For the first time since 1953, the full BBC eight hour black and white broadcast of the Queen's coronation was shown again to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this historic day. I have watched the colour motion picture "A Queen is Crowned" dozens of times over the years. It is certainly an amazing film, but I always wanted to see more. So here was my big chance. But, of course, the BBC blocks viewers from outside of the United Kingdom watching their programs online. Never mind, I rented access to a UK IP address, and within minutes got access to BBC videos. The problem with this solution is that the speed of streaming might slow down, and need regular buffering. But, never mind, it was better than nothing. Good old Canada also showed the broadcast online, and they do not block other countries. But they showed it several hours after the BBC, and I did not want to stay up until at least 4:30 am. So the BBC it was.
Soon after 7 pm I connected to my UK server and went to the BBC. I was reminded that I still needed a TV licence to watch programs online. Yes, of course, I will take care of that next time I am in London. In 1953 at 10:15 am Miss Sylvia Peters introduced the live television broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Sixty years later, Miss Peters was back to do it again. This time she recalled her memories of that morning, working at BBC TV in its early days at Alexandra Palace (Al Pal as she called it). You could still sense her excitement at what was a remarkable day in the history of television. Then, glancing to her left, she said that it was nearly 10:15, the exact moment the live broadcast began. Suddenly Miss Peters was sixty years younger, wearing pearls and a lovely frock. In a voice that sounded similar to another young lady we would soon see, Miss Peters outlined the day's schedule, and then it was over to the outside broadcast units.
From the beginning it was very different to the sort of coverage of royal occasions we see now. We did not see Miss Peters again, or any of the other presenters. It looked like there were cameras at only a handful of locations along the route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, so there were large parts of the processional route that would not be seen. The black and white film had been cleaned and restored and the quality was pretty good. There were occasional shadows, and the microphones sometimes picked up voices in the background. But, over all, it was perfectly watchable, and perhaps even enhanced the sense that this was from another age.
Before long the Coach of State, drawn by eight horses, emerged from the inner courtyard of Buckingham Palace, and we got our first glimpse of the Queen. How young she was! For most of her subjects the world over, the Queen has always been there. You forget, that she was only 25 at her accession, and 27 at the coronation. The Duke of Edinburgh was 32. We saw the coach for a few minutes as it headed up the Mall, then it is out of site of the cameras. But instead of being a drawback, this makes the broadcast even more interesting. Today cameras would follow the Queen for the whole length of the procession. But because this did not happen in 1953, we got to see all sorts of other things happening along the processional route and at Westminster Abbey. That is what I loved about this wonderful trip to the past.
An interesting difference between 1953 and 2013 is the crowds. There were unbelievably huge in 1953, yet in a way quite drab. There were no silly Union Flag hats, painted faces, plastic tiaras etc.etc. But more noticeable was the complete lack of flags. Occasionally one could be spotted amongst the throng of people in their brown and grey macs, but for the most part waving a handkerchief was the order of the day. Back at Westminster Abbey we got to see the arrival of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret. Very soon the State of Coach again came into view for the cameras outside the Annexe. The Queen and the Duke entered the Annex and then began the Grand Procession. Indeed it was very grand. The commentary, provided by Mr Richard Dimbleby, was very informative and interesting. I was particularly finally pleased to see the Queen's Champion, Lieutenant-Colonel John Dymoke. The Champion dates back about 900 years, and originally it was his role to ride into the Coronation Banquet at Westminster Hall, in full armour, and take on any one who dared to challenge the King's right to the throne. The Coronation Banquet did not take place in 1831 at King William IV's scaled down coronation, and has not been revived since. Now, the King or Queen's Champion carries the Standard of England in the Grand Procession.
Finally the Queen arrived at the coronation theatre and the liturgy began. It was quite long and made up of various parts. During the anointing, the canopy, carried by four Knights of the Garter, shielded the Queen from view. The camera focused on a tapestry above the altar, and Mr Dimbleby explained that we would hear the words of the anointing, but would not see anything until it was over. Now anointed, the Queen could be crowned. It was interesting to see just how involved the peers where at this point, various Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts and Barons carrying out duties assigned to them by long tradition. It made me wonder how this could be justified in a future coronation now that hereditary peers are a spent force. We will have to wait and see. The great moment came and the heavy crown was placed on the Queen's head. At that point all the peers put on their coronets, as did the peeresses. The sight of all the ladies raised arms, in long white gloves, and their glittering diamonds was quite magnificent, and the yells of "God Save the Queen" very heart felt and moving.
After the acts of homage the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh proceeded to the altar to take part in a communion service. Now I have never seen a full Anglican communion service, so it was quite interesting to watch what it involved. Some parts were very similar to the modern Roman Rite that would come to the Catholic Church over a decade later. I was very surprised when the consecration (if that is what Anglicans call it?) took place and the cameras again withdrew to the tapestry. This time Mr Dimbleby said that we would not even hear the words spoken, and invited everyone to join in silent prayer for our Queen. The camera stayed fixed on the tapestry for several minutes. When vision was restored, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were on their way to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor. Once she was out of sight, an amazing transformation took place in the coronation theatre. Out of nowhere, like trails of ants heading for a picnic basket, came an army of page boys criss-crossing as they headed toward their assigned peer. Very soon it looked like Bourke Street in peak hour, as more peers and clergy began to line up for the grand recession. Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, a sense of order began to emerge from the chaos. Very soon the various parts of the recession were ready, and the first sections began to make their way down to the North Door. Then appeared the Queen. She was now wearing the Imperial State Crown and her crimson parliamentary train was replaced by her purple coronation train.
