A Trinity College alumnus, and former Varsity writer, was today crowned Britain’s first new monarch in 70 years at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

In June 1970 King Charles III became the first British heir apparent to obtain a university degree, graduating with a 2:2. He was admitted to Trinity College in October 1967. He began studying Archaeology and Anthropology in first year and switched to History in the final years of his degree. During his degree he contributed to Varsity.

In honour of their alumnus’ coronation, Trinity announced the creation of a new King Charles III Professorship. Trinity has also launched their new ′Charles′ punt and displayed a Wild Crown in green space outside the College to mark the coronation.

Other Cambridge colleges are celebrating the occasion with live screenings, chapel services, and Coronation teas. Cardboard cutouts of Charles and Camilla were seen on Queens’ College’s lawn this morning, surrounded by two cardboard sentries and a crown.

Whilst a student at Trinity, Charles participated in Trinity’s orchestra, played polo for the university and wrote and acted in several of Trinity’s annual drama performances, the ‘Trinity Revue’.

For Varsity’s twenty-first birthday King Charles contributed by detailing his first impressions of Cambridge. He described his “distorted” first impressions of Trinity, getting accustomed to “the grinding note of an Urban District Council dust lorry’s engine” in the early morning, and the sound of drunken singing late at night. Despite “these happenings” contributing “to [his] experience in Cambridge”, he did confess that they drove him to “beating [his] head against a wall”.

The King has continued to stay involved with his alma mater since graduating. In the 1980s he became a Founder Trustee of the Cambridge Trust. This organisation gives scholarships to students around the world who cannot afford to fund their studies at Cambridge.

More recently, the King opened the University Library’s Commonwealth Reading room in 2008 and visited the Fitzwilliam Museum, the University Library and King’s College Chapel during a daytrip to Cambridge in 2016.

Several Cambridge graduates and fellows are directly involved in the King’s coronation, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is a graduate and Honorary Fellow of Trinity College. Cambridge University’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr Anthony Freeling, has stressed “Cambridge’s longstanding links to the Royal Family” and described the coronation as “a moment of great national and international significance, and a day of celebration in Cambridge.”