MEMORIES OF CORONATION PARADE AS QUEEN MARKS JUBILEE
THEY are the jubilant Birmingham Coronation scenes you’ve never seen before.
Pictures of a huge Coronation march have surfaced, courtesy of Birmingham Post picture editor Marcus Queenborough who has shared the recently discovered family treasures.
He said: “These are pictures from my Aunty Muriel Queenborough, taken for the Coronation in Birmingham 1953.
“She used to work in an insurance brokers called Sedgwick Collins, on Colmore Row, and it looks like she watched the parade from the office window.
“I only recently found them as my elderly uncle John, nearly 95, has moved into a care home and we found these timely pictures in his things.”
Sadly, Muriel died four years ago, so cannot be asked for her memories or more information.
But Marcus said: “I think were taken on the Saturday, June 6 for a military parade along with hospital and nursing staff along Colmore Row.”
The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London.
Elizabeth II acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. Her coronation was held more than one year later because of the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies before holding such festivals.
It also gave the planning committees adequate time to make preparations for the ceremony. During the service, Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, was invested with robes and regalia, and was crowned queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka.
Celebrations took place across the Commonwealth realms and a commemorative medal was issued. It has been the only British coronation to be fully televised. Television cameras had not been allowed inside the abbey during her parents’ coronation in 1937.
Elizabeth’s was the fourth and last British coronation of the 20th century. It was estimated to have cost £1.57 million at the time.