Bank holiday weather: What's the forecast for coronation weekend?

Britons hoping to celebrate King Charles’ upcoming coronation can expect sunny spells and showers throughout the day, according to the latest forecast.

Charles will be crowned alongside the Queen Consort on Saturday in the largest military ceremonial operation in 70 years.

Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers are expected to travel to the centre of London for the ceremony and around 10,000 people will attend the coronation concert at Windsor Castle the following day.

The Met Office has said that the forecast detail is becoming clearer as we get closer to the 6 May bank holiday, and is predicting spells of rain - becoming thundery and cloudy on Saturday evening into Sunday.

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Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster, Steven Keates, said: “On Saturday we will see some heavy rain moving into the southwest in the early hours which will move north eastwards through the morning.

"This is likely to bring some rain to London by around lunchtime as it spreads east and north across roughly the southern third of the UK.

"Further north in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland it will be a day of sunshine and showers before the more persistent rain moves northwards overnight. It will feel humid, especially in the south, with highs of 18°C possible in London.”

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey added: “At the moment it looks like, as I say, the morning should be relatively dry with some sunny spells in London, but the afternoon could see showers developing in London.

“But long lead time, so as always the message is to keep an eye on the forecast and check it regularly because the detail will become clearer as we get nearer to the day.

Meanwhile, Sunday will see areas of heavy rain and possibly thundery showers for many parts of England and Wales, with bank holiday Monday also looking unsettled.

During the procession, Charles and the Camilla 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 coronation procession stretches to just 1.3 miles – around a quarter of the length of the late Queen’s five-mile coronation journey which went through Piccadilly, Oxford Street and Regent Street.

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.

Read more: King Charles's coronation: Day-by-day schedule

Charles and Camilla will be taken to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and return via the same route in the Gold State Coach.

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.

Sailors, soldiers, and aviators from across the UK and the breadth of the Commonwealth will accompany Charles and Camilla to and from Westminster Abbey.

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