Love the monarchy or not, they put on a heckuva show. The coronation of King Charles III was a grand display of maximum pomp that was enough to lure many of us out of bed at 5 am to be swept up in the ancient rituals of scepters and stones of destiny, horse choreography, golden carriages and some very sparkly crowns.

Matching the coronation splendor with the public mood in Britain right now — a cost of living crisis paired with grumbling about the relevance of the Royal Family in a modern world — meant that the trickiest part of this first coronation since Elizabeth’s 70 years ago involved ensuring that the fashion messages presented a modernized monarchy.

The Palace walked the line between tradition and modernity in clothing quite successfully. At coronations’ past, the peers of the realm all showed up in their heirloom velvet and ermine coronation robes. This time, only a fraction of the nobles in the land won an invitation — the tickets went instead to ordinary citizens of notable public service — and the toffs were told to leave their coronets and capes in storage. The dress code was formal during the day, also observed