For all the television cameras, photographers and crowds, there is one moment in the coronation that won’t be broadcast around the world -- when the monarch is anointed with holy oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
This is considered the most sacred part of the service and wasn’t televised in 1953. On Saturday, the moment is shielded by an intricately embroidered screen, designed by iconographer Aidan Hart and created through both hand and digital embroidery, managed by the Royal School of Needlework.
Welby wrote in the official souvenir program that the moment is “a symbol of being commissioned by the people for a special task for which God’s help is needed.”
He added: “It is a moment when The King is set apart for service: service of the people of this country, and service of God.”
Behind this three-sided screen, the Dean of Westminster pours holy oil from the Ampulla, a gold eagle-shaped flask, on to the silver-gilt Coronation Spoon before the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints Charles on his hands, chest and head.
Like everything else in the coronation, the screen itself is laden with symbolism. Its central design takes the form of a tree, featuring the names of all 56 Commonwealth countries on the leaves, with the King’s cypher at the base of the tree “representing the Sovereign as servant of their people,” Buckingham Palace said.
Service personnel from the Household Division – part of the British Army responsible for delivering State Ceremonial and Public Duties – will hold the screen.