Queen Elizabeth II Crowned - Part 1 - the Crowning Moment

"The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the ceremony in which the newly ascended monarch, Elizabeth II, was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, and Pakistan, as well as taking on the role of Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth ascended the thrones of these countries upon the death of her father, the late King George VI on 6 February 1952, and was proclaimed queen by her various privy and executive councils shortly afterward. The coronation, however, was held more than a year after the accession, on 2 June 1953; this followed the long-standing tradition that a joyous festival such as a coronation was inappropriate during the period of mourning that followed the death of the preceding sovereign. In the coronation ceremony itself, Elizabeth swore an oath to uphold the laws of her nations and, specifically for England, to govern the Church of England" - from Wikipedia.

It's lovely to see this film brought to us in decent quality, and in colour at last (Technicolor). Most people, including me, have only seen black &white pictures and footage of this event.

Here is a short clip of the crowning moment. Personally, I find Laurence Olivier's narration often a bit mannered - not helped by Christopher Fry's purple prose. But heck, this film was made almost 60 years ago, and British society has changed - become ever more cynical ...

The entire film "A Queen is Crowned" is now available on standard (480p) DVD from places like Amazon and such - but in Region 2 format only, alas. It's an hour and a half long and covers the entire day - processions along The Mall, Whitehall, scenes on Buckingham Palace balcony and whatnot - superb!

Given that it was shot on 16mm colour film stock (this wasn't colourised as some have wondered) it's perfectly capable of being produced in HD BluRay DVD, and I'll buy that version too if it ever surfaces. And I DO hope it does because the entire event is spectacular, and an important part of British history. 480p just doesn't do it justice, still less the horrible VHS versions.

I have no connection with the copyright owners.

(c) Granada Ventures acknowledged

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• queen
• elizabeth
• II;
• coronation;Westminster
• abbey;
• colour;
• crowning;
• olivier;
• colour
• film;
• Queen
• is
• Crowned;
• dvd;

[AntPDC]

My apologies, there was a technical problem with the first upload which I had to delete.

1Fairypoppy commented:

"Love it ,makes one proud to be British...good times, the month after the Coronation I/we were married and still here to tell the tale..."