Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

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Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth and Philip 1953.jpg
Queen Elizabeth II with the Duke of Edinburgh in her coronation portrait, 2 June 1953
Date 2 June 1953 (1953-06-02)
Location London, United Kingdom
Participants Queen Elizabeth II
Great Officers of State
Archbishops and Bishops Assistant of the Church of England
Garter Principal King of Arms
Peers of the Realm
Mistress of the Robes
A ticket for the stands erected alongside the coronation procession route through Piccadilly Circus

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon took place on 2 June 1953. Elizabeth ascended the thrones of these countries at age 25, upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was proclaimed queen by her various privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation was delayed for more than a year because of the tradition that such a festival was inappropriate during the period of mourning that followed the death of the preceding sovereign. In the ceremony itself, at Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth swore an oath to uphold the laws of her nations and to govern the Church of England. Celebrations took place and a commemorative medal was issued throughout the Commonwealth realms.

Preparations

For the one-day coronation ceremony, 16 months of preparation took place, with the first meeting of the Coronation Commission taking place in April 1952,[1] under the chairmanship of the Queen's husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (later Prince Philip).[2] Other committees, such as the Coronation Joint Committee and the Coronation Commission, were established and were more international in nature; high commissioners from other Commonwealth realms were members of these groups, reflecting the dual domestic and international nature of the coronation. Still, though British organisers wanted it to be otherwise, no officials from any Commonwealth realm other than the UK would participate in the event itself; the governments of those countries considered the ceremony to be a religious rite unique to Britain; as Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent said at the time: "in my view the Coronation is the official enthronement of the Sovereign as Sovereign of the U.K... We are happy to attend and witness the Coronation of the Sovereign of the U.K. but we are not direct participants in that function."[3]

The Coronation Commission announced in June 1952 that the coronation would take place one year later, on 2 June. Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary died on 24 March 1953, having stated in her will that her death should not affect the planning of the coronation, and the event went ahead as scheduled.[4]

Norman Hartnell was commissioned by the Queen to design the outfits for all the members of the Royal Family and especially the dress Elizabeth would wear at the coronation; Hartnell's design for the latter evolved through nine proposals, the final reached by his own research as well as numerous personal meetings with the Queen. What resulted was a white silk dress embroidered with the floral emblems of the countries of the Commonwealth at the time: the Tudor rose of England, the Scots thistle, the Welsh leek, Irish shamrock for Northern Ireland, the wattle of Australia, the maple leaf of Canada, the New Zealand fern, South Africa's protea, two lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute; unknown to the Queen at the time of the gown's delivery, though, was the unique four-leaf clover embroidered on the dress' left side, where Elizabeth's hand would touch throughout the day.[5][6]

Elizabeth, meanwhile, rehearsed for the upcoming day with her maids of honour, a sheet used in place of the velvet train and an arrangement of chairs standing in for the carriage. So that she could become accustomed to its feel and weight, the Queen also wore the Imperial State Crown while she went about her daily business, sporting it at her desk, at tea, and while reading the newspaper.[5] Elizabeth took part in two full rehearsals at Westminster Abbey, on 22 and 29 May,[7] though other sources assert that the Queen attended either "several" rehearsals or one.[8][9] Typically, the Duchess of Norfolk stood in for the Queen at rehearsals.

Event

The Coronation ceremony of Elizabeth II followed a similar pattern to the coronations of the kings and queens before her, being held in Westminster Abbey, and involving the peerage and clergy. However, for the new Queen, several parts of the ceremony were markedly different. The coronation of the Queen was the first ever to be televised (although the BBC Television Service had covered part of the procession from Westminster Abbey after her father's coronation in 1937[10]), and was also the world's first major international event to be broadcast on television. There had been considerable debate within the British Cabinet on the subject, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the idea; but, Elizabeth refused her British prime minister's advice on this matter and insisted the event take place before television cameras,[11] as well as those filming with experimental 3D technology.[n 1][12] The event was also filmed in colour, separately from the BBC's black and white television broadcast.[13] Millions across Britain watched the coronation live, while, to make sure Canadians could see it on the same day, RAF Canberras flew film of the ceremony across the Atlantic Ocean to be broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,[14] the first non-stop flights between the United Kingdom and the Canadian mainland. In Goose Bay, Labrador, the film was transferred to a Royal Canadian Air Force CF-100 jet fighter for the further trip to Montreal. In all, three such voyages were made as the coronation proceeded.[15]

