King For The Day

After her majesty had left the city centre, I walked around the area a bit looking for interesting characters to photograph, or people that had made an effort in dressing up for the occasion.

There were of course hundreds of people to choose from, but I noticed this little boy dressed like a prince and wearing a very regal crown whilst sitting on the knee of his gran, or aunty.

He looked very happy at being there, and I bet he had waved his little flag that much, his poor arm was aching.

Coronation Chicken

On Saturday I went to the Hemlock Happening; a community event at a local park. Besides the classic cars etc, was a recreation of the coronation as people would have seen it on television in 1952. It was quite inventive of how they made interference, the vertical hold and other problems people used to have with TV, before digital appeared.

The actors had daubed their faces so they looked like they were in black and white, which of course TV was until the late 1960s. I knew a few of the people involved, as I had worked with them before on previous shows.

Here's a shot of the Archbishop of Canterbury who is just about to place the crown on the head of the young Elizabeth, with one of the TV directors looking on, who is actually a local councillor in real life.