The UK government has invited people across the UK and the Commonwealth to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort over the weekend starting today (Saturday, May 6) and finishing up on a new bank holiday in honour of the event on Monday (May 8).
The government said the event is a time for celebration across the nation and will feature a weekend of special events, some of which will star farmers and others from agricultural backgrounds.
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has predicted agricultural benefits from the coronation earlier this week in the form of a “surge” in sales of red meat and dairy products.
AHDB analysts expect an increase in food spend this weekend as street parties and barbeques are hosted to celebrate the coronation after the pattern was seen during and after the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The King’s coronation is not the only thing which has and will impact the farming sector, as King Charles III himself is known for his interest in agriculture.
The King has had farming and forestry-related gifts and properties bestowed upon him in lieu of the coronation and this weekend, and his subsequent reign, will likely see these themes highlighted by the King more than once.
King Charles III and farming
Ahead of the coronation, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey described King Charles III as a “dedicated champion” of nature in the UK.
Coffey credited the King with initiating and promoting efforts to move towards different farming techniques that would protect the environment.
“He spearheaded efforts to move to more environmentally friendly farming techniques and through his Prince’s Foundation has sought to highlight how education can foster responsible stewardship towards the planet and the natural environment,” she said.
The King’s coronation also features others from farming backgrounds playing prominent ceremonial roles in the celebrations.
Petty officer Amy Taylor will be the first woman to bear the Jewelled Sword of Offering into the Abbey. She has been selected to represent Service men and women, as a Royal Navy Petty Officer, a tribute to His Majesty’s military career.
Taylor said she was honoured to pay tribute to King Charles III through her role in he coronation, as she admires his advocacy for the agriculture community of which she grew up in.
“Having served most of my senior career as an aircraft engineer on 845 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton where His Majesty originally trained and served as a pilot, I am deeply honoured and humbled to play my part in this historic event,” she said.
“Coming from a farming family His Majesty has always been such a great advocate for our community and someone I have admired growing up.”
Lincolnshire farmer and landowner Francis Dymoke will carry The Royal Standard after his claim to undertake the role was upheld by the Coronation Claims Office.
The title of King or Queen’s Champion has been held by the Dymoke family since the Middle Ages. The King’s Champion would previously ride on horseback into the Coronation Banquet and challenge any who doubted the right of The King or Queen to the throne.
Dymoke is also a former director of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society. He was in the role for over a year between 2004 and 2005.
There has not been a Coronation Banquet since that held by King George IV in 1821 so the Champion has instead undertaken a different role since, usually bearing a flag or Standard.
Recent contributions
Last month, King Charles III gifted seven heifers, originally given to Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, to a Jersey dairy farmer who lost over 100 cattle in December 2022.
The in calf heifers were given to Charlie Le Boutillier of Woodlands Farm to assist with the re-stocking programme and in support of the Jersey dairy farming community.
Over 100 of Le Boutillier’s cows fell ill and died over a period of a few days in December last year. After laboratory testing, Jersey’s chief veterinary officer concluded that the most likely cause of death was botulism.
The Royal Jersey Agricultural & Horticultural Society (RJA&HS) and the Jersey Milk Marketing Board (JMMB) arranged to present the seven heifers to Queen Elizabeth II last year.
The group of maiden heifers represent a cross section of breeding from the leading herds in Jersey and remained in Jersey to be bred with the view to creating a lasting legacy within the Windsor herd of a breeding line that traces back into the heritage of the Jersey Herd Book and the origins of the Jersey breed.
Following the accession to the throne of King Charles III, arrangements were in hand for the shipping of the animals to Windsor, but the King decided to gift the cows to the island after the loss of cattle at Woodlands Farm.
The heifers were presented to the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, Jerry Kyd, who, on behalf of the King, gifted them to the Le Boutillier family.
Jersey Dairy said the progeny of these animals will be recorded within the Jersey Herd Book with the affix ‘Platinum’ to their pedigree name to mark the deep links between the Sovereign and the Jersey breed in the Island.
King’s Series of National Nature Reserves
Natural England is aiming to leave a “lasting public legacy” for people and nature by creating a King’s Series of National Nature Reserves to celebrate the coronation.
The Defra-sponsored public body said as Prince of Wales, King Charles II expressed a “deep love and concern” for England’s wildlife, natural and rural places.
To show appreciation for this, Natural England has decided to commit to naming five major National Nature Reserves every year for the next five years (25 in total) under the King’s Series of National Nature Reserves.
The first one – the Lincolnshire Coronation Coast National Nature Reserve – will be declared by Natural England in the summer.
The remaining four nature reserves for 2023/2024 will be confirmed at a later date, Natural England said.
Chair of Natural England, Tony Juniper, said: “For more than five decades our King has been at the forefront of thinking about the need to restore our depleted natural world.
He has highlighted the vital importance of sustainable agriculture, questions of water security, solutions to climate change and the urgency of moving to a circular economy inspired by nature.
“He’s helped make progress on all these and other subjects while having people’s wellbeing at the centre of his ideas.”
Juniper said the King’s Series of National Nature Reserves was a fitting way to mark King Charles III’s coronation and the start of a “new era of nature recovery”.
“The National Nature Reserves are the jewels in the crown of England’s nature and they are there for wildlife and people alike,” he said.
“The first one in this new series will be a very substantial area of protected habitat on the Lincolnshire coast, through which a section of the England Coast Path will soon be opened by Natural England.”
Forestry England and the ‘Coronation Woods’
Forestry England has announced a large-scale woodland creation to commemorate the coronation – the “Coronation Woods”.
The plans will see the development of the Coronation Woods, with Forestry England creating new woodland and planting trees between between last month and March 2025, specifically created to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has pledged to provide up to £2.5 million of funding for communities in England to plant trees as a permanent reminder of the coronation to their local areas.
The department said the funding will support local authorities, parish councils and housing associations to deliver local planting inititatives.
Forestry England’s chief executive, Mike Seddon, said the organisation is “immensely proud” to be responsible for planting Coronation Woods over the next two years to mark the event.
“The nation’s forests have traditionally marked coronations, including tree planting for King George VI and renaming a forest for Queen Elizabeth II.
“The new Coronation Woods will be timeless reminders of the King’s Coronation and reflect his passion for the environment, encouraging access to the countryside and a thriving rural economy.”
