Protesters in handcuffs and nonstop bling: this coronation has been an embarrassment | Polly Toynbee

Other European royals would never have risked a display on this scale. From his much-mocked pledge of allegiance onwards, Charles's gamble has gone terribly wrong

The king never said: Who will rid me of this troublesome republican?" Of course he didn't. No doubt he wrung his hands with woe at the sheer idiocy of the police arresting the head of Republic, Graham Smith, and others as they unloaded harmless Not My King" placards on the morning of the coronation. What a gift to their cause. A letter from the Met had warned them tolerance will be low", but it never said it would be at absolute zero under the new anti-protest laws.

The homemade sign that may have captured the mood of many read simply: Don't you think this is a bit silly?" Oh, but this is what we do so well! We invite the world to see us in our lavishly gilded splendour; parading the largest military display for 70 years, as the commentators boasted over and over, so that no visitors would guess our army is a fifth of its size at the last coronation.