The coronation of a beloved Queen

Being the monarch one day may not have been on the cards when Princess Elizabeth was born, but after her father took over the role following her uncle’s abdication, she gracefully accepted that it was her future too.

However, when she pledged during a speech to mark her 21st birthday to devote her life to service, she would never have expected that just five years later her father’s untimely death would mean she was Queen at 26.

With George VI still in his 50s, it was anticipated that it would 20 years or so before Elizabeth stepped into the job. But fate had other plans.

In 1951, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and part of his left lung was removed. He covered up the illness – Elizabeth was not told – but took the unusual step of waving off her plane in January 1952 at London Airport, as she and Philip set off on a royal tour that was scheduled to include New Zealand. It was the last time she saw her father.

First stop was Kenya. Elizabeth’s private secretary, Martin Charteris, had taken the precaution of bringing the documents of accession with him.

On February 6, the King died, not of cancer but of a heart attack while sleeping. Unknowing, the new Queen was in a remote part of Kenya centred on the Treetops safari camp. As one headline put it, she “climbed a tree as a princess and came down a queen”. The truth was more prosaic.

Elizabeth and Philip were actually at a fishing camp called Sagana, 20 miles away. Martin, at Treetops, was phoned by the editor of the East African Standard and told that news wires had reported the King’s death.

Martin immediately telephoned Philip, who responded, “This will be such a blow.” He took Elizabeth into the garden at 2.45pm and told her. The new Queen was “very composed, master of her fate”, said Martin, and she spent the rest of the afternoon writing notes of apology for cancelling the tour.

She was driven to the nearest airfield to be taken back to London. Only after they took off did she crack, retreating to the toilets. “When she came out again, it was obvious she had been crying her eyes out,” said a fellow passenger.

Back in London, black mourning clothes and a veil were delivered to the aircraft and she was greeted by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. From that day on, all royals on tour carry mourning dress with them, just in case.

Informal planning for the coronation had begun when she was only 11. King George VI had insisted she note down all she saw at his, so she could understand what it meant. She also wrote that it was “rather boring” towards the end because “it was all prayers”.

Westminster Abbey has been used for coronations since 1066. While the essence of the ceremony remained much the same, the Queen wanted a degree of modernisation and knew just the person to oversee the changes: her husband.

Some of the innovations were small and easy. For example, until then, the Archbishop of Canterbury alone had conducted the service. The Queen wanted the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, James Pitt-Watson, to be involved as well. Philip, chair of the coronation commission, pushed it through.

He also wanted the coronation to be televised. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, objected, as did Churchill, who told the House of Commons, “It would be unfitting that the whole ceremony, not only in its secular but also in its religious and spiritual aspects, should be presented as if it were a theatrical performance.”

Elizabeth put her foot down. She wanted to use the coronation to show she’d serve all her subjects, not just the elite.

The decision led to a boom in UK television sets – 27 million out of a population of 36 million watched, all in black and white. A further 11 million listened on the radio (some were watching and listening at the same time). Worldwide, 200 million followed the proceedings by radio.

The coronation began at 11.15am on June 2, 1953 and lasted three hours. Many aristocrats were said to have put sandwiches in their coronets to see them through.

Everything was filmed (a colour version too, for cinemas) except the Act of Consecration. At that point, the Queen removed her crimson Robe of State, necklace and diadem and sat in King Edward’s chair in a white pleated dress, symbolising humility, under the Anointing Canopy. Knights of the Garter sheltered her from the congregation and Fisher poured “blessed oil” onto her breast, hand and head, while whispering a blessing.

She was then invested as Head of State by being presented with the symbols of sovereignty: a jewelled sword, gold spurs for chivalry, and gold bracelets representing sincerity and wisdom. Next, she was dressed in the Coronation Robe, the Stole Royal and the Imperial Mantle. Then came the Orb, Coronation Ring, Coronation Glove and two sceptres. Finally, the Imperial State Crown was placed on her head.

The Queen stood stock still and in 2018 explained why. “You can’t look down because if you did, your neck would break. It would fall off. So there are disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.”

Elizabeth had officially become “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.” The congregation roared, “God save the Queen!” three times.

It took hours to process back to the palace. The parade was so long – “halfway around London”, as the Queen later put it – it took 45 minutes before it passed any single point. The route was packed with hundreds of thousands watching 16,000 participants walk, ride and march past.

Back at Buckingham Palace, the Queen and her entire family appeared on the balcony. She appeared again at 9.45pm to switch on the “lights of London”, which flowed down the Mall – a fitting end to a momentous day.

All the coronation details

• Philip wore full-dress naval uniform for the journey to and from the Abbey. In the Abbey, he added a coronet and his duke’s robe. He was the first to swear allegiance to the Queen as her “liege man of life and limb”.

• The Blessed Oil is made of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk and ambergris. Enough was made for King Charles’ coronation as well.

• Among the journalist in the Abbey was the Washington Times-Herald’s correspondent Jacqueline Bouvier, later Jackie Kennedy.

• The Imperial State Crown, also known as St Edward’s crown, was made in 1661. It weighs 2.15kg and is solid gold and gems.

• St Edward’s Chair was made in 1300 for Edward I and has been used at every coronation since.

• Designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, the coronation dress was made of white sain and embroidered with the emblems of the UK and the Commonwealth in gold and silver thread, including New Zealand’s silver fern.

• The Queen wore the dress on a further six occasions, including at the Opening of Parliament in NZ in 1954.

• Processing to the coronation, the Queen wore the George IV State Diadem – the one that was on British stamps. Made in 1820, it includes roses, shamrocks and thistles, and contains 1333 diamonds and 169 pearls.

• Charles was the only child to witness a mother’s coronation. Anne was thought too young to attend.

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