Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene to attend coronation of Charles III

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene will attend the coronation ceremony of the new King of England this Saturday in London, among members of ruling families from around the world.

It is a special moment in a country's history when its sovereign is crowned. And England has not experienced it for seventy years. On Saturday, London will be the scene of the coronation ceremonies of King Charles III and his wife Camilla, who will officially become Queen Consort.

Nearly a thousand guests from the Windsor family will take their seats in the pews of Westminster Abbey late this morning for the solemn service. Among them, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene will make the trip to the British capital, as will many members of the ruling families from around the world. The guest list is an impressive who's who of crowned heads.

Expected to attend are Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan; King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan; King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain; King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium; King Mohammed VI of Morocco; the Sultan of Brunei; King Letsie III of Lesotho; the King and Queen of Bhutan; King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden; and the Yang di Pertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia.

As is traditional at the British court, these VIPs are due to meet on Friday evening at a reception at Buckingham Palace before the ceremony on Saturday. King Charles III wanted the ceremony to be more sober and with fewer guests than the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on 2 June 1953, in this same cathedral of Westminster. There, 8,000 guests were invited for what is still considered the first major world event to be broadcast internationally on television.
For the record, at the time it was Prince Pierre de Polignac, husband of Princess Charlotte, who represented the Prince of Monaco, in this case his son, Prince Rainier III, then sovereign in 1953.