The Coronation: a profit & loss balance sheet
Its been reported that the Coronation, which it might be remembered, has no formal purpose, cost £250million. King Charles is thought to have personal wealth of £1.8 billion, but did not contribute. Rather with the cost of living crisis in mind it was public money that was spent.
In return there was a ceremony of largely made up or reinvented traditions which at times looked more like a Monty Python sketch. Total TV viewing across all platforms were less than 20 million. The Queen’s funeral and jubilee in 2022 both got more viewers, as did her 1953 Coronation, when they were only 2.5 million TV sets.
Of course 20 million is still a substantial number although the UK population is around 67 million meaning the majority were for one reason or another otherwise engaged.
The crowds in London despite the traditional Coronation rain appeared substantial, although I haven’t seen a figure. Certainly the day passed off without incident except of course some bungling authoritarians in the police managed to arrest some anti-monarchy protesters for no particular reason. The police have spent the days since in a sorry, not sorry routine which might serve to remind the various politicians who have stated that the Met Police are not fit for purpose to do something about it.
Was the Coronation good for business? It will take a while to get reports on hospitality trading but even on the Bank Holiday Monday shops were reducing significant amounts of unsold Coronation items.
In short since the market judges everything in society the Coronation was a rather underwhelming performance.
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