In 1953 I watched his mother crowned on someone else’s tiny black and white TV.
This was after his great uncle had abdicated because he was not allowed to marry a divorced woman.
This is all summarised in https://derrickjknight.com/2021/09/06/a-knights-tale-28-three-monarchs-in-quick-succession/
Charles’s father would never be given the title of king. His first wife was never called Queen.
As a widower he has now married a divorced woman.
She, Camilla, is now the Queen alongside her husband, King Charles III, who we all watched being crowned on our own colour TV, from the
screen of which I was able to photograph the event.
Such is the march of progress over the last 70 years.
![](https://i0.wp.com/derrickjknight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_6919-1024x1001.jpg?ssl=1)
![](https://i1.wp.com/derrickjknight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_6943-910x1024.jpg?ssl=1)
Ellie did with her crown what she does with everything else.
Will she see another?
For lunch we all partook of Flo’s authentic coronation chicken with Jackie’s baked potato and fresh salad.
This evening we all dined on a Red Chilli home delivery. Jackie’s choice of main meal was butter chicken; Flo’s, mango lamb; Dillon’s chicken dhansak; mine, tandoori king prawn naga. We shared tikka ponir; peshwari naan; pilau and special fried rice. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Shiraz.
You smoothly show how times have changed, except for a baby putting everything in its mouth. Dinner sounds wonderful.
Thank you so much, Pat
It was a very wonderful day.
We are so fortunate to have our Royal family.
Thank you very much, Sue
We didn’t have TV until I was 18 or 20 years old — I was 12 when QEll was crowned. My mother had immigrated to the US from England in 1937 or 38. My sister and I grew up seeing print photos of the “little princesses” as we grew up, then Elizabeth’s wedding, and her coronation. Watching this morning (no I didn’t get up at 2 am, but watched the last half hour of coverage, and then some pretty good coverage of the ceremony itself), I was surprised at how much I remember from those photographs that we always had available. You and your countrymen have some beautiful ceremonial traditions!
Thank you so much, Janet. I was 11 when QEII was crowned. It was 4 years later when we got our own second hand TV
I love little Ellie ❤️
Thank you very much, Luisa
You’re more than welcome ❤️
Hi Derrick – thanks for sharing these pics of the cornonation and of your explanation of why Camilla is now queen. I didn’t know that. I missed the coverage but I enjoy the pictures and will definitely check out more.
Thanks very much, Barbara`
It has been quite the run for Charles III, hasn’t it?
Ellie is cute as a button.
Thank you very much, Dale
🙂
I did not watch the event Derrick
Thanks very much, Ivor
You make some good points. It seemed like a quite unwieldy way of telling us something that we all already knew. Perhaps I missed the point.
Thanks very much, Tootlepedal
I watched the coronation live…started at 2 a.m. here and lasted until after 6 a.m.
Then I took a royal nap. (HA)
It was amazing, beautiful, meaningful, and, yes, I cried at several points in the ceremony.
(((HUGS)))
PS…won’t be long and Ellie will know exactly what to do with a crown. ❤️
Thank you so much, Carolyn X
Time changes so many things, sometimes not for the best. I’m not referring to King Charles or Queen Camilla. I watched the last bit of the coronation this morning on BBC America, the jets flew over and the King and Queen were on the balcony with the royal family. I just love this and have a huge respect for the British Monarchy. Long Live The King! ????????❤️????????
So interesting to get your perspective of this event, Derrick. And I especially loved Ellie’s perspective. I love that Flo made “Coronation Chicken.”
Thank you so much, Jodie
I watched parts intermittently. Now we in Australia will be bombarded by Republicans saying we will never be anything until we get rid of the monarchy. We could become a republic and then our head of state could be a “Trump” or a “Biden”. And wouldn’t that be a really coming of age event. No thanks. I’m happy that our head of state is a figurehead and not a dictator.
Good sense, John. Thank you very much
Ellie is the star of this post for me. Is she cutting some teeth?
Sha has about 5, Liz. Thank you very much
You’re welcome, Derrick.
I like what Ellie is doing with the crown. When I think of kings and queens, I think of characters in fairy tales. But your perspective reminds me that they are real people and also that if you wait long enough, anything is possible.
