THE Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Michael Beasley, has spoken about his involvement in the coronation of King Charles III.

During the coronation service Bishop Michael, the diocese’s 80th bishop, was ‘Bishop Assistant to the King’ together with the Lord Bishop of Durham the Rt Rev Paul Butler.

The role has been carried out by the two bishops since the coronation of Richard I.

Bishop Michael spoke about how alongside the long and detailed rehearsals he also spent a lot of time in prayerful preparation.

He said: “We had a lot of prayer around the preparations. We prayed for God to be with us in all that we were doing.

“On the day it was wonderful to really listen to elements such as the King’s Prayer and appreciate the spiritual significance of what was happening.”

Bishop Michael said the order of service reminded everybody that ‘throughout the changing centuries, the Coronation Service has held together hopes both for our immediate and our eternal destinies. It has been and still is an occasion for prayer’.

He said the ‘Bishop Assistant’ role was to help the King navigate his way through a ceremony of ‘extraordinary complexity’.

Bishop Michael said: “We had two rehearsals during April in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace where the whole ballroom had been laid out as a replica of the choir area of Westminster Abbey.

“In the week before the coronation from Tuesday afternoon right through to Friday we were rehearsing all day with the different movements and elements of the whole service to make sure that everything was completely well prepared.”

Bishop Michael told of ‘an amazing memory of standing in the doorway of Westminster Abbey next to the King with the Parry Anthem just starting up’ and a lurch in his stomach as he thought ‘oh my goodness me’.

However, he said: “Because there was so much to do within the service, very quickly my mind just clicked into attending to and really thinking about each element as it happened and savouring those moments of seeing the King offer his life in the way that he did.”

Bishop Michael said his most nervous moment came just after the King was anointed and he had to fasten King’s top button, hoping it would slide into place on the first attempt – which it did.

He said: “What struck all of us during the time that we were preparing was the calmness and focus with which the King addressed all that was happening.”

Of the ‘standout’ moments for him, Bishop Michael said one was being next to the King and seeing his humility at his anointing, where he was wearing only a shirt and trousers, nothing grand or regal, ‘just himself before God, being anointed and giving his life’.