Elizabeth Is Queen

Whilst there are doubtless comparisons to be drawn with the much more grand and solemn "A Queen is Crowned" also made in 1953, this holds up well as a reflection of the day's events. The measured tones of Leo Genn provide the narrative as we are introduced to royal photographer Marcus Adams who takes us through an album of family photographs before a few minutes spent looking behind the scenes at the preparation for this logistically complex day. To the abbey and we follow the procession of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret before the Queen herself arrives. There now follows what could probably be called highlights of the ceremony - and interestingly, British Pathé appear to have placed their cameras in slightly different places - or have accessed different feeds - offering us some new angles and some surprisingly decent audio as the ceremony concludes and the narration guides us - and Queen Salote of Tonga - back, in the rain, past a crowd of hundred of thousands of citizens to a family balcony appearance and a fly-past at Buckingham Palace. There's plenty of rousing "Crown Imperial" and "Land of Hope and Glory" style of soundtrack to maximise the celebratory, undoubtedly jingoistic, nature of the whole thing and it does rather effectively illustrate that this new Queen was leaving behind many of the trappings of the Imperial past of her family and of her country and venturing into a new world.