HT This Day: June 3, 1953 -- Queen Elizabeth II crowned in Westminster Abbey

Hindustan Times

02-06-2025

London: The bells of London pealed and the guns thundered today to salute the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II.
A great concourse in Westminster Abbey cried 'God save the Queen' as they watched the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, place on her head St. Edward's Crown, symbol of British monarchy.
Outside beneath grey skies the cry was taken up by millions who had watched her progress to the ancient Abbey and waited to see her emerge again as the crowned Queen.
Later, the Queen thanked her people for their ' loyalty and affection.'
She ended a worldwide broadcast on her Coronation Day with these words: ' As this day draws to its close, I know that my abiding memory of it will be not only the solemnity and beauty of the ceremony but the inspiration of your loyalty and affection.'
'I thank you from a full heart. God bless you all.'
Earlier she had pledged: 'Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.'
A congregation of more than 7,000 had waited at the Abbey since early morning for the Queen's arrival.
They heard her approach in State, heralded by a swelling roar of cheers along the route, while a massed orchestra in the Abbey played softly. Then through the west door of the Abbey along the blue carpet leading to the Coronation theatre before the altar, the stately procession began.
First came the Abbey beadle bearing his golden staff of office. Behind him came churchmen in scarlet cassocks and sombre black. Then in a great multi-coloured stream, the heralds in medieval tunics, the court officials and the standard bearers.
Slowly the colour moved across the golden carpet of the Coronation theatre in the centre of which the golden throne, upholstered in rose, stood in a raised dais.
Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth stepped aside into their allotted places giving way to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury in their pointed mitres and gold-embroidered robes.
The Indian and Pakistan Prime Ministers, Mr Nehru and Mr Mohammed Ali, walked side by side in the procession into the Abbey. Behind them surrounded by heralds in bright medieval tunics came the Duke of Edinburgh, a burgundy robe trimmed with ermine billowing around his naval uniform.
Choir's salute
Amid this rich and multi-coloured scene the Queen appeared like a gold and crystal figure, supported by her maids of honour. A bishop walked on either side. As she entered the clear voices of 40 schoolboys rang out in the cry of Vivat Regina. There was a great crash of the organ and then the 400-voice choir echoed the salute.
The Queen walked steadily, her hands clasped in front, her face tense and serious. As the cries of 'Vivat' soared upwards she seemed to tremble for a second, her hands unclasped, but quickly she clasped them again.
As she reached the Chair of Estate, her arms dropped to her side and the maids withdrew. For a moment the Queen knelt in prayer, then took her place on the chair, while the regalia was placed on the altar. The moment had come now for the recognition. Once more her maids of honour escorted her to a corner of the theatre beside the Coronation Chair. There she stood alone as the Archbishop of Canterbury declared: 'Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Elizabeth your undaunted Queen: wherefor all you who are come this day to do your homage and service. Are you willing to the same?'
A great cry of ' God save Queen Elizabeth ' rose from the assembly, echoed, twice by the Choir. Four times from each side of the theatre the Archbishop asked the question and each time the thunderous cry came back.
Then he bowed to her and she returned to the Chair of Estate.
The oath
Sitting upright in her chair the Queen next took the oath speaking her only words of the entire ceremony.
' Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa. Pakistan and Ceylon and of your possessions and other territories to any of them belonging or pertaining according to their respective laws and customs?' the Archbishop asked.
' I solemnly promise to do so,' she said in a clear voice.
Next came her pledge to uphold the Church of England and to rule with law and justice. As she spoke she placed her hand upon the Bible, then moved to the altar and on her knees signed the oath.
The clear voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury rang out from before the altar asking God's blessings on the Queen.
Then in crashing phrases there came the anthem: Zadok the Priest...... .
While the Choir sang. the Queen rose. The crimson rose was slipped from her shoulders and her jewels, including her diadem, was removed.
Anointing ceremony
For the first time now she took her place in the Coronation Chair. The Archbishop of Canterbury stepped beneath it and anointed her with the holy oil, touching the palms of her hands, her breast and her head. His voice came clearly as he traced his actions.
Now, began the ceremony of presenting the Queen with the symbols of her office. Slowly the golden spurs-token of kingly chivalry-were presented by the Lord Great Chamberlain. Then the Sword of State, most costly in the world, was presented.
The young queen held it aloft her face set in deep seriousness. Walking up the Abbey, she carried it to the altar.
The Archbishop then placed on her wrists the bracelets of pure gold, representing sincerity and wisdom and given by the Commonwealth.
Once crowned, the Queen, a glittering golden figure beneath the blazing lights of the Abbey, moved slowly back the dais where the golden throne, upholstered in rose, awaited her. She carried her sceptre in one hand and a rod surmounted by a dove in the other.
Seated on the throne surrounded by the highest dignitaries in the land, she waited for her Lords to pay homage.
