How the coronation affects the Premier League this weekend

Regardless of personal interest or not, it will be a historic day in the United Kingdom and countries across the Commonwealth on Saturday 6 May.

Charles III will be officially coronated as the new King, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II back in September 2022. Much of the country will be watching on television as the coronation takes place at Westminster Abbey, getting underway at 11:00 BST.

It is the first royal coronation in the UK since 1953, which is partly why it is such a huge national event. Whilst many feel the monarchy is outdated and will not be watching, huge swathes of those in the UK will be paying attention.

That means there can't be any distractions, so how has the coronation of Charles III impacted the Premier League fixtures this weekend?

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Coronation effect on Premier League fixtures

Half of the Premier League games have been kept away from the day of the coronation itself when it is common at this stage of the season for around seven games to be on a Saturday. The most obvious change is that there is no 12:30 BST kick-off for fans to enjoy.

Instead, there are four 15:00 kick-offs and a 17:30 as normal. Whilst fans may be annoyed about not having a game to watch at 12:30, they will be able to watch Manchester City vs Leeds United at 15:00 on Sky Sports as the broadcasting blackout has been lifted slightly.

15:00 Premier League kick-offs are never shown on live television in the UK. That means fans can see Sam Allardyce's first game in charge of his new club.

It took until 24 March for the Premier League to finalise the schedule for this weekend despite it being known for some time what day the coronation would be on. They had to apologise for the delay and it has resulted in just one game taking place in London on the Saturday, which is Tottenham vs Crystal Palace. West Ham vs Manchester United and Fulham vs Leicester City were pushed to Sunday and Monday respectively. Clubs are being invited to play the national anthem ahead of kick-off.

Is there any precedent for royal disruption to the Premier League?

In recent times, yes.

The 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II came a few days after the end of the season which meant it had no impact on the First Division. This time, things are different.

There was a massive impact on the Premier League when the Queen passed away at the beginning of this season. The entire football calendar from the top flight down to the grassroots stopped playing as a mark of respect. That is why there was a big difference in the number of games played by certain teams through much of this season, rearranging them was not easy.

The state funeral for Elizabeth also led to three Premier League games being postponed due to the strain put on policing. Even Manchester United's game at home against Leeds was postponed despite being in a completely different part of the country.