A living ring of sharpened steel

The perfectly turned-out and impeccably drilled military personnel marching alongside HM The King’s Coronation procession are not merely there for show

- ROGER FIELD

AS HM King Charles III’s Coronation procession clatters, creaks, clanks and stamps its way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and back on 6 May, the world will gaze at Great Britain PLC doing something at which it is still world-beating: looking magnificent on parade. But behind the gleam, the spit and the polish, and the endlessly rehearsed drills, there are other things going on. First and foremost, the pomp of the coronation procession is an ever-evolving, generations-old pageant staged by British monarchs to impress their subjects (although for ‘subjects’, now read global television and internet audiences), not only with their grandeur and wealth but also with the potency of their  Armed Forces, who march alongside them. However, all those riding, marching and standing military personnel have their own mission: apart from being impeccable on parade, they must protect their sovereign, with their lives if need be. In essence, that brightly burnished Coronation procession is a living ring of sharpened steel protecting The King, carried by highly trained men and women, often – just look at the medals worn proudly on their chests – with multiple combat tours between them. Let’s look at some of the ‘players’ in the Coronation.

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY