Coronation of Charles III and its connections with Loughborough

Whether or not you are supportive of the monarchy, whether of not you watched the coronation of Charles III in person in London, or on the television, whether or not you took part in a street party or other event, you might like to know about a few Loughborough connections with the coronation.

Firstly, that Loughborough University alumnus, Lord Sebastian Coe was one of the members of the congregation. He is gold-medal winning Olympian who attended the university in the late 1970s, spearheaded the London Olympic Committee in 2012, and was installed in the ceremonial role, as the sixth chancellor of Loughborough University in 2017.

The second connection is bishop Guli Francis-Dehquani, who was installed as Loughborough’s Bishop in 2017. She followed in her father’s footsteps, he being the Anglican Bishop of Iran from 1960 until he retired in 1990, the family having come to Britain in 1980, and in the footsteps of her maternal grandfather who was a Bishop in Iran.

Bishop Guli’s calling saw her ordained deacon 1998 at Southwark Cathedral and priest at All Saints Kingston-on-Thames in 1999. Following a period of curacy in the Diocese of Southwark, she became Chaplain to a music college and a primary school, and held a special role at Peterborough Cathedral, and the University of Northampton. She continued to serve at Peterborough Cathedral, and was made an honorary canon in 2016. The following year she became the first Bishop of Loughborough, being the suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Leicester, where he role as suffragan bishop was to assist the Bishop of Leicester. In March 2021, Bishop Guli became the diocesan bishop of the diocese of Chelmsford, and joined the House of Lords later that year. Bishop Guli was one of only three female bishops to take part in the coronation of Charles III, where she took communion and held the communion cup from which King Charles III and Queen Camila also took communion.

Loughborough’s second Bishop, who followed in Bishop Guli's footsteps, was Bishop Saju, who was installed in 2021, having previously been a vicar in the diocese of Rochester.

The third and final connection between the coronation and Loughborough is the Earl of Loudoun, the Right Honourable Simon Abney-Hastings. The title is an hereditary one, and the earl owns no land in Britain, and actually lives in Australia. He made the journey to London to perform the role of bearer of the royal golden spurs, a role which his family have been involved in since the 1100s. In the olden days, the golden spurs would actually have been attached to the king’s shoes, but in the 2023 coronation, they simply touch the heels of the King, and are then placed on the altar.

The earls of Loudoun have a claim to throne themselves, through being descendants of the House of York. However, the connection with Loughborough is through George Augustus Francis Rawdon-Hastings, the second Marquess of Hastings, whose mother was Flora Mure-Campbell, the sixth Countess of Loudoun, who married Francis Rawdon-Hastings, the second Earl of Moira, and later the first Marquess of Hastings. It was Francis Rawdon-Hastings, when he was the Earl of Moira, who sold off most of his land and property in Loughborough and the surrounding area, partly to fund his coalmining operations in North West Leicestershire.

Well, who’d have thought Loughborough would have had so many connections with the coronation of Charles III?!

Meanwhile, back in Loughborough, celebrations took place across the town!

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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