Procession

File:Queen Salote in London.jpg
Queen Sālote Tupou III in her carriage as it proceeds through London to Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953

Along a route lined with sailors, soldiers, and airmen and women from across the Commonwealth,[n 2][16] guests and officials passed in a procession before approximately three million spectators gathered in the streets of London, some having camped overnight in their spot to ensure a view of the monarch and others having access to specially built stands and scaffolding along the route.[17] For those not present to witness the event, more than 200 microphones were stationed along the path and in Westminster Abbey, with 750 commentators broadcasting descriptions in 39 languages;[15] more than twenty million viewers around the world watched the coverage.[17]

The procession included foreign royalty and heads of state riding to Westminster Abbey in various carriages, so many that volunteers ranging from wealthy businessmen to rural landowners were required to fill the insufficient ranks of regular footmen.[17] The first royal coach left Buckingham Palace and moved down The Mall, which was filled with flag-waving and cheering crowds. It was followed by the Irish State Coach carrying Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who wore the circlet of her crown bearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Queen Elizabeth II proceeded through London from Buckingham Palace, through Trafalgar Square, and towards the abbey in the Gold State Coach. Attached to the shoulders of her dress, the Queen wore the Robe of State, a 5.5 metre (6 yard) long, hand woven silk velvet cloak lined with Canadian ermine that required the assistance of the Queen's maids of honour—Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Lady Anne Coke, Lady Moyra Hamilton, Lady Mary Baillie-Hamilton, Lady Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill, and the Duchess of Devonshire[18]—to carry.[5]

The return procession followed a route that was eight kilometres (five miles) in length, passing through Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Pall Mall, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, and finally down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. 10,000 service personnel from across the Commonwealth and Empire marched in a procession that was two miles (3.2 kilometres) long and took 45 minutes to pass any given point. A further 15,800 lined the route.[19] The parade was led by Colonel Burrows of the War Office staff and four regimental bands. There then came the colonial contingents, then troops from the Commonwealth realms, followed by the Royal Air Force, the British Army, the Royal Navy, and finally the Household Brigade.[20] Behind the marching troops was a carriage procession consisting firstly of the rulers of the British protectorates, including the Queen of Tonga, the Commonwealth prime ministers, the princes and princesses of the blood royal, and the Queen Mother. Preceded by the heads of the British Armed Forces on horseback, the Gold State Coach was escorted by the Yeomen of the Guard and the Household Cavalry and was followed by the Queen's Aides-de-Camp.[21]

Guests

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The stools used at the coronation.

After being closed since the Queen's accession for coronation preparations, on Coronation Day, Westminster Abbey was at 6am opened to the approximately 8,000 guests invited from across the Commonwealth of Nations;[n 3][17][24] more prominent individuals, such as members of the Queen's family and foreign royalty, the peers of the United Kingdom, heads of state, Members of Parliament from the Queen's various legislatures,[25] and the like, arrived after 8:30 am. Tonga's Queen Tupou III was a guest, and was noted for her cheery demeanour even while riding in an open carriage through London in the rain.[26]

Guests seated on stools were able to purchase theirs following the ceremony, with the profits going towards the cost of the coronation.[27]

