The Angry Faces of the Coronation

On the 6th May, 2023, as King Charles was coronated, London became a river of competing interests.

From Green Park Station, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street and more – this river spewed relentlessly from its sources and meandered towards Hyde Park where the coronation festivities took place.

This was a river of union-jack printed umbrellas, protecting painted faces and cardboard crowns from the rain. It was a river of opportunistic street vendors, preachers from every denomination imaginable, and an absurd number of police.

Crucially, it was a river of disagreement. To call Charles’ coronation controversial would be an understatement, and it was inevitable that the day would bring a healthy amount of anti-monarchist protesters out of the woodwork.

Gathering at Hyde Park Corner, the protesters formed a small island, blocking the flow of this river and creating a choke-point of confrontation between two total ideological opposites.

I was fortunate enough to position myself right at this choke-point, photographing the resultant discourse (that was every bit as measured and rational as you would expect...)

And just a reminder: