When you are helping to crown a new monarch there are bound to be a few nerves involved – particularly when there are 20 million people watching.
At least that was the case for The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby who could not remember his lines during a rehearsal for King Charles’s Coronation, a new documentary has revealed.
A trailer for the the BBC documentary Charles III: The Coronation Year shows the Archbishop getting mixed up with his lines while rehearsing a blessing with the King.
The King is shown laughing and shaking his head when the Archbishop forgets the words to part of the liturgy at the Westminster Abbey coronation service, reports The Telegraph.
In an interview the Archbishop said: “I have a memory that is probably about as good as our spaniel’s – in other words, zero.”
He is shown reading out the prayers to the monarch – but he stops, consults his notes and says “This can’t be right.”
An onlooker quips “you must have said this before” and King Charles turns red with laughter.
The Archbishop later said to the camera: “He gave me a nice smile, nodded his head, but that was a glitch.”
Other lighthearted parts of the documentary which covers the first year of the King’s reign includes footage of the King and Queen joking and laughing during coronation dress rehearsals in behind-the-scenes footage.
King Charles says “I can fly” as he holds up his long robes like wings during a Buckingham Palace practice run.
Camilla’s train is held by her four pages – and as the schoolboys hold up her train she says: “Here we are with all the lads.”
Meanwhile as King Charles and Queen Camilla plan for Christmas Day celebrations at Sandringham, it seems that his son Prince Harry and wife Meghan’s festive plans aren’t quite nailed down.
Prince Harry and Meghan haven’t spent Christmas with the Royal Family since 2018. Instead, they’ve been creating new traditions in the US.
But former royal butler Grant Harrold believes the right thing to do is for King Charles to extend an invitation and leave it up to them if they’d like to accept – something reports indicate did not happen.
Charles III: The Coronation Year will be shown on Boxing day at 6.50pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
