Léon Zitrone, at the presentation, marvels:
"The fairy tale becomes a miracle (...) and Jacques Salbert's comments give the good French Republican a taste for the monarchical spectacle, thanks to which the prince and queen present themselves at your place"
.
On June 2, 1953, it is unprecedented, reporters film the coronation of young Elizabeth, 27, accompanied by her husband Philip, five years her senior.
The choice to invite the cameras, which Prime Minister Winston Churchill initially disapproved of, will do a lot in the media coverage of the young royal couple.
Three other European televisions - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany - broadcast the ceremony live.
To discover
TV program: Find tonight's TV program
Le Figaro
at the forefront
In France, only one household out of a hundred had a set, which also made it possible to watch a single channel.
Questioned by the INA, the former correspondent of
Le Monde
Marc Roche explains that the French are buying
“in anticipation more than 100,000 jobs”
.
Thousands of curious people also find themselves in the street in front of cafes and shop windows to follow the parade.
Embassies and cinemas organize screenings.
The government meets during a garden party in the gardens of Bagatelle.
A crowd also gathered in front of
Le Figaro
, then located on the Champs-Élysées roundabout.
Five stations retransmit the images, as this report reminds us (during the first thirty seconds) which makes it possible to take the measure of the event.
We climb the lampposts, to see better.
Parisiennes bring their binoculars.
In the United Kingdom, the audiences of the small screen, it is a first, exceed those of the radio.
In France, the coronation, and other appointments that will follow such as the election of René Coty at Versailles the same year, will participate in popularizing the small screen.
“Television, thanks to the coronation, conquered the general public”
, abounds our daily newspaper, the day after the ceremony.
In 1958, one in ten French people will have their own television.