Memories of 70 years ago: How Prestonians felt the last time the monarch died

Whatever the changes in Parliament, in technology, or recently to our freedom, the Queen remained the same.

So there has been a great feeling of unsettlement since the news of her death broke a week ago, and a wondering fo what life with a King will bring.

But what is it like for the older generation who remember the last time a monarch died?

Post reporter Catherine Musgrove spoke to her 90-year-old grandad Colin Higginson about life in 1952, and about life under five different monarchs.

Colin’s story

Coming towards the end of his national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Colin Higginson was just shy of his 20th birthday when news of the King's death was broken.

Listening to the office radio on February 6, 1952, he and his fellow platoon members became aware of events in London shortly before they were all ordered out onto the parade ground to be formally addressed.

"It was a shock", said the retired accountant from Longton.

"In those days the media coverage of the Royal Family wasn't like it is today, and so I don't think we knew that the King was seriously ill. We weren't expecting it."

Colin, who was brought up in Ashton, Preston, said the Royal Family seemed "remote" during the reign of George VI, with information only available via the radio, newspapers and from Pathe news at the cinema.

He said: "It was only through Pathe news that we saw any moving images of the King and Queen, so we were very removed from them.

"With the advances in televisions especially, even though the Queen was still remote to me, I came to feel like I knew her."

What was it like having a new monarch?

Colin said that due to the long reign of Queen Elizabeth, he too has feelings of unsettlement as experienced by younger generations, but says "to me, having a new monarch is almost a matter of fact.

"Although I can't really remember George V dying or the abdication as I was four, I was aware of it.

"But I can clearly remember the late King George VI.

"When Princess Elizabeth came to the throne, it was a little unusual for me and for others as we were used to having a King and Queen, and now we just had a Queen with no King. It seemed odd.”

Colin said that wall-to-wall TV and internet coverage of the Queen's final journeys, lying in state and funeral "wouldn't have been dreamt of" 70 years ago, as media coverage was again limited.

But for the Queen's coronation in 1953, there was a shift, as it was the first ever televised coronation.

The coronation

"I can remember that day as if it were today", said Colin, who by that point had been demobbed and was working for the North West Electricity Board.

"Most people didn't have TVs in those days, but my auntie Bertha and Uncle Stan went out to buy one to coincide with the occasion.

"It was remarkable at the time to us, that we could be sitting in a terraced house in Ashton, watching something happening live in London."

He added: "It was a 9 inch Bush console and of course it was only black and white.

"There were about 11 or 12 of us - family and neighbours - all invited round to watch the coronation and my Aunt and Uncle did a buffet for us all.

"We spent all day glued to the set, crowded round the living room in a crescent shape.

"In those days you had to have the curtains drawn otherwise it would affect the quality of the screen. So by the time we left at around 5pm after sitting inside all day in the dark, we could hardly see."