Coronation Review

Queen Elizabeth was formally crowned in 1953 a year after she acceded to the throne. It was an enormous celebration with all the armed forces playing a role. The power of the Royal Navy was on a decline as the new superpowers eclipsed the waning imperial power exhausted by two World Wars and the recent Korean War. The Royal Navy still had bases dotted around the World and could still project power on a global basis. Besides, Britain had not yet been humiliated by the Suez Crisis just a few years later.