Chin up! Why a four-year-old Prince Charles was left furious at his mother’s Coronation… before he got his ‘paws’ on the Queen’s sacred St Edward’s crown sparking fears of a ‘bad omen’
- Charles attended his mother’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey in June 1953
- The four-year-old was brought in half way through to watch the ceremony
- READ MORE: Stars who are performing at Windsor Castle after the Coronation
When the King is crowned on May 6, he is likely to cast his mind back to his first public appearance in Westminster Abbey nearly 70 years ago.
The four-year-old Prince of Wales was there at the Coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in 1953 as millions of Britons watched on television.
Charles sat between the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret and bore a glum look on his face because of the ‘gunge’ that was used to flatten his hair.
Dressed in a silk shirt, the young prince later joined his mother, father and two-year-old sister Princess Anne on the Buckingham Palace balcony, where they soaked up rapturous good wishes from the crowd of 150,000 that was massed down The Mall.
A glum looking Prince Charles was brought in part way through his mother’s 1953 Coronation and seated between the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret
Four-year-old Charles arrives at Westminster Abbey with nanny Helen Lightbody at 11.30am
The Queen sits in the Coronation Chair with the heavy St Edward’s Crown now on her head
He also cheekily ‘got his paws’ on St Edward’s Crown, sparking fears that he might drop it.
At Charles’s own Coronation, it will be his grandson Prince George, nine, who will watch from almost the same spot. And he too will one day have his own Coronation inside the historic Abbey.
On the day itself, June 2, Charles and Anne watched their mother leave for the Abbey from an upstairs window in the Palace at around 10.20am.
They were joined by 50 other children who had been invited to watch Her Majesty’s departure with her consort, the Duke of Edinburgh.
By 11.30am, Charles had been brought into the Abbey by his nanny Helen Lightbody, just before his mother’s anointing by Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher.
Anne was deemed to be too young to attend and remained at the Palace.
Seated in the Abbey between his grandmother and aunt, Charles was seen resting his head on a closed fist.
Decades later, Charles told his biographer that he was upset because the Palace barber cut his hair too short and plastered it to his head ‘with the most appalling gunge.’
Lady Moyra Campbell, one of the Queen’s six ladies in waiting, later revealed that the ‘gunge’ was Prince Philip’s hair lotion.
The Daily Mail reported at the time: ‘At first his chin and hands rested on the balustrade, but in spite of this uncomfortable posture he took a lively interest in the events around him and made frequent comments to the Queen Mother.
‘She then put him on a stool so that he could get a better view.’
The Queen Mother also ‘kept smiling and bending to him’ as the young prince pointed in the direction of his father.
Prince Charles watches from Buckingham Palace as his mother departs for the Coronation
Decades later, Charles told his biographer he had been upset because the Palace barber cut his hair too short and plastered it to his head ‘with the most appalling gunge’
Charles is spoken to by his grandmother, Elizabeth the Queen Mother during the Queen’s Coronation. His aunt, Princess Margaret, takes a close interest
Shortly after 5.30pm, the Royal Family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Charles and Anne were first to emerge
After the service, the Queen returned to Buckingham Palace along a procession route that took in Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.
Taking almost two hours, it was designed so it could be seen by as many people as possible.
Once back at the Palace, Her Majesty pinned the coronation medal on her son’s chest.
It was his first decoration and has since been treasured by the King, who has worn it down the decades at subsequent official events.
Shortly after 5.30pm, the Royal Family appeared on the balcony, but it was Charles and Anne who were first to emerge.
They waved excitedly to the sea of well-wishers who were packed down The Mall, before the Queen emerged with the Imperial State Crown still on her head and the robe of State trailing behind her.
Following her was much of the rest of the Royal Family, led by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother.
Also there was the Duchess of Kent and her 17-year-old son the Duke of Kent, whose father Prince George had been killed in a plane crash 11 years earlier.
As the Queen shared the cheers of the rapturous crowd of around 150,000, it was Charles who was next to her, clutching her hand.
As well as being fascinated by the Queen’s bracelets, he became distracted by an RAF fly-past of 20 Meteor jets that formed the letters ER.
Charles’s Coronation Day outfit from 1953. It is now on display in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace
Charles received a personal invitation to the Coronation from his mother, The Queen
Prince Charles and Princess Anne pose with the Queen, Queen Mother, Prince Philip and other senior royals to mark the Coronation.
The newly crown Queen, followed by her ladies in waiting, carries the orb and sceptre
The Queen made a total of six balcony appearances that night. On their way to bed at around 7pm, Charles and Anne were allowed a final wave to the crowd.
Anne Glenconner, a former lady-in-waiting who served as maid of honour at the Coronation, previously told how Charles showed his mischievous side on the big day.
After the Royal party had returned to Buckingham Palace following the ceremony, Charles picked up the the weighty Imperial State Crown, prompting fears that he might drop it.
‘Prince Charles got his paws on it, however old he was, when we got back to Buckingham Palace,’ she said.
‘Because [the Queen] took it off, put it on a table, and Prince Charles made a beeline for it.
‘And we thought he was going to drop it. We thought, “Oh my goodness, that would be a bad omen”.
‘But luckily, I think my mother, as a lady-in-waiting, seized it from him and took it away.’
Charles and his sister also made mischief by covering their faces with their hands when the Queen was trying to pose for official photographs with the Duke of Edinburgh.
Her Majesty had to put a hand on her son to calm him down before the picture was taken by royal photographer Cecil Beaton.
In a BBC tribute to his mother in 2012, when she celebrated 50 years on the throne, Charles recalled watching her practise wearing the St Edward’s Crown – which weighs nearly 5lbs – ahead of her Coronation.
The Daily Mail’s coverage of the Queen’s Coronation reported every glorious detail
Vast crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace to see the young Queen Elizabeth
The Coronation was a moment of rare joy for a nation still exhausted by the war effort
‘I remember my Mama coming, you know, up, when we were being bathed as children, wearing the crown. It was quite funny – practising,’ he said.
In the past few weeks and days, the King will have been doing his own practise ahead of May 6.
In March, the Mail On Sunday revealed how the Coronation stage had been recreated inside the ballroom at Buckingham Palace as part of an operation called Golden Orb.
There the King and Queen Consort learnt the complex choreography that will be required of them .
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