Until May 2023, most people in the world had never witnessed the coronation of a British monarch—it had been 70 years since Queen Elizabeth's 1953 ceremony, after all. The late Queen's coronation was the first to be televised, thanks to Prince Philip's insistence on modernizing the event. And while King Charles followed in his mother's footsteps by including more up-to-date elements in his own coronation, Prince William is expected to continue the trend.
During the new episode of The Royal Beat - Back in Time on True Royalty TV (premiering Friday, May 2), royal experts weighed in on how the Prince of Wales might make further changes at his coronation one day.
Historian Gareth Russell said he thinks Prince William "will navigate the difficulty of the coronation in a way people won't expect." While there's been plenty of talk about the Prince of Wales shaking things up once he becomes monarch, Russell said the public shouldn't expect him to necessarily turn the time-honored ceremony upside down.
"I think he is a reformer, I don't think he's a radical in the way some people hope he will be or fear that he will," the royal author said. However, Russell continued that he thinks the public "will see a very different coronation."
"I think one of the things that will really shape William as King, is that he was essentially tutored by Elizabeth II and he does have this sort of modernizing, quite reformist spirit from his mother," Russell added, referring to Princess Diana. At the same time, the historian pointed out that Prince William "also was trained in government or in statescraft, I suppose, by an inherently conservative monarch, Elizabeth II."
Royal Central editor June Woolerton added that William could be inspired by the events of his father's coronation weekend when it comes time to plan his own. She explained that The King "took what had worked for mum in a different context, and turned it into a coronation" by staging various events like a concert and nationwide volunteering day to extend the celebration.
"I think you've now got that template for modern royal celebrations that put the family at the heart of a national event and you kind of build around this one big religious ceremonial moment to make it a party that incorporates millions and has something for everyone," Woolerton added.
Although the Prince of Wales isn't said to be particularly interested in religion, unlike The King or Queen Elizabeth, Russell said, "If I was betting, I actually do think the religious element of [William's coronation] will be kept." Ian Lloyd, author of The Throne: 1000 Years of British Coronations, agreed that even if the coronation itself looks different, it will likely embrace the same types of religious elements.
“I think a lot of it actually depends on when the coronation will be," Lloyd said, adding, "The next one could be quite soon in which case it just may be a simple replication of King Charles', but if it's in 20 years time it may be completely different."
He noted that "a lot of Generation Z are interested in the Catholic faith and Catholicism is increasing perhaps in popularity, as the Church of England, the Anglican faith, is declining, so that has implications." But, as William's Earthshot Prize CEO Jason Knauf also pointed out to the Times, the Prince of Wales is, at heart, bound to royal tradition and is "pretty conservative about this stuff."
After all, "[William] is a traditionalist, they are traditionalists," as Lloyd said.
