Consecrated Oil for King Charles III Coronation Arrives in London

Olive oil used in the coronation was produced from handpicked olives and blessed by religious officials in Jerusalem.

(Getty Images)
By Nedjeljko Jusup
May. 4, 2023 00:05 UTC
821
(Getty Images)

The sacred olive oil to be used at the coro­na­tion of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6th has arrived from Jerusalem.

The oil was pro­duced from the hand-picked fruit of two olive groves on the Mount of Olives in the Orthodox monas­ter­ies of Mary Magdalene and Ascension of the Lord, where King Charles’ grand­mother is buried.

The anoint­ing oil for King Charles and the royal fam­ily was con­se­crated in a spe­cial cer­e­mony by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus III and the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum.

See Also:Third-Generation Producer Brings the World’s Best Olive Oils to London

The announce­ment was made by Buckingham Palace, which con­sid­ers the cer­e­mony a fun­da­men­tal step in antic­i­pa­tion of King Charles’ ascen­sion to the throne.

Reflecting on the event, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, thanked Patriarch Theophilus for pro­vid­ing the oil for this coro­na­tion, which reflects the King’s per­sonal fam­ily con­nec­tion with the Holy Land and his great con­cern for its peo­ples.”

He noted that from the very begin­ning of the plan­ning of the coro­na­tion, he wanted the new coro­na­tion oil to be made from olive oil from Mount of Olives.”

According to the arch­bishop, the fact that the oil is made from olives har­vested from the Mount of Olives shows the deep his­tor­i­cal con­nec­tion between the coro­na­tion, the Bible and the Holy Land.”

From the ancient kings to the present day, mon­archs have been anointed with oil from this holy place,” Welby added. Now, as we pre­pare for the anoint­ing of the King and Queen Consort, I pray that they will be guided and strength­ened by the Holy Spirit.”

The anoint­ing cer­e­mony will take place as part of the coro­na­tion. Traditionally, oil is poured from an ampoule onto the 13th-cen­tury sil­ver coro­na­tion spoon, and then the ruler’s hands, breasts and head are anointed with the oil. 

The oil is pro­duced accord­ing to a cen­turies-old recipe used in the anoint­ing of Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953, but with one impor­tant dif­fer­ence. 

The coro­na­tion oil of the late queen included a blend of oils of orange, rose, cin­na­mon, musk and amber­gris, a sub­stance derived from sperm whale intes­tine. 

Charles’ oil blend is made with sesame, rose, jas­mine, cin­na­mon, neroli, ben­zoin, amber and orange blos­som oils, with no ani­mal ingre­di­ents. The same oil will be used to anoint Queen Camille.



Share this article

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles