London, Thanasis Gavos

In a historic ceremony that has been 70 years since it happened in the United Kingdom, Charles III was crowned king today at Westminster Abbey, formally succeeding his mother Queen Elizabeth. His wife Camilla will also be crowned queen by his side.

Present, among approximately 100 heads of state and government and a total of nearly 2,300 guests, will be the President of the Hellenic Republic, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou.

The rich ceremony, with traditions lost in the depths of the centuries, will begin at 10.20 local time with the King’s Procession, which will take the couple in an escort of 200 soldiers from Buckingham Palace to the 11th century Gothic cathedral.

There in a two-hour religious ceremony that will begin at 11 am local, the new king will first be “presented” to the congregation by the presiding head of the Church of England Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

The king will then take an oath to respect the law and protect the Anglican Church.

The most sacred moment of the ceremony will follow, the anointing of the king with Holy Myrrh and then the crowning with the Crown of St. Edward dating from 1661 and enthronement.

The same stages will then be followed for Queen Camilla, but with a more abbreviated process.

In the most impressive Coronation Procession from the Abbey to the Palace the Golden State Carriage of 1762 that will carry the royal couple will be accompanied by 4,000 soldiers.

The ceremony will conclude in the early afternoon with a royal salute by the participating military units in the palace garden, an appearance by members of the royal family on the balcony of the Palace and – weather permitting – a flyover by fighter jets.

Thousands of citizens have already camped along the route for days, while a total of up to 1 million people are expected to flock to central London, despite the forecast for rain.