King’s Coronation procession route, timings and best places to watch parade
Viewing areas near Buckingham Palace, The Mall and Trafalgar Square will be open from 6am
The King’s Coronation is not too far away now. On Saturday, May 6, King Charles, with the Queen Consort Camilla alongside, will travel from Buckingham Palace in The King’s Procession to Westminster Abbey.
Travelling in the Diamond Jubilee Stage Coach, they will parade through London giving all those who line the streets the chance to glimpse on our new monarch. The King’s procession from Buckingham Palace will be followed by the first coronation service Britain has seen in 70 years.
The viewing areas for guests to watch the procession will open at 6am with the Coronation service scheduled to start at 11am. The King will first travel the 1.3 mile route from the palace to Westminster Abbey, arriving there ahead of the service. Then he’ll travel the same route in reverse back to the palace afterwards. Below is a list of key points along the procession route.
Exact timings are not known as it’s unclear how long the procession itself will take each way, and how long the service will be, however as a rough guide, it’s expected, according to the Military Airshows website, that planes involved in the flypast will leave their base any time from 1.15pm. Therefore we’d expect The King and his family to be at Buckingham Palace by that time to await their arrival over the palace, which is estimated to be between 2.10 and 2.45pm.
Because the aircraft typically fly over in waves, they will be passing over for several minutes but it’s unclear exactly when the spectacle will start and end over the palace and The Mall.
The 1.3 mile route is as follows:
- Buckingham Palace
- The Mall
- Admiralty Arch
- Trafalgar Square
- Whitehall
- Parliament Square
- Broad Sanctuary
- Westminster Abbey
There are many spots along the route where you can watch from but places will be competitive. The Mall is the longest continuous uninterrupted stretch but space will be at a premium. It is the best spot to see the flypast, however, as well as the procession as the flypast will go directly over The Mall.
Trafalgar Square affords plenty of space to fit lots of spectators in, as does Parliament Square, but it will be very crowded, so get down early to bag a spot. If you want to watch it with less of a crowd, huge TV screens will also be placed in Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’s Park for public viewing. While it will still be busy in those parks it’s likely to be less of a squeeze than the procession route. If you can’t make it down you can watch the procession on TV with many major stations broadcasting live and online.
