London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 09, 2026

Big screen thrills for coronation partygoers celebrating in the park

Big screen thrills for coronation partygoers celebrating in the park

Details of plans to mark the Coronation in London have been revealed
Up to 100,000 are expected to head to Hyde Park to mark the King’s coronation, event organisers have revealed.

Preparations are also being made for thousands of people to line the procession route along The Mall to watch Charles and Camilla travel between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.

The numbers drawn to central London are expected to exceed the thousands who attended the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations last June.

Organisers are planning for 50,000 people to watch the coronation on Saturday May 6 on giant screens erected on either side of the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park.

A similar number is expected to party in the park the following evening when the Coronation Concert — rumoured to feature Sir Paul McCartney, Take That and Lionel Richie — will be beamed live from Windsor Castle.

Green Park and St James’s Park are expected to be extremely crowded on coronation day. Screens will be erected in both royal parks and on Horse Guards Parade for those unable to catch a glimpse of the military procession.

Westminster council’s licensing committee approved the plans yesterday after the Government’s chief organiser Jon Martin, from the Department of Culture, told councillors: “This is truly an exceptional application and, for once, that is no exaggeration.”

Latest details to emerge include an RAF flypast — for the newly-crowned King’s appearance on the palace balcony with the royal family — and widespread road closures in central London during the bank holiday weekend, making it “challenging” for residents to get around. Transport for London is due to publish travel advice next week.

The plans include late-night food and drink stalls in Green Park and St James’s Park, offering tea, coffee and bacon sandwiches, to cater for those who arrive on Friday night and camp out to secure a prime position.

No alcohol will be on sale at this point. “It’s quite literally a welfare provision,” Mr Martin told the committee. “I cannot say how many people will come in the late hours. I suspect in the early morning there will be quite some numbers.”

However there will be stalls selling Pimm’s and gin from 10am until 10pm on Saturday and from 4pm to 10pm on Sunday, including in Hyde Park. Ice cream and churros will also be available.

A “very significant police presence”, to ensure security along the route, would be on hand in the event of any drunkenness, Mr Martin said.

The BBC will start its live coverage at 7.30am on Saturday. The RAF flypast is expected at around 2.45pm.

Hyde Park will not be ticketed. Grandstands near Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch will be reserved for military veterans, cadets and key workers.

The Coronation Concert will feature “music icons and contemporary stars”, starting at 8.30pm and running for 90 minutes. It will have a live audience of 20,000 — half of which are Britons who won free tickets in a ballot.

The other tickets have been given to charities supported by Charles and Camilla. The concert will feature the Countess of Wessex String Orchestra and the Bands of the Household Division.

According to the BBC, they will play interpretations of “musical favourites… fronted by some of the biggest entertainers from the worlds of pop, opera, and soul music”.

The concert will also feature the Coronation Choir, created from community choirs and amateur singers.

The centrepiece will be a section called Lighting up the Nation, when landmark locations are lit using projections, lasers and drone displays. Identity, the firm that organised London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks and the Pride parade, will manage the event.

Westminster’s licensing committee chairwoman Iman Less said: “These are not only extraordinary events but an important moment in history.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Success: Nvidia Turned Gaming Chips Into the Engine of the AI Boom
Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi’s Father and Longtime Agent, Dies at 68
AI’s Next Bottleneck Is Power, Not Just Nvidia Chips
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Danube Drought Exposes Nazi Wrecks and Pushes Central Europe’s Power System to the Brink
Joe Biden’s Cancer Has Spread Beyond His Bones, Hunter Biden Says
Air Traffic Control Outage Grounded Flights Across the Midwest
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Why Markets May Look Quiet in August After Big Tech Earnings
Partial Solar Eclipse Expected to Draw Interest Across Southwestern UK
UK Graduate Job Postings Fall 7% as Entry-Level Opportunities Remain Scarce
UK Private Sector Returns to Growth as July Activity Reaches Highest Level Since April
UK Summer Drought and Wildfires Raise Pressure for Stronger Environmental Measures
UK Household Credit Stress Rises as Credit Card Lending Growth Hits 12.5%
London Stock Exchange Revises AIM Rules to Make Growth Capital More Accessible
NHS England to Expand Mental Health Services With 155 New and Upgraded Facilities
UK Overhauls £90 Billion Public Procurement System to Reward Domestic Jobs and Apprenticeships
Andy Burnham Holds Strong Approval as Labour Maintains Narrow Lead Over Reform UK, Opinium Finds
Royal Navy Monitored Russian Warships and Shadow Fleet Tankers for 21 Days in July
Australian Crew Evacuates Seriously Ill American From Antarctica in Midwinter Darkness
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Welsh First Minister Raises Independence With UK Prime Minister in First High-Level Call
UK Maintains Severe Terror Threat Level as Prevent Report Highlights Online Radicalization
YouGov Poll Shows Labour Favourability Improves as Reform UK and Greens Lose Ground
Brexit Campaigner Arron Banks Admits Hiring Private Investigator to Examine Journalist
Robert Jenrick Leaves Conservatives for Reform UK in Major Parliamentary Defection
July 2026 Was England and Wales’ Driest Month on Record, Met Office Says
UK Government Considers Public Inquiry Into Jeffrey Epstein’s UK Connections
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
UK Drought Cuts Harvests and Raises Food-Security Fears
UFO: Pentagon Releases Video of Unidentified Object Tracked Over Middle East
US Health Secretary: “I’m Not Afraid of Germs — I Used to Snort Cocaine Off Toilet Seats”
Ukraine Tells Senate Republicans Its Drone War Offers a Blueprint for America
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Trump Keeps Hegseth at Pentagon While Leaving Door Open for DeSantis
UK Clears Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery Deal, but US Trial Looms
UK Prosecutors Add 38 Charges Against Andrew and Tristan Tate
Taiwan’s President Joins Wartime Command Drill as China Pressure Grows
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Sign Mutual-Defence Pact
Government Orders Review of Prison Release Rules After Concerns Over Grooming Gang Offenders
Rail Disruption Continues Across North-West England Amid Infrastructure Problems and Engineering Closures
UK Tax Authority Proposes Broad Changes to Rules Governing Company Distributions
UK Government Moves to Protect Standing Areas Outside Pubs From Local Restrictions
Extreme Right-Wing Referrals Under UK Prevent Programme Rise 42 Percent
EU Citizens in UK Warned That Some Residency Rights May Have Been Granted in Error
Every Monitored Body of Water in England Fails Chemical Purity Standards, Government Data Shows
UK Scientists Create First Artificial Intelligence-Designed Viruses
England Orders Primary Schools to Identify Children at Risk of Becoming Disengaged From Education or Work
Government Moves to Close Prison Release Loophole Amid Concern Over Grooming Gang Offenders
×