God Save the King!
A celebration of the coronation
by Becky May
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (God Save the King!) and the means to display them.
- Have available the YouTube video ‘Frozen - Elsa’s coronation’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 2.18 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/YxMkmz3DY1U
- Prior to the assembly, find out about special events that are happening locally to celebrate the coronation.
Assembly
- Welcome the children to the assembly.
Ask the children whether they know what special event is coming up. Help them to identify that the coronation of King Charles III will be happening on 6 May 2023. - Ask the children what they know about the coronation and invite them to share their stories.
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 1.
Explain that this is a picture of our late Queen at her coronation. - Show Slide 2.
Explain that, as soon as Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022, Charles became our new king.
In the past, anyone who had a claim to the throne could try to declare themselves as the next king or queen as soon as the current one had died. It became important to settle quickly the matter of who would be the next reigning monarch to avoid battles. - Explain that King Charles’ coronation will be a special ceremony where the king and the queen consort will be crowned.
Show Slide 3. - Ask the children whether they know of any special events or celebrations that are being held in honour of the coronation.
Listen to a range of responses.
Tell the children about any special celebrations that are planned for the school community or will be taking place locally.
Explain that everyone will have an extra bank holiday to celebrate! - Tell the children that you are now going to show them a clip of Elsa’s coronation from the film Frozen.
Show the YouTube video ‘Frozen - Elsa’s coronation’ (2.18 minutes long). - Explain that, in the clip, Elsa has to hold several special objects that are used as symbols in the coronation. King Charles will do this too during his coronation.
- Show Slide 4.
Tell the children that King Charles will have the crown placed on his head during the ceremony. - Show Slide 5.
Explain that this is the orb that King Charles will be given to hold during the coronation. It is a symbol that the king’s power comes from God. - Show Slide 6.
Tell the children that this is the sceptre that King Charles will also be given to hold. It represents the king’s power and his authority over the people. - Show Slide 7.
Explain that, during the coronation, King Charles will make promises about how he will rule as king. These promises go back many hundreds of years.
Ask the children whether they can think of any other situations where people may make promises like this. Invite them to share their ideas.
Listen to a range of responses.
Suggestions could include weddings, Cub and Brownie investitures, giving evidence in court and so on.
Time for reflection
Encourage the children to be quiet for a few moments while they think about some of the promises that they make.
Explain that, although none of us is ever likely to be crowned like King Charles, we all make different kinds of promises during our lives. These can be in formal ceremonies such as the ones that we just mentioned, but also things that we promise to our friends and families. Keeping promises is important.
Optional: the Bible has a lot to say about making promises and keeping them. It talks about how God always keeps his promises. The rainbow that appeared in the sky after the flood in the story of Noah was a promise that God would never flood the earth again. In addition, Jesus taught that if we can’t keep our promises, we shouldn’t make them at all! It can be hard - and sometimes, we let people down - but we should always try to keep the promises that we make.
Prayer
Dear God,
We pray for King Charles as he prepares for his coronation.
We thank you for the way in which he has served his country throughout his life.
We pray that you will help him to keep the promises that he makes at his coronation.
Please help us to keep the promises that we make.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Zadok the Priest’ by Handel, which has been performed at every British coronation since its composition. It is available at: https://youtu.be/waTzBd5lTHQ (5.21 minutes long)
Extension activities
- Create a display of media coverage of local and national events surrounding the coronation. You could use this as a stimulus for report writing, perhaps about your own school’s coronation celebrations.
- Encourage the children to find out more about the different objects that are used in the coronation ceremony and what they symbolize. Each class could find out about one of the objects, and then share the information with one another.
