During my time at St George's School, Windsor, the funerals of George VI and his mother, Queen Mary, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the installation of