IN A DAY OF POMP, PAGEANTRY AND PRAYER KING CHARLES AND QUEEN CAMILLA CELEBRATE HIS MAJESTY'S DEDICATION TO SCOTLAND IN 'SECOND CORONATION

Thousands of people packed Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to watch King Charles and Queen Camilla’s “second coronation” – a symbolic service of thanksgiving and dedication that saw the monarch formally devote himself to the people of Scotland.

- EMILY NASH

At historic St. Giles’ Cathedral (where the late Queen’s Scottish funeral was held last September), His Majesty was presented with the Honours of Scotland – the oldest Crown Jewels in the United Kingdom. He and Camilla were joined by Prince William and Kate, known in Scotland as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.

After a service reflecting the diversity, history, culture and tradition of Scotland, the royals and the crowds enjoyed a spectacular flypast over the city by the Red Arrows.

The festivities unfolded amid Holyrood Week, or Royal Week – Charles’s first as monarch – which sees members of the Royal Family celebrate Scottish achievement and community each year. Upon his arrival two days earlier, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse – the sovereign’s official residence in Scotland – the King had been greeted with the Ceremony of the Keys, an ages-old ritual that his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, took part in throughout her reign.

Staying true to custom, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Councillor Robert Aldridge, presented His Majesty with the keys to the city and welcomed him to “your ancient and hereditary Kingdom of Scotland.”