May 2, 2023

King Charles' coming coronation stirs memories of the queen 70 years ago

WATCH: Remembering Britain's last coronation 70 years later

Pamela Tawse was 18 and still in her nurse's uniform and cap when she made her way to central London after her night shift, eager to catch a glimpse of the new queen on the day of her coronation.

Tawse, now 88, twinkled in delight as she thought back to a time when Britain, still enduring rationing eight years after the end of World War Two, turned out in force to see the opulence and glamour of the start of a historic reign.

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Pamela Tawse, 88, poses for a photograph in the library room of the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking in Stroud, Britain, April 20, 2023.

"We climbed over the barricades and the crowds were really deep," Tawse recounted.

"Then suddenly, we heard an enormous roar, and we knew that probably the queen was coming by," she said, her eyes vividly lighting up at the memory through a pair of gold rimmed glasses.

Tawse had decorated the hospital bedpans in red, white and blue tape, a small symbol of the excitement greeting 27-year-old Elizabeth as the new head of the royal family on the brink of a technicolor age.

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A photograph from 1956 of Pamela Tawse, 88, in Montreal after she became the coordinator for the Montreal Children's Hospital Home Care is seen in the library room of the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking in Stroud, April 20, 2023.

For Brenda Piper, who slept on the pavement to secure a spot along the procession route, there was a sense of amazement at the sheer "spectacle" of the queen sweeping past in a gold state coach.

"This Elizabethan age, it really did begin that way," she said, clutching a black-and-white photograph of herself with friends on the day. "Next thing it was coffee bars and then spaghetti bolognese and then mini skirts. So it really was a beginning."

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Brenda Piper, 88, poses for a photograph with her daughter's cat Bueno, in her daughter's home in London, April 11, 2023.
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A photograph from 1953 of Brenda Piper (back left), 88, posing with her friends as they wait for the procession of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation to pass by in Piccadilly, is seen in London, April 11, 2023.

Tawse and Piper were two of 12 people who spoke to Reuters about their memories of the queen's coronation on June 2, 1953, ahead of the crowning on May 6 of her son King Charles with much of the same pomp and pageantry but a scaled-down procession and a shorter ceremony.

They were either part of the estimated 3 million people who lined the processional route in London, among those who attended street parties, watching on television for the first time, or following from thousands of miles away in British colonies.

Elizabeth, who died last September at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne, had become queen in 1952 on the death of her father. By tradition, there is a gap of some time between the succession and the coronation.

Unforgettable experience

Not everyone was wowed by that day in 1953.

Olive Goldsmith, who is now a retired Refugee Council employee, said her experience was shaped by two friends who provided an outsider's view, with one having spent a childhood in India under British rule and another from Prague which had been occupied by Nazi Germany.

"They were both very intrigued to see how the native English behave," she said, adding that she didn't recall much "royalism" as they lived in an area known for its "socialist principles."

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Olive Goldsmith, 90, poses for a photograph at her home in London, April 17, 2023.
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A photograph of Olive Goldsmith, 90, with her husband David Goldsmith, 88, taken in Chessington in 1959, is displayed on a shelf in her home in London, Britain, April 17, 2023.

Milton Job, a clerk at the time in what was the British-ruled Nigeria, attended a local celebration where school children joined local chiefs, bosses and expatriate officers. "I will never forget it," he said.

He later moved to Britain, expecting to be there only for three years. He is still living in the city.

"I expected the best, and to me, I wasn't distracted by anything that is negative, although you cannot just do away with some people who have not seen a Black man before," Job said. "We were here to study, we were here for a purpose."

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A portrait from 1953 of Reverend Milton Job, 90, a photograph from June 13 2008 of Queen Elizabeth II awarding him with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medal, and the MBE medal are seen on display at the Celestial Church of Christ, in South-East London, April 19, 2023.
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Reverend Milton Job, 90, poses for a photograph in the Celestial Church of Christ in South-East London, April 19, 2023.

Eve Harewood, who was 13 when she followed the coronation from Singapore, said she remembered thinking she would love to move to England one day. "It was something I really wanted to experience," she said. She moved to Britain in her 30s.

Many of those who spoke to Reuters recalled the excitement of the time, seeing the young queen as the symbol of a new beginning for Britain.

They contrasted that with the sentiment of today, with Britons facing the biggest squeeze in living standards since the 1950s.

SLIDESHOW:A look back at Queen Elizabeth's coronation

Alex Falk, who worked with the coronation photographers, said Britain had fallen down the international pecking order since the 1950s, while others expressed regret that the country and its social fabric had changed so much.

"I feel sorry for the younger generation of today," Phillip Williams said. "I think things were probably much harder now than they were in my days."

Like others, he plans to watch Charles’ coronation, and like others, he wished the king well.

But, he cautioned, "This time, I should take it easy, especially at my age."

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Alex Falk, 86, poses for a photograph in the Mr. Cad camera shop he owns in London, April 19, 2023.
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Yvonne (Eve) Harewood, 83, poses for a photograph in her bedroom at the Peartree Care Home in London, April 11, 2023.
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A photograph of Yvonne (Eve) Harewood, 83, taken in Singapore in 1981, is seen on display in her bedroom at the Peartree Care Home in London, April 11, 2023.
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Phillip Williams, 86, Norman Allen, 86, Alan Francis, 93, Brenda Piper, 88, Yvonne (Eve) Harewood, 83, Pamela Tawse, 88, Muriel Tredinnick, 103, Olive Goldsmith, 90, Reverend Milton Job, 90, Alex Falk, 86, and Angela Cumlin, 97, were the twelve people who spoke to Reuters about their memories of the queen's coronation on June 2, 1953 ahead of the crowning on May 6 of her son King Charles with much of the same pomp and pageantry but a scaled-down procession and a shorter ceremony, in London, April 23, 2023.
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A basket belonging to Pamela Tawse, 88, with a Queen Elizabeth II book and a shawl inside, is seen in the library room of the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking in Stroud, Britain, April 20, 2023.