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Media reaction to the coronation of King Charles III
from BBC MONITOR 30
Last year, Monitor looked at the coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II around the world. More recently, how was Charles III’s coronation seen in the key countries of Russia, Iran and China? Our regional teams report.
Russia: “big coronation scandal”
Rossiya 1’s main evening TV news programme, Vesti, took a negative view of the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey on 6 May, saying there had been a “big coronation scandal” – although it did not explain what this was.
The programme went on to highlight the cost of the ceremony amid the UK's “severest economic crisis for half a century”. It said that the British were “forbidden” to object to this, saying that “anyone who tried to stage a protest was taken away by the police”.
For Vesti, Charles III had broken with tradition by inviting female priests, upsetting monarchists. There had been problems with placing the crown on his head and the Koh-i-noor diamond had been removed from Camilla's crown to avoid offending India.
“The coronation should have been a grand show uniting the nation if only via TV,” but this ambition had – Vesti implied – been undermined by some celebrities withdrawing from the coronation concert.
Vesti highlighted the presence at the ceremony of Prince Harry (“an annoyance to almost half the nation”) and Prince Andrew (“accused of paedophilia and the subject of a criminal case”).
Vesti concluded its report by highlighting the attention given to the ceremony in Ukraine, saying this was the “only place where the coronation was greeted like its own”. But it insinuated that this may have been a ruse to get the UK to send it “more weapons”.
Beijing congratulates King Charles, Queen Camilla
China’s official media coverage of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May was largely restricted to official reactions from Chinese leaders.
National broadcaster China Central Television's (CCTV) flagship evening news bulletin, Xinwen Lianbo (News Hookup), led with news of President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan sending a message of congratulations to the Royal couple on 6 May.
In their message, Xi and Peng said China and Britain “should take a longterm and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation”.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper featured Xi's message on its front page on 7 May as well as a photo of Vice-President Han Zheng attending the coronation on behalf of Xi and meeting King Charles III.
CCTV's Xinwen Lianbo bulletin on 7 May showed Han Zheng meeting the King, Prince William, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.
State media, however, were not observed to report Han Zheng's meeting with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly the day before the coronation.
Meanwhile, Taiwan – which was not represented at the coronation – sent a congratulatory message from its representative in London, Kelly Hsieh, wishing King Charles a “successful reign”, the Central News Agency reported.
Britons were questioning the expensive ceremony for King Charles III
Iran: Britons question cost of ceremony
On coronation day, Iran's internationalfacing English-language Press TV said Britons were questioning the expensive ceremony for King Charles III amid the cost of living crisis and nationwide strikes over pay. Anti-monarchy activists called the cost of the coronation “a slap in the face” for millions struggling to make ends meet, Press TV said.
The report said a recent survey found that most Britons wanted the coronation to be funded by the Royal Family, not the government.
Elsewhere, Iran’s state broadcaster's IRIB news agency said another survey had found that one fifth of the British population lived in poverty, while the coronation ceremony would be the most “security-centred and costly” in the UK's history. Only 9% of the population supported the ceremony, an activist from the UK’s anti-monarchist Republic group said.
The report also linked the adoption of the new Public Order Bill, and the “lower tolerance level” for disruption in Windsor, to a decline in the popularity of the Royal Family.
The Public Order Bill was passed in a “hasty” move after anti-monarchists announced plans to hold protests on coronation day, IRIB said. Pro-republic and anti-monarchist citizens saw the bill as a “clear violation of freedom of expression”, the agency added.
The national broadcaster's other news outlet, the Young Journalists Club (YJC) quoted the head of activist group Republic as saying that the police sent protesters “intimidatory” messages the day before the coronation.
Press TV also carried an interview with analyst Clive Menzies, who doubted the legitimacy of the coronations of both Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. “I think people are waking up to the fact that monarchy is a very corrupt, greedy, petulant institution,” he added.
