Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth
The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Emperor and Empress consort of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May 1937. George VI ascended the throne upon the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, on 11 December 1936, three days before his 41st birthday. Edward's coronation had been planned for 12 May and it was decided to continue with his brother and sister-in-law's coronation on the same date.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in their coronation robes, 1937
A commemorative glass tumbler, produced for the coronation of King Edward VIII, planned for 12 May 1937
Archbishop Cosmo Lang, painted in 1937 with his coronation cope and mitre by Philip de László
Eaton's department store window in Toronto displaying mannequins of George and Elizabeth wearing their crowns and holding orbs
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