1953

24 March - The Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary, wife of King George V, dies at Marlborough House.

16th April - The Royal Yacht Britannia is launched by The Queen at John Brown's Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland.

2 June - The Queen is crowned at Westminster Abbey. 20 million people in Britain watch the ceremony.

24 June - The Queen is presented with the Honours of Scotland at a ceremony in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

1 July - The Queen begins her first visit as Queen to Northern Ireland.

9 July - The Queen makes her first visit as Queen to Wales.

24 November - The Queen and Prince Philip set out on a long Commonwealth tour, visiting Canada, Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, the Cocos Islands, Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.  The total distance covered is 43,618 miles.

25 December - The Queen makes her Christmas Broadcast from New Zealand, the first time the Christmas message had been sent from abroad.