Ceremony

File:Royal Family Coronation 1952.jpg
Royalty at the coronation

Preceding the Queen into Westminster Abbey was St. Edward's Crown, carried into the abbey by the Lord High Steward of England, then the Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, who was flanked by two other peers, while the Archbishops and Bishops Assistant of the Church of England, in their copes and mitres, waited outside the Great West Door for the arrival of the Queen. When this occurred at approximately 11:00 am,[5][11] Elizabeth found that the friction between her robes and the carpet caused her difficulty moving forward, and she said to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, "get me started!"[11] Once going, the procession, which included the various High Commissioners of the Commonwealth carrying banners bearing the shields of the coats of arms of their respective nations,[28] moved inside the abbey, up the central aisle and through the choir to the stage, as the choirs sang "I was glad", an imperial setting of Psalm 122, vv. 1–3, 6, and 7 by Sir Hubert Parry.[29] As Elizabeth prayed at and then sat herself on the Chair of Estate to the south of the altar, the Bishops carried in the religious paraphernalia—the bible, paten, and chalice—and the peers holding the coronation regalia handed it over to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, in turn, passed them to the Dean of Westminster, Alan Campbell Don, to be placed on the altar.[30]

The Coronation Regalia used in the coronation of King George III and Queen Charlotte, some of which was used in the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II progresses past the Coronation Chair

After the Queen moved to stand before King Edward's Chair (Coronation Chair), she turned, following as Fisher, along with the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (the Viscount Simonds), Lord Great Chamberlain of England (the Marquess of Cholmondeley), Lord High Constable of England (the Viscount Alanbrooke), and Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (the Duke of Norfolk), all led by the Garter Principal King of Arms (George Bellew), asked the audience in each direction of the compass separately: "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Elizabeth, your undoubted Queen: wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?" The crowd would reply "God save Queen Elizabeth," every time,[31] to each of which the Queen would curtsey in return.[28]

Seated again on the Chair of Estate, Elizabeth then took the Coronation Oath as administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the lengthy oath, the Queen swore to govern each of her countries according to their respective laws and customs, to mete out law and justice with mercy, to uphold Protestantism in the United Kingdom and protect the Church of England and preserve its bishops and clergy. She proceeded to the altar where she stated "The things which I have here promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God," before kissing the Bible and putting the royal sign-manual to the oath as the Bible was returned to the Dean of Westminster.[32] From him the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, James Pitt-Watson, took the Bible and presented it to the Queen again, saying "Our gracious Queen: to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; These are the lively Oracles of God."; Elizabeth returned the book to Pitt-Watson, who placed it back with the Dean of Westminster.[33]

The communion service was then conducted, involving prayers by both the clergy and Elizabeth, Fisher asking "O God... Grant unto this thy servant Elizabeth, our Queen, the spirit of wisdom and government, that being devoted unto thee with her whole heart, she may so wisely govern, that in her time thy Church may be in safety, and Christian devotion may continue in peace," before reading various excerpts from the First Epistle of Peter, Psalms, and the Gospel of Matthew.[34] Elizabeth was then anointed as the assembly sang "Zadok the Priest"; the Queen's jewellery and crimson cape was removed by the Earl of Ancaster and the Mistress of the Robes,[5] the Duchess of Devonshire, and, wearing only a simple, white linen dress also designed by Hartnell to completely cover the coronation gown, she moved to be seated in the Coronation Chair. There, Fisher, assisted by Don, made a cross on the Queen's forehead with holy oil made from the same base as that which had been used in the coronation of her father.[11] As this segment of the ceremony was considered absolutely sacrosanct, it was concealed from the view of the television cameras by a silk canopy held above the Queen by four Knights of the Garter. When this part of the coronation was complete, and the canopy removed, Don and the Duchess of Devonshire placed on the monarch the Colobium Sindonis and Supertunica.[35]

