The Archbishop of Canterbury conducted the service, a duty which has been undertaken since the Conquest in 1066. For the first time in 1953, a representative of another Church, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, also took part. After the crown, the orb, also made in 1661, was the most important piece of regalia. It is a globe of gold surrounded by a cross girdled by a band of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphire and pearls with a large amethyst at the summit.

Design for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation dress by the design house of Norman Hartnell (L) in 1953, and the queen on her way to Westminster Abbey on the day of her coronation wearing the dress (R) on June 2, 1953. Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Getty Images/Monty Fresco/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family and royal fashion. He has covered contemporary and historic issues facing King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana. James joined Newsweek in 2022 having previously contributed to titles such as The Lady, Majesty Magazine and Drapers. He also spent a number of years working with the curatorial department at Historic Royal Palaces, based at Kensington Palace, and contributed to the exhibitions Fashion Rules: Restyled (2016) and Diana: Her Fashion Story (2017). He also undertook private research projects with the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. He is a graduate of University College London and Central Saint Martins, where he studied fashion history. Languages: English.

Here are 50 little known facts about that remarkable day on 2 June 1953:

Westminster Abbey has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066. Before the Abbey was built, Coronations were carried out wherever was convenient, taking place in Bath, Oxford and Canterbury. The Queen was crowned in St Edward's Chair, made in 1300 for Edward I and used at every Coronation since that time. It is permanently kept in Westminster Abbey.

The recipe for the Anointing Oil contains oils of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk and ambergris. Usually a batch is made to last a few Coronations, but in May 1941 a bomb hit the Deanery destroying the phial, so a new batch was made. The Ministry of Food granted 82 applications for people to roast oxen if they could prove that by tradition, an ox had been roasted at previous Coronations – a welcome concession at a time the meat ration was two shillings a week. The Queen succeeded to the Throne on the 6 February, 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI. She was in Kenya at the time and became the first Sovereign in over 200 years to accede while abroad. The Queen's Lord Lieutenants commissioned artist Terence Cuneo to paint the Coronation ceremony and in 1954 Herbert James Gunn painted a State Portrait of The Queen in her Coronation outfit.

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The incumbent Earl Marshal is responsible for organising the Coronation. Since 1386 the position has been undertaken by The Duke of Norfolk. The 16th Duke of Norfolk was responsible for The Queen's Coronation in 1953 and he was also responsible for the State funeral of Sir Winston Churchill (1965) and the investiture of The Prince of Wales (1969). The St. Edward's Crown, made in 1661, was placed on the head of The Queen during the Coronation service. It weighs 4 pounds and 12 ounces and is made of solid gold. The Coronation Bouquet was made up of white flowers – comprising of orchids and lilies-of-the-valley from England, stephanotis from Scotland, orchids from Wales, and carnations from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. themirandaholder Secrets of the Queen's Coronation Gown 👑 #coronation #thequeen #royalstyle #royalfashion #royalexpert ♬ original sound - Royal Facts Feuds & Fashion 👑 The Coronation service fell into six parts: the recognition, the oath, the anointing, the investiture (which includes the crowning), the enthronement and the homage.

The Sovereign's procession was made up of 250 people including Church leaders, Commonwealth Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household, civil and military leaders and the Yeoman of the Guard. On 24 June 1953, the Honours of Scotland (the crown, the sceptre and the sword) were carried before The Queen in a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral. The monarch was very pleased with the overall effect of her coronation dress and told Hartnell that it was "glorious." She considered it such an important design that she wore it again to the state openings of parliament during her Commonwealth tour in the months after the ceremony, where it was kept in its own cabin aboard the ship taking them from port to port. The first overseas tour The Queen undertook after the Coronation was to Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand starting in November 1953. HM returned in 1954 visiting Australia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Aden and Uganda – going home in Britannia from Aden via Malta and Gibraltar. Coronations have been held at Westminster Abbey for 900 years and The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was to follow suit. But the Coronation of 1953 was ground-breaking in it's own right – the first ever to be televised, it was watched by 27 million people in the UK alone and millions more audiences around the world. Here are 50 little known facts about that remarkable day on 2 June 1953:Queen Elizabeth II is the sixth Queen to have been crowned in Westminster Abbey in her own right. The first was Queen Mary I, who was crowned on 1 October, 1553. In 1937, the 11 year old Princess Elizabeth had watched her father, King George VI, crowned in the elaborate ceremony and 16 years later on 2 June 1953, her own official coronation was to take place. Many people camped in The Mall to catch a glimpse of the procession, including a family who had sailed all the way from Australia in a ketch for the occasion. Thousands more celebrated throughout the country and the Commonwealth with street parties.

Some people in the Abbey witnessed their fourth Coronation. Princess Marie Louise (Queen Victoria's granddaughter) had also seen the Coronations of King Edward VII (1902), King George V (1911) and King George VI (1937). The queen's coronation dress was undoubtedly the most important dress she would ever wear in her lifetime, and it was indeed a beautiful work of art," Holder told Newsweek.The Queen Salote of Tonga won the hearts of the waiting crowds by refusing to raise the roof of her carriage for protection despite the rain. On 2 June 1953, news reached that Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay had made it to the summit of Mount Everest. The Queen presented the 14 members of the expedition with special edition Coronation medals with the extra wording 'Mount Everest Expedition'.