Westminster Abbey is not simply a Gothic landmark beside Parliament. Its formal name is the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, and it remains a working Church of England church as well as a place visited for architecture and history. The Abbey’s own account connects its story to the eleventh-century church built under Edward the Confessor, consecrated in 1065. Its position beside the Palace of Westminster has placed religious ceremonies, royal authority and public memory in close proximity for nearly a thousand years.
The first documented coronation at Westminster was that of William the Conqueror on Christmas Day, 25 December 1066. The Abbey explains that there was no fixed venue for coronations before then; William’s choice helped present him as Edward’s legitimate successor. Since that ceremony, Westminster has become Britain’s coronation church. The coronation of Charles III in 2023 was the fortieth reigning monarch crowned there, according to the Abbey. The tradition is powerful, but it is not an unbroken claim that every monarch was crowned in the building: the Abbey notes exceptions including Edward V and Edward VIII.
