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Some things never change – the location, the regalia, the rain….
The same goes for much of the music, notably Handel’s peerless Zadok the Priest.
As for the central elements of the Coronation service, these go back thousands of years to a time long before anyone had heard of Great Britain, let alone the House of Windsor.
Yet every coronation is also very different. Less than a month ago, we were glued to the spectacle of Charles III being crowned, a remarkable moment in so many ways.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their Coronation on May 6
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 1953
In 1953, Britain was tired, broke and deflated yet confident of finding a new role and sense of self-worth in a post-war world. And she had an impossibly glamorous young Queen. Charles was never going to compete with that
Here was the oldest new monarch in British history – aged 74 – beamed around the world with a degree of intimacy unimaginable in previous reigns.
How different that moment was from the event which unfolded precisely seventy years ago this very day – the Coronation of Elizabeth II on June 2nd 1953.
That is no reflection on King Charles. Rather, it is a reminder that Britain was a very different country on this day seven decades back.
The public still needed a ration book to buy certain essentials like meat. Almost everyone knew – or knew of – someone who had lost their life in the Second World War (if not the First, or even the Boer War).
It was less than eight years since hostilities had ceased. Many British cities still had craters and bombsites in between their cracked and soot-stained buildings. Most people went to church each week, dressed in what was known as ‘Sunday best’.
One indication of just how long ago this was can be gleaned from the Queen’s choice of make-up artist for the great day. Thelma Holland was not just well-known for her cosmetic artistry. She was Oscar Wilde’s daughter-in-law.
And here was an impossibly glamorous young Queen, aged just 27, taking on what many still called ‘the Empire’ (even if the British Empire had formally come to an end five years earlier, with independence for India and Pakistan).
Britain was tired, broke and deflated yet confident of finding a new role and sense of self-worth in a post-war world. All those hopes, all that expectation, was placed on the shoulders of the dazzling new monarch.
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King Charles walking in the Coronation Procession following his coronation on May 6
Here was an glamorous young Queen, aged 27, taking on what many still called ‘the Empire’
Charles III was never going to compete with all this which is precisely why he did not try to do so. We have a different King for a different age
A dazzling new monarchy: the official portrait of Queen Elizabeth and the Royal party following her 1953 Coronation
To millions, she represented hope and rejuvenation. The fact that she had, in Downing Street, the greatest statesman of the age – Winston Churchill – only reinforced the idea of a ‘dream team’ leading the country to new sunlit uplands.
Britain and the wider world looked on, agog, at the unprecedented sight of a monarch being crowned on live television, followed by a procession meandering through the capital over many miles and several hours.
For the millions around the world who had yet even to see a television set – not least in Australia and New Zealand – a film version would play to packed cinemas for many months to come.
To cap it all, on the very morning when this impossibly exciting fiesta of national pride began to unfold, the nation awoke to the most astonishing news: a British expedition had just conquered Mount Everest.
It is less than a month since we were glued to the spectacle of Charles III being crowned, a remarkable moment in so many ways
in 1953, Britain and the wider world looked on, agog, at the unprecedented sight of a monarch being crowned on live television, followed by a procession meandering through the capital
Reflecting on the coronation’s of King Charles and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, Robert Hardman (pictured) says: ‘How different that moment was from the event which unfolded precisely 70 years ago this very day’
The UK had pulled off the last great feat left to man in an era when ‘explorers’ were still regarded as national heroes. The Union Flag now flew at the very top of the world.
It is why like-for-like comparisons between the coronations of 2023 and 1953 are pointless. Charles III was never going to compete with all this which is precisely why he did not try to do so.
We have a different King for a different age.
But before we get too nostalgic, just reflect on this. In 1953, life expectancy in Britain was just under 69 years. Today, it is 81.
- Robert Hardman is author of Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II published by Pan Macmillan. Now in paperback
