Brits will get an extra bank holiday next year to celebrate Coronation of King Charles

Time to celebrate

The UK will get an extra bank holiday next year to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles.

This is excellent news for royal fans, and those who couldn’t care less, as there will be three bonus days off in May next year to celebrate the King’s ascension to the throne.

The extra bank holiday will fall on Monday May 8th – two days after the Coronation at Westminster Abbey on the previous Saturday.

There are already two other traditional – and excepted – May bank holidays – one on the 1st and 29th off too.

But PM Rishi Sunak has given the green light to have the extra day off so that people across the nation can come together to celebrate.

Mr Sunak said: “The Coronation of a new monarch is a unique moment for our country.

“In recognition of this historic occasion, I am pleased to announce an additional bank holiday for the whole United Kingdom next year.

“I look forward to seeing people come together to celebrate and pay tribute to King Charles III by taking part in local and national events across the country in his honour.”

This will be the second time a history the nation a day off for a coronation. The tradition first started when Queen Elizabeth was officially crowned in 2 June 1953.

Cabinet office minister Oliver Dowden added: “The Coronation combines the sacred and the solemn but it is also celebratory.

“This bank holiday will once again give people across the United Kingdom the opportunity to come together as families and communities to welcome His Majesty to the throne as we mark this important day in our nation’s long history.”

A more long-standing tradition is also expected to be observed during the King’s coronation and it involves a massive stone. 

The Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, is going to be moved from Scotland yet again, and back to London’s Westminster Abbey next May.

For those who don’t know, the red sandstone is a symbol of monarchy and a plays a huge part in the crowning ceremony. While its earliest origins are now unknown, one legend dates back to biblical times, claiming that it is the same stone which Jacob used as a pillow at Bethel. Legend has it that it was even touched by God.

The stone doesn’t just carry importance, but also a shed load of weight too – 24 stone to be exact. So, it will require experts to transport it now that the Coronation date is decided.

It’s fair to say this stone has already done a fait bit of travelling in its time.

According to Jewish legend, the stone was brought from Syria to Egypt by King Gathelus, who then fled to Spain following the Egyptian army’s defeat. One of the King’s descendants then brought the stone to Ireland, where he was crowned on top of the stone. From Ireland, the stone is thought to have moved with the invading Scots to Argyll. And in 840AD – there or thereabouts – the stone was moved to the then-capital of Scotland, Scone, hence the cake-themed name.

It was a symbol of Scottish monarchy for centuries, and used in the inauguration of the country’s kings, before it was seized by English forces in 1296 under King Edward’s power. The stone was then built into the throne as a way of showing that Edward had conquered Scotland.

Hundreds more centuries went by where the stone remained in Westminster. But in 1950, four Scottish students carried out a Christmas Day raid of the Abbey, and returned the stone to Scotland.

The stone was eventually located by English detectives and brought back to Westminster once again, in time for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953.

But in 1996, a staggering 700 years since the stone was originally taken from Scotland, it was returned – with the Queen’s permission – and put in Edinburgh Castle on St Andrew’s Day.

So, King Charles III’s Coronation will initiate the stone’s first returned to England in 26 years.

Related links:

• The Queen has penned a secret note and hidden it in a vault – but it can’t be opened for 63 years
• Elizabeth II spent more time meeting PMs than Liz Truss did being one
• Princess Diana ‘feared for her life’ in the years before fatal car crash