Coronation chicken: After the formalities, Britons chow down at 67,000 weekend lunches

Now let’s eat. An estimated 67,000 communal lunches and street parties to celebrate the coronation of King Charles took place over the long weekend in Britain as the pomp and ceremony of Saturday’s proceedings gave way to more informal community gatherings.

Community organisations and groups of residents registered to take part in the Big Lunch, an annual initiative run by the royal-linked environmental group the Eden Project to promote communal meals. This year’s Coronation Big Lunch was folded in to the official celebrations as Queen Camilla, who was also crowned alongside the king, has been a patron the Eden Project since 2013.

The quintessentially British scene of local lunches held under bunting on residential streets and in church grounds across the country contrasted sharply with the official formalities of Saturday, when 2,300 guests witnessed the coronation in Westminster Abbey of King Charles of the United Kingdom.

All British monarchs for almost 1,000 years have been crowned there. The two-hour service was attended by foreign royals and political leaders, including president Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

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Afterwards, the king and queen were escorted back to Buckingham Palace by 4,000 military personnel in a procession through streets lined with hundreds of people. No official estimates of the size of the crowd were provided, but it was clearly only a fraction of the estimated three million who came to catch a glimpse of Britain’s last coronation procession 70 years ago, that of the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth.

As well as a growing apathy towards the monarchy that is borne out by various recent polls, the numbers in central London on Saturday were also hit by soggy weather.

Sunday in London was a sunnier affair, however, as residents across the city tucked in for the occasion in the open air. The Anglican Holy Trinity Church in Clapham, southwest London, was one of 3,700 Big Lunch gatherings included on an interactive map published online by the Eden Project.

The church’s associate minister, Rev Jamie Mulvaney, said he expected that up to 1,000 local people would take part in the events at the church over the day.

Amid all the pomp and ceremony, we ask that they also bear thought for those in Hackney who are malnourished because the cost of living crisis

Holy Trinity’s Big lunch comprised paid-for food trucks and cake stands, as well as servings of coronation chicken, a popular English dish comprising chicken in spiced mayonnaise. There was no sign on the day of anyone serving coronation quiche, the official dish of the celebrations for the newly-crowned king and queen.

The event also included bouncy castles and inflatables for kids, a life-size cut-out of the king that was proving popular for selfies, and a local jazz band. Long tables under bunting were lined up in the church grounds to accommodate people dining.

Rev Mulvaney, who is also area dean for the Church of England in Lambeth North, said about 650 people attended a special coronation service at the church that morning – the king is also the head of the Church of England. The celebration service even included a “confetti cannon”. Holy Trinity is associated with the historical “Clapham Sect”, a group of prominent evangelical Christians in the area in the 1800s who campaigned to end slavery.

“Today is a chance for us to bring people together, to be visible in the community,” said Rev. Mulvaney, an Australian who moved to the local area 13 years ago. He has been a qualified Anglican priest for more than six years. He says the coronation made him “feel very emotional”, as he become a British citizen only last November. “The king spoke about not being there to be served, but to serve. That really chimed with me.”

Across the other side of Clapham Common Sunday, several smaller streets off leafy Nightingale Road were closed for coronation parties. Local resident Chris Hartley-Sharpe helped to organise one such event on Thurleigh Road, which was festooned in British flags and bunting and where the local residents had dragged their kitchen tables out on to the street and were barbecuing in their front gardens. Everybody had “mucked in”, he said.

“There is a huge amount of good feeling for Charles,” said Mr Hartley-Sharpe, who formerly worked for the ambulance service and who met Charles when he was Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, poverty-focused charities also appealed for more help amid the national push to hold Big Lunch events. Hackney Foodbank in East London called for lunch organiser to make collections for the charity, which feeds 700 families per week.

“It’s wonderful the public want the king’s coronation to go with a swing. But amid all the pomp and ceremony, we ask that they also bear thought for those in Hackney who are malnourished because the cost of living crisis has left them unable to afford even the basics,” said Pat Fitzsimons, the foodbank’s chief executive.