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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times

Darling, it was a triumph: What the papers say about the crowning of King Charles

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The first pictures of the newly crowned King Charles III and Queen Camilla are gracing the front pages of newspapers around the world, including in Australia.

The Sunday editions of the United Kingdom's famously royals-focused papers capture much of the ancient rituals and military pageantry on display in London overnight.

Early previews of the front pages of UK papers show that even usually racy "red-top" tabloid mastheads like the Daily Mirror and The Sun are showing uncharacteristic reverence for the historic occasion, as well as for the King and his new Queen.

The Sunday editions of the UK's newspapers feature the King in full regal regalia and herald the dawn of the new Carolean age.

In Tasmania, The Sunday Examiner headlines its front page with "God save the King" and shows King Charles wearing the 1661 St Edward's Crown and carrying the sovereign's orb and sceptre as he leaves Westminster Abbey after the coronation ceremony.

Inside, the newspaper reports on the coronation day planting of an English oak tree in the cemetery of Christ Church Longford outside Launceston in northern Tasmania.

The planting followed a church service to pray for the monarch, which included the congregation singing God Save The King.

The Sunday Examiner

As a proud local tradition, the churchyard's most recent planting was to commemorate the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year.

"When Prince William's time comes, we'll do the same for him," Reverend James Gannon told The Examiner reporter Charmaine Manuel.

In the UK, under the headline "Happy and glorious" - borrowed from the lyrics of God Save The King - the Sunday Express leads its front page with a picture of the newly crowned Charles offering crowds a smile and a wave from the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

The UK's Sunday Express

The Sun On Sunday, with its usual red masthead a splendidly regal shade of purple, describes the coronation as a "glorious moment of history".

Its front page includes the moment the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the crown upon the head of Charles.

The Sun on Sunday

The Daily Mail's Sunday edition features into a photo of King Charles and Queen Camilla together on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Leaning in closely to the intimate glance exchanged by the pair, The Mail on Sunday headlines the moment with "The look that says: 'Darling, it was a triumph!'."

The Mail on Sunday

Cheeky tabloid The Daily Star retains its usual red-top livery but nicknames the new monarch "King Chas III"

To put this display of relative reverence in context, on the morning of the coronation the Star put the only dog in the coronation parade, an Irish wolfhound named Seamus, on its front page.

Earlier in the week, it reported accusations that the King had hidden his "sausage fingers" in his jacket pocket in his official coronation portrait with Camilla. It's headline? "Hide the sausage".

The Daily Star Sunday

The Sunday Telegraph opts for a full-length portrait of a smiling Charles and Camilla in their crowns and robes as they prepare to step out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace with their page boys, which included young Prince George, and other "working" members of the Royal Family.

The Sunday Telegraph

In the first Sunday edition it has published in 50 years, The Australian headlines its 16-page broadsheet special with "Weight of destiny" and reports on "a ceremony of ancient grandeur".

The last time The Australian printed a Sunday edition was back in the early 1970s.

The Sunday Australian

In the UK, The Sunday Times focuses on the King and Queen sharing a look on the balcony.

Under the headline "At last, their crowning glory", the Times notes that Charles at the age of 74 becomes the oldest new monarch.

The Sunday Times

The Observer describes the ceremony at Westminster Abbey as "surreal, moving", but also devotes part of its front page to Labour's wins at local elections across the UK.

The support for the Tories built by Boris Johnson is collapsing, as The Observer's analysis of voting data shows Labour winning back pro-Brexit voters.

The Observer

The Sunday Mirror also adopts a regal purple masthead for the occasion.

Its picture shows Charles leaving the abbey. Hundreds of dignitaries, including heads of state, former UK prime ministers, celebrities and others bowed their heads and curtsied as he glided past.

Sunday Mirror

In Sydney, The Sun-Herald borrows from a popular US TV series for its headline, "Succession", and says the coronation takes the monarchy into "a new era" as it attempts to balance "ancient tradition and 21st-century values, facing growing republican sentiments in Australia and other realms and increased calls to address Britain's historic ties to slavery, decolonisation and oppression of indigenous peoples from across the former empire".

The Sun-Herald

In the nation's capital, the Sunday edition of The Canberra Times shares the royal moment with 90-year-old Denis Woodham, who rang the bells in Cambridge in the UK to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Seventy years later and 17,000 kilometres away, Mr Woodham will repeat the honour at St Paul's Anglican Church in the Canberra suburb of Manuka at 6pm on Sunday.

Denis Woodham, 90, rang church bells in the UK to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and will do it again in Canberra on Sunday night for King Charles. Picture by Gary Ramage

"It's manual exercise, but it's not necessarily hard work," Mr Woodham, who is about to turn 91, told Canberra Times reporter Kerem Duruk.

"It's more skill - you have to have a fine touch."

Advice fit for a King.

Sunday Canberra Times
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