King Charles coronation: Monarch blocks plans to rename Heathrow Airport terminal after him

Ahead of the coronation, Heathrow had reportedly wanted to mark the occasion by renaming Terminal Five after King Charles III, almost a decade after Terminal Two was named the Queen’s Terminal, in 2014. However, the eco-conscious king is said to have shot down the plans.

King Charles reportedly called in help from ministers to block the plans as Buckingham Palace wanted to politely turn down the offer without causing any embarrassment. The Times revealed the King’s polite refusal, and reported a government source said that “environmental considerations” had left the monarch hesitant to take up the offer.

King Charles has long been an active environmentalist and in 2021 appeared at Cop26 in Glasgow to call on the country to move to a “war-like footing” to deal with the “existential threat” of climate change. Heathrow Airport is instead marking the coronation with a commemorative luggage tag.

King Charles is set to be crowned in a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on May 6. It will be the first coronation in the UK since Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1953.

The coronation will be followed by a special concert from Windsor Castle on May 7, featuring Katy Perry, Lionel Ritchie and Take That. The UK will also benefit from an extra bank holiday to mark the coronation on May 8.