Despite the puddles that steadily formed on the media stand on Queen Victoria Memorial, rain did not put a dampener on celebrations at Buckingham Palace for the King’s Coronation.
(Very) early this morning I headed down to London to report on the crowning of King Charles III.
The Oxford Mail had exclusive access to several points along the procession route and I was stationed on top of the iconic monument to Queen Victoria, located at the end of The Mall.
READ MORE: King Charles III's coronation: Spectators brave the rain and protesters taken away
Green Park and the area around Buckingham Palace were strangely quiet at 6:30am this morning with the area closed off to members of the public.
But a sense of anticipation was certainly in the air, both for the coronation itself and the incoming deluge!
Pomp and pageantry defined the occasion from the start, with the Armed Forces staging the biggest ceremonial military operation since the late Queen’s coronation in 1953.
After a two hour ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the King returned to Buckingham Palace at around 1.45pm.
His arrival was quickly followed by the influx of the crowd, many of whom had been camped out for most of the day waiting for this moment.
The atmosphere quickly changed from one that had felt formal and pensive to one of celebration.
People dressed in ponchos and waving Union Jacks were delighted to see King Charles and his family appear not once, but twice on the balcony.
I wondered if this constituted an encore!
The celebratory atmosphere was topped off by the coronation flypast of the red arrows which left a trail of red, white and blue over Buckingham Palace.
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