Two days before the Coronation on Tuesday 2 June 1953, those who had not secured seats in the platforms along the processional route began to camp out on the streets to get a standing place. Eventually, half a million people would line the route in the lashing rain and wind. In typical British spirit, the crowd shared cups of tea with the occasional nip of brandy. ‘A raincoat city’ was how the Daily Mail described it as an estimated 10,000 people camped on the pavements that stretched from Marble Arch to Hyde Park Corner, many in what they described as their ‘tent homes’. ‘Children played hide and seek around the trees and tents and families from all over Great Britain and the Commonwealth joined in community singing. Everyone was having a wonderful time,’ the newspaper reported.

Back at Buckingham Palace, Prince Philip had been told that Everest had been conquered when word reached Britain just before dawn that the Union Jack had been planted on the summit of the 29,002ft mountain by two members of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, led by Colonel John Hunt. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norgay reached the summit on Friday 29 May 1953. The conquest of Everest was probably the last major news item to be delivered to the world by runner and the encoded message to The Times was received and understood in London in time for the news to be released on the morning of the Coronation. ‘The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the royal family were delighted,’ the Daily Mail wrote. ‘She sent her congratulations to the expedition.’ Eileen Parker recalled pithily: ‘My husband and Prince Philip were more interested in watching that than going to the ceremony.’

Although the war had ended eight years previously, there was still some rationing in place for sugar, meat and many other types of food, with confectionery rationing having ended earlier in the year. Because of this, the mood in Britain at the time of the Coronation was still gloomy as austerity continued to play a part in everyone’s life, so the news of the conquest of the great mountain combined with the Coronation itself was a symbol of hope and the dawn of a new era. It was almost as if the new Queen was some sort of priestess who was going to make everything right again.

‘Now with Elizabeth as our guiding star, and given a respite from monstrous calamity,’ the Daily Mail commented, ‘there is every prospect that this island and its sister countries will go forward into a future better even than the best of the past.’ It was an awesome responsibility even for a woman of her will and determination. Without Philip at her side, she would have been daunted by the expectations that lay ahead of her, but he could make her laugh and take a more prosaic view about the challenges and just get on with it.