Penny Mordaunt has revealed how she took painkillers before her role of carrying the ceremonial sword during King Charles’s coronation. Mordaunt, wearing a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, was the first woman to perform the role as lord president of the council. She was responsible for bearing the sword of the state and presenting the jewelled sword of offering to the king. They were two of four swords used during the ceremony, and it is a practice that dates back to the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189. Speaking of the experience to BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast, Mordaunt said she was “very glad” to have got through it and that it had “all gone according to plan”. Mordaunt said although she had not been rigorously training in the gym for the event, she “did take a couple of painkillers before just to make sure I was going to be all right”. Her previous navy training in Portsmouth had helped her to know to wiggle her toes to keep the circulation in her feet, she said.
Writing in the Telegraph, Mordaunt went on to describe the coronation as a “humbling day” and said she was “grateful” that people had decided to recognise her role in the event. She added: “It was a humbling day in every respect. Crowned heads and world leaders were just faces in the congregation. All came to bear witness to love, service and sacrifice. His majesty the king served longer than anyone in history as Prince of Wales. “This is a life lived in the public eye. The royal family sets a parenthesis. We politicians should heed this example. We, too, have a choice. We can decide to narrow the parenthesis. Or we can decide to widen it. It takes courage, patience and judgment to listen to all views. “If people choose to recognise my role, then I’m grateful. But my gratitude and thanks are reserved for all who took part. You can choose dissent. You can choose duty. The real recognition for Saturday, though, belongs to all of us.” The leader of the House of Commons also said she had been asked “hundreds of times” about how she felt regarding the coronation. She said: “The overriding emotion was one of great love. There are a thousand types of love and a thousand ways of showing it. What we saw on Saturday was a form of love. But we’re British, so we prefer the word duty. “Where we were from on Saturday was diverse. Some protested. Most would disagree with such views. Most would also defend their right to express them. That’s what democracy is about. It doesn’t mean unity. It’s about dissent. Mordaunt’s role as lord president of the privy council requires her to chair meetings of the council, a group of the UK’s most senior politicians charged with presenting business to the king.