Queen Elizabeth II looks back on her Coronation for a special documentary.
James Rampton takes a look at The Coronation, a revealing documentary offering insights into the Crown Jewels and the official crowning of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen jokes that she has a problem with the Crown – not the TV drama, but the actual Crown.
She laughs that when she has the Imperial State Crown (which weighs 1.28kg) on her head, it is impossible for her to look down because if she did her “neck would break”.
She expands on this. With the Imperial State Crown – which she dons to give her speech during the State Opening of Parliament – resting by her, the Queen explains that, “Fortunately, my father and I have about the same sort of shaped head. But once you put it on, it stays. I mean, it just remains on.
“You can’t look down to read the speech – you have to take the speech up – because if you did, your neck would break.
“It (the Crown) would fall off. So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.”
This is one of the many entertaining revelations in The Coronation, an intriguing British documentary about the Crown Jewels and the day they were used when Elizabeth was crowned Queen.
The Crown Jewels, which constitute an element of the Royal Collection, include 140 items and 23,000 precious stones. These treasures make up the most complete collection of royal regalia in the world.
The documentary examines the symbolic significance of the Crown Jewels in the centuries-old Coronation ceremony.
It recounts the amazing tale of St Edward’s Crown, which was smashed up after the English Civil War.
It was rebuilt for the Coronation of Charles II in 1661. It has only been on Her Majesty’s head once, at the time she was crowned.
In post-war austerity Britain, the Coronation exploited the new-found popularity of TV and helped cheer up the nation.
On June 2, 1953, after 16 months of planning, the Queen was crowned at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony, which stretches back more than 1000 years, was seen by millions of viewers throughout the world.
The Coronation also shows eyewitness accounts of those who took part in the event. Featured among them are a maid of honour who nearly fainted in the Abbey, and a choirboy, aged 12, who had to sing solo when his colleagues were overcome with nerves and lost their voices.
The film zooms in on some of the specific treasures in the Royal Collection. We discover, for example, that the Imperial State Crown was constructed for George VI’s Coronation in 1937.
It contains 2868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and hundreds of pearls, including four which go by the name of “Queen Elizabeth I’s earrings”.
The Queen smiles that these pearls are, “Not very happy now. I mean, the trouble is that pearls are sort of live things and they need warming.”
In addition, we learn that the Crown is set with a gemstone known as the Black Prince’s Ruby. Henry V is widely believed to have sported this gemstone at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
Talking to Royal commentator Alastair Bruce in the documentary, the Queen also remembers travelling in the golden carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for her Coronation.
She recollects that the ride was “horrible”, as the carriage seats are, “Only sprung on leather, not very comfortable”.
The documentary also showcases behind-the-scenes footage of the Royal Family on the day of the Coronation.
These include Prince Charles, then aged four, and his younger sister Anne having a game underneath the monarch’s long robe. “Not what they’re meant to do,” the Queen deadpans.
Reflecting on that famous occasion 65 years later, she muses that, “It’s the sort of, I suppose, the beginning of one’s life really as a sovereign.
“It is sort of a pageant of chivalry and old-fashioned way of doing things, really.
“I’ve seen one Coronation and been the recipient in the other, which is pretty remarkable.”
In the documentary, the Queen also discloses one other hitch that occurred during the Coronation. She says that her splendiferous dress was embroidered in silk with pearls and gold and silver bullion thread.
The monarch recalls, “Well, I remember one moment when I was going against the pile of the carpet and I couldn’t move at all ... They hadn’t thought of that.”
“You can’t look down to read the speech – you have to take the speech up – because if you did, your neck would break.” – Queen Elizabeth II