Right royal tamasha: New season of the Crown begins

This piece appeared in The Times of India

LONDON: With ancient symbols and regalia, crowns and sceptres bearing contested baubles, a 2014 all-weather comfy carriage and a creaky 260-year-old gilded wood contraption on wheels, Britain’s first coronation in seven decades continued the abiding theme of its modern-day monarchy — somewhere between curio and celebrity.

It was a moment made for gawking — as much telegenic performance as ritual — even though Rishi Sunak, Britain’s first non-white prime minister and a practising Hindu of Indian origin, tweeted on the day that “it is not just a spectacle…(but) a cherished ritual through which a new era is born”.

Despite multiple self-conscious references to royal traditions that hark back a thousand years, that “new era” fairly bristled with touches meant for a social media age, not least a special coronation emoji and a QR code for the order of service. Even the supposedly holy oil used to anoint Charles and Camilla was a modern product made from olives harvested in the groves of a Jeru…