Then came a moment I had been waiting for. About 20 years ago I saw a documentary on the BBC's coverage of various royal occasions. It included an interview with a little man who was squeezed into a tiny space with his camera for the coronation. He was under strict instructions not to take any close ups of the Queen. But as the Queen came past St Edward's Chair and her Throne, the little man kept his camera focused on her face. There was a red light in his little box that would flash if he was focussing too closely on the Queen's face. But he decided that the image was just too beautiful not to show. As the second verse of God Save the Queen got under way, the Queen got closer and closer, and for the first, and only time during the ceremony, we had a wonderfully close view of the Queen. Her jewels glistened in the light, and she appeared very calm and composed. It was a magical moment.
Several years ago, when I was studying theology at a Melbourne Catholic college, we had an end of year mass on the feast of Christ the King. During the 1990s it was not unusual for some ever-so-modern priests to use this feast to preach against the idea of modern kingship, and by inference the Australian crown. At this particular mass, a Sister of Mercy was invited to give a reflection (she was actually incorrectly described as the guest preacher). She told of how she and a friend had recently seen the motion picture "A Queen is Crowned" in London. She spoke of the bejewelled peeresses, and the Queen invested with all the regalia. Sister concluded that because of all their diamonds and obvious wealth, Jesus would not have been anywhere near Westminster Abbey that day. I would have walked out, but as a member of the student association I was due to say a few words at the end of the mass, so I had to sit through her ridiculous ramblings. She finished by congratulating our college on its ecumenical credentials and tolerance of differing points of view. I huffed loudly and mutter under my breath "except when it comes to an Anglican coronation liturgy." I am sure for the Queen, and probably for many of her subjects, the ceremony that day was of an intense spiritual nature that should not be underestimated. Especially not by an ignorant sister taking cheap shots at the expense of a Queen who fully understood the true religious significance of her vows, anointing, and crowning.
With the coronation over, there was a short delay as the procession back to Buckingham Palace got ready to start. While the Queen had a brief rest in the annexe, we were treated to all sorts of departures from Westminster Abbey. The first to depart where the colonial rulers, including the the very impressive looking Sultan and Sultana of Zanzibar, and various Malay Sultans, including the 80 year old Sultan of Johor and his 38 year old Romanian wife. Then came the wonderful Queen Salote Tupoa of Tonga. This Queen from the Pacific Ocean has become something of a legend over the years since the coronation, and after finally seeing her in all her glory I can now understand why. She was simply magnificent. Her smile seemed infectious, and her energetic waving to everybody brought forth a wonderful response from the crowds. The rain was coming down heavily, and later in the procession the other carriages of the colonial rulers all had their tops put up. But not the carriage containing the Queen of Tonga and the Sultan of Kelantan. Both were absolutely drenched, but nothing could dampen the Queen's enthusiasm, or the incredible reception she continued to receive from the immense crowds. I have often wondered how the Sultan felt about this, but he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself as well.
Then came the prime ministers of the Commonwealth and their wives, with our own Mr Menzies looking very dignified, while Mrs Menzies looked extraordinarily happy. The last prime minister was Sir Winston Churchill, and I must admit there was something a bit sad about this echo from the past. Winston Churchill's military career began during the reign of the Queen's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, in 1894. He was 79 and his political life was nearing its end. Although the last war had ended only eight years earlier, there was something almost discordant about this old man making his famous V for Victory sign from the window of the carriage, a carriage that would later break down and have to leave the procession. The whole day had been focussed on the young Queen, and had a sense of looking forward to the future with hope and optimism. Old Sir Winston and his wartime greeting seemed to drag us back to the past, a past ultimately triumphant, but at a cost of such immense death and suffering. For a moment the gloominess of the weather broke into the otherwise joyous atmosphere of the day. But only for a moment. For then came another blast from the past, but this one of such delightful eccentricity that you could only but smile: it was the brief glimpse of Princess Marie Louise.
Born Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein in 1872, daughter of Princess Helena, Queen Victoria's third daughter and her husband Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. She was briefly married to Prince Aribert of Anhalt. But the marriage was not successful, most likely because Prince Aribert was not exactly the marrying kind of chap. Marie Louse returned to Great Britain and spent the next 56 years as a relatively active, if somewhat obscure, member of the Royal Family. During the Great War, King George V decided that all German titles must be abandoned. Poor old Princess Marie Louise, and her sister Princess Helena Victoria, suddenly found themselves as princesses of…. well, princesses of nothing and nowhere. With their German titles gone, they officially became Princess Marie Louise and Princess Helena Victoria; nothing more, nothing less.
The procession of the troops through London was, perhaps, the least successful part of the broadcast, which was a pity because it must have been very spectacular. This is where colour was needed, without it the different uniforms merged into one. Then when the sun came out, the bayonets flashed brightly, but the quality of the images seemed to suffer in the contrast between light and shade, and the overall effect was not attractive. There was also a glaring omission in the commentary; the Australian contingent was not even mentioned. Once the full parade had passed the cameras at the Queen Victoria Memorial took over and we got to see the entire parade all over again. At least this time the Australian contingent got a mention.
So after over six hours since leaving Buckingham Palace, the anointed and crowned Queen returned home. There was the delightful image of the young Duke of Cornwall and Princess Anne pointing excitedly out of a palace window as the Coach of State went through the palace gates. At this point the "real time" coverage was abandoned, and we skipped about forty minutes and went straight to the palace balcony. The Royal Family looked very happy, and the reception from the massive crowds below was something to behold. It was a wonderful end to a magnificent day. It was beautifully summed up with the words from the coronation service: "God save Queen Elizabeth! Long live Queen Elizabeth! May the Queen live forever!"
