Did you know? Little known facts about the Coronation

It included Church leaders, Commonwealth Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household, civil and military leaders and the Yeoman of the Guard.

The Queen’s Coronation service was taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose duty this has usually been since the Conquest in 1066. For the first time at the 1953 Coronation, a representative of another Church, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, also took part in the service.

The Coronation service, which was almost three hours long, fell into six basic parts: the recognition, the oath, the anointing, the investiture, which includes the crowning, the enthronement and the homage.

The anointing has the deepest significance during the ceremony. 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. In May 1941, a bomb hit the Deanery destroying the phial containing the anointing oil so a new batch had to be made up. The pharmacy that had mixed the last anointing oil had gone out of business but the recipe was found and the oil made.

One of the more notable installations for the Coronation was the annexe at the west end of Westminster Abbey. This provided the necessary space in which the processions could form and disperse unseen by the crowds.

During the investiture, The Queen first put on the newly-made Colobium Sindonis - a loose linen-lawn garment, and then a robe of cloth of gold - the Dalmatic or Supertunica, which was used by King George VI. The Lord Great Chamberlain presented the golden spurs, the symbol of chivalry, after which the Archbishop of Canterbury presented a jewelled sword, and then the armills, the golden bracelets of sincerity and wisdom. Finally, The Queen put on stole and cloth of gold Robe Royal (Imperial Mantle) and received the orb, the coronation ring, the glove, which was newly made and presented by the Worshipful Company of Glovers, and the sceptre.

Prince Charles created history when he became the first child to witness his mother’s coronation as Sovereign. Princess Anne did not attend the ceremony as she was considered too young.

Prince Charles received a special hand-painted children’s invitation to his mother’s Coronation.

A total of 8,251 guests attended the Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.