 |
| An outpour of public support for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Image credit: BBC |
The morning of June 3, 1953, Buckingham Palace was so full
of ructions because Prince Charles, four years old, was allowed to attend the
ceremony. However, her younger sister, Princess Anne, only two, was told to
stay at home. Queen Elizabeth II, who was to be crowned on that day, insisted
despite the tantrums, that princess Anne was too young to go. She can’t handle
the strain of the four-hour service. In fact, even Prince Charles, all garbed
in his satin suit, found it too much for him. Together with his grandmother, QueenElizabeth the Queen Mother, he watched his mother get the crown on her head,
but as the ceremony progressed, he eventually grew impatient. He and the Queen
Mother left the ceremony before it ended.
The weeks preceding the coronation filled London will festivity
and celebrations. The gripping was such that the Evening Standard published a
special supplement detailing about the outpouring of people arriving in the
capital, giving them some practical tips on how to gear up for the big day. For
female readers, the newspaper tipped them about their “C-Day Scheme,” telling
them it’s best for them to wear stovepipe trousers and ballet-length cocktail
dresses to make them look smart and classy.
Meanwhile, the newspaper warned kerb-watchers: “Don’t make
the mistake of cramming too much food into your bag,” writing that “thin brown
bread-and-butter cress or salad sandwiches are less thirst-making than cake…”
Up to that time, the crowds were the largest that London had
ever witnessed. When statistics finally compiled for the day it turned out
there were 6,873 casualties, almost 700 of them were serious enough to warrant
ambulance, most of them broke their arms or legs , others from fatigue after a
sleepless night of waiting.
More than 100,000 seats were built along processional route
aside from the 7,000 seats reserved at Westminster Abbey. Suddenly, London
became a city of tents, all flooding Kensington Palace Gardens. And while the
populace tried their best to sleep, a plain unescorted van travelled through
the night from the Jewel House in the Tower of London to the Abbey, carrying
the priceless regalia for the coronation.
As a security precaution exact replicas of each piece,
enclosed in leather boxes, followed the same route with an elaborate police
guards. A large amount of the regalia had been sold by Oliver Cromwell after
the English Civil War. New pieces had been made for the coronation of Charles
II in 1661 at a cost of 32,000 pounds.
From: Tribute to Her Majesty. Produced and Designed by Serge
Lemoine; text by Don Coolican. Scott Publishing Co. Ltd., 1986.
You might also want to read:
- Queen Elizabeth II, Her Proclamation
- Diamond Moments Well Captured as Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Diamond Jubilee with the People
- The Queen of Diamonds: The royal gems cut from the world’s largest diamond
- Queen Elizabeth, Her Accession
- Queen Elizabeth II, The Day She Became Queen
.png)
0 Comments