The first to kneel before her was the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Other bishops followed him and then the Queen's husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, rose from his chair at one side and below the throne.
Homage to queen
While the little prince watched from the gallery, the Duke stepped firmly forward. He handed his coronet to a white-clad page, then mounted the five steps to the throne and kneeling on a crimson cushion placed his hands between the Queen's.
' I Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do I become your liege man of life and I limb and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you to live and die against all manner of hope. So help me God,' he said.
In the background softly the choir sang a group of anthems, specially composed for the service.
Rising the Duke kissed the Queen's cheek. Then he backed down the steps, reclaimed his coronet and returned to his place.
Next to pledge allegiance were the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and her 17-year-old cousin, the Duke of Kent.
Then followed representatives of each rank of the peerage repeating the same pledge as Prince Philip. As each knelt and spoke, his group of peers dropped to their knees in the congregation, then rose and donned again their crimson and gold coronets.
The ceremony of homage ended with a great ruffle of drums and fanfare of trumpets.
The Queen, attended by two bishops, stepped from the throne and moved slowly toward the Altar where she surrendered her Crown, her sceptre and the rod surmounted with it dove.
Shorn of her earthly symbols of sovereignty. she knelt humbly beside the Duke of Edinburgh who had come forward from his place to partake of the holy communion of the Church of England.
Holy communion
As the communion ended with a benediction from the Archbishop, the Abbey once more stirred with activity.
The congregation rose and from the choir sang the Te Deum Laudamus: ' We praise thee O God; we acknowledge thee to be Lord.'
The Queen's throne attendants turned to face her and awaited her descent to the floor of the theatre.
There, her maids of honour gathered around her, and while the choir still sang. escorted her into St. Edward's Chapel to prepare for her triumphal drive through the streets of London.
As she walked to the Chapel, she faltered slightly showing signs of fatigue for the first time. Her face was still set and serious: she had riot smiled once during the long service.
As the Queen reappeared from the Chapel. arrayed now in a purple robe, crowned and carrying her sceptre in one hand and the cross-topped orb in the other, a fanfare of trumpets blared out and the Abbey rang with the national anthem: ' God save the Queen.'
Slowly the tide of colour flowed out of the Abbey leaving it once more to the ghosts of bygone kings. Outside along seven miles of rain-swept streets a great multitude waited to acclaim the Queen as she rode once more in the golden coach of State with her husband.
The State procession from the Abbey followed the same order as its entry when the Queen arrived to take her place upon the Coronation chair where her forbears have been crowned for more than 600 years.
The Queen left the Abbey at 2-12 p.m. (G.M.T.), walking resolutely to her golden coach, with the lighter Imperial State Crown on her head, the orb in her left hand, the sceptre held firmly in her right.
Cheering drowned all other sounds as the co h moved off to ' God save the Queen '-and the sun broke through at last.
As the coach moved slowly drawn by its eight grey horses, the Queen smiled for the first time since the start of the morning's heavy ceremonial.
The rain streamed ceaselessly down, until dignitaries riding in open carriages were so wet that they had the hoods put up, almost hiding them from view.
All along the route as the Queen came into view there was a spontaneous wave of emotion - women weeping, children dancing in their places in the stands, and fervent singing of the National Anthem. In Trafalgar Square - one of the most popular vantage points because it offered three chances to see the procession-the crowd went wild.
The Queen, obviously fatigued by the long Abbey ceremonial, still raised a fresh regal smile for each renewed burs of cheering from the crowds at the ancient coach rolled past.
The Commonwealth Prime Ministers were each escorted by troops from their own countries except Mr Nehru who was escorted by British police.
Surrounded by all be pomp of monarchy, with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, beside her, she was a radiant ad smiling figure as she left Buckingham Palace, clasping a bouquet in her hands.
She smiled and bowed to the dense crowds packed on either side of the route. Beside her, the Duke in the uniform of the Admiral of the Fleet, raised his hand repeatedly to his gold-braided cocked hat in salute to the milling crowds.
Before her went an array of glittering military might, starred cavalrymen with plumed helmets, marching foot soldiers with towering bearskin hats, bands crashing out a march that carried the procession steadily forward.
India's Prime Minister, Mr Nehru, drove from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey in a Royal Clarence and pair of horses. In the carriage procession of Commonwealth Prime Ministers. He was in Indian ceremonial dress, wearing an achkan and churidar and with him was his daughter, Mrs Indira Gandhi. -Reuter.
Coronation honours for Robinson
London, June 2: Gr. Capt. Bruce Robinson, R.A.F., at present seconded for service with the I.A.F., is created Commander of the Order of the British Empire in Queen Elizabeth's Coronation honours list issued yesterday.
Brig. Reginald Holloway, late Royal Engineers, who was also awarded the same honours, is now on loan to the Government of India.