The Queen’s Coronation: Behind Palace Doors, Tuesday 9pm, Channel 4

Posted by Stewart Turner
“A modern, dynamic and progressive man of the future with a voracious appetite for science and industry, a consort of the jet age, good looking, with a whiff of modernity.” “A virile man’s man.” Who do you think we’re talking about? Yep, got it in one: gaffe-prone royal buffoon in residence, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Yes, honestly. 

Now, if you’re anything like me, the sight of twittering, toffee-nosed quirky jumper-wearer turned Tory MP Gyles Brandreth is enough to send you teetering on the brink of raging insanity. Brandreth’s bad enough as it is, but faced with him wittering on about Prince Phillip in his infuriatingly plummy voice, I was practically rifling through the kitchen drawers for a bread knife with which to slice my own ears off.

Anyway, I managed to calm down a bit, and I’ll admit to being slightly intrigued by this documentary about the run-up to the Queen’s coronation in 1953. It seems the whole thing, as confirmed by the utterances of the various nobs assembled by Channel 4, was a bit of a stand-off between Phillip, who wanted to use the ceremony to rebrand the monarchy as a modern, vital concern, and the dear old Queen Mum, who was still rather taken with the idea that the coronation was more about sprinkling a little holy water over our great nation’s divinely-chosen leader.

Along the way there were some lovely anecdotes: did you know, for example, that anyone involved with the coronation procession was asked to refrain from alcohol or sex for 48 hours before so as “not to contaminate the royal juju”? How about the one about the Queen Mother being a little unkeen on the idea of moving from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House because it was “too small”? Well, I guess it is a little poky, ma’am.

In the end, the Queen Mum won out in the coronation battle, though there was one important Phillip-endorsed concession to modernity. BBC TV cameras were on hand to capture the thing, a move virulently opposed by the more traditional royals – and no doubt applauded by thousands of documentary makers since.

Comments

[Tony Rvans]

Stop knocking the Royal Family. If those that do had any of the moral fibre they had our country would not be in the position we are today. All they can do is pick holes - let them give up their lives for the country. Give me Prince Charles over Gordon Brown, or that idiot Tony Blair, any day - what good did either of them do?

[J.Amos]

Three cheers for H.R.H Prince Phillip,and good show to channel 4 about time the public were made aware of all the good and important works that he has done over the years. And indeed, has always been an excellent consort to our beloved Queen.