King Charles' Coronation: When and how to watch in India; all you need to know

King Charle' Coronation will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey in London. A Coronation is both the symbolic religious ceremony during which a sovereign is crowned and the physical act of placing a crown on a monarch's head. It formalises the monarch's role as the head of the Church of England and marks the transfer of their title and powers. However, it is not actually necessary for the monarch to be crowned to become King. Charles is already the King of England even before the Coronation.

The Crown

During the ceremony, the King will be crowned with the solid gold, 17th Century St Edward's Crown. It is exceptionally heavy and only used at the moment of coronation. The crown is kept in the Tower of London, and is brought out only for coronations.

Another crown that will be used is the Imperial State Crown, which the King will put on towards the end of the coronation ceremony, and which he will also wear when he appears on Buckingham Palace balcony. The Imperial State Crown contains the Cullinan II diamond, sometimes called the Second Star of Africa. It was given to Edward VII on his 66th birthday by the government of the Transvaal, a former British crown colony, which is now part of South Africa.

The Queen Mother's coronation crown contains the Kohinoor, one of the largest-cut diamonds in the world. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran have all made claims to it. However, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Kohinoor will not feature in the coronation.

Queen Camilla will instead be crowned with Queen Mary's Crown, which has been taken out of the Tower of London to be resized ahead of the ceremony.

Cost of Coronation

The coronation of King Charles III is expected to cost around £100 million (over ₹1021.5 crore). The British government will foot the bill for the coronation since it's a state affair. 

The estimated cost is double that of the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II when the British government spent £1.5 million, which is equivalent to around £50 million (around ₹528.7 crore) today. However, the worldwide TV rights for the event are expected to more than cover the cost, and it will be a massive boost to tourism.

When and how to watch the Coronation

The ceremony is due to start at 11:00 AM (4:30 PM in India), with the King's procession expected to arrive at Westminster Abbey shortly beforehand. The ceremony will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC radio. Charles' Coronation will also be available via BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. 

A signed version of the programme will be shown on BBC Two while accessible coverage for people who are blind or partially-sighted will be on the Red Button.

The Coronation will be available to stream through various live TV subscriptions such as Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Sling TV and FuboTV. However, Hulu is not available in India as of now. Many channels such as ABC, Sky News and Fox News will also offer live streams on YouTube. Live-streaming will also be available on the YouTube channels of BBC iPlayer and ITVX.