Foreign monarchs will be invited to the King’s coronation

Foreign monarchs will be invited to King Charles’s Coronation in an historic break with a longstanding Royal tradition.

‘Save the date’ notices are expected to go out to guests this week with official invitations to follow in April.

And while the guest list has been slashed from the 8,000 who attended the late Queen’s Coronation in 1953 to 2,000, there is one area the King has expanded.

For centuries, convention dictated that no other crowned Royals should be present at the Coronation of a British monarch because the sacred ceremony is intended to be an intimate exchange between the monarch and their people in the presence of God.

But as part of his plan to bring the ceremony up to date, King Charles has decided to move on from the 900-year-old tradition by inviting his crowned friends, including European royals and rulers from Arab states.

A source said: ‘Inviting the King of Jordan (left), the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals – who are all friends of Charles – will be a good bit of soft power and diplomacy.’ Pictured: The King and Queen of Jordan at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral

A source told The Mail on Sunday that tradition is being overhauled in the name of diplomacy, saying: ‘I believe the rule began because a Coronation is meant to be a monarch’s private event with God.

‘At the Queen’s Coronation there were no crowned monarchs, only the protectorate rulers like the Queen of Tonga. It’s been a tradition for centuries.’

The source added: ‘Inviting the King of Jordan, the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals – who are all friends of Charles – will be a good bit of soft power and diplomacy.’

Another well-placed source said: ‘You can expect the guest list for the Coronation to more closely resemble that of a royal wedding than the Coronation 70 years ago.’

The Sultan of Brunei (pictured) – who is friends with Charles – will be invited to the coronation 

Queen Elizabeth II receiving the Sultan of Oman (centre) – who will also be invited to the coronation – in December 2021 

Prince Sofia and Prince Carl Phillip of Sweden are also on the guest list 

The decision over whether or not Charles will invite foreign monarchs has been kept a closely guarded secret. Prince Albert of Monaco came close to letting slip that a major break with tradition was coming when he revealed in January that he was expecting an invitation, along with his wife, Charlene of Monaco.

He said at the time: ‘I don’t know how many coronations of an English monarch I’ll see in my lifetime, so we’ll try to take advantage of that.’ Prince Albert added that he does not expect his children to be invited.

It is still uncertain whether Prince Harry will visit for the occasion from his home in California with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Inviting foreign monarchs is the latest change brought about by Charles as part of a coronation overhaul. He has already reduced a lengthy section of the ceremony known as the ‘homage’, during which hereditary peers dressed in ermine line up to pay their respects.

He also intends to give greater prominence to representatives from a host of charities.

The Royal Family’s website states: ‘The coronation ceremony is an occasion for pageantry and celebration, but it is also a solemn religious ceremony and has remained essentially the same over a thousand years.’

The Coronation was designed, in part, by retired colonel Anthony Mather, who also wrote the Queen’s funeral plan. The blueprint is being brought to fruition by the Duke of Norfolk, who is Earl Marshall and the most senior peer in Britain.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.