Coronation of Elizabeth II
The coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation was held more than one year later because of the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies. It also gave the planning committees adequate time to make preparations for the ceremony. During the service, Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, was invested with robes and regalia, and was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
Official coronation portrait taken by Cecil Beaton
A ticket for the stands erected along the route of the procession to the abbey through Piccadilly Circus
A programme for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation; photo of the programme taken at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in 2019.
A silk banner that was displayed in Westminster Abbey featuring a crowned garter and the cypher EIIR
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is an initiation ceremony in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in other European monarchies, which have all abandoned coronations in favour of inauguration or enthronement ceremonies. A coronation is a symbolic formality and does not signify the official beginning of the monarch's reign; de jure and de facto their reign commences from the moment of the preceding monarch's death or abdication, maintaining legal continuity of the monarchy.
George VI receiving the homage after being crowned in 1937; watercolour by Henry Charles Brewer
Coronation of Harold II at Westminster Abbey in 1066, from the Bayeux Tapestry
Coronation of Henry IV at Westminster Abbey in 1399
Alexander III of Scotland at his coronation aged eight at Scone Abbey in 1249, being greeted by the royal poet who will recite the king's genealogy