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The British royal family came together for thehistoric coronationofKing CharlesandQueen Camilla.
While the Duke of Sussex traveled in from California for the church service,Meghan Markleremained homewith their daughterPrincess Lilibet, 23 months, and sonPrince Archie, whoturns 4today.
BBC
The Princess Royal, 72, attended the crowning ceremony with her husbandVice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, sonPeter Phillips, daughterZara Tindalland son-in-lawMike Tindall.
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While the Duke of York’s daughtersPrincess BeatriceandPrincess Eugeniewere at the service with their husbandsEdoardo Mapelli MozziandJack Brooksbank, Prince Andrew’s ex-wifeSarah Fergusonwas not. PEOPLE previously reported that the Duchess of York, 63, wasnot invitedto the coronation, butwill attendtheCoronation Concerton Sunday.
Prince Edward, 59, was at the crowning ceremony with his wifeSophie,Duchess of Edinburgh, and their teenage childrenLady Louise Windsor, 19, andJames, Earl of Wessex, 15. King Charles' youngest niece and nephew are frequent fixtures at royal events and are likely teaching the next generation the royal ropes. Their cousins — Peter’s daughters Savannah, 12, and Isla, 10, Zara’s daughters Mia, 9, and Lena, 4, and son Lucas, 2, Beatrice’s daughter Sienna, 1, and Eugenie’s son August, 2 — were not at the crowning ceremony.
In a twist of history,four British royalsalso saw the second coronation of their lifetimes. Four ofQueen Elizabeth’s cousins who were ather coronationin 1953 also saw King Charles be crowned.
Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester,Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy,Prince Edward, Duke of Kent andPrince Michaelof Kent all attended Saturday’s glittering service. Prince Richard’s wife Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, and Prince Michael of Kent’s wife Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, who uses the title Princess Michael of Kent, attended the church service with their husbands.
After the crowning at the ancient abbey, many members of the royal family joined Charles and Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for theirfirst appearance thereas King and Queen.Prince William, Princess Kate,Prince George,Princess Charlotte,Prince Louis, Princess Anne, Timothy, Prince Edward, Sophie, Lady Louise and James appeared with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra and the Duke of Kent.
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Also on the terracePrince George’s fellow Pages of Honor — Lord Oliver Cholmondley, Nicholas Barclay and Ralph Tollemache, who joined George in supporting King Charles, alongside Freddy Parker Bowles, Gus and Louis Lopes and Arthur Elliot. Freddy, Gus and Louis are the Queen’s three grandsons, while Arthur is her great-nephew, the grandson of her sister, Annabel Elliot. Annabel and Fiona Petty-Fitzmaurice, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, also came out on the balcony, having supported Camilla at her coronation as Queen’s Companions.
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Two thousand guests took their places in the pews for King Charles' and Queen Camilla’s crowning, a smaller crowd than the 8,251 people who were atQueen Elizabeth’s coronation on June 2, 1953. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak,royal families from other countriesand more than 850 community and charity representatives all had a seat as history was made.
Before the crowning ceremony,Prince Albertof Monaco told PEOPLE he looked forward to attending Charles' coronation with his wife,Princess Charlene.
“You know, I don’t know how many coronations of an English monarch I’ll see in my lifetime, so we’ll try to take advantage of that,” Prince Albert told PEOPLE.
source: people.com
