That leaves William and Kate, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, to wow the public with their star power. Her husband, Prince Harry, will (reluctantly, by all accounts) be there, likely seated with the extended royal family and bouncing as soon official proceedings wrap.

The most interesting of the younger royals, Meghan Markle, has declined to attend the coronation, possibly in part for this very reason. (A real shame when you-or rather, the taxpayer-have spent a rumoured $160 million on this bash.)

Thanks to a combination of his mixed popularity, a seemingly endless off-stage soap opera starring his children, and our collective obsession with youth and glamour that pushes his face off the front page in favour of theirs every time, it’s far more likely that it’s the younger royals the camera will pan to as you’re eating your pre-dawn Victoria sponge on May 6. However, Charles is the monarch who waited 74 years to be crowned only to find that he’s not really the star of his own show. He’s the one who’ll be anointed with oil, make an oath to the people, and take his seat on the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, which will enclose the “stone of destiny,” an ancient piece of sandstone said to play a bit part in the book of Genesis. Photographs, diaries, personal letters and press cuttings combine to tell the fascinating story of a magnificent collaboration between crown and camera.Make no mistake: The upcoming coronation is Charles’ day. In 1987 she, in turn, bequeathed the archive to the V&A. His detailed diary accounts reveal the complexities of each sitting, from the intense planning and excitement beforehand to the pressures of achieving the perfect shot.īeaton bequeathed his archive of royal portraits to his devoted secretary Eileen Hose. The most memorable of Beaton's images combine the splendour of historic royal portrait painting with an intimacy that only photography and film can convey. Over the next three decades he would be invited to photograph the Queen on many significant occasions, including her Coronation Day in 1953. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was still a young princess when she first sat for Beaton in 1942. The photographs of the British royal family by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) were central to shaping the monarchy's public image in the mid-20th century.

Cecil beaton queen elizabeth coronation