King Charles will not be smeared in the intestinal wax of sperm whales or civet secretions at his coronation, in an animal-friendly break from tradition.
Ok, look: a lot of traditions in the UK are odd. At the opening of parliament, for instance, the King or Queen’s hat is coached to the House of Commons in its own golden carriage, and there’s a good chance the King may be served a blood-sucking parasite pie at his coronation.
One tradition is that the monarch is anointed with holy oils during their coronation ceremony. The oil, known as chrism oil, was consecrated at a ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, on Friday. For King Charles III’s ceremony, the chrism was made from olives harvested from the Mount of Olives at the Monastery of Mary Magdalene and the Monastery of the Ascension.
Presumably so that he isn’t just being drizzled in olive oil like a bruschetta, the oil is scented with rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, orange blossom, and sesame.
Previous coronations have used oil secreted from the glands of civets and other small mammals, as well as oil from waxy lumps found in whale intestines known as ambergris, taken from a sperm whale.
Kings and queens are anointed with the oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, using equipment including a spoon that survived destruction by Oliver Cromwell’s forces in 1649.
Traditionally, the k=King would wear an ermine cloak, somewhat negating the animal-friendly message of not being daubed in animal secretions. However, there are reports that Charles may forgo the traditional ermine fur cloak in order to “reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry”, possibly wearing military uniform instead.
The royals have also decided not to include the Koh-i-Noor diamond in the ceremony, given that India is pressuring the UK to return it to the country it was taken from in the mid-19th century. No further movement has been made to return the diamond itself.
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