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A living fossil, on TV today

No doubt the coronation of King Charles III has enduring cultural heritage, but when state rituals are divorced from private beliefs, can they retain their public character for long?

King Charles' coronation
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Photo: Bloomberg

Mihir S Sharma

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It is objectively strange that, in the third decade of the 21st century, a modern liberal democracy is staging a medieval, religious event to announce that its currently serving head of state is in fact its head of state. The coronation today of Charles III — who was already proclaimed king of the United Kingdom in September, and has carried out official duties since then — is unquestionably something of an anachronism.

It is an anachronism, in fact, even by the standards of anachronistic monarchies. No Danish monarch, for example, has been crowned since 1840, and there has been no
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper

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