91Èȱ¬

King Charles III's coronation will be held on Saturday 6 May, it has been announced.

Buckingham Palace has also confirmed the event will take place at Westminster Abbey, eight months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Camilla, who is the Queen Consort, will be crowned alongside King Charles in the historic ceremony.

King Charles III automatically became the UK's monarch following the death of his mother in September, but a coronation is a special ceremony where a king or queen is physically crowned.

Once a new monarch comes to the throne, planning for the coronation starts almost immediately.

Historically, coronations in the UK include lots of rituals and practices that have remained the same for many years.

During the ceremony, the monarch takes what's known as the coronation oath. This is a promise a king or queen makes to rule faithfully, although the wording of the oath isn't always the same.

At her coronation which took place in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II promised she would rule according to law, exercise justice with mercy and maintain the Church of England.

Monarchs traditionally sit in the Coronation Chair, which is also known as King Edward's Chair, where they are crowned with the solid gold St Edward's Crown. The crown was first made for Charles II in 1661 and is only ever used at coronations.

At a coronation, the monarch is given the emblems, or symbolic objects, of their royal role. These are an orb, sceptre and ring.

During previous coronations, there has also been a procession through the capital, which features the 260-year-old horse-drawn Gold State Coach.

The newly-crowned monarch usually makes an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace later on in the day following the coronation ceremony.

Next year's coronation at Westminster Abbey will be the first held in nearly 70 years, and it'll also be the first ceremony held on a Saturday since Edward VII in 1902.

Coronations have been held at Westminster Abbey for more than 900 years.

It's not yet known whether there'll be an extra bank holiday added or moved to the coronation weekend, with a bank holiday already scheduled for earlier that week on Monday 1 May.

Buckingham Palace has suggested the ceremony will have both ancient and modern elements - saying it will be "rooted in longstanding traditions" but will also "reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future".

The Queen Consort will be crowned as part of the service, in a similar but simpler ceremony to the crowning of the King.

King Charles will be 74 years old at his coronation - the oldest that a new monarch has been crowned.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will oversee the anointing, blessing and consecration of the King.

Elizabeth II's coronation service was nearly three hours long, but royal sources suggest Charles' ceremony will be shorter with a much smaller number of guests.

More than 20 million people in the UK watched the Queen's crowning - the first time a coronation was broadcast on TV.

For King Charles III's coronation, a potential worldwide television audience of hundreds of millions could be expected.