FOG BLOG ROYAL LOG: THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III , SHORTER, BUT STILL LOTS OF POMP & PAGEANTRY

King Charles III is crowned in Westminster Abbey, amid pomp and pageantry Service a shorter, less formal affair than the 3-hour coronation for his mother King Charles III, a man who waited almost 74 years to become King, was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey with all the pomp and pageantry Britain could muster.

Outside the abbey, thousands of troops, tens of thousands of spectators and a smattering of protesters converged in the rain along the The Mall, the grand avenue to Buckingham Palace in central London, to see Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as they made the two-kilometre journey to the church in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach.

Charles took an oath during the coronation service to govern the people of the United Kingdom with "justice and mercy." Shouts of "God save the King" rang out and trumpet blasts echoed after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St. Edward's Crown on Charles's head, while Camilla received Queen Mary's Crown for her coronation. As the day began, the abbey buzzed with excitement and was abloom with fragrant flowers and colourful hats as the congregation of international dignitaries, nobles and other notables arrived.

Those in attendance included actors Judi Dench and Emma Thompson and musicians Lionel Richie and Nick Cave, who sat alongside politicians, judges in wigs, soldiers with gleaming medals attached to red tunics and members of the House of Lords in their red robes.

Dignitaries and world leaders in attendance included U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada's Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and eight current and former British prime ministers. Heir to the throne Prince William, his wife, Catherine, and their three children were all in attendance. The couple's eldest son, Prince George, was one of four honour pages carrying the train of his grandfather's robe.

During the service, William knelt before his father to pledge his loyalty to the monarch.

"I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God," William said.