Dignity and glamour as Young queen crowned
Our monarch’s gown was embroidered with floral emblems of Commonwealth
Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne on the death of her father, George VI, on February 6 1952. During 1951 George VI’s health declined, and Elizabeth, groomed for public service from her youngest years, frequently stood in for him at public events.
In early 1952 Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of Kenya.
They had just returned to their Kenyan home, Sagana Lodge, when word arrived of the death of The King.
Philip broke the news to the new queen and the royal party returned to the United Kingdom.
Despite the death of Queen Mary, her grandmother, on March 24, the coronation on June 2 1953 went ahead as planned.
The coronation was to reflect the pomp, circumstance, dignity and quiet glamour that would define Elizabeth’s first decade as the monarch.
The ceremony in Westminster Abbey, with the exception of the anointing and communion, was televised for the first time.
Elizabeth’s coronation gown was embroidered on her instructions with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries.
It included English Tudor rose; Scots thistle; Welsh leek; Irish shamrock; Australian wattle; Canadian maple leaf; New Zealand silver fern; South African protea; lotus flowers for India and Ceylon; and Pakistan’s wheat, cotton and jute.
In 1953 the Queen and her husband embarked on a seven-month round-the-world tour, visiting 13 countries and covering more than 40,000 miles by land, sea and air.
She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations.
People turned out in their thousands to cheer their new monarch and her consort.
The monarch never openly interferes with matters of State, although sometimes it has proved hard to hide their neutrality.
In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal.
Lord Mountbatten claimed the Queen was opposed to the invasion.
Eden denied it, resigning two months later.
Because the Conservatives did not have the mechanism to choose a new leader, it fell to the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government.
Consultations resulted in the Queen appointing Harold Macmillan.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden’s successor led to the first major personal criticism of The Queen.
In a magazine, which he owned and edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being “out of touch”.
The Queen’s Christmas speech was broadcast on the TV live for the first time in 1957.
By 1959 the Queen was pregnant for the third time. Andrew was born on February 19 1960.
‘I declare before you all that my whole life ... shall be devoted to your service’ Queen Elizabeth II