How the Queen was proclaimed
Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne on February 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI. Her Coronation was more than a year later, at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. We’ve taken a look back at how these momentous occasions in Bri
The February 8, 1952, edition of the Windsor Express came two days after the death of King George VI.
The front page featured photographs of both the late King and the new Queen Elizabeth II, and was published on the day Windsor would ‘thrice proclaim’ the new Queen and a week before the King’s funeral.
The newspaper paid tribute to the King, saying: “Most of us who live in or near Windsor can recall many occasions on which we saw King George VI.
“Perhaps it was only a glimpse as His Majesty passed by; sometimes as he was waiting to perform some ceremony, he chatted with those around him; or, on other occasions when, with a grave face and high dignity, he performed some Royal action.”
A week later, the newspaper produced a special report on the Proclamation of Her Majesty’s Accession. The Proclamation was first read by the statue of Queen Victoria on Castle Hill, before being read again at the King Henry VII Gateway. The procession then moved down Thames Street to
Eton, where the Proclamation was read a third time.
In its report, the Express said: “It will take the people of Windsor more time than most to realise that the Princess Elizabeth is now Queen Elizabeth the Second, for it was here, either at the
Castle or at Royal Lodge, that she spent so much of her childhood.
“No one who has ever sat on the English throne spent so great a part of early life in Windsor as the new Queen.”
It added: “Those who saw her from time to time, and saw her progress from childhood to girlhood, and from girlhood to womanhood, noticed the increase of gravity and seriousness that came with the passing of the years.”
“It came rather more rapidly than with most young people. She seemed to become more and more aware of the great responsibility that must one day fall on her, and seemed as if she had some intuition that the time for those responsibilities would come more quickly than in the normal course of events it might be expected.”
In the first edition of the Express to be published after the Coronation, the newspaper described how the streets ‘were strangely empty’ as people made use of the wireless and televisions to watch or listen to the ceremony.
A report on the day stated: “Windsor people honoured the Coronation not perhaps in the traditional way, but none the less sincerely and loyally.
“Times have changed since the last Coronation: wireless and TV have revolutionised our ways on this Coronation Day.
“All through the morning and the afternoon the streets were strangely empty.
“It seemed that the whole of Windsor was indoors listening to the BBC’s description of the great processions in London and the service at the Abbey, or watching them on television. “The few who went into the streets could hear from almost every house the voice of the commentators, for the absence of cars made the streets quiet.
“The absence of cars helped too, to the make the TV so wonderfully clear.”
A salute was fired on the Long Walk by the Q Battery 345 Berks Yeomanry at the moment of the crowning of the Queen.
The day was cold and windy, but hundreds of people took part in parties after the ceremony, with many events transferring into halls.
On Saturday, June 13,
1953, the Queen made her State entry into Windsor.
Thousands of children lined the streets, while youngsters also had positions within the precincts of the castle.
The Mayor of Windsor, Sir Cyril Dyson, was knighted on the day. The Express reported that the Queen asked him: “Where did all the children come from?”
The report states the Queen listened attentively as he told her of the elaborate arrangements that had been made to ensure children had a good view.
The Queen ‘expressed her pleasure with the arrangements made for the event and the reception she had received from the town’.
It was estimated that there were 100,000 people between Colnbrook, where the Royal drive began, and Beresford Gate at Windsor Castle.