How to get 10 days off work if you book four days of annual leave for the coronation 

The UK is gearing up to mark King Charles’ coronation on May 6th, and there is a handy way you could score 10 days off work by taking one four days of annual leave. 

The King, 75, will be crowned during a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6, but the country will still get to enjoy a three-day weekend. 

A bank holiday was introduced on May 8 to allow people to take part in the Sovereign’s Big Help Out charity initiative, meaning Brits will get to enjoy a three-day weekend.

But the early May bank holiday on May 1 means that workers who want to get a longer break out of this joyous royal occasion can bag as much as 10 days off by booking only four days of annual leave. 

Here is how to maximize your annual leave thanks to the Coronation. 

Monday May 1 is the yearly Early May Bank holiday and already offers a three-day weekend for people working Mondays to Fridays. 

Monday May 8 is as a country-wide bank holiday to celebrate the King’s accession to the throne and his Big Help Out charitable initiative. 

So by booking Tuesday 2, Wednesday 3, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 May, workers would score a total of 10 days off, from Saturday 29 April to Tuesday 10 May. 

While Brits are sorting out their annual leave requests, the King is gearing up for this Coronation at Westminster Abbey. 

It has been reported that guest numbers for the King’s Coronation are so tight that many foreign royals and British aristocrats have missed out on invitations event. 

But Charles and Camilla are hosting a dazzling reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday, May 5, the night before they are crowned, to greet the good and the great, including some of those who have been excluded from the main event.

The first recorded Coronation banquet dates back to 1194, while King George IV’s in 1821 was so lavish that 23 temporary kitchens were built next to Westminster Hall to produce 160 tureens of soup alone, along with 3,271 cold dishes.

The event so was so vast that the Deputy Earl Marshal had to supervise proceedings on horseback, riding along the centre of the hall, and the cost so shockingly vast that another has not been held since.

Camilla, Queen Consort and King Charles III during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022

While the traditional Coronation banquet won’t go ahead, Their Majesties look forward to welcoming the crowned heads of several European monarchies as well as the First Lady of the United States.

More than 1,000 guests are expected to attend the special reception on May 5, along with most senior members of the Royal Family.

The event won’t be a traditional sit-down dinner, but will be modelled on the reception Charles and Camilla also held for dignitaries and Commonwealth representatives just before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

‘It will feel rather like the annual Diplomatic reception held every December at Buckingham Palace as opposed to a state banquet, and will be a nice mix of majesty, family and friends,’ a source said.

The spectacular invitation to the King’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey on May 5 next month

It is understood that many will be the spouses or children of guests who did not make the cut for the Abbey due to the tightness in numbers.

They include King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife, Queen Maxima, who will attend the Coronation.

But they will be joined at Buckingham Palace on the Friday by the former queen, HRH Princess Beatrix, 85, who knows Charles well, and her grand-daughter the future queen, 19-year-old Catharina-Amalia, the Princess of Orange.

‘It will basically be most of the VIP coronation guests plus all those Their Majesties wanted to invite to the ceremony but couldn’t due to the scaled back numbers at the Abbey,’ another source said.

Sources said the plan is to use the palace Ballroom, which is currently closed to all but the inner circle as it has been set up as a replica of Westminster Abbey for private rehearsals for the Coronation.