The moment came so suddenly, so unexpectedly. We all knew she was unwell, suffering ‘mobility problems’ which, of course, no one dies of. Then the dread announcement; ‘The Queen is dead, long live the King’. With the ascendancy of Charles III, the ‘New Elizabethan Age’ passed and we became Caroleans.

I experienced both curiosity and sadness as did most of us as we waited for the mayoral party to assemble in front of the County Hall to read the Proclamation. Sadness at the death of a popular Queen and a feeling that a large and familiar element of our lives had been taken from us. Curiosity because as a student of history and having read of earlier proclamations reaching far back into medieval history, I was keen to be part of this historic occasion.

I thought of the countless different scenes on this spot, the days of long wigs and buckled shoes, of horses and carriages in the streets, of Puritan blacks and whites. Perhaps townspeople many years into the future would think of us in the same way.

I felt also a sense of my life being bracketed by such occasions. In June 1953 I was 6 and living in Aldershot. I can just recall being aware of the Coronation on the radio and seeing pictures in the newspapers -no telly for us yet. Images of the golden coach carrying the new Queen, of Queen Salote of Tonga defying the rain in her open carriage, the lines of red-coated soldiers in their very shiny boots.

How many recall the street parties, the free Coronation mugs and sweets, with the grown-ups all going to the Palais de Danse, always referred to as ‘the Pally’, in the evening for a ‘Coronation Knees-up’?

Now 70 years later here was Charles succeeding his mother, and soon in the same golden coach, those same streets will be lined again with soldiers and cheering crowds.

Now the mayoral party has arrived, the Town Council in 18th Century cloaks and bicorn hats, the mayor in his official regalia. Then the Proclamation was read, and the National Anthem was sung – most remembering to replace ‘gracious Queen with ‘gracious King’. Then three cheers for King Charles III… and it was over.

(Thank you to Bob for the piece and Michael for the picture. Both found while catching up on emails.)