As dawn broke on Tuesday 2 June 1953 – coronation day – so too did some other momentous news. A British-led climbing team had conquered Mount Everest, with Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay becoming the first men to set foot on the world’s loftiest summit. Though their feat had been achieved on 29 May, it took four days for word to reach the UK.

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Dubbed by the press “a coronation gift for the new Queen”, their success added to the palpable sense of excitement felt across the country. Following the 15-year reign of her father, George VI, and the significantly shorter reign of her uncle, Edward VIII, Elizabeth II was to be crowned the 40th English monarch – and only the sixth queen – since William the Conqueror took the throne at Westminster nearly 900 years earlier. Epic in scale, the occasion was the perfect tonic for postwar Britons.

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