IT is 70 years since Britain last marked the death of a reigning monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II reigned for so long that most people in the country had very little memory of any other monarch.
But, since her death on Thursday, the plan that we now see unfolding looks very similar to that enacted when she acceded to the throne 70 years ago after the death of her father, King George VI.
The Royal Family appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony and greeting the crowd after the coronation of George VI. London, 12th May 1937
The 56-year-old king, a heavy smoker, had had his left lung removed due to a tumour in September 1951, but he had recovered enough by January 31, 1952, to make his first public appearance since the operation. At London Airport he waved off Elizabeth and Philip as they started a tour of Kenya and Australia – a tour he would have been making had his health been better.
This was his last public appearance, as he died in his sleep on February 6, 1952, at Sandringham House in Norfolk.
He was found in his bed by his valet at 7.30am, and the news was phoned through to Buckingham Palace using the codewords “Hyde Park Corner”. Just as the Queen’s death was not announced until 6.30pm on Thursday, two hours after she had passed away, so the codewords prevented the story from seeping out until the palace was ready. The news of the king’s death was broken at 11.15am when BBC wireless announcer John Snagge, in his most doleful tones, took to the airwaves.
This week, people learned almost instantaneously of the momentous news of the passing of the monarch when a notification flagged up on the screen of their phone, but 70 years ago, the news took a while to spread. At Durham Assizes Court, there was an especially juicy murder trial going on – Louis Bloom, a Hartlepool solicitor and son of a mayor, was accused of strangling his mistress – and the news only filtered through because an Echo reporter had popped out of court to phone his newsdesk. He told the intelligence to the court clerk who passed it to the judge who announced it to court, where it was greeted with “audible gasps”.
As soon as word reached towns and villages, flags were lowered and church bells began to ring – this piece is being written to the soundtrack of a church bell tolling 96 times just as 70 years ago, the bells tolled 56 times.
And, just as now, in that moment of death, the new monarch was hailed. On Thursday, it was just an hour after the announcement that we learned that King Charles III had taken to the throne.
Interestingly, The Northern Echo’s front page headline (above) concerning the death of Britain’s last reigning royal was “Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed”. This told readers of the hand-on of power but only four headlines down did the news come that the “death of George VI stuns the world”. By contrast, yesterday morning, no newspaper went with a headline about King Charles III; everyone of us concentrated on the passing of the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth II returns to Britain for the first time since her accession as she lands form Kenya at London Airport
The new queen had learned of her accession while staying in the Treetops hotel in the Aberdare National Park in Kenya. Prince Philip had taken a call by radio-telephone and broke the news to her that her father was dead.
“She took the news quietly,” said the Echo, “and then broke down and wept.”
As soon as a thunderstorm had abated, she and Philip headed for home, and there are pictures of her arriving back at London Airport on February 8, 1952, just as future generations will find photos of King Charles touching down at RAF Northolt yesterday morning after his flight down from Balmoral.
The morning after Elizabeth arrived home, “the first and principal proclamation ceremony took place from St James’s Palace balcony,” said the Echo. “State trumpeters in gold-embroidered tunics and caps sounded the fanfare and a salute of 62 guns were fired by the Honourable Artillery Company on Tower Hill.”
In the next few days, similar ceremonies were held in every town: a council leader climbed to the top of the town’s highest steps and read out the proclamation of accession of the new monarch. He – and, without exception, they were all hes – also informed the crowd that he had sent a telegram to Her Majesty informing her of the loyalty of his town. Perhaps in the next few days, we’ll learn that our council leaders have sent King Charles III an email, or even a tweet, telling him of our loyalty.
The proclamation ceremonies appear to have been quite well attended – 6,000, for instance filled Darlington Market Place – but they look very sombre.
There was great debate back in 1952 about sporting fixtures. The king died on a Wednesday, and on the Saturday all football matches went ahead but rugby matches were postponed.
The cortege takes the king's body from Sandringham Castle to Wolferton station in Norfolk to be entrained for London on February 11, 1952
]Then the next job was to get the body to London for the lying in state. The king’s body was brought from Norfolk to London by train, where it was met by the women – the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret – with their faces covered by veils. This is the most haunting image, capturing their grief.
King George VI's coffin arrives from Sandringham at King's Cross station on February 11, 1952, five days after his death. Watching in black veils in the bottom right are the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret (below)
Sombre crowds line London, near St Pancras station, as the king's body is brought back from Sandringham on February 11, 1952, to lie in state
It was taken through the streets of London to Westminster Hall where it laid for three days.
The king's body enters Westminster Hall on February 11, 1952, after its journey from Sandringham
An estimated 304,000 paid their respects, with queues stretching four miles outside the Houses of Parliament. However, this was down on the number who had visited to say farewell to his father, George V, in 1936, although this was said to be because television had reduced the demand rather than any unpopularity.
Grenadier Guards in bearskins silently change guard at the coffin of George VI at the lying-in-state on February 13, 1952. A policeman on the right keeps the queue of people paying their respects in order
George VI’s funeral was held on Friday, February 15, 1952, nine days after his death, but that may well be a story for next week.
So even though the last reigning monarch died more than 70 years ago, we now see history repeating itself as all the steps are followed as Britain pays tribute to its departed monarch and pledges its loyalty to its new one, only this time our saying is reversed: “The Queen is dead; long live the King.”
The image at the top of this article is from this photo-shoot in The Northern Echo archive dated May 1, 1953, showing the Queen playing with Charles and Anne in a window at Balmoral Castle
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