The Associated Press
via FoxNews.com
2/6/2012
LONDON — It has been 60 years to the day since Britain was shocked by the bulletins: The King is dead; long live the Queen!
Eight words encapsulated both the news on Feb. 6, 1952 and the British doctrine of monarchy. It also starkly illustrates why the accession anniversary being marked by Queen Elizabeth II on Monday is tinged with sadness for the loss of a reigning monarch.
Princess Elizabeth became the queen the moment her 56-year-old father, King George VI, died of a fatal blood clot, apparently soon after he went to bed at 11:30 p.m. the previous night. A servant discovered the lifeless king in his bed at 7:50 a.m.
On his death, the then-25-year-old automatically became queen, but she was at the Treetops resort in Kenya with her husband, Prince Philip.
The king’s death set off an official scramble to convey the news. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was among the first officials to be notified. News agencies were allowed to flash the news at 10:45, and the BBC broadcast the announcement to the world half an hour later.
And still Elizabeth didn’t know.
The news reached the royal entourage via Granville Roberts, a reporter on the East African Standard who had seen the news wire bulletin. He telephoned Elizabeth’s private secretary, Martin Charteris, who telephoned Philip’s private secretary, Mike Parker — who then told the prince.
Philip gave the news to his wife as they walked in a garden.
Later that day, Churchill officially informed the House of Commons.
“We cannot at this moment do more than record the spontaneous expression of grief,” the prime minister said…
The article continues at FoxNews.com FNC also has a video marking the anniversary of the Queen’s Accession.
The blog Chicago Boyz has a video from 1952 of the grieving young princess being greeted upon her return to Britain by Prime Minister Churchill.
