Australia, New Zealand celebrate King Charles III’s coronation with 21-gun salute

Eight months after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, took place on May 6, Saturday, at Westminster Abbey in United Kingdom.

To celebrate King Charles III’s coronation, Australia and New Zealand marked the coronation with 21-gun salutes in their capitals, after each respective countries’ leaders, who are both republicans, attended the ceremony in London.

King Charles III is now head of state in Australia, New Zealand, and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the UK, but the role is mostly ceremonial.

Both Australia and New Zealand held events on Sunday to celebrate the coronation, with ABC television broadcasting the 21-gun salute in front of the Australian parliament in Canberra.

A military flypast was scheduled but it was cancelled due to bad weather, according to Defence Australia.

The New Zealand army fired a 21-gun salute from Point Jerningham in Wellington, said the NZ Defence Force.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins both approve of their countries breaking with the monarchy, but they said they would still pledge their allegiance to King Charles.

Queen Elizabeth II’s death last September sparked a debate about whether there is a need to retain a distant constitutional monarchy, particularly in Australia.

In 1999, Australia held a referendum on becoming a republic with 55 per cent of voters opposed, while more recent polls have shown varying levels of support.

The coronation was watched by a peak of 20 million viewers in the UK, although the audience is substantially smaller than the 29 million viewers of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September.

Meanwhile, for many, King Charles achieved the diversity and inclusivity he ambitioned for his coronation, although not everyone would agree.

According to the Guardian, there were more brown and black faces in Westminster Abbey than 70 years ago, as expected because of societal changes throughout Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

However, one place there was no diversity was the Buckingham Palace balcony, observed Bridgerton actor Adjoa Anoh. He contrasted “the rich diversity of the abbey” and “a terribly white balcony.”

Race has become an important issue in the Buckingham Palace recently – from Harry and Megan’s allegations of unconscious bias within the institution, and the news that a black charity worker was repeatedly asked by the late Queen Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting at a palace reception about where she was from.

Sunder Katwala, director of thinktank British Future, said that the departure of Harry and Megan was a missed opportunity for a “modern monarchy.” Since it symbolised diversity and tradition in a way that the coronation tried to do, and it didn’t work terms of keeping Megan in the royal family.

“That exacerbates a challenge that they’ve got, which is to reach across generations, as much as to reach across ethnic groups,” Katwala added.