My part in the pomp: Meet the minister carrying a sword for King Charles

LONDON — This Saturday, a top member of the British government gets one of the most spectacular consolation prizes in history.

Penny Mordaunt, who missed out twice on becoming Conservative Party leader and prime minister last year, will nonetheless find her place on the world stage in majestic fashion. 

She is limbering up to carry an important constitutional symbol, the sword of state, into Westminster Abbey as part of the procession for the coronation of King Charles III.

“It’s drawing on all of my military drill experience,” she says of the weapon, which, measuring 4 feet and weighing 8 pounds, requires some considerable upper body strength.

The sword of state represents the king’s authority, and will be wielded by Mordaunt in her role as lord president of the privy council, a body of advisers to the sovereign which includes senior elected politicians and ceremonial officers. 

Mordaunt — who is leader of the House of Commons in her day job — must hold the blade at right angles to her body as she walks into the Abbey in a procession which has been timed to the second in rehearsals lasting months.

During the service, she will exchange the hefty sword of state for the lighter sword of offering, which she will hand to the king as part of his regalia — a collection of sacred and secular objects including his crown, which symbolize the responsibilities of the monarch.

After that, in another piece of ancient pageantry, she will “buy” the sword back from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As the first woman to perform this function at a coronation, Mordaunt has had the chance to put her own stamp on the occasion.

She told POLITICO in an interview that she “felt it wasn’t right” to wear the customary black-and-gold court dress of the privy council sported by the Marquess of Salisbury when he did the job for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and wanted “to come up with something that is modern and will give a firm nod to the heritage” of the occasion. 

Mordaunt has commissioned a dress stitched with the fern motif of the privy council which has been adapted and “feminized” by specialist atelier Hand and Lock, whose embroiderers have been working overtime changing all the cyphers on uniforms ahead of Saturday. 

‘It’s going to be spectacular’

It’s not Mordaunt’s first brush with landmark royal occasions. Since she was first appointed back in September last year by ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss, she presided over the accession council at the start of the king’s reign.

For that occasion, she had to wear black and the mood was somber. 

She says that although people had planned for the queen’s death, “it was still a shock to everyone and and a shock to the public — that immense part of their lives gone. At that time, it was really about making sure that everything was going to be completely perfect, and that the king and the royal family didn’t have to worry about anything.”

In contrast, she says “this will be a completely different mood — a joyous one.”

She compares the coronation to the London 2012 Olympics: “It’s going to be spectacular, it’s going to be beautiful, and the sort of thing that makes the whole nation very proud.”

The king has been closely focused “on all aspects of the whole weekend,” according to Mordaunt, and “it will suit him and the queen — it will say something about them.”

The monarch has already put his own stamp on the event, using wildlife and flower motifs for the invitations and opting for an anointing oil free from animal ingredients, which match his long-standing interest in the environment.

More than 2,000 people will fill Westminster Abbey to witness the coronation, with members of the royal family, heads of state and foreign royals sitting alongside celebrities and charity workers — a slimmed-down affair compared with 1953, when there were more than 8,000 guests.

Mordaunt brushes off reports of grumbling among MPs and peers about the smaller guest list, saying most MPs are looking forward to getting back to the “normal engagement” between Buckingham Palace and Westminster. 

Whether this includes the king serving gin and tonics at privy council meetings, as his mother used to do, remains to be seen.