Coronation Weather 1953
By Paul Homewood
Reposted from the late Philip Eden’s website, originally published in 2009:
Coronation Weather, 1953
Worst June weather of the century?
by Philip Eden
A very large woman wreathed in smiles and a rather small austere-looking man rode down the Mall in an open carriage. The Queen of Tonga’s happy mien contrasted strongly with the lowering weather, and this particular image has proved to be one of the most enduring memories of our own Queen’s coronation day – 56 years ago this month.
Weatherwise, 2 June 1953 was an atrocious day in the middle of a lengthy spell of atrocious weather. May that year had been a superb month with weeks of warm sunshine interspersed with occasional thundery downpours. Eight days before Coronation Day, on the Whit Monday holiday, the temperature soared to 31.7°C in London and Surrey but there was a sudden and complete change in the weather the following day.
A cold front brought thunder-showers and a sharp drop in temperature on May 26, and from then until the middle of June the British Isles lay between high pressure over the Atlantic, usually located somewhere between Ireland and Iceland, and low pressure over the near-continent. As a result the country lay under a very cool and moist northerly airflow throughout this period. June 2 itself was a miserable, November-like day in London as far as the weather was concerned, with dull skies, a chill wind and sporadic outbreaks of rain during the morning, although it dried out gradually later on. The afternoon temperature climbed no higher than 12°C – several degrees lower than the Queen’s wedding day in November six years before.
It could have been worse – other parts of England had torrential downpours that day and there were floods in Northumberland after 70mm of rain fell in short order. And the following day was even colder; the maximum on 3rd June in London was 11°C, in Birmingham it was just 8°C, and at Aberdeen only 7°C.
None of the 20th century’s coronation days had been blessed with really good weather. George VI’s, on May 12, 1937, was similarly cool and cloudy with rain during the first part of the morning and again in the evening; George V’s, on June 22, 1911, was a disappointingly cloudy day with a chilly breeze although the rain held off; and Edward VII’s, on August 9, 1902, was similarly cool and cloudy but dry with just a few fleeting flickers of sunlight.
Recalling the pictures of that procession down the Mall, I am also reminded of Noël Coward’s response when asked who Queen Sarote of Tonga’s companion was. "Her lunch", he said.
https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/philip-eden/Coronation-Weather.htm
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
There is an amusing embellishment of the Queen Salote story reported by Gyles Brandreth in yesterday’s Spectator:
“Elizabeth II certainly remembered the best quip from the day. She only heard about it afterwards, but it made her laugh out loud. Crowned heads from around the world came to London for the event and one of them was Queen Salote of Tonga. She was a magnificent lady, aged 53 in 1953, very tall (6ft 3in) and splendidly built. She travelled to the abbey in an open carriage sitting opposite the comparatively diminutive Sultan of Kelantan. Someone asked Noël Coward: ‘Who is that with Queen Salote?’ ‘That,’ replied the playwright, ‘is her lunch.’
Coward’s quip went around the world and, 20 years later, when Prince Philip was on a visit to Malaysia, he met a group of VIPs at a reception and was much amused when the shortest member of the party introduced himself with a squeal of pride: ‘I’m the lunch!’”
Bring back the good old days when people appreciated a decent joke. Image someone saying something similar today, there’d be days of none stop media coverage and “outrage” about alleged racism.
I remember one cold and wet June when I was a teenager in the 1960s my mother saying “Flaming bloody June!”. She didn’t didn’t swear much so it stuck in my memory and I’ve used it many times since.
I also remember snow on the 1st June when I was a student walking across North Bridge to Waverley in Edinburgh. that would be late 1960s or early 1970s I can’t remember the year as it was unusual not exceptional. Today the BBC would be having a Climate Emergency Meltdown.
Ben, would it have been 1968? The legs of my favourite golf trousers rotted from the bottom of the legs upward thanks to the rain and damp. They were buried with full military honours. I also seem to recall some severe flooding in Bexley and Tonbridge and, possibly, another town in Kent – Orpington? – in 1968.
Snow stopped play, Buxton, 2 June 1975. One of the umpires was Dickie Bird. “When I went out to inspect the wicket, the snow was level with the top of my boots. I’d never seen anything like it.” Play was abandoned immediately.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/rewind-to-1975-snow-stopped-play-462037
On Friday the Met office reported that the high of 18C forecast for Saturday would make King Charles III’s Coronation the warmest since the beginning of the last century. Meaningless really, but they will clutch at any straws to promote the global warming nonsense.
Yesterday was king Charles III’s coronation. 6/5/23.
Here is what one politician had to say about climate change :-
Climate change and globalisation mean that natural biological threats are becoming more common… The lesson of the pandemic was that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and that global health is local health, so global co-operation on pandemic preparedness and biological threats clearly needs to be strengthened. That is why the Opposition absolutely supports the principle of a legally binding WHO treaty.
Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Labour/Co-operative Party), Preet Kaur Gill.
I was in Malaya during the Queen’s coronation, during my army-officer father’s 3-year posting there.
On the back of a photo taken of him in Kota Bharu he wrote:
“The Sultan of Kelantan and me, inspecting Guard of Honour which I commanded on his birthday –shortly after his return from England. You remember he rode with Queen Salote of Tonga at the Coronation.
He’s a nice old boy and chatted to me –in Malay of course– he never speaks English over here. I addressed him as ‘Tuanku’ (Highness)….”
It’s worth noting that the Sultan and Queen Salote were in an open carriage on that wet coronation day.
Totally off topic so sorry Paul
Last week I complained to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) about the Flora Plant butter replacement advert that’s been on TV quite a lot. Better for you better for the planet and similer hype.
I had a reply fairly qquickly. It said they weren’t taking it further as they were already lookin at climate related advertising, and sent a couple of links which may be of interest here.
https://www.asa.org.uk/news/new-research-into-understanding-of-environmental-claims.html
https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/climate-change-and-the-environment-consumer-understanding-of-environmental-claims.html
also this
https://www.asa.org.uk/news/asa-statement-on-the-regulation-of-environmental-claims-and-issues-in-advertising.html
I wrote to the Competitions and Markets Authority regarding Marks and Spencers’ granola. The packet claims to aim for net zero emissions by 2040 by not adding more greenhouse gases than they take out! Also some rubbish about keeping forests growing forever. This was their reply:
‘What you have sent us will help us consider whether we should make more detailed enquiries. We will get in touch with you if we need more information, but as I am sure you will understand, we cannot engage in further correspondence with everyone who contacts us.’
What is the use of the Competition and Markets Authority if they cannot research and deal fully with a complainant?
I noted with some amusement that the weather forecast for 6 May 2023 was announced by the Met Office presenter on BBC R4 as five degrees warmer than 2 June 1953. In the South-East UK it didn’t feel like it and for this OAP a fleece gilet and rain jacket, hat and gloves were necessary.
Flanders and Swann – A song of the weather
And while about it, the laws of thermodynamics for climate “scientists”
Flanders & Swann – ‘First And Second Law’
Oops!
The second should be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw-brvKO-Z0
Of course, it wasn’t particularly warm at all on the day of the Coronation. Undaunted, unfazed, and unembarrassed, the MSM now has:
Temperature to climb to 21C in London after [sic] Coronation
washout. Forecasters predict it could be the warmest day of the year….
Source ‘Daily Telegraph weather.’
Weather forecasters can’t get it right for a couple of days into the future, but with a change of hats to become CLIMATE forecasters they know exactly how warm it is going to be in a hundred years!