Long live the Queen
Celebrating our ancestors caught on camera
Crowds cheer the coronation procession of Elizabeth II along The Mall in the City of Westminster, 2 June 1953
In 1937 somewhere in the region of 10,000 TV viewers are thought to have seen the coronation procession of George VI. Everything had changed by the time that his oldest daughter was crowned. More than 20 million people crowded around still-primitive sets in homes, churches, pubs and cinemas, and TV cameras were allowed inside Westminster Abbey for the first time. No wonder the country ground to a halt. “The streets of town and village were strangely quiet during the later morning hours,” the North Wales Weekly News reported. “The reason why brave show of flags and bunting fluttered almost unheeded was not far to seek. The magic box – T.V. – commanded attention.”