Met Office weather: Coronation to be wrecked by downpours - with fears key event to be cancelled

More than 60 aircrafts from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force – including the Red Arrows – are scheduled to fly over The Mall and Buckingham Palace at around 2.15pm.

However, the rainy forecast could hinder the ability of pilots to fly safely.

Plans for Saturday include the King and Queen Consort appearing on the Palace balcony with other members of the royal family to watch the six-minute flypast.

But when asked about the potential for the flypast to be suspended by the weather, an MoD spokesman said: “There are certain weather limits in terms of cloud base and visibility for a flypast involving a large number of aircraft which will need to be met.

"The latest weather information will be obtained from both the Met Office and from our helicopters performing weather checks in advance of the main flypast on Saturday.

“If suitable, the flypast will continue as planned.

"If not, then there are options available to reduce the numbers of aircraft, with cancellation being the last resort.

“Clearly there are many things the MoD does control, but the weather is not one of them.

“Safety will always be our primary concern.”

The decision on whether the flypast will go ahead could be made by the RAF’s Air Vice-Marshal Mark Flewin, Air Officer Commanding No 1 Group, or the aircraft pilots.

The Met Office has predicted that Saturday will be a “cloudy, wet day” across large parts of the UK, with rain falling on London “by around lunchtime”.

There were fears the flypast for the late Queen’s coronation in June 1953 would be called off following bad weather.

But conditions improved later in the day and it went ahead at 5.15pm.