The midnight rehearsal of the coronation is a military parade through the empty streets of London

The first rehearsal of the king Coronation took place during the military parade through the quiet streets of the central London early Tuesday morning.

The rehearsal was due to start at 10pm on Monday but was postponed before hundreds of troops paraded along the route on horseback in preparation for the coronation on May 6.

Charles and The Queen Consort will return from Westminster Abbey through Parliament Square, along Whitehall, around Trafalgar Square, through Admiralty Arch and down the Mall back to Buckingham Palace.

The coronation procession covers just 1.3 miles – about a quarter of the length of the late Queen’s five-mile celebratory route, which passed through Piccadilly, Oxford Street and Regent Street.

The grand procession in 1953 lasted two hours and included tens of thousands of participants, the two-and-a-half-mile cavalcade taking 45 minutes to cover any point.

Although not seen at the rehearsal, Charles and Camilla will be taken to Westminster Abbey on the Diamond Jubilee State Bus and return on the same route by the Gold State Bus.

The coronation will be the biggest military ceremonial operation in 70 years and will involve more than 6,000 men and women of the British Armed Forces.

Sailors, soldiers and airmen from across the UK and Commonwealth will accompany Charles and Camilla to and from Westminster Abbey

Almost 400 members of the armed forces from at least 35 Commonwealth countries will also take part in the parade to mark the historic moment.