In 1953 the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place at Westminster Abbey.
King George VIII died peacefully in his sleep on the 6th of February 1952, aged 56, leaving his daughter Queen Elizabeth II his throne when she was 25. Elizabeth spent several months away from the public eye, mourning the death of her father. After her period of mourning Queen Elizabeth II began her royal duties and on this day in 1953 she took the oath, promising to serve the people of the United Kingdom and maintain the laws of god. After the oath Elizabeth was given the four symbols of power; the orb, the sceptre, the rod of mercy and the royal ring. Finally St Edwards crown was placed on her head by the Archbishop of Canterbury which completed the ceremony which dates back for over a thousand years.
As head of the Commonwealth of Nations many nations’ leaders and dignitaries were present to witness the event first hand. But this coronation was the first to be televised and was watched by millions of people around the world. Despite the invention of the television being thirty years before the coronations of her Uncle and father were not televised. Many believed that televising the event may make the ceremony less dignified but Queen Elizabeth believed that her people should have the opportunity to see the coronation and it shouldn’t be reserved for only the select guests.
And Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on live television by the BBC, despite the Prime Minister’s (Winston Churchill) objections for the broadcast.
In 1865 the last of the confederate forces surrender to the Union.
Despite the United States Civil War effectively ending on the 9th of April 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia some confederate forces still continued the fight. Five days after on the 14th of April the President and head of the Union was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and tensions on both sides continued to run high. It is not until the events of this day when General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi signs the surrender of his men, that the United States Civil War is considered to have ended.
