The boy sits on the wall, squinting into the afternoon sun.

A young queen has been crowned, signaling the end of an era, and the beginnings of The New Elizabethan Age.

He was too young to remember the War, but it is still too fresh to be just history.

Even the idea of rockets, transistors or jet travel is unthinkable. For this boy an infection is treated with ‘sulphur’ drugs or something mysteriously called M&B - and death is not a negotiable alternative.

So, does he dream of going to Mars?  Is he looking forward to the next episode of Zorro?

His entertainment is the radio  .... All four channels!  TV is available but goes to black, off air between Children’s Hour and The News, with a test pattern in various patterns and shades of gray.

This generation has yet to experience the psychedelics of Magic Roundabout and the pleasures of the Sit-in.

A young Queen looking out at a new world, her two children sat with their grandmother watching with undisguised oblivion.  This world is filled with unknowns, even apprehension.  This boy does not know it, but history, and his story, will never be the same.

The countryside is quiet, dappled with sunlight from a previous time.  Cars moved steadily in solitary purpose from one destination to the next.

For the other young Queen, Victoria, the world was known.  She imagined the discoveries of the Late King's reign becoming practical.

For the boy & his Queen it will never be as innocent as this Coronation , as optimistic as the paper crown at the Street Party.

Sylvia Peters, Coronation mug and the matchbox toy of the Royal State Coach ~ I wonder if he goes home full of  sandwiches and tea.

~ and did little girls wear  new red, white and blue dresses, watch TV all day around the small black and white screen at a neighbor’s house with the rest of the street, and  have fairy cakes with red white and blue icing on!

1953