Penny Mordaunt reveals member of Royal family joked she had stolen show from King Charles at his Coronation

Dame Penny Mordaunt has revealed that after her starring role at the King’s Coronation, a member of the Royal family joked that she had stolen the show.

Dressed in a teal blue dress with gold detail and a matching cape, Dame Penny carried the 4ft 17th-century Sword of State into Westminster Abbey before presenting it to the King in his throne. It was the first time a woman had performed this role. 

She was tasked with the role as Lord President of the Privy Council, but was praised for her ability to hold the huge sword aloft for more than an hour.

The event made her a social media sensation, receiving praise from political figures from rival parties.

She even received plaudits from the cast of Game of Thrones – a show set in a magical medieval world with dragons and fierce political rivalries.

Her iconic performance also did not go unnoticed by the Royal Family, the former MP has revealed.

Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, she told of the reaction following the Coronation in 2023.

She said: ‘I was clearly the lightning rod on the day for attention. Very embarrassing. I had thousands of letters sent to me after that event – actually, more letters than I got votes at any election. 

‘One letter in particular was very embarrassing. It was from a member of the Royal family and it started, “How kind of the King and Queen to come to your event”.’ 

Dame Penny has now co-authored a book called Pomp and Circumstance, exploring coronations and national ceremonies across the world.

In her speech, heard by The Telegraph, she told how the event had changed her life and her profile as a politician across the world.

She added: ‘The Coronation did change my life, not just UK-wise but globally as well, and it’s nice. Normally, if you’re a politician, the first thing people say to you is that there aren’t enough dog poo bins or whatever issue they want to raise with you. [Now] usually the first thing they mention is the Coronation.’

Dame Penny said she believed that the King gave her a prominent role because she was a woman and the first female Lord President at the time.

She said that ‘if she was a bloke’, she was not sure that the role would have been kept in.

However, as she had the opportunity to be the first woman to hold the role, she believes that was why the King kept it in. 

She previously revealed that she had undergone a training regime involving press-ups, as well as practising with a weighted replica of the 7lb 5oz sword originally made for Charles II. 

Dame Penny became Lord President of the Privy Council on September 6, 2022, two days before Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

She revealed that the role was so new to her that she had to Google ‘Accession Council’ before she led the meeting four days later to formally declare Charles III as the new King.

The proclamation was made shortly afterwards from a balcony at St James’s Palace.

She said that with a backdrop of political chaos under Liz Truss and the death of Britain’s longest reigning monarch, it ‘wasn’t a foregone conclusion’ that the British public would accept the new King.

However, she said when the proclamation was made she could hear thousands chanting for the King from over the palace walls and ‘knew it was going to be all right’. 

After the Coronation in 2023, Dame Penny became one of the favourites to become the next Conservative Party leader.

The event made her a social media sensation, receiving praise from political figures from rival parties

She had ran for the job twice, losing to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, but did not get the chance to run again after she lost her seat in the 2024 General Election.

Dame Penny said she had been previously recognised for her appearance in the diving gameshow Splash! in 2014.

Her stint on TV, alongside B-list celebrities including Gemma Collins from The Only Way Is Essex, saw her train under celebrity diver Tom Daley.

She was the ninth celebrity eliminated after the likes of Paul Young and stand-up comedian Patrick Monahan.

Dame Penny was also once named ‘Britain’s sexiest MP’ after a poll.

Named after a battleship — HMS Penelope — she grew up in Portsmouth, where her father was a paratrooper before turning to teaching.

Her mother died of breast cancer when she was 15 – the same year her father was also diagnosed with cancer – turning her into a ‘child carer’.

She paid her way through sixth-form college by working as an assistant to a Portsmouth magician called Will Ayling, who was once president of The Magic Circle. 

Involved in Conservative circles since university, she worked for John Major and William Hague at CCHQ and in communications before getting elected in 2010 as MP for Portsmouth North – where she lived during a childhood beset by family tragedy and financial struggles.

Towards the end of that Parliament, she achieved a milestone when David Cameron appointed her as a communities minister.

She was moved up to Armed Forces minister in 2015 – the first woman to hold the job.

However, relations with Mr Cameron disintegrated the following year, when Dame Penny became one of the most vocal campaigners for Brexit during the referendum campaign.

She memorably took on the PM on the BBC Andrew Marr show, dismissing his insistence that there was no danger of Turkey joining the EU and driving immigration even higher.

She backed Andrea Leadsom in her unsuccessful bid to succeed Mr Cameron in 2016 but managed to cling on to ministerial office under Theresa May, becoming minister for disabled people after Theresa May won the contest.

Dame Penny entered Cabinet for the first time the following year as Development Secretary, thanks to the sacking of Priti Patel in a bizarre row over unauthorised contacts with the Israeli government.

And she hit a new high in 2019 when the resignation of Gavin Williamson over alleged national security leaks sparked her elevation to Defence Secretary.

But the peak was not to last, as she was a strong backer of Jeremy Hunt over Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership contest a few months later.

He sacked her when he became PM in July, and it was only after Mr Johnson’s massive election victory that Christmas that she clawed her way back into favour.

Dame Penny said she believed that the King gave her a prominent role because she was a woman and the first female Lord President at the time

Dame Penny served on the lower ranks as a Cabinet Office minister and trade minister – but split opinions in both roles, with some claiming she was more interested in touring local Tory associations to further her future leadership hopes.

She seized her opportunity when Mr Johnson resigned, but came under heavy fire for her supposed liberal views on trans rights.

Having seen off Mr Sunak’s challenge, Liz Truss installed Dame Penny as Commons Leader.

That saw her lead the Accession Council after the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September.

She was kept in the role by Mr Sunak, despite taking him on for the leadership and then trying to use wide support among MPs and activists to push for a major promotion.

Rather than kicking off, she loyally towed the PM’s line, until her party’s catastrophic defeat in the General Election.