King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort during the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on May 3, 2023 in London, England. (Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images) LONDON - On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history.At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649.
On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant "Not my king" as the royal procession goes by."We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore," said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic.RELATED: The coronation of King Charles III: What to knowThe coronation, he said, is "a celebration of a corrupt institution.
And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned."Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain's 1,000-year-old monarchy.
But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne, was widely respected because of her longevity and sense of duty.