In many towns and cities, this may mean closing roads for street parties. Contact your local council for details of that. Or your church could host such a celebration in its building or grounds.
Sunday 7th May: Formal civic services of thanksgiving in our churches.
Those we know about are listed below. Do let us know if you are planning to hold one.
Consider how your church can take advantage of these opportunities. We would also love to hear about your plans, so that we can help to publicise them.
National Church of England resources
Information pack: This will help your church to plan activities across the whole weekend, and can be downloaded from here.
Resources for Prayer and Worship: There are a series of prayers and liturgical resources designed to help our churches to pray for the King and reflect on themes explored in the Coronation service. You can download them from here. It includes a guidance leaflet for churches, as well as orders of service for Communion, commemorative services of thanksgiving and services of the word.
Publicity toolkit: You can download various official logos, posters and web banners from this page, some of which you can customise with details of your church’s activities.
Resources to promote community activities: You can discover more about how to use the Coronation weekend to promote your church’s community activities here.
The main page to find Coronation resources on the national Church of England website is churchofengland.org/coronation.
You may also be interested in signing up for a national Church of England webinar about the Coronation weekend on 9 March. Details for this are here.
Other resources
Ring for the King
The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) has given its bell ringers some advice about ringing church bells to mark the Coronation. Entitled Ring for the King, you can find out more information here.
Sing for the King
The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is offering an open invitation for all choirs to sing to celebrate the Coronation. Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, acclaimed singer and composer, has been commissioned by the RSCM to compose a new coronation anthem for this project: The Mountains Shall Bring Peace which is available now. Find out more, and register your choir's involvement, here.
Photography
You can download a high-resolution photo of HM the King here, for use in chaplaincies. Please credit: PA photo of King Charles III. Photo credit: Yui Mok/PA.
More resources will be added here, as they become available.
