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FIFTY YEARS AGO -
THE CORONATION OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN
ELIZABETH II
On 2nd June 1953, the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place, and the
whole country joined in celebration.
The only problem on the actual day
was the typical British weather…it poured with rain!
But that didn’t stop people all
over the country holding parties in the decorated
streets of their towns and cities, and in London the
roads were packed with people waiting to see the
processions that took place.
The massed London crowds refused to
be down-hearted by the weather, and most of them had
spent the night before on the crowded pavements, waiting
for this special day to begin.
And for the first time ever, the
ordinary people of Britain were going to be able to
watch a Monarch’s Coronation in their own homes. It was announced earlier in the
year that the crowning of the queen would be televised,
and the sales of TV. sets rocketed.
Apparently there had been much
controversy in the Government as to whether it would be
‘right and proper’ to televise such a solemn occasion. Several members of the Cabinet at
the time, Sir Winston Churchill was one, urged the queen
to spare herself the strain of the heat and glare of the
cameras, by refusing to have the ceremony televised.
The queen received this message
coldly, and refused to listen to their protests. The
young queen personally routed the Earl Marshall, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Winston Churchill and the
Cabinet …she had made her decision!
Her motivation was clear, nothing
must stand between her crowning, and her people’s right
to participate.
 So, on June 2nd 1953 at
11 o’clock all over the country people settled down in
front of their television sets. These sets were, compared to the
present day ones, quite primitive. The pictures were
black and white, as colour-sets were not available then,
and the tiny 14-inch screen was the most popular size.
The queen arrived at Westminster
Abbey looking radiant, but there was a problem in the
Abbey. The carpet!
The carpet in the Abbey had been
laid with pile running the wrong way, which meant that
the queen’s robes had trouble gliding easily over the
carpet pile. The metal fringe on the queen’s
golden mantel caught in the pile of the carpet, and
clawed her back when she tried to move forward. The
queen had to tell the Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘Get me
started’.
Another problem was that the holy
oil, with which the queen was to be anointed at the
ceremony, and which had been used at her father’s
Coronation, had been destroyed during a WW II bombing
raid, and the firm who made it had gone out of business.
But fortunately, an elderly
relative of the firm had kept a few ounces of the
original base, and a new batch was quickly made-up.
The ‘Crowning Ceremony’ took place
exactly as it is laid down in the history books, and
when St. Edward’s Crown, (this crown is only ever used
for the actual crowning) was placed on her head the
whole country, watching on their television sets, joined
as one in celebration.
So, in spite of the rain, the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was certainly a day to
remember …’God save the Queen’.
Useful links:
That was the year
that was...1953
©
EPC
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