‘There was definitely an effort to try and honour God in that space’
Baptists Together President Hayley Young reflects on being at Westminster Abbey to witness the Coronation of King Charles III
I had to think long and hard about attending the Coronation of King Charles III. As the current President of Baptists Together, I had been invited to represent our movement. Yet I’m not a royalist: I don't believe the King is appointed by God; I’m uncomfortable about how the Royals are born into huge privilege; and the whole expense of the day during a cost of living crisis sat uneasily.
Given all this, I checked whether I could transfer the invitation to someone else. However, this wasn’t possible, and I therefore had to wrestle with the decision to accept.
If you're offered a space at the table, what do you do? Several factors swayed me: I'm a massive fan of history and I understood the significance of the event.
I asked myself: am I adding value to turning up into this space? Or is it just for selfish gain? The key was knowing I was representing a movement of people of different views, and that the invitation was about the wider Baptist movement having a space at this particular table.
The Coronation invitation
When I reached Westminster Abbey, it was really interesting to hear from others there. Everyone had their story. I chatted with someone in front of me who was part of the Girlguiding movement; I was next to someone else who had been given an MBE for community work; and there was another who’d received an MBE for working in a deprived area using karate to socially transform.
Immediately my viewpoint started to change: those organising the Coronation were saying: ‘I see you, I hear you, and I want to honour you for the work you're doing.’ Regardless of what I think of the monarchy as a whole, there was something really powerful in that. Being given an invitation into that space meant those people and the movements they represented felt recognised and valued.
Going into Westminster Abbey was surreal. Twenty-four hours earlier I had been talking to a minister about a pastoral situation. Here I was now making small talk with Stephen Fry, Nick Clegg and others while waiting for the service to start. When it did, I was fortunate to have a really good seat in the nave opposite the Royal Family: I was just to the right of Archbishop Justin Welby when he preached the sermon; and when the King and Queen were crowned and sat on their second throne, I had a direct view.
For all the pomp and ceremony, the service was trying to put God in the centre. I had mixed emotions – yes, I do want God to bless people, so I want God to bless the King to enable him to do a good job and be a voice for the voiceless. The whole commitment to serve made the words so powerful.
And yet it was all surrounded in gold and crowns. It was committing to serve, but from a place of privilege. There was this whole element of inclusivity, yet communion was restricted to the King and Queen. Of course, I understood for practical reasons there was no way you could serve communion to 2000 people in a service like that. But it had a two-tone effect – the words about sacrifice were amazing; the symbolism felt excluding. Naturally I have the lens of a Free Church, and a specifically Baptist, perspective on this; but following the service I chatted briefly with NHS nurses who said they felt seen and heard, and didn’t share my thoughts about communion. It’s another perspective.
It made me think about the
Building a Bigger Table presidential theme: what does it mean to invite all different people from all walks of life? Ultimately, people's desire is to be seen and heard. That was a really powerful image to take away.
I guess one of the things with Building a Bigger Table is you don't know who you're going to be next to. At the Baptist Assembly last year, I encouraged people to look at the people around them, and think about would they ever be seen with these people in any other area? The argument is often we wouldn’t – but we've got Jesus in common and that unites us.
Hayley can be briefly spotted around 1 min 20 for around 10 seconds as guests waited for the Coronation service to begin
I'd love to say we were at the Coronation for the purpose of Jesus, but that wasn't the case. Yet it challenged my own prejudice. I was next to someone from the Privy Council – he was the fourth generation of his family to be at a coronation. I had to rid myself of the prejudice and the preconceived ideas of what I imagined someone to be like, and just relate in this space. The whole thing of Building a Bigger Table is trying to let go of this prejudice, meet with the people next to us, and learn from each other.
At the end there was some milling about until the high-profile royals left – and then within 45 minutes I was on the train back home, dressed in my best, and with the images and words of the service at the front of my mind. It was a lot to process. What had I just witnessed? It felt like a really long service, particularly as we had to be there at 8am, but then it was gone. I’m not quite sure how you process all that.
Overall, it was amazing. It was an honour to be in that space, representing our movement. It was a huge privilege to witness something of history.
Ultimately I believe God is in everything – and there was definitely an effort to try and honour God there.
Hayley Young is President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain 2022-23.
She becomes the Regional Minister Co Team Leader at the Southern Counties Baptist Association from July, having served as the Transitional Strategic Leader (Regional Minister) of the Northern Baptist Association
Blogs from Baptists reflecting on the Coronation:
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Baptist Times, 17/05/2023