Not just a Royal one, but also a British one!
It was today, 12th May in 1937 that the first major outside broadcast had a commentary and it was a “first” for King George VI who never expected to be King.
The Coronation produced the first really mass audience. Fifty thousand people watched the television broadcast and had their first close-up of the King waving directly to them from the Coronation coach. (He had been told beforehand where to look.)
Mind you, it didn’t go completely without a hitch – one of the clergy fainted and when the Archbishop held the form of service up for the King to read, his thumb was over part of the oath…
It was today, 12th May in 1937 that the first major outside broadcast had a commentary and it was a “first” for King George VI who never expected to be King.
The Coronation produced the first really mass audience. Fifty thousand people watched the television broadcast and had their first close-up of the King waving directly to them from the Coronation coach. (He had been told beforehand where to look.)
Mind you, it didn’t go completely without a hitch – one of the clergy fainted and when the Archbishop held the form of service up for the King to read, his thumb was over part of the oath…