King Charles III's coronation expected in June next year

The date for King Charles III's coronation is expected to be on June 3 next year in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, UK officials have said.

Plans are converging on that Saturday near the start of the summer although discussions over which other days will become official holidays are still going on, said a government official speaking on condition of anonymity before a public announcement.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

From rogue royals to pet causes, the challenges facing King Charles III

Almost 70 years to the day after his mother was crowned, the coronation will form the centrepiece of days of celebration to mark the beginning of the monarch’s reign.

King Charles acceded to the throne last month after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

By June next year he will be 74, making him the oldest person to be crowned sovereign in British history.

It has been widely reported that the coronation will be a smaller, more modest version of previous ceremonies, with space for representatives of different faiths and community groups in line with modern Britain’s diversity.

King Charles III hosts world leaders at Buckingham Palace reception - in pictures

King Charles will be crowned alongside his wife, the Queen Consort, Camilla.

When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 more than 8,000 guests from 129 nations travelled to Westminster Abbey in the centre of London, with temporary platforms erected to seat the guests, including every member of the British aristocracy.

Safety restrictions mean that nowadays the church can only hold about 2,000, providing a headache for planners.

King Charles III through the years — in pictures

Last month, the UK Foreign Office spent days devising the seating plan for the queen’s funeral, mindful of diplomatic hierarchies and protocol.

The coronation ceremony itself is rich in tradition.

The king is seated on a throne known as Edward’s Chair, holding the sovereign’s sceptre and rod — to represent his constitutional control of the nation — and the sovereign’s orb — to represent the Christian world.

King Charles III’s 13 residences across the UK - in pictures

After being anointed with oil, blessed and consecrated by senior clergy, King Charles will have the crown of St Edward placed on his head.

St Edward’s Crown — named after the last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor — is made of solid gold and features over 400 gemstones, including rubies, garnets and sapphires.

The version which will be used next year, originally made for Charles II in 1661, is 30 centimetres tall and weighs 2.23 kilograms. It is usually kept under guard in the Tower of London.

King Charles visits UK Parliament — in pictures

It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”

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