Did you know … ?

The Queen’s Coronation dress, made by Norman Hartnell, featured embroidered floral emblems from all parts of the United Kingdom and the then Commonwealth. These included roses, leeks, thistles, shamrocks, maple leafs, wattle flowers and ferns. The Queen also wore the dress at the openings of Parliament in New Zealand (1954), Australia (1954), Ceylon (1954) and Canada (1957).

The Royal Collection 2001 © HM Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen has been at the saluting base of her troops in every Trooping the Colour ceremony since the start of her reign, with the exception of 1955, when a national rail strike forced the cancellation of the parade.

The Coronation of The Queen was the first Coronation to be broadcast on television. At first the government, led by Winston Churchill, was against the televising of the ceremony, but The Queen herself decided that the BBC should be allowed to have cameras in Westminster Abbey as well as along the processional route.