This Day in History: 2 June 2020
2 June 1953
67 years ago, today, Queen Elizabeth II was formally crowned as the monarch of the United Kingdom. This took place in a lavish ceremony that was attended by a thousand dignitaries and guests, at Westminster Abbey. Millions additionally listened on their radio, and for the first time were able to watch the event on live television. In the procession that followed, through the streets of London, Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were joined by representatives from more than 40 member states of the Commonwealth. After the parade, Elizabeth stood with her family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, waving to the crowd as jet planes from the Royal Air Force flew across the sky.
Despite her coronation taking place in 1953, she had been proclaimed as the new British monarch in early 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI. However, she remained in seclusion for her first three months, taking the time to mourn. In the summer of 1952, she began to perform routine sovereign duties, and carried out her first state opening of Parliament in November. Throughout her reign of more than six decades, her popularity has hardly decreased. She has travelled more than any other British monarch and was the first to visit South America and the Persian Gulf countries. Most notably, however, she became the longest-reigning British monarch in 2015, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Recently, she has begun to hand off some official duties to her children, especially Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, but she has given no indication of an intention to abdicate.
Want to find out more about the life and coronation of Queen Elizabeth II? Click here for more information on her life, or here for more details on her coronation.
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