Coronation of King Charles III
As we prepare to celebrate the Coronation of the new King, our school historian, David Evans, has taken the opportunity to look back at the then Prince of Wales' visit to the school in 1998. Our former School Chaplain, Revd John Webster, has also taken a look at the members of the King's community who will be involved in the service on Saturday.
On a wet spring morning 25 years ago (April 1998) the King, then Prince Charles, landed in his helicopter on the Paddock, where he was welcomed by a windswept gathering of pupils from the King's Middle School. Sheltering under an umbrella, the Prince spent some time talking to the reception party before a royal car took him across to the Cathedral.
His visit was to mark his work as patron of the Cathedral's 900 Year Fund, which had raised £3 million for vital conservation work. He was welcomed again at the Cathedral main entrance by children from the King's nursery in Wardle House; they had made special red, white and blue paper shakers for the occasion. The Prince chatted to the children and their teachers for several minutes, giving them good wishes and expressing the hope that they had not found their long wait too tiring.
On leaving the Cathedral at the end of his visit Charles was given yet another rousing cheer, this time from the pupils of Junior School, who had left their classrooms in Little Cloister to shout farewell from the Gym Yard.
A central figure in King Charles' coronation will be The Very Revd Dr David Hoyle MBE, the Dean of Westminster Abbey. Dr Hoyle was Director of Ministry for Gloucester Diocese before his appointment as Dean of Bristol in 2010; he was a Residentiary Canon of Gloucester Cathedral and he presided at a number of our school services. He also spoke at one of the Sixth Form Conferences and was a King’s School parent.
With more than 50% of the coronation service made up of music, it will play a huge role in the day, including twelve new pieces of music personally commissioned by the King himself. The man responsible for the music on the day, is Andrew Nethsingha, Director of Music at Westminster Abbey. Andrew was Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral from 2002 until 2007 and his children attended King's.
A former Gloucester Cathedral Chorister and King's pupil, Simon Ponsford, is a Lay Vicar in the Westminster Abbey Choir, as well as a member of the Monteverdi Choir, a specialist Baroque ensemble, who will be singing with the Westminster Abbey Choir.
