In a sold-out affair, patrons gathered at Tilly Mint’s Tea Room in Souderton to watch the coronation of King Charles III. Rob Manch reported the event’s details for WFMZ 69 News.

Even in times when a new monarch is not being heralded, Tilly Mint’s overflows with legit British décor, including plenty of Union Jack flags and a classic, red telephone box.

But owner Trish Stubbs augmented the Anglophile-centric setting with a menu that followed suit.

“[We had] Coronation chicken, some English shortbread, a banoffee tart [a banana-toffee cream pie] … and a Windsor Castle tea,” she said.

Stubbs is also presenting the new king with a gift: a group-signed congratulatory card, which she will send to Buckingham Palace.

She’s sent messages of this type before and gotten “a lovey answer,” she said.

A local expert on English culture and history, Muhlenberg University’s Professor William Tighe, noted the significance of this change in British leadership.

“Many European monarchies once had coronation ceremonies, but they were abolished because they seemed old-fashioned, undemocratic, backward-looking.

“The last coronation in Sweden was in 1873,” he said.

“[But] the British have always liked a good show, pomp and circumstance, and it’s a way of taking one’s mind off the mundane problems of daily life,” Tighe concluded.

More on this festive day at Tilly Mint’s Tea Room is at WFMZ 69 News.

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Trish Stubbs and her patrons mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth II.