Contributing Writer | Comments
Sixty years ago, on the 2nd June 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place and the whole country joined in celebration.
Ellen Castelow was 23 years old in June 1953 and this is her account of that momentous day:
"The only problem on the actual day was the typical British weather…it poured with rain!
But that didn’t stop people all over the country holding parties in the decorated streets of their towns and cities, and in London the roads were packed with people waiting to see the processions that took place.
The massed London crowds refused to be down-hearted by the weather, and most of them had spent the night before on the crowded pavements, waiting for this special day to begin.
And for the first time ever, the ordinary people of Britain were going to be able to watch a Monarch’s Coronation in their own homes. It was announced earlier in the year that the crowning of the queen would be televised, and the sales of TV sets rocketed.