On the morning of June 2, 1953, a young woman in a gold carriage rumbled through cold London rain toward Westminster Abbey. Inside the abbey, eight thousand guests waited under a forest of flags. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was 27 years old, and in a few hours, the Archbishop of Canterbury would place the heavy St. Edward's Crown on her head and she would become Queen Elizabeth II.
This was the first coronation ever broadcast live on television. Families across Britain crowded around tiny black-and-white sets - many people bought their very first TV just for this day. More than 27 million people watched at home, and millions more listened on the radio. Inside the abbey, the Queen wore a gown stitched with the flowers and plants of every Commonwealth country, from English roses to Canadian maple leaves. A small choir of choirboys sang as she was anointed with sacred oil. Outside, the streets were so packed that visitors slept on the sidewalks the night before to keep their spots.
She stayed on the throne for the next seventy years, longer than any British monarch in a thousand years. During that time, fifteen prime ministers came and went, fourteen U.S. presidents took office, and the world swapped horse carts for spaceships and smartphones. She met Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and every Doctor Who. When she died in 2022, people lined up for twenty-five hours just to walk past her coffin. The girl in the rainy carriage had quietly become one of the most familiar faces on Earth.
