Britain, in to with the spectacular celebrations for the diamond jubilee last year, marked the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on Sunday with memories of the dazzling event held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.
The 87-year-old Queen is spending the anniversary in private with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. They are expected to mark the event at the Windsor Castle with the normal Sunday visit to the church.
The Buckingham Palace will host a four-day festival in its gardens in July.
Westminster Abbey, the coronation church, will hold a special service to mark the coronation anniversary on Tuesday and the Queen and the royal family will be joined by some 2,000 guests. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will give a sermon at the service and by Prime Minister David Cameron will give a reading.
Westminster Abbey has witnessed 38 coronations of British monarchs — the first documented coronation was that of William the Conqueror on Christmas Day in 1066. There was no fixed location for the coronation ceremony before that.
In June 1953, the BBC broadcast the event live from Westminster Abbey and it has estimated that nearly eight million people watched the ceremony at home with some 10 million as guests in people’s houses watching the event. Some 1.5 million people witnessed the event in cinemas, halls and pubs. Westminster Abbey put the television audience in the UK at 27 million.
Westminster Abbey on Sunday provided a detailed account of the ceremony 60 years ago.
The ceremony included an oath taken by the sovereign, communion service, anointing of the sovereign with holy oil, made of sesame, alcohol, olive oil & perfumed with jasmine, cinnamon and musk; and investiture with symbols of sovereignty, which culminated with St. Edward’s Crown.