Wednesday 5 May 2010

Pomp and Pageantry and Processions



It was a Bank Holiday, a public holiday, here in the UK on Monday last.  A car boot sale was organised in our little town, and although the weather was truly awful, I went along to see what finds could be found.

The find I found was a small bundle of old, rather than vintage, postcards with the ones I'm showing you here among them.  The Queen's coronation in 1953 pictured by two different card publishers, or so I thought. 

In fact, although there certainly are two different publishers, they show two different occasions.  The black and white cards are the coronation in 1953 but the sepia ones show the coronation of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth's father who never expected to be king.

He didn't expect to be king because he was the second son of King George V.  His elder brother though was Edward VIII who abdicated in order to marry twice-divorced Wallis Simpson.  the stress of the sudden responsibilities, the war, and his heavy smoking took their toll and only 16 years later he died.  His daughter Elizabeth succeeded him.

Playing spot the difference using the cards shows that pomp and pageantry and processions hardly changed over those years even though the circumstances did.  (Pomp and Circumstance?) The ceremonies were virtually identical.

The publisher of the Coronation Souvenir Postcard in 1937 was Valentine.  According to the information on the back of the card, the prints were flown to Dundee by aeroplane on Coronation  Day, May 12th. Postcards were on sale in London by 11 o'clock on 13th May.  The postcard publisher who produced the Coronation Day postcards in 1953 was Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd. 

P is for Pomp and Pageantry and Processions.  A post for ABC Wednesday.

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15 comments:

  1. Sheila I'm a sucker for royal ceremony. I also like digging around at car boot sales. I wonder are your finds of any value?

    By way of an aside I knew a man(long since passed away) in my little Nottinghamshire village(Oxton) who was a speech therapist and helped tackle the Kings stutter.

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  2. Great postcards, and excellent facts about the events.

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  3. Fascinating! A cursory glance at the postcards would indicate they were of the same coronation. Closer inspection reveals differences in detail - marvellous.

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  4. I see last of postcards today and I think I am going to collect postcards from now on. They are awesome and I think it will be soon be extinct, hope not. Happy Wednesday!

    ABC Wednesday~P

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  5. Perfect for ABC P today. Nice entry

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  6. So what is the difference between old and vintage?

    Interesting piece of history.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  7. Great post for ABC.

    On behalf of the ABC Wed. team, thanks for playing.

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  8. What fun - grand occasions in history. I have my first day of issue stamps for later royal events such as Diana's wedding but I haven't looked at them in years...am not sure if I have one's for Elizabeth's coronation.

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  9. Fascinating information!

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  10. I almost overlooked you in the listing! Yours is one I always want to read. You always have the most interesting history lessons.

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  11. Fasinating post, we do have lovely and respecful royal family here too.


    My Bangkok Through My Eyes
    You Got A Posty

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  12. I popped over from the Fibro and I'm so intrigued by your blog. I'll be having a good look around for sure!

    I adored the Royal Wedding (much, much more than I anticipated!) and I remember Di and Chuck's big day too. The funny thing about looking at these postcards is it's made me realise how boring it is when nothing 'moves on'. When 'tradition' rules the day. NOTHING has changed! The postcards could be depicting yesterday's ceremony! x

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  13. What a fantastic car boot find! I think the monarchy is so fascinating. I couldn't live like that, so much pressure, tradition, obligation.
    Give me baked beans on toast and a humble patch of dirt and I'm a happy girl.
    Visiting from The Fibro. :)

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  14. These are just fabulous! Love them. What a fascinating blog you have here.

    Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro.

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Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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