Britain | Another country

How Britain has changed since Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953

Fewer children, fewer coal miners, less cabbage

D 76043-04 23347-05 HM Queen Elizabeth. Obligatory Credit - CAMERA PRESS / Les Wilson. The Silver Jubilee celebrations of June 1977 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of British monarch HM Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom. PICTURED: HM The Queen on a walkabout at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 10/08/1977.

Somewhere in britain, half a dozen people gathered at a farm to watch Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on television. “It’s a tiring day for her. Two and a half hours in the abbey. It’s the whole day really,” said one. “I expect she packs herself up a couple of sandwiches,” commented another. Someone added: “I wish some of the ladies-in-waiting would trip over—give us a bit of fun.” Then: “They put a canopy over her when she’s anointed, that’s nice for her.”

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Fewer children, fewer coalminers, less cabbage”

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