Sam Kerr carries flag for Australia as sport marks King Charles III coronation

The Chelsea forward, Sam Kerr, led the Australian delegation as flag-bearer for King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday.

Kerr was chosen to bear her country’s flag as part of the Commonwealth, fronting an Australian contingent which included the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.

“Obviously it’s an amazing honour,’ Kerr told Chelsea’s official website on Friday. “I found out I’d been offered the role from a phone call, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it because we have a game on Sunday. Emma [Hayes, the Chelsea manager] has been kind enough to let me miss a practice for it, which is very nice of her.”

Away from Westminster Abbey, several county cricket matches resumed with players gathering to sing or observe the national anthem before play began. One such match was at Headingley where Yorkshire are playing Glamorgan.

Charles, previously the Prince of Wales, has been a patron of Glamorgan since 1986 and they tweeted a picture of him holding a bat during a visit to Sophia Gardens. “Today’s coronation means that Glamorgan Cricket can celebrate having a monarch as their patron,” the caption read.

Two spectators who spoke to the Guardian at Headingley perhaps summed up the mixed mood. “I’ve got my flags and I’ll be watching it on tape tonight – but cricket comes first,” said Jennifer Massheder. Her friend, Sheila Waterworth, took a different view on the coronation: “I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than watch it.”At the Badminton Horse Trials, the day’s dressage started at 8am and paused at 10.15am to allow spectators to watch the coronation on big screens, before the competition resumed at 12.45pm.

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