Which Coronation?

 At the end of this week, 6th May, we will be celebrating the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla.  We've been calling him Prince Charles since the last coronation so I still have to think about his new title before I say or write it.  There will be more than enough column inches after the weekend without this blog adding to it.  So let's reflect on previous coronations.

Until Fleetville actually arrived – in fact until virtually the whole of our East End – the people who will have lived here will have experienced their fifth coronation, but might have been the sixth if only Edward VIII hadn't left in such a hurry in 1936.

Edward VII 9th August 1902

Since, for many of our East End residents in 1902, the Coronation will have been a largely 
unseen event, we can now see the family who were the prime hosts: Edward VII and Queen 
Alexandra.  Rather fewer children are shown off in this generation: Princess Mary; George,
future king George VI, who replaced Edward; Henry, Duke of Gloucester; Prince Edward,
Duke of Windsor (who will feature again briefly in 1936).
COURTESY NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

After the death of Victoria the previous year the first celebration for us was on 9th August 1902.  So, what did the Herts Advertiser have to inform it readers about the Edward VII coronation in those days before even radio?  There was no local newspaper photography either.  

"In the Abbey of Westminster, the spectacle was one of incomparable splendour, for here, in their gorgeous coronation robs, were gathered the most distinguished personages of the King's realm and many illustrious guests, every seat being filled by an eager and expectant throng.  At nine o'clock the preliminaries of the great office began."

Paragraph after paragraph, for three full columns, painting in words the ceremony itself, and beside it, for the benefit of our individual tick lists, the local great and good attending for their own celebration in the city at an unspecified venue.  Only second were listed the "personages" who had been invited to the main event in Westminster.

George V 2nd June 1911.

Rather than illustrate the event with another typical "Royal correspondent" page of words, we skip along to the newsagent to pick up our commemorative copy of the Illustrated London News. 

These are the guests you will never have met and probably have never heard of, but 
important enough for the Press to possess a photograph of them, taken, as the term
was used "at a sitting".

Artists had designed expansive black and white drawings of the anticipated pageantry, both in the Abbey and the carriage drives in the vicinity, enabling the maximum number of flag-wavers to glimpse a royal or other "personage" or two.  A double page spread provided the 1911 version of the invited guest tick list in portrait photography.

Edward VIII missed his coronation; there hadn't been sufficient time to organise the event before he decided he didn't wish to play the part of King, being satisfying with a quiet life in exile with Wallis.

George VI (actually David) 12th May 1937

1937: we are still in the age of black and white.

COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

Queuing outside the Capitol Cinema in London Road.  Today we would have to queue along
the pavement and down the steps at the side.  On this occasion the queuers felt confident enough
to stop what little traffic there was.
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

The first opportunity the Herts Advertiser had of a full page photograph from the ceremony,  arriving in time for publication two days later, although the national newspapers would have made the front page the following morning – the London evening papers probably beat them to it though for the Late Edition on Coronation Day.

Although an edited film was released for mass consumption this queue outside the Capitol Cinema in London Road (now the Odyssey) were waiting to be admitted to participate in a service of commemoration for the Coronation.

Elizabeth II 2nd June 1953

This is the one most referred to of course for its mass television viewing, street parties, celebration mugs full of sweets, and the little book "Elizabeth Our Queen".  Newsreel film was shot – in black-and-white – but if you were prepared to wait the colour Coronation film was shown at most cinemas about a week later. It was certainly the first colour Coronation the majority of us had experienced if we were patient.

And if you were born after 1953, sorry, you missed it, so next Saturday is your chance.  

More people than ever were able to travel to London and walk the route before or after the day – oh, and yes, it was cold and wet, as you are probably boringly tired of being reminded!  But we could buy a copy of the full service, but television was so fascinatingly new, children's eyes were glued to the screen, even for children sitting on the pavement outside an electrical shop whose owner had left his demonstration tv on for the day.

One unimportant but reassuring fact.  For all the hundreds of thousands of commoners who lined the Coronation route roads, having picked their damp places the previous day, I have not seen a single photograph where the authorities thought it necessary to line the kerbs with steel crowd fencing.  We knew our place; we didn't need reminding.

This half crown brochure gave you all the details they think you'd need to know if you
"went live", except the locations of public toilets, which would have been annoying!

Will the number of street parties next weekend be greater than the number of parties in 1953?  We know that in 1953 the celebrations had to be spread over a period of time as tables and chairs, and venues not actually on the street, had to be shared out.  Many were also held over until better weather prevailed!

Beaumonts was a young estate in 1953, and there were plenty of children.  In addition to sit-down
teas at tables arranged in the road space, games kept everyone happy.
COURTESY JENNY BOLTON

Your town or village wasn't getting into the swing of the celebration if there wasn't a parade of some kind, probably leading to an entertainment of some kind.  Because of the distance required to create a worthwhile parade the St Albans version began near Oaklands, vehicles lining up in Oakwood Drive and snaking their way towards the city centre and then to Verulamium; very similar to the parades supporting the St Albans Festivals from the 1970s.

... and the next vehicle in the parade is ...  There was a good crowd on 2nd June, and crowd fencing in those day wasn't deemed necessary.  The background buildings were the Rats' Castle on the left
and Ballito Hosiery Mill on the right.  Both buildings had festoons of little lights at gutter level.

Arthur Road added to the festival atmosphere with flags across the street, a fancy dress 

competition – or perhaps they dressed up just because they wanted to!

All sorts of comparisons will be made with 1953: television viewership; hours of screen time; numbers of parties; interest in the event generally; profit made from retail sales.

And I don't know whether you noticed, we seem to like summer months, dates in the first half of the month, or 2nd June (two of those).  Enjoy.