Thank you so much, JoAnna
I don’t like the way that Princess Diana is being written out of history. She was a wonderful compassionate person and was treated very, very badly, particularly as she was so young.
Thanks very much, John
John, Diana will always loom large in our history and could never be written out. We loved her, and our country will never forget her, but the king is married to Camilla, and we shouldn’t dwell on what might have been, or what should have been and we cannot allow bitterness to creep in.
Yesterday was an important day in our history – the Coronation of our King, his birthright – the crowning of his queen was secondary.
I dislike pulling Diana down from the pedestal; but away from the public eye there was another side to her character, and let’s not forget that she was a privileged, determined young woman from an aristocratic family who knew full well her marriage was an arranged one.
The families pushed for the marriage – It was not what Charles wanted, but duty came first. Charles and Diana met each other barely more than a dozen times before the wedding. It was never the fairy tale that the public believed it to be.
They were so unsuited to one another; they had nothing in common, and leaving Camilla aside, the marriage was doomed from the start.
During their marriage, Charles had one lover, and Diana had several!
I felt her absence more than ever, John 🙁
Thank you for this sound analysis, Sue
Thank you very much, Derrick.
Ellie steals the show! She is such a delight.
Thank you so much, Eugi
You’re welcome, Derrick.
Time does change what is possible, but one should remember that progress can be turned back just as readily as going forward. To keep it going forward requires constant vigilance. I wish the new King and Queen long and happy lives together.
Little Ellie instinctively knows what it all means in the grand scheme of things. 🙂 I worry about the world at large she is inheriting.
A sound worry, Lavinia. Thank you so much
Ellie has it right about the crown! Missed the whole spectacle myself.
Thanks very much, Elizabeth
Ellie steals the show!
I didn’t watch. I imagine that in 1953 many in the UK still suffering from the war were pleased to see Princess Elizabeth become Queen, but the world is so different now.
My mother-in-law, who did watch the coronation, told me today that her father bought their first TV just to watch the coronation, and a neighbor, an English woman who had married an American soldier, came over to watch it, too.
Thank you very much, Merril
Just curious: is the crown Ellie is chomping on the one that the chicken had been crowned with?
🙂 Thanks very much, Dolly
You are very welcome, Derrick, but you didn’t answer the question.
Oh, dear, Dolly. I thought your question was a joke.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_chicken
Thank you for educating me, Derrick. Had I known this before the event, I would’ve made it, too. I actually thought that the cooked chicken was wearing a cardboard crown, and Ellie got a hold of it.
🙂
The coronation ceremony was already over when I awoke in Los Angeles. I could not hold back the tears when I saw Prince Harry arrive without his wife and later seated in the third row. How I wish that things had turned out differently for his mother, Princess Diana.
Yes – he did well to come. Thanks very much, Rosaliene
Charles is not perfect, he loved Camilla … life is what it is.. I applaud their commitment to each other.
Thank you very much, Q
We were able to watch the coronation whilst staying with our daughter in Hout Bay, near Cape Town. I was born (46 years later) in Cullinan, where the Cullinan diamond – part of which is in the sceptre – was found at Premier Mine 🙂
It was televised here in NZ but I didn’t watch it – just snippets here and there – comments from our NZers who were invited to be there, including the journalists. Somehow Chippy our PM had to suffer through meetings with many “sausage rolls” – actually I don’t think said rolls are on trend here anymore – more like meat pies!
Thanks very much, Catherine. I prefer the pies, too
Ellie is so adorable. You are so lucky to have a baby in your life!!!
Thank you very much, Judy
Ellie’s got the right idea and she’ll see more coronations
Thank you so much, Sheree. I think she will – at least two
At least
What a celebration it was. Love all the pomp and circumstance. You are right our views on morality seem to change over time. Not sure where it is headed, but that is for the next generation to figure out! Great shots. Maybe the baby has the best approach to life!
Thank you so much, Dwight
You are welcome!
It is magical to be able to watch history as it happens from the comfort of your lounge chair.
Exactly, Lindsey. Thanks very much