Mama wore crown at my bath time, says King

King Charles has recalled how his mother practised wearing the crown for her Coronation when she was bathing him as a child.

The King also spoke about his own Coronation and feeling “slightly anxious” about wearing the heavy St Edward’s Crown and worrying whether it would “wobble”.

Despite being only four years old at the time of his mother’s Coronation in 1953, he said many of his memories of the run-up to the ceremony were still vivid.

The remarks were in a documentary about a group of 50 Canadian women who attended the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation as 17-year-olds. Twelve of them made a poignant return to London in 2023, where they attended a surprise tea party with King Charles.

“I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening,” King Charles told the now-elderly Canadian visitors, recalling the run-up to his mother’s Coronation.

“My mama used to come up at bath time wearing the crown to practise.”

“You have to get used to how heavy [the crown] is.”

“I’ve never forgotten, I can still remember it vividly,” he told them as they were given a tour of Buckingham Palace and then tea with the King, in scenes recorded in December 2023 for the documentary Coronation Girls.

“It is very important to wear it for a certain amount of time, because you get used to it then,” King Charles told them about the crown.

“But the big one that you’re crowned with, the St Edward’s Crown, it weighs 5lbs.

“It is much heavier and taller, so there’s always that feeling of feeling slightly anxious, in case it wobbles.

“You have to carry it, you have to look straight ahead.”

The King also remembered his haircut from his mother’s Coronation and “what the barber did to me”.

The 17th Century golden St Edward’s Crown is worn by the monarch at the moment of their coronation and weighs 4.9lb (2.23kg).

But both the King and his mother wore the much lighter Imperial State Crown as they left Westminster Abbey.

The documentary, Coronation Girls, tells the story of 50 women from across Canada who were sponsored by a Canadian businessman, Garfield Weston, to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation.

Many of them had never been away from their local areas before. Their journey to the UK in 1953 meant travelling by rail and sea, before a seven-week visit.

They had not all even seen a television set by then, so their trip to London, decorated for the Coronation, was an intense experience that made a huge impression on the teenagers.

Their career paths in adult life have varied – with a couple becoming professors, one a climate activist and another a nun – and many have stayed in touch with other.

The 90-minute documentary reflected on the journeys of their lives, with 12 surviving members of the group talking about issues now affecting them in their old age.

With an average age of 89, they flew to London last winter to see the sights that they had first witnessed as young women, including a tour of Buckingham Palace.

While going around the palace, the visit was interrupted by a surprise invitation to have tea with the King, where they shared their memories of the events from 1953.

Coronation Girls, by filmmaker Douglas Arrowsmith, will be broadcast on 26 December on WNED PBS in Canada