Monarchy and National Identity: Wales and the 1953 Coronation

The Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 conjured a symbolic British national unity. However, by examining the Coronation in Wales, this article challenges this impression, and contends that responses to the event were diffuse and as subject to malleability by ‘local’ agendas as much as by ‘top-down’ monarchical power. This ‘negotiated appropriation’ of the Coronation unearths not so much the ‘naturalness of Britishness’ in Wales but the elusive perplexity of its national identities. By exploring both elite Welsh ‘national’ perspectives and responses in north-east Wales, it is evident that the Coronation was a significant cultural indicator in 1950s Wales.