It’s coronation No 2 for Michael
‘Mr Portsmouth’ celebrated his second coronation in Portsmouth at the weekend – and remembers the party for the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years earlier.
Michael Portsmouth was born, appropriately enough, in Portsmouth in 1945 and was at a street party in Moorland Road, Fratton, eight years later.
Though no party was held on the road this time around, Michael joined the festivities at St Mary’s Church on the day of King Charles’ Coronation.
The church held a ‘Big Lunch’ – one of thousands nationwide – which Michael was pleased to attend.
Recalling his first coronation experience, Michael said: ‘It was sunny – there wasn’t any rain – and it was a street party.
‘It would be impossible to have a street party now in Moorland Road because every road around here is filled with cars.
‘Everybody was happy. How they got all the food together I don’t know because rationing was still on, but everybody contributed and all the kids ran around the street playing games.’
Michael did not watch the Queen’s coronation because, as far as he knew, nobody on Moorland Road owned a television in 1953 – and hardly anybody had a car.
‘He was given a copy of the biography ‘Elizabeth Our Queen’ by his headmaster and brought the book with him on this latest trip to Portsmouth.
Having watched King Charles III’s ceremonial crowning, Michael added: ‘As a spectacle, it was fantastic because the country can put on a great pageant.
‘It was very colourful and moving in some respects.
‘This is my celebration – to go back to Pompey 70 years on and see the change.
‘I’m just going to relax really and think of all the memories going back 70 years and my childhood in Pompey which I thoroughly enjoyed.
‘We used to play here, we would put our jumpers down as goal posts.
‘Going in Kingston Rec, go up on Portsdown Hill, to the forts, Eastney, all along the seafront – it was a great little world we had, Pompey.’
Michael has lived in Berkshire since the age of 12 when his father was invalided out from the Royal Navy.
Now retired, he spent most of his career working in garden machinery manufacturing.
*The Coronation Concert on Sunday night was watched by an average audience of 10.1 million, according to overnight figures from the BBC.
The star-studded event at Windsor Castle, which saw performances from Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Take That, had a peak viewership of 12.3 million.
The Platinum Jubilee concert, which took place in front of Buckingham Palace last June, was watched by an average of 13.1 million people on BBC One.
In addition, the King’s coronation service at Westminster Abbey on Saturday was watched by more than 18 million viewers in the UK, provisional figures showed.
An average of 18.8 million people watched across 11 channels and services, with audience figures peaking at 20.4 million.
The figure is not quite as high as the ratings for the funeral service of the late Queen last September which was seen by 26.5 million people across more than 50 TV channels.