Sixty years ago on Feb 6th the King of England George VI passed away in his sleep after a lengthy illness. His daughter Princess Elizabeth and her husband Philip were away in Kenya on Safari and did not get the news immediately. She and Philip were spending the night in a tree house of all places when she "technically" became the Queen of England. In all the time I have known she was the queen I had never heard this story. I guess that it never crossed my mind to wonder what lead up to her becoming the sovereign ruler.
Once again I am awake at an odd hour and was looking at the latest news tidbits and came across this wonderful story on the BBC. The moment a princess became Queen. There are 2 clips associated with the story that show what was happening in the UK at the time of King George VI's death, and what I found to be so interesting is that after making the announcement of his death the BBC shut down for the day and only came on the air for brief news bulletins at specific times. Not only that but the funeral was NOT broadcast on TV but was only on the Radio. The Queen's Coronation was the 1st event to be broadcast live on TV.
What struck me about the BBC shutting down after the king's death was the differences in how it would have been handled by today's media. Our constant / instant access to information requires that the media outlets work 24 x7/365 to get the news to us as expediently as possible. Never again will there be a time that out of respect for a fallen leader the news media stops what it is doing to pay their respects. It was an astonishing thing to learn tonight.
Congratulations to the Queen on her 60 years and may she have many more!
Once again I am awake at an odd hour and was looking at the latest news tidbits and came across this wonderful story on the BBC. The moment a princess became Queen. There are 2 clips associated with the story that show what was happening in the UK at the time of King George VI's death, and what I found to be so interesting is that after making the announcement of his death the BBC shut down for the day and only came on the air for brief news bulletins at specific times. Not only that but the funeral was NOT broadcast on TV but was only on the Radio. The Queen's Coronation was the 1st event to be broadcast live on TV.
What struck me about the BBC shutting down after the king's death was the differences in how it would have been handled by today's media. Our constant / instant access to information requires that the media outlets work 24 x7/365 to get the news to us as expediently as possible. Never again will there be a time that out of respect for a fallen leader the news media stops what it is doing to pay their respects. It was an astonishing thing to learn tonight.
Congratulations to the Queen on her 60 years and may she have many more!
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