On May 6, 2023, the United Kingdom (UK) witnessed the historic coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, marking the dawn of a new era for the British monarchy with an event that we at the British Consulate General celebrated with a garden party in Erbil on Sunday, May 7.

The coronation ceremony is a time-honored tradition dating back over a millennium, and this ceremony blended ancient customs and contemporary values. King Charles joins a long line of British monarchs who have been crowned at Westminster Abbey, a line that connects the King to our collective history. 

A new era

For the last coronation of a British monarch, her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the world was a vastly different place. Much has changed for both the UK and the Kurdish people over the past 70 years that separate these two momentous events. 

Since then, the relationship between the UK and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has also evolved immensely, having been reborn in the crucible of Saddam Hussein’s appalling Anfal campaign against the Kurds.

The KRI has since developed economically and politically into the place that it is today, and the overarching trajectory of the relationship between our two governments and our two peoples has been one of progress. This includes an increasing tempo of visits between our leaders, the establishment of the British International University, our ever-growing team at the Consulate General, and our support for the peshmerga, which includes officers being trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Upon graduating, the Kurdish anthem is played at the institution from which both the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry graduated and which this year hosted the King for his first Sovereign’s Parade.  

Just as the KRI has developed over time, so has the monarchy. This was reflected by the fact that the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III was defined by four themes: community, diversity, sustainability, and youth. In Britain, to celebrate the coronation, people across the country came out onto the streets to eat and celebrate with one another – taking the opportunity to participate in a shared communal life.

Celebrating coexistence

In Erbil, the British Consulate General welcomed friends of the UK, including HE Hoshyar Zebari, representing HE Masoud Barzani; HE Sheikh Jaffar, Vice President of the Kurdistan Region; HE Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister; and HE Hemin Hawrami, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Members of both the Iraqi and Kurdish Parliaments, political party leaders, religious leaders, business leaders, peshmerga officers, members of the UK armed forces and our coalition partners, and representatives from the diplomatic and international community were also in attendance. 

Diversity is a defining characteristic of modern Britain and the KRI, while the successful coexistence of diverse communities is one of ours and the KRI’s greatest strengths. The coronation ceremony celebrated diversity, with religious figures from a wide range of faiths represented at the traditionally Anglican Christian service. This element of the service recalled the enduring commitment of the KRI’s people to welcoming and protecting those of different faiths and backgrounds. 

In the UK, people with their roots in the KRI make up a significant part of the patchwork of peoples in our green and pleasant land. The links between our two peoples and our shared commitment to diversity was exemplified by another ceremony in London, which took place a few weeks ago, to appoint a Kurd, Sarbaz Barznji, as the Mayor of Lambeth. 

Lambeth, of course, is home to Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose duty it was to anoint the sovereign. The link between the two ceremonies is a powerful reminder that Britain and the KRI are places where people from diverse communities can succeed and flourish.

Youth and sustainability

The successes of Kurds, especially from the younger generation, in Britain is something I am always delighted to hear about and celebrate. His Majesty King Charles has always focused on supporting young people, so it was fitting that youth was one of the coronation themes. 

The King will become the monarch of a country that strives to provide opportunities for young people from all backgrounds. People such as the young Kurdish woman, Bnar Talabani, who arrived in the UK in 1988 having fled Saddam’s atrocities, this year became a doctor, having received an OBE medal from King Charles for her services to medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In keeping with this focus on supporting the KRI’s young people, His Majesty’s government focuses on giving opportunities to the region’s young people through our Chevening Scholarship Programme. 

The fourth theme of the coronation was sustainability. King Charles has made no secret of his support for environmental issues, consistently raising awareness and promoting sustainable practices. The coronation, with all its tradition and pageantry, was also consciously focused on sustainability. Even the King’s ceremonial coronation robes, usually made anew for each new monarch, were recycled. 

The climate crisis, about which King Charles has done so much to raise awareness, will affect us all, and it is so inspiring that there are young people from across the world and in the KRI who are taking innovative approaches to tackling the challenges we face. Whether developing renewable energy solutions or teaching the next generation to be climate-aware, their work is making a better, greener, more sustainable world for tomorrow.

The coronation throws into sharp focus how far we have come in the seven decades since we last crowned a British monarch, but through the blending of the ancient and the modern, the ceremony also indicating how much further there is for us to go in this new Carolean Age in making the country and the world a more inclusive, more sustainable, and more youth-oriented place. 

As this new era dawns for the UK, His Majesty’s Government will work together with the Kurdistan Regional Government and the people of this beautiful region to forge closer bonds, broaden the areas of our cooperation, and deliver on our shared objectives. Just like the coronation, which brought together the past and the present, our friendship is built on the foundation of our shared experiences but also the promise of all that we can do together in the future. 

Rosey Cave is the Consul General of the United Kingdom in the Kurdistan region.