From the altar, the Dean of Westminster passed to the Lord Great Chamberlain the spurs, which were presented to the Queen and then placed back on the altar. The Sword of State was then handed to Elizabeth, who, after a prayer was uttered by Fisher, placed it herself on the altar, and the peer who had been previously holding it took it back again after paying a sum of 100 shillings.[36] The Queen was then invested with the Armills (bracelets), Stole Royal, Robe Royal, and the Sovereign's Orb, followed by the Queen's Ring, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, and the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove. With the first two items on and in her right hand and the latter in her left, Queen Elizabeth was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the crowd shouting "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!" three times at the exact moment St. Edward's Crown touched the monarch's head. The princes and peers gathered then put on their coronets and a 21-gun salute was fired from the Tower of London.[37]

File:Queencrown.jpg
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, swears allegiance to his wife, the newly crowned queen

With the benediction read, Elizabeth moved to the throne and the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the Bishops offered to her their fealty, after which, while the choir sang, the peers of the United Kingdom—led by the royal peers: the Queen's husband; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent—each proceeded, in order of precedence, to pay their personal homage and allegiance to Elizabeth. When the last baron had completed this task, the assembly shouted "God save Queen Elizabeth. Long live Queen Elizabeth. May the Queen live for ever!"[38] Having removed all her royal regalia, Elizabeth kneeled and took the communion, including a general confession and absolution, and, along with the audience, recited the Lord's Prayer.[39]

Now wearing the Imperial State Crown and holding the Sceptre with the Cross and the Orb, and as the gathered guests sang "God Save the Queen", Elizabeth left Westminster Abbey through the nave and apse, out the Great West Door, followed by members of the Royal Family, the clergy, her prime ministers, etc. Then, transported back to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach, with an escort of thousands of military personnel from around the Commonwealth, the Queen appeared on the balcony of the Centre Room before a gathered crowd as a flypast went overhead.

Music

Appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation

Although it had been assumed by many that the Master of the Queen's Musick, Arnold Bax, would be the director of music for the coronation, it was decided that it would be better to appoint the organist and master of the choristers at the abbey, William McKie, who had been in charge of music at the royal wedding in 1947. McKie convened an advisory committee with Arnold Bax and Sir Ernest Bullock, who had directed the music for the previous coronation.[40]

When it came to choosing the music, tradition demanded that Handel's "Zadok the Priest" and Parry's "I was glad" were included amongst the anthems. Other choral works included were the 16th century "Rejoice in the Lord alway" and Samuel Sebastian Wesley's "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace". Another tradition was that new work be commissioned from the leading composers of the day; Ralph Vaughan Williams composed a new motet "O Taste and See", William Walton composed a setting for the "Te Deum", and the Canadian composer Healy Willan wrote an anthem "O Lord our Governor".[16][41] Four new orchestral pieces were planned; Arthur Bliss composed "Processional"; William Walton, "Orb and Sceptre"; and Arnold Bax, "Coronation March". Benjamin Britten had agreed to compose a piece, but he caught influenza and then had to deal with flooding at Aldeburgh, so nothing was forthcoming. Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D" was played immediately before Bax's march at the end of the ceremony.[42] An innovation, at the suggestion of Vaughan Williams, was the inclusion of a hymn that the congregation were able to participate in. This proved controversial and wasn't included in the programme until the Queen had been consulted and found to be in favour; Vaughan Williams wrote an elaborate arrangement of the traditional Scottish metrical psalm, "Old 100th", which included military trumpet fanfares.[43]

The choir for the coronation was a combination of the choirs of Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Chapel Royal, and Saint George's Chapel, Windsor. In addition to these established choirs, the Royal School of Church Music conducted auditions to find twenty boy trebles from parish church choirs representing the various regions of the United Kingdom. Along with twelve trebles chosen from various British cathedral choirs, the selected boys spent the month beforehand training at Addington Palace.[44] The final complement of choristers comprised 182 boy trebles, 37 male altos, 62 tenors, and 67 basses. Together with a full orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, the total number of musicians was 480.[42]

