“A great privilege” and “a lot of happiness”: Joyce Lewis has just celebrated her 90th birthday but remembers very well this June 2, 1953 when she attended the coronation of Elizabeth II among the crowd massed in London.
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The day before the ceremony, she camped one night with friends on the Mall, the avenue leading to Buckingham Palace, to watch the procession take the Queen to Westminster Abbey.
It was raining cats and dogs, but Joyce remembers the “joyful” atmosphere in anticipation of the event.
“There was a lot of laughter, a lot of happiness. People were waiting for a very big occasion and it was,” she told AFP from her home in rural Warwickshire, central England.
After a night spent on the ground, silence falls on the Mall when the sun rises. “At one point we heard a distant voice saying, ‘Everest is conquered. Hillary has conquered Everest.’ And of course there were cheers.”
Famous New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had made the famous climb a few days earlier, a world first, and the news had reached the UK on coronation day.
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During the morning of June 2, as the crowd grew, Joyce was pushed back into the back rows. “But this adorable Asian man turns to me and says, ‘Come on, she’s your queen’, bringing her back to the front row as the parade begins.
“There was no one in front of me. We were close enough to see inside the coach” whose sides were “beautifully painted”. “It was truly unforgettable,” recalls Joyce.
“One thing I remember is the bouquet of white flowers the queen had on her lap. As the carriage moved forward, the flowers moved very gently (…) And of course, on the way back (after the ceremony) she carried the orb and the sceptre”.
“She was so young,” recalls Joyce. “She was a young mother, with young children. And the death of his father was sudden. But of course she was well prepared, ”adds the nonagenarian.
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“ordinary” people
In 1953, the United Kingdom is still in full reconstruction after the Second World War. Rations of food and clothing are still in effect. The coronation of a young queen breathes an air of optimism into the country.
It was “a great privilege” to be there, recalls Joyce Lewis. “The flags, the pennants, the horses… It was a day of pure luxury”, adds this former missionary and teacher who then spent 17 years of her life in Malawi.
If the coronation of Charles III arouses less enthusiasm among the British for the moment, Joyce, who proudly calls himself a monarchist, is convinced that he “will have enough support”.
“I think he is someone who will do everything he can” for the United Kingdom, she says, while acknowledging that the state of mind of the British is “a little mixed” on this new king and his coronation, especially among young people.
She is pleased that the ceremony is open to so many “ordinary” people from civil society, and not just reserved for an elite from the British nobility.
But this time, Joyce will not be on the Mall to see the royal couple’s carriage pass. She will follow the event in front of her television to “see it warm and comfortable”.