Feet for a king: Westminster Abbey to offer barefoot tours

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Visitors to London’s Westminster Abbey will be allowed to stand for the first time on the exact spot where King Charles III will be crowned. But they will need to make sure they don’t have holes in their socks for the shoeless tour, meant to protect the abbey’s medieval mosaic floor. Abbey officials said Friday that the section of the church’s floor known as the Cosmati pavement will be on display during Charles’ crowning ceremony after being hidden away under carpets for decades because of disrepair. The pavement is where the coronation chair has been placed for some 700 years. It is normally roped off to the public, but will be open to small guided “barefoot tours” after the May 6 coronation. The tours will run on some days from May 15 to July 29.