insights from the british monarchy - BURA - Brunel University

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having the Coronation televised. A resolute public, spirited lobbying from the
BBC, and a concerted campaign by the British press led to a volte face on the
part of the Establishment and the cameras were, finally, allowed into the
Abbey (Cannadine 1983; Cockerell 1988; Hennessy 2007; Pimlott 2002).
Among the ineffectual objections raised against having the ceremony
televised by the great and the good were those voiced by the British Minister,
Sir Winston Churchill, and the Queen’s Private Secretary who were worried
that considerable strain would be placed on the Queen caused by the TV
cameras and studio lights. The Palace was also concerned that any
imperfections in the ceremony, or in behaviour, could be a National
embarrassment.
For his part, The Archbishop of Canterbury was exercised at the thought that
the general populace might not show due decorum whilst viewing the
ceremony: he was especially horrified at the thought that some might watch
the ceremony whilst imbibing beer in a public house.
As noted by Macmillan, the will of the people prevailed and the
establishment had to affect a gracious climb-down (Catterall 2003; Hennessy
2007 p. 243-244).
In a powerful way, the televising of the Coronation had ‚democratised‛ the
Crown to a degree hitherto unknown. It came with a realisation that the real
power behind the throne was the British public who watched the Coronation at
home on their TV screens rather than those on the choir side of the rood
screen within Westminster Abbey. The effect of the broadcast was
momentous with two eminent US sociologists who in analysing public
response to the Coronation Rites concluded that it was nothing less than a
religious experience on a national scale (Shils and Young 1953).
On Coronation Day (2 June, 1953) an extraordinary 20 million people (40% of
the population) watched the service on television in a country which still only
had 2.5 million television sets. Arguably, Queen Elizabeth II was the first
British Sovereign to be truly crowned, ‚in the sight of the people,‛ as the
coronation service has long ordained (Cannadine 1983 p.158). The broadcast
revealed that in a more egalitarian and technology-orientated age the Rites of
Monarchy can no longer be the preserve of the few but should be accessible to
the Crown’s brand community of millions both at home and overseas. Indeed,
such was the global interest in the ceremony that the US-based Time Magazine
made a bold and atypical claim that ‚The whole world is royalist now.‛
(Shawcross 2002 p.54)
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