What The World Was Like When Elizabeth Became Queen
Why are people calling her passing “the end of an era?”
On June 2, 1953, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was crowned Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.
This was 16 months after her father’s death in 1952. And thus began the longest reign of any British monarch: 70 years and 214 days.
She has seen the comings and goings of 15 British Prime Ministers, but she’s possibly the only monarch most British have ever known. That’s longevity.
We peel back the pages of history and look into the world that was when Queen Elizabeth II assumed her royal crowd-waving duties.
In 1953, Donald Trump was barely 7 years old
Today’s world leaders were but little boys when Queen Elizabeth II first reported for duty:
- Joe Biden, the oldest American president to take office, was just a 10-year-old boy in Delaware. (Probably playing outside with brothers James and Frank.)
- Oleksandr Zelensky, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s father was just 5 years old.
Vladimir Putin was just 7 months old.
- Steve Jobs was not even born.
Cost of living
- The price of gasoline was 22¢ per gallon.
- A dozen eggs were 70¢.
- A loaf of bread is 16¢.
- Milk was 94¢. (It was not delivered by the milkman at this point because most houses had refrigerators.)
- Postage stamp .03¢ (For Gen-Z: You need this to send mail. Think of it like a limited data plan.)
Pop & Culture
- One of the top movies that year was “Roman Holiday” (Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck), a story about a princess who falls in love with an American newsman.
- One of the top songs that year was “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?” By comparison, the #1 Billboard song of 2021 is Dua Lipa’s “Levitating.”
- Texas Instruments was about to invent the pocket transistor radio, and super glue wowed the public barely two years before (1951).
- The “Hula Hoop” has yet to make its rounds, and the Barbie Doll would come years later.
- Powerhouse Singapore was not yet a sovereign country. It was still a quiet British colony. The same goes for Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, etc.
- America was waking up to Civil Rights. (The Rosa Parks “bus incident” hasn’t happened yet.)
1953 was such a banner year…
- It was the year Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay first scaled Mt. Everest.
- Scientists Francis Crick and James Watson introduced the world to the human DNA.
It was the year “Casino Royale” (the book) came out — the first of Ian Fleming’s 12 James Bond novels about a spy who served Queen and country.
- Joseph Stalin died, quite suddenly. Of a massive stroke. He was 74.
The Food Scene…
- It’s easy to think that the food we take for granted today have always been around. Not so. They have to be invented. And a great number of people had to like them for them to become widely available. It was around this time that the Peanuts M&M’s and Ranch dressing came to being.
- In 1953, no matter how rich you are, you can’t get a Starbucks latte…considering there are no branches around. You can walk or drive for miles and won’t find one. Not for another 20 years. But if you want Dunkin’ Donuts, then you’re in luck. You just have to hike down Quincy, Massachusetts and ask where the old “Open Kettle” used to be.
- The term “fast food” just made it to Merriam–Webster Dictionary (1951).
Conclusion:
70 years is 70 years.
Queen Elizabeth has seen to a lot of changes.
We can only guess that this trend will continue, and those changes will come at an accelerating pace. What those changes will be…nobody knows. (Did people really know that the ranch dressing was coming?)
So one thing I’ll do, I’ll leave a space on my plate for whatever comes.
You should too!
(Farewell Queen.)
