Follow the latest news from the coronation of King Charles here
There will be afternoon teas, Union Jack displays and hours of TV coverage of King Charles III’s coronation — and that’s just in Germany.
Saturday’s events in London will have an eager following in Germany, which has long had a taste for British pageantry and culture.
King Charles has deep ancestral ties to Germany and a few descendants of former German royalty will be at the coronation.
Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, will follow in the footsteps of his father who attended Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.
“A new royal era is being rung in,” said the prince, whose family has attended six out of seven coronations since that of King George IV in 1821.
Not all Germans are royalists — a poll published on Tuesday found 64 per cent saw King Charles as a good monarch and 57 per cent found him sympathetic, a broad but not unanimous salute.
But the enthusiasts are making the most of the occasion.
One stately home, Schloss Benkhausen, has sold out an afternoon tea on Saturday with scones, clotted cream, sandwiches, marmalade and a selection of teas.
The star guest is a royal connoisseur called Beate Henke, a well-wisher who shook King Charles’s hand on his recent visit to Berlin with Queen Consort Camilla.
A shop near Lake Constance called Little Britain has a cheerful display of King Charles portraits, Union Jacks and other British memorabilia in its window.
At the nearby Lady Grey tea room, guests will pay 59 euros ($65) for a two-course “big lunch” — with unlimited tea and coffee included — while they watch the coronation on two big screens.
Organisers have practised making a coronation quiche from a recipe on the royal family’s website, which says the spinach and broad bean tart is the king and queen consort’s personal recommendation.
A museum in the east of Germany will use the opportunity to put a collection of English prints on display in an exhibition called “Very British” — followed by afternoon tea.
The same title was chosen for a public viewing event in Berlin where the coronation will be broadcast live in a library.
“We would be very pleased to see you in a hat or little crown,” organisers said. “God Save The King!”
The coronation comes with Germany still basking in the glow of King Charles’s state visit in March.
The king made a fine impression by speaking creditable German, deploying some British humour and sensitively commemorating the Second World War during a stop in Hamburg.
His trip was billed as a turning of the page after the acrimony of Brexit — and Germany was delighted.
“King Charles III painted a lively picture of the ties between our countries and stressed our cultural links and similarities,” German MP Guenter Krings said at the time.
British pomp and ceremony have long been popular in Germany, where the Last Night of the Proms is a TV fixture and bookshops are using the opportunity to sell Downton Abbey-themed cookbooks.
Prince Harry's memoir Spare became the best-selling book in Germany when 100,000 people bought a copy within days of its release.
Saturday’s ceremony will have a German touch in the form of Zadok the Priest, the hymn composed by George Frederick Handel for the 1727 coronation of King George II — the last British monarch born in Germany.
On television, German-speaking channels are offering a mixture of high brow punditry and light relief.
Public broadcaster ARD will have the noble-blooded Countess Leontine von Schmettow as a talking head during five and a half hours of live coverage. Anyone who misses the action can watch the highlights at 4.45pm and again at 11.40pm.
Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell has been signed up by tabloid Bild, while Austrian programme WELTjournal is promising a sober look at a “coronation in times of crisis”.
As if emboldened by the king’s nod to German humour in Berlin, German broadcaster RTL is sending the comedian Wigald Boning to London to soak up the atmosphere.
“I’m excited to see what kind of personalities I meet, whether protesters or royalists,” he said.
