Coronation of King Charles III: date, time and how to watch

Many people are now counting the weeks until the coronation of King Charles III. The last was in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth II, so it should be one for the history books.

If you want to watch the ceremony unfold live, we’ve got everything you need to know, whether you’re based in the UK, US or elsewhere.

When will the coronation of King Charles III take place?

The main coronation must take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at the following times worldwide:

• 11am BST (UK)
• 6 a.m. ET (US East Coast)
• 3:00 a.m. PT (US West Coast)
• 12:00 CET (Central Europe)
• 7:30 p.m. ACST (Australia)

There will of course be a lot of buildup throughout the day, with coverage likely starting hours before. Charles and Camilla will leave Buckingham Palace before 11 a.m. to begin their processional journey to Westminster Abbey in the State Coach.

We don’t know how long the ceremony will last, but for reference, Queen Elizabeth’s lasted three hours. There will also be the royal procession and flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The following day there will be a coronation luncheon and concert at Windsor Castle.

On which television channels will the coronation of King Charles III be shown?

In the UK, the following channels have confirmed that they will have live footage of all proceedings: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Sky News and Sky Showcase. There will also be audio coverage on Radio 2, Radio 4 and the BBC Sounds app.

The BBC is also offering a two-day TV license to churches, town halls and libraries, so you can go to your local community centers to watch the proceedings, if you wish. Many giant screens will also be installed in public spaces to mark the occasion.

No American channel has confirmed whether it will broadcast the coronation. However, NBC News Now, CNN, ABC and Fox News all aired Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, so it’s possible they’ll also air the coronation. BBC America is also a very likely candidate – we should find out in the next few weeks.

Either way, you should still be able to stream all the action if you’re overseas.

Where to stream the Coronation of King Charles III

If you prefer to watch the event online, then BBC iPlayer and ITVX will broadcast everything live.

Additionally, Sky News has confirmed that it will be streaming the event on its YouTube channel. This should be available to everyone across the world, including those in the United States.

If for some reason the event is geo-locked, you can get around this problem using a VPN, which redirects your internet connection to another server somewhere else in the world. This means you can browse the internet as if you were from the UK, so you can access sites normally restricted to people outside of that country.

There are plenty of VPNs to choose from, but for the best performance and price, we recommend NordVPN, which we’ve used to watch geolocked YouTube live streams in the past.

You can also use this method to watch UK streaming services from abroad, giving you more ways to watch The Coronation. See our guides to watching BBC iPlayer and ITVX from abroad for more detailed information.