ENGLAND: Students from private Westminister school get ready to welcome King Charles for his coronation ceremony. They will be the first to properly celebrate Charles’ arrival when he is crowned at London’s Westminster the following month, as they have done for more than three centuries.
They will chant “Vivat Rex” in that manner. A custom that dates back at least to 1685, the present class of 48 students from the elite, private Westminster School have been rehearsing for months in preparation for their big moment on May 6.
A 14-year-old student from the US is participating in a prestigious event. His friends are excited for him, and they are likely to be astonished by what happens. He is from Kentucky in the US.
Since James II was crowned, it has become a tradition for scholars—boys and girls who have received academic awards and are between the ages of 13 and 18—to participate in the coronation. The ceremony that will take place next month will mark their 14th participation.
A musician integrated their chants of “Vivat Rex” (Latin for “long live the king”) into his hymn “I Was Glad” in 1902, and it has since been played during the coronation of every crowned monarch since Edward VII.
The school’s director of music described the preparation as “fascinating” because the King’s Scholars of Westminster School isn’t formally a choir; rather, they are the institution’s top students.
“We’re enjoying practising even if this isn’t a professional choir since the idea is that it will be a scenario of a crowd chanting “Vivat,” therefore the performance will be like a crowd scene,” students added.
Many antiquated customs will be present at King Charles III’s pomp-filled coronation on May 6 in a ceremony that dates back to the tenth century. The new king has made no secret of his desire to modernise, but tradition and ritual will still play a significant role.
What is known about Charles’ preparations for a coronation in the twenty-first century and how it would differ from the last one, which was performed in 1953 by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, will be unveiled with the coronation ceremony.
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