The atmosphere in London during King Charles’s coronation was not what I expected. To me, the British Royal family always seemed more like reality tv-esque celebrities than influential national figures. I knew that the Windsors were generally popular with older citizens but also assumed that the country’s younger and more progressive population cared little for the institution. Both assumptions were challenged on my first day in the British capital.
Eager to see iconic London sights, many of my fellow WWII students and I walked through the area surrounding Westminster, Hyde Park, and Big Ben as soon as we landed a few days before the coronation. Countless tents filled with devoted older Londoners filled the sidewalks along the king’s planned path to Buckingham Palace. Local law enforcement corralled everyone walking through the area down tight corridors, while people of all ages, races, and ethnicities excitedly took photos of royal monuments from afar with their families and friends. I continued the walk with my program comrades towards Big Ben where a very different atmosphere was immediately palpable. A large protest of older citizens holding European Union flags and picket signs expressing anti-royal sentiment blocked oncoming traffic. Loud rock music emanated from the demonstration, drowning out the clock tower’s hourly ringing for those in close proximity.
Both pro and anti-royal sentiment was easy to spot in all corners of the city during the next few days in London. Posters reading taglines like “God Save the Nepo Baby” and “Pray Tell Sire, How Much Will This Coronation Be Costing?” lined the walls of London’s busiest neighborhoods. At the same time, people of all ages (although mostly white) dressed in lavish traditional wear to celebrate a national institution very dear to their sense of self and country I also saw young Londoners my age wearing t-shirts with anti-royalty slogans and others with stickers and signs expressing excitement for the coronation as a unifying, generational event. As a lifelong U.S. citizen, I know that American discourse is nuanced and complex. Now, after seeing the country with my own eyes, I see it in Britain as well.