Stormont leaders witness coronation history from the best seats in Westminster Abbey

And so they were. But more than that, they had the best seats in the house. The leaders of the DUP, Sinn Fein, Ulster Unionist Party, SDLP, Alliance and TUV were sitting in the Quire, a key intersection in the cross-shaped abbey, with the altar to the left and the main body of the church to the right.

People such as this correspondent, seated behind the Quire in the North Transept, could only see part of what was going on, as could the great body of the congregation, obstructed by the walls around the choir stalls.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Alex Maskey, Michelle O’Neill, Naomi Long, Colum Eastwood, Doug Beattie MC and Jim Allister KC were in a part of the abbey that also housed former prime ministers and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, and from where they could see the entire ceremony.

Sir Jeffrey tweeted: “What a great honour to be present today for the coronation service in Westminster Abbey of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Delighted to see so many from Northern Ireland taking part in the service and in the ceremonies associated with the coronation. Fantastic to have students from Methodist College, Belfast in the wonderful choir. A proud moment for our United Kingdom. God Save The King.”

Mr Eastwood tweeted after the service how pleased he was to have met with other representatives of nationalist Ireland, from President Higgins to Leo Varadkar to Ms O’Neill, but did divulge what he thought of the actual coronation.

Mr Beattie said: “As the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party I was proud to stand beside other political leaders representing Northern Ireland. I said out loud the oath of allegiance to King Charles as I had his mother Queen Elizabeth II when I was just 16. Through the nation there was a genuine sense of prides as all parts of our union was represented.”

He said he regretted the fact that NI was missing from the procession into the abbey, unlike the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, but this “didn’t dampen my pride at being present”.

Mr Nesbitt said he thinks it is a sign of “progress” that every main political party in NI turned up for the coronation. The Northern Irish actor, 58, was taking part in the continued celebrations of the historic event by performing a poetry reading at the coronation concert last evening. Speaking backstage ahead of the event, he told the PA news agency he was “very impressed” with the King when he met him a few years ago at a project celebrating Northern Irish produce, as he took “such an interest”.

Reflecting on the coronation, he said: “I'm just so delighted in the sense that every political party turned up yesterday for it and I think that's progress. In a sense, although a lot of people might disagree with me ... and we all have our own opinions about it, but I feel that I'm representing an awful lot of people from where I come from, and I'm glad that he (the King) takes such an interest in the place.”

Mr Nesbitt added that it was a “real privilege” to be asked to read the poem at the celebratory concert, which was written for the occasion by Daljit Nagra, chairman of the Royal Society of Literature.