THIS is how The Northern Echo reported the news of exactly 70 years ago this weekend that King George IV had died in his sleep at the age of 56 and that Queen Elizabeth II had acceded to the throne.
The king, a heavy smoker, had had his left lung removed the previous September and never recovered. He had made his first public appearance six days earlier, waving his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and her husband, Prince Philip, on a visit to Kenya and Australia.
READ MORE: THE FULL STORY OF THAT DAY 70 YEARS AGO
Elizabeth left a princess and returned a queen, acceding to the throne as her father passed away. It must have been a hugely emotional time for her: mourning the loss of her father and yet catapulted into a new life as the head of the nation - a role that 70 years later, she still fulfils.
Here's how the Echo told the news:
The Darlington & Stockton Times' main report of the news of 70 years ago
The Queen and Prince Charles in Novbember 1952
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