Going into 2023, there will be an added bonus for everyone, with the announcement of an extra bank holiday to mark the King's Coronation.
Britain has on average, eight public holidays a year, but in recent years, extra holidays have often been added to mark Royal events. In 2022, bank holidays were added to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, as well as to allow people to observe her funeral.
With King Charles III's Coronation date being announced as Saturday, May 6, many people had wondered if there would be an extra bank holiday to mark the occasion. In 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, June 2 was named "Coronation Day" and a bank holiday was declared.
On Sunday, November 6, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed there would be a bank holiday for the King's Coronation. It will take place on Monday, May 8, two days after the Coronation, to avoid clashing with local election in the previous week.
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The next bank holiday is set to be on Monday December 26 - Boxing Day. That's because the bank holiday for Christmas Day, which falls in a Sunday this year, is moving to Tuesday, December 27.
The first bank holiday in 2023 will be on Monday January 2 - a substitute day for New Year's Day, which also falls on a Sunday. There will then by no bank holiday until Good Friday, which falls on April 7 this year.
Here is a full list of all the confirmed bank holidays for the remainder of 2022 and 2023:
Bank holidays 2022
- Monday, 26 December - Boxing Day
- Tuesday, 27 December - Christmas Day [substitute day]
Bank holidays 2023
- Monday, 2 January - New Year's Day [substitute day]
- Friday, 7 April - Good Friday
- Monday, 10 April - Easter Monday
- Monday, 1 May - Early May bank holiday
- Monday, 8 May - Coronation bank holiday
- Monday, 29 May - Spring bank holiday
- Monday, 28 August - Summer bank holiday
- Monday, 25 December - Christmas Day
- Tuesday, 26 December - Boxing Day
Substitute days mark holidays that fall on the weekend, meaning the bank holiday skips forward to the next working day. Meanwhile, spring and summer bank holidays move dates each year depending on when the relevant Mondays fall in the calendar.
The first "bank holiday" was held in 1871, when Sir John Lubbock, a banker, added four days to the two common law holidays [Good Friday and Christmas Day] that were already observed. The new holidays were Easter Monday, Whit Monday [later to be changed to the Spring Bank Holiday], the first Monday in August [now moved to the end of the month] and Boxing Day. The were called bank holidays because banks tended to close.
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Rishi Sunak said the extra bank holiday would give people the chance to 'come together and celebrate' An extra bank holiday will take place across the UK to mark the coronation of King Charles III next year. It will fall on Monday, 8 May 2023, two days after the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the government
said. That holiday is in addition to the bank holiday already scheduled for Monday, 1 May. Confirming the move, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the time off would give people the chance to "come together and celebrate". He said that the holiday would mark "a unique moment for our country". "I look forward to seeing
people come together to celebrate and pay tribute to King Charles III by taking part in local and national events across the country in his honour." The announcement follows calls from MPs for an extra public holiday to mark the ceremony, which will be held at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, 6 May. Scheduling the holiday on 8 May will also
avoid a clash with local elections, which will take place in England on Thursday, 4 May. Election officials warned that if Friday, 5 May, became a bank holiday, it would disrupt the vote count as it would affect staffing. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who approved the bank holiday in Scotland, said: "Scotland will want to send its best
wishes to His Majesty, King Charles III, and The Queen Consort."
King Charles III will make history as the oldest monarch to assume the throne at 73 years old.
Royal sources suggest that his coronation ceremony will be markedly different to that of Elizabeth II - it will be shorter, more diverse and with a much smaller number of guests.
The Queen Consort will also be crowned on the same date, in a similar but simpler ceremony.
Bank holidays have taken place to mark royal occasions in the past, including the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales on 29 April, 2011.
Earlier this year, the UK had a four-day bank holiday weekend for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
An extra bank holiday was created on 3 June, and the last bank holiday in May was moved to 2 June to extend the celebration of the Queen's 70th year as a monarch.