Midnight coronation rehearsal sees military parade through empty London streets

The first rehearsal for the King’s Coronation took place as military paraded through the quiet streets of central London in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The rehearsal was due to start at 10pm on Monday but was delayed, before  hundreds of military personnel followed the route on horseback preparing for the coronation on May 6.

Charles and the Queen Consort will make their way back from Westminster Abbey via Parliament Square, along Whitehall, around Trafalgar Square, through Admiralty Arch and down The Mall back to Buckingham Palace.

The grand procession in 1953 took two hours and featured tens of thousands of participants, with the two-and-a-half mile cavalcade taking 45 minutes to pass any given point.

The coronation will see the largest military ceremonial operation in 70 years, with more than 6,000 men and women of the UK’s armed forces taking part in the historic royal event.

Nearly 400 armed forces personnel from at least 35 Commonwealth countries will also be on parade to mark the historic moment.