IN PICTURES: Flags, robes and specialist merch – how Londoners are preparing for the Coronation Weekend
London retail is set for a big boost from the coronation, according to figures released today by the New West End Company.
The company, which represents 600 retail and hospitality businesses in the West End, forecasts that sales over the Coronation Weekend will hit £50m.
Total footfall is predicted to reach 1.75m, 24 per cent more than last year’s May bank holiday and close to pre-pandemic levels.
International travel bookings to the capital are up 93 per cent compared to this time last year, with bookings from the US up 144 per cent as visitors flock to celebrate the first coronation in over 70 years.
Welcoming all those visitors to a uniquely British occasion takes serious preparation, as the pictures below show.
London, April 24: Union Jack flags hang from the roof of Covent Garden Market ahead of the coronation on May 6. The market is expected to enjoy a boost over the Coronation Weekend.
Harrogate, April 19: Rupert North wears a coronation cloak designed by Harrogate-based florist Helen James during the Spring Flower Show. Replicas of St Edward’s Crown, the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign’s Orb, first created in 1660 for King Charles II, can also be seen. Part of the Crown Jewels, they will feature during the Coronation.
London, April 24: A man looks at items on display at a souvenir stand as King Charles III Coronation flags are displayed above him. More tourists will be in the capital than usual over the Coronation Weekend.
Sleaford, 25 April: An A400M Atlas (C) and two C-130J Hercules military transport aircraft are visible through the spring blossom in northern England. The aircraft are rehearsing the flypast that will take place along London’s Mall for the Coronation.
London, April 17: Members of the Household Cavalry take part in a rehearsal for the coronation of King Charles III, at Buckingham Palace.
London, April 27: Regent Street bedecked in Union Flags and His Majesty’s Coronation Emblem which pays tribute to the King’s love of nature by combining the flora of the four nation in the shape of St Edward’s crown.