The Duke of Edinburgh have visited Cranleigh in celebration of the Coronation of King Charles III
By Christian Fuller
BBC News
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh visited a street lunch in Surrey in celebration of the Coronation.
King Charles III was crowned alongside Queen Camilla on Saturday, marking the first coronation in 70 years.
More than 1,000 street parties and lunches are being held across Kent, Sussex and Surrey on Sunday.
Prince Edward and his wife Sophie attended a Coronation Big Lunch in Cranleigh, where the couple tasted a coronation chicken pie.
Hundreds of residents attended the event, along with representatives from the Royal British Legion, the Scouts and the Guides.
South East: Coronation parties are held across Kent and Sussex
Meanwhile, people living in the aptly-named Fry Crescent in Burgess Hill came together to host a ‘fully air fried’ street party.
Resident Carol Scott said: “We’re known for our street parties here on Fry Crescent, but we usually barbeque or bake the food we serve, so creating a menu made up entirely of food rustled up in our new Tefal air fryers has been a challenge which we’ve all relished.”
Image source, Tefal
Residents of Fry Crescent in Burgess Hill at a street party
Avid bakers have also put their skills to the test creating bespoke cakes to celebrate the Coronation.
Catherine Davies, from Crowborough, East Sussex, owns a cake business and works as a teaching assistant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
She created a triple-layered coronation vanilla cake with lemon and elderflower buttercream, which was a prize in a raffle.
Image source, PA Media
A celebratory triple-layered vanilla cake made by Catherine Davies, from Crowborough
She said the bespoke creation, which dons the official insignia, took around two hours to make.
“I thought the insignia on the top was elegant and looked good in gold, matching the drip down the sides,” she said.
At a Big Coronation Lunch in Canterbury, a woman in a union jack dress curtsied when she met Archbishop Justin Welby.
“I did this really embarrassing thing,” Michelle Downer said. “I curtsied to him.”
Regarding the Coronation, she added: “I didn’t move from the TV.”
Big screens were set up in towns and cities across the region to show the ceremony – including in Brighton, Rochester, Canterbury and Ashford.
More than 200 spectators gathered to watch the Coronation on a big screen in Jubilee Square in Brighton, while at Canterbury Cathedral, there was a prom, a live screening and a celebratory bell peal.
Image source, PA Media
Celebrations at Rochester Castle
At Rochester Castle, Brig Peter Gilbert, 64, stood out from the crowd in his military dress.
The Deputy Lieutenant for Medway, who joined the Territorial Army at 17, said: “I spent essentially my whole life serving Queen Elizabeth II, so I feel very grateful, right at the end of my career to have the chance to serve the King.
“Before I was in the armed services, I was a cathedral chorister, so that moment when they came into the Abbey to the sound of (Sir Hubert) Parry’s I Was Glad was absolutely extraordinary.”
And even those who were said they were not huge fans of the Royal Family had fun.
Joe Monahan, who travelled from Hull to visit his family in Kent, said: “I’m not a massive royalist, but I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere.”
Mr Monahan, who was wrapped in a union jack, added: “I quite like the pompousness of it all – the stupid costumes, I like it.
“The gospel choir was great, I enjoyed watching them.”
Meanwhile, one-year-old Percival also stood to attention for the new monarch in Stockbury, Kent.
Image source, Sophie Georgallides
Percival, aged one, stood to attention for King Charles III in Stockbury, Kent
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