The months before the event had been tinged with sadness. On 24 March, 10 weeks before the ceremony was due to take place, Queen Mary – widow of George V, mother and grandmother of successive sovereigns – succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 85. Described by Winston Churchill as “practical in all things”, she had earlier insisted that her granddaughter’s coronation, 14 months in the planning, should go ahead even in the event of her death.

The date of the ceremony, declared by the Coronation Commission under the chairmanship of Prince Philip, allowed an appropriate length of time to pass between George VI’s death and a nationwide celebration. The Duke of Norfolk, Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, was charged with organising the festivities while David Eccles, minister of works, handled the physical preparation and the decorations lining the route. Norman Hartnell, the man responsible for creating Elizabeth’s wedding dress in 1947, was commissioned to make her gown. Bearing embroidered floral emblems representing Commonwealth coun-tries, the white satin dress also featured England’s Tudor rose, the Scottish thistle, the Welsh leek and the Irish shamrock. On the gown’s left side, where the Queen’s hand would rest for much of the day, sat a four-leaf clover stitched in gold and silver thread.

The weeks leading up to the event were filled with endless rehearsals. Anxious thoughts for the Queen’s welfare flowed in from all quarters, notably from Winston Churchill. “I fear they may ask her to do too much,” he said. The Queen’s response was always the same: “Did my father do it? Then I will, too.” When ministers suggested she take a brief rest halfway through the ceremony, she replied: “I’ll be alright. I’m as strong as a horse.”

• Read more about Elizabeth II’s life before she was queen

Six young noblewomen were invited to serve as the Queen’s maids of honour, among them 20-year-old Anne Coke (now Lady Glenconner). Reminiscing about the occasion during an interview for BBC Radio 4, she said that “I was in America selling pottery, getting over a sad love affair, when I got a telegram saying: ‘Come on, come back, you’ve been chosen.’ My mother was also asked to be a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, so I think we were the only mother and daughter in the procession.” With the Duchess of Norfolk standing in for the Queen at several of the rehearsals, the girls practised every aspect of the service. As they later recalled: “It seemed we were constantly trooping off to the Abbey. The Duke of Norfolk was a choreographer, apart from everything else.”

At Buckingham Palace, the ivory-and-gold ballroom was transformed into a replica of Westminster Abbey’s “theatre” area, where the primary action would take place. Sheets were pinned to the Queen’s shoulders, mimicking her six-metre-long train, and a formation of chairs stood in for the carriage. In order to become accustomed to the Imperial State Crown’s weight and feel, Elizabeth donned it while going about her daily business. Worn by the Queen during her return to Buckingham Palace after the coronation (having been crowned with St Edward’s Crown), it is adorned with 2,901 precious stones including the Cullinan II diamond, St Edward’s Sapphire, the Stuart Sapphire, the Black Prince’s Ruby and four pearls reputed to have been set in earrings worn by Elizabeth I.

“She used to wear [the crown] when she was writing letters,” Lady Anne recalled. Discussing the 1kg headpiece in 2018, the Queen noted: “You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did, your neck would break and it would fall off. So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they are quite important things.” When asked if she had ever tried it on, Lady Anne responded: “I wouldn’t dare touch it… it’s completely sacred.” She did reveal, however, that Prince Charles, then four years old, “got his paws on it” post-coronation. The Queen “put it on the table and Prince Charles made a beeline for it”, she said. “And we thought he was going to drop it… Oh my goodness, that would be a bad omen. But luckily I think my mother, as a lady-in-waiting, seized it from him and took it away.”

In spite of pouring rain and driving wind, half a million spectators eager to secure the best vantage point spent the night before the coronation camped along the processional route. Three million more swarmed into London the next morning. Across the country, others gathered around television sets purchased specially for the occasion. “I remember people saying: ‘We’ve got a television set,’” recalled cultural historian Robert Hewison, who celebrated his tenth birthday on coronation day. “The picture wasn’t as impressive as 35mm newsreel in the cinema – it was more grey and brown than black and white – but you were seeing something live.”

Homes, pubs and community centres were packed with awestruck viewers, their eyes fixed on images emitted from modest screens. Adamant it wouldn’t be “right or proper” to televise the ceremony, Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged the Queen to spare herself the strain of the cameras’ heat and glare. Unconcerned by his protestations, and feeling that the nation had a right to participate, she went against his advice. Only the most sacred parts of the service – the anointing and communion – were hidden from the cameras; as author William Shawcross noted, the Queen “wanted her moments with God to remain unseen by the world”. It was the first event of its size to be broadcast on international television, and more than 20 million Britons tuned in to watch.

At 6am, Westminster Abbey – site of every coronation since 1066 – opened its doors to some 8,000 guests. Two hours later, the procession of foreign royalty, heads of state and dignitaries began, and at 10.29am the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh departed Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach. Commissioned in 1760, this enclosed carriage, drawn by eight horses, has been used for every coronation since that of George IV.