Celebrations, monuments, and media

An Australian stamp issued for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

All across the Queen's realms, the rest of the Commonwealth, and in other parts of the world, coronation celebrations were held. The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal was also presented to thousands of recipients throughout the Queen's countries and, in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK, commemorative coins were issued.[45] Three million bronze coronation medallions were ordered by the Canadian government, struck by the Royal Canadian Mint, and distributed to schoolchildren across the country; the obverse showed Elizabeth's effigy and the reverse the royal cypher above the word CANADA, all circumscribed by ELIZABETH II REGINA CORONATA MCMLIII.[46]

As with the coronation of George VI, acorns shed from oaks in Windsor Great Park, around Windsor Castle, were shipped around the Commonwealth and planted in parks, school grounds, cemeteries, and private gardens to grow into what are known as Royal Oaks or Coronation Oaks.[47]

A plaque marking a tree planted in the United Kingdom to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
A stand of trees near Monmouth, planted in the form of the letters ER (Elizabeth Regina) to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth

In London, the Queen hosted a coronation luncheon, for which the recipe Coronation chicken was devised,[48] and a fireworks show was mounted on Victoria Embankment.[17] Further, street parties were mounted around the United Kingdom. The Coronation Cup football tournament was held at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in May and,[11] two weeks before the coronation, the children's literary magazine Collins Magazine rebranded itself as The Young Elizabethan.[49] News that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit of Mount Everest arrived in Britain on Elizabeth's coronation day; the New Zealand, American and British media dubbed it "a coronation gift for the new Queen".[50]

In the United States, coronation parties were mounted, one in New York City attended by the Queen's uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Military tattoos, horse races, parades, and fireworks displays were mounted in Canada. The country's governor general, Vincent Massey, proclaimed the day a national holiday and presided over celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where the Queen's coronation speech was broadcast and her personal royal standard flown from the Peace Tower.[51][52] Later, a public concert was held on Parliament Hill and the Governor General hosted a ball at Rideau Hall.[51] In Newfoundland, 90,000 boxes of candy were given to children, some getting theirs delivered by Royal Canadian Air Force drops, and in Quebec, 400,000 people turned out in Montreal, some 100,000 at Jeanne-Mance Park alone. A multicultural show was put on at Exhibition Place in Toronto, square dances and exhibitions took place in the prairie provinces, and, in Vancouver, the Chinese community performed a public lion dance.[53] On the Korean Peninsula, Canadian soldiers serving in the Korean War acknowledged the day by firing blue, red, and white coloured smoke shells at the enemy and drank rum rations in observance.

Coronation review of the fleet

Warships from Sweden (right) and the Soviet Union at the coronation fleet review

On 15 June 1953, the Queen attended a fleet review at Spithead, off the coast at Portsmouth. There were more Commonwealth naval ships present than at the 1937 coronation review, though a third of them were frigates or smaller vessels. Major Royal Navy units included Britain's last battleship, HMS Vanguard and four fleet and three light aircraft carriers. The Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy also each included a light carrier in their contingents.[54] Using the frigate HMS Surprise as a royal yacht, the Queen and Royal Family started to review the lines of anchored ships at 3:30 pm, finally anchoring at 5:10. This was followed by a fly-past of some 300 naval aircraft. After the Queen transferred to Vanguard for dinner, the day concluded with the Illumination of the fleet and a firework display.[55]

See also

Notes

References

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  4. Bousfield 2002, p. 77
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  19. Arlott, John and others (1953) Elizabeth Crowned Queen, Odhams Press Limited (pp. 15-25)
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  21. London Gazette pp. 6264-6270
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  24. Brooke-Little 1980, p. 55
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  30. An Anglican Liturgical Library, II
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  46. McCreery 2012, p. 51
  47. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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  51. 51.0 51.1 McCreery 2012, p. 50
  52. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. Bousfield 2002, pp. 83–85
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  55. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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