When is it and what will happen?

The service has been planned to be representative of different faiths and community groups, in line with the King’s wish to reflect the ethnic diversity of modern Britain. 

He will still pledge to be “Defender of the Faith” in the Coronation oath, but palace aides and church officials plan to add further words that will allow the King to recognise he serves all religions.

The Coronation will also include many of the ceremonies that were seen in the late Queen’s service, such as anointing with consecrated oil, the delivery of the orb and the enthroning itself.

The anointing will not be shown on television and is set to be hidden from the public, as it was for the late Queen’s coronation in 1953, The Telegraph understands. 

What music will be played during the ceremony? 

The King has asked for Greek Orthodox music to be played in the service in tribute to his late father, the Duke of Edinburgh, to be performed by the Byzantine Chant Ensemble. 

Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber has been commissioned by King Charles to write his Coronation Anthem, in what the composer hopes will “reflect the joyful occasion”. 

The anthem is one of 12 new pieces of music selected personally by the new monarch for his ceremony.

The Ascension Choir, a group of eight “hand-picked” singers from the choir that performed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, have been chosen for the King’s ceremony on May 6.

Led by Abimbola Amoako-Gyampah, the Ascension Choir will sing ‘Alleluia (O Sing Praises)’ at the ceremony on May 6, becoming the first gospel group to perform in Westminster Abbey for a Coronation.

The group will sing during the main service as part of a two-part composition that was commissioned from award-winning TV and film composer Debbie Wiseman.

Another first at the King’s Coronation ceremony will be the Welsh language performance in Paul Mealor’s ‘Coronation Kyrie’.

The song will be sung by bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel and the Choir of Westminster Abbey in the main part of the service.

The Palace said that six of the new songs have been composed for orchestra and will be performed before the service begins, prior to the King and Queen Consort’s arrival at the Abbey.

This pre-service commission will be composed by Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music, and will be the first performance by the Coronation Orchestra.

The Coronation Orchestra includes musicians drawn from eight leading orchestras of the then Prince of Wales’ Patronages including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

The Principal Guest Concert Master of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Vasko Vassilev, is leading the charge of the orchestra on the day.

The Coronation Orchestra will be joined by Alis Huws, the Royal Harpist, for Sir Karl Jenkins’ ‘Tros y Garreg (Crossing the Stone)’, a song which reflects the King’s abiding affection for and support of Welsh culture.

Also during the pre-service interval, Iain Farrington’s organ commission ‘Voices of the World’ will be performed as a celebratory musical offering that pays tribute to the diversity of the Commonwealth.

His ‘Coronation March’ commission, written by film composer Patrick Doyle, is described as a song that is ceremonial and full of pageantry, which builds to a triumphant finale.

The Palace said that five of the new commissions will be included in the main service, featuring voices from the Choir of Westminster Abbey and The Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, as well as girl choristers from Truro Cathedral and Methodist College, Belfast, joined by singers from the Monteverdi Choir.

The King also commissioned Tarik O’Regan for the main service after hearing his music at Lincoln Cathedral in 2006.

Mr O’Regan wrote ‘Agnus Dei’ for the ceremony, which will be performed during a reflective moment in the historic service.