How a historic six-gun salvo will be carried out for King's coronation
Soldiers from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery are tasked with carrying out an unprecedented six-gun salvo for King Charles III's coronation.
All six guns will fire simultaneously, unusually from Horse Guards Parade, so the gunfire will be audible within Westminster Abbey on 6 May.
It will mark the point at which the King is crowned, with other gun salutes taking place right across the UK.
Captain Tom Chinnery, Centre Section Commander of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, spoke to Forces News about what a six-gun salvo is and the special preparations being made.
He said: "A salvo is where we fire all six guns at the same time. The only other time we do that is at Royal Windsor Horse Show as part of our Musical Drive.
"Normally, for a salute in London, we'll fire, depending on who it’s for, it's normally a 21-gun salute, and then because it's in a Royal park in London we double it, so that's 42.
"And the reason why it's 21 rounds is when ships entered port they have to fire all their 21 guns off [before they could enter the port]."
As the guns have never before been fired in Horse Guards Parade, there have been "additional checks and measures", Captain Chinnery said, like having to "check the safety distances, sound".
"Equally, the quadrangle nature of the parade means that sound's going to echo and boom so we've had to pay special consideration to getting the horses away from the firing line and then bringing them back and all the co-ordination that requires," he added.
More than 6,000 men and women of the UK Armed Forces will take part in the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort on Saturday 6 May, and preparation will be key.
Captain Chinnery described the practice which will go into ensuring there will be no mistakes on the big day: "We'll have, I think, three overnight rehearsals building up to the event to make sure that we are synchronised with all the Household Cavalry and the other people on parade who are on foot."
Preparation will also ensure the horses will avoid being shocked by the extra noise of the guns in the unique salvo.
Captain Chinnery explained: "I think the sound is going to be significantly louder than, perhaps, when it’s in a wide-open space.
"The horses are very well trained. We regularly desensitise them to all different things – riding on the roads in London, buses passing, loud traffic so, as part of their training, they are also exposed to the noise that the guns make."
Captain Chinnery was asked if there was anything that would keep him up at night in the lead-up to the event.
He said: "I think everyone would say the main thing is getting back on after we fire. We dismount from our horses, fire the guns, and then the horses all come back on and we all need to hitch the guns back up to the gun teams and then we all need to get back on our horses and I've never not got on, but it's always at the back of my mind.
"An element of it is out of my control – if the horses are all spooked, then it's pretty difficult."
Soldiers, sailors and aviators from across the UK and Commonwealth will participate in two processions accompanying Their Majesties to and from Westminster Abbey, where the coronation takes place – the largest military ceremonial operation for 70 years.
Nearly 400 Armed Forces personnel from at least 35 Commonwealth countries will also be on parade to mark the historic moment.
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