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By Lee Sun-ho
I could not help watching the royal coronation of 21st-century King Charles III and Queen Camillaon the BBC for five hours on May 6.
Since his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth celebrated her platinum jubilee on the throne last year, this produced the realization in me that King Charles III's coronation ceremony was convened after an interval of seven decades.
The historic ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey, and 100 top world leaders from 203 countries including Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo joined the solemn function. The well-organized formal ceremony showed the St. Edward Crown with 444 jewels crafted in 1661, the gorgeous military parades between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, a royal armed forces' salute to the new king and queen as they were escorted in the famed diamond jubilee coach. Huge crowds gathered to greet the just-crowned monarch couple. The royal family members appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony, and finally, fly-past performances of nine planes high up in the sky were watched worldwide ― including 19 million British.
In my view, the spectacular coronation for Charles III, who spent 65 years as a crown prince, held inside and outside the abbey and the palace in London, seemed to represent the emotions, traditions and regalia of the prime and glorious kingdom. The monarchy's recognition voice "not to be served but to serve" sounded like a change from the divine rights of kings to the fair treatment of people, irrespective of color, race, gender and religion, as I noticed throughout the entire congregation process of Charles III's coronation.
I became aware of several facts throughout the whole coronation process regarding the royal pomp. Phrases from the Psalms of the Bible were quoted many times during the process of the coronation congregation. Among the displays of plenty, such as the large-sized Union Jack flags hoisted on the main driveways, it was noteworthy to find the other national flags belonging to the 56 British Commonwealth nations such as Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand. The phrase "Charles III" was written as "TM The King" in the BBC's coverage as a British expression.
On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Korea-UK diplomatic relations and thanks to the participation of over 80,000 British combat troops in the Korean War 70 years ago, I think the coronation of King Charles III initiated a new start, aiming to upgrade the bilateral friendly ties between the two allies in diverse realms of mutual cooperation and understanding as necessary and sufficient hereafter. As Foreign Minister Park Jin mentioned at the British Embassy's coronation celebration event in Seoul on May 3, an unshakable foundation rooted between the two nations should be enlarged and deepened as time goes by, against the backdrop of Charles III's era in the United Kingdom.
The writer (wkexim@naver.com) is a freelance columnist living in Seoul.
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