Radio: The Elizabethan Age

In Britain, TV sets had been selling at a brisk 1,000 a day in anticipation of next summer’s coronation of Elizabeth the Queen. Last week the Duke of Norfolk, who is Earl Marshal, i.e., master of ceremonies, of the coronation arrangements, announced that radio broadcasters, newsreel cameramen and photographers would be allowed to cover the two-hour ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Then he dropped his bombshell: TV will be barred from the scene.

The big trouble seemed to be television’s unblinking eye. Explained a spokesman, Sir Robert Knox: “Those moments of coronation will demand all the Queen’s concentration. Under direct television she would be acutely conscious of every movement. She might feel the need to touch her face or mop her brow and would know that every tiny gesture . . . was being relayed everywhere.” Even worse: “One could expect that this very sacred ceremony would be watched by people in a bar, for instance!”

The popular press cried censorship and denounced the ban as “almost feudal.” Even the unofficial Church of England Newspaper asked: “Why not let everybody see it who can? The monarchy in this country is not an underground movement.” The Socialist Daily Herald huffed that “the ban reflects a stuffiness of mind utterly inappropriate to the ‘new Elizabethan age.’ ”

But, at week’s end, second thoughts were beginning to be voiced. Letters to the editors asked: “Have they no pity for our beloved Queen?” The Evening News inquired: “Need we, in pursuit of a desire to witness every moment of the rite of crowning, make this harsh demand?” And the Daily Express added solemnly: “What short memories people have! Only a few months ago, we mourned a King who wore himself out in our service.” British televiewers were resigning themselves to nothing more than long-distance glimpses of the processions and ceremonies of their Queen’s coronation.