The United Kingdom is preparing for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 in London, in a religious ceremony organized with the pomp of the British monarchy and featuring the presence of rambunctious son Prince Harry.

With the approach of the first event of its kind in seventy years, the first exercises for marches are taking place on horseback, souvenir porcelain cups - in "masculine" blue - are spread in the shops, and an official dish is a spinach, bean and tarragon tart.

Only the enthusiasm of an inflationary public is lacking more than the new 74-year-old king, who wants to adapt the centuries-old institution to the demands of his time from ecology to diversity, but struggles to embody renewal and is still less popular than his heir William.

Eight months after his accession to the throne following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, at the age of 96, the time has come to publicly dedicate Charles as Head of State of the United Kingdom and 14 other kingdoms from Canada to Australia and the Bahamas.

Charles III will become the 40th British king to be crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066.

Queen Camilla, 75, who was mistress in the shadow of Princess Diana, will be crowned.

Charles III wanted a modern ball, which was shortened to one hour and limited to 2,000 guests (three hours and eight thousand people for Elizabeth II). But the event remains rooted in centuries of tradition.

The head of the Church of England, Charles, will take the oath and benefit from the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He will also receive the royal mantle, orb (a golden orb surmounted by a cross) and the scepter and crown of St. Edward which will be placed on his head.

After that, the royal couple, accompanied by four thousand soldiers, will return in an eighteenth-century carriage to Buckingham Palace, where the royal family will receive the crowd from its famous balcony.

The event will kick off a weekend of festivities with neighborhood parties and a concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday and a public holiday on Monday during which Britons are invited to volunteer.

But the atmosphere is far from those celebrations that Britain witnessed at the coronation of the young Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, which constituted a renewal in a kingdom suffering from the effects of World War II, not even the farewell ceremony of the very popular queen, after seventy years of rule last June.

And according to opinion polls conducted by the "YouGov" institute, about two-thirds of Britons (64 percent) are not interested, and a majority of them (51 percent) believe that the state should not pay for the expenses of the party.

British stars, from Elton John to Adele and Ed Sheeran, refused to participate in the concert, so the poster is dominated by Americans Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, and Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli.

Since his accession to the throne, Charles has seemed very active, breaking away from his mother's steadfast reticence to delve into issues such as the environment or the war in Ukraine.

But on his travels, he often encountered anti-monarchy demonstrators, something that would have been unimaginable in the reign of Elizabeth II, and he found himself repeatedly targeted for egg-throwing.

The "Republic" movement called on the British to wear T-shirts that read "Not mine" on the occasion of the coronation.

Most of the media in recent weeks has focused on Prince Harry and his wife Megan, who have separated from the royal family since he left for California in 2020.

And in mid-April, the palace raised the bar for excitement by announcing that the youngest son of the king, despite his very malicious remarks against the monarchy, would attend, but not his wife, the American actress, or their two children Archie (who will celebrate his fourth birthday on the day of the coronation) and Lilibet, who is about two years old.

Will the Duke of Sussex meet his father or older brother William, whom he described as hot-tempered and violent?

The British media is expecting a lightning turnout, but the interest will be great.

His last trip to London in late March for a trial against a tabloid aroused more interest than his father's first foreign trip the same week to Germany.