‘My souvenir from the coronation

LADY MARIGOLD SOUTHEY’S MOTHER, DAME MERLYN MYER, HAD A FRONT-ROW SEAT ON THE BIG DAY – LITERALLY!

By all accounts it was a glamorous affair filled with glittering tiaras and gowns as Princess Elizabeth was crowned the new Queen of England on June 2, 1953. And for one woman sitting in Westminster Abbey, that day attending the coronation was among the biggest privileges of her life.

The late Dame Merlyn Myer, wife of department store mogul Sidney, was one of only a limited number of Australians to be invited to the lavish affair. In a series of journal entries published in the new book Merlyn: The Life of Merlyn Baillieu Myer, she details what it was really like in the church that day.

Now, Merlyn’s daughter, Lady Marigold Southey, tells New Idea: “Her experience of the coronation was a great highlight in her life. She was very excited to be invited and says it was one of the happiest days of her life.”

It all began with a very early wake-up call of 4.30am for Merlyn, who promptly donned her finest gown.

“[Mum’s] dress was made in Paris and she spent a lot of time having fittings,” recalls Lady Southey. “She was a fashionable person, and she chose the style and all the fabrics for the gown.”

Arriving hours before the ceremony, guests were assigned to their seats as they waited for the festivities to

Dame Merlyn later purchased the chair she sat on at the coronation service (right).

Lady Southey (left) kept an eye out for her mother (right) on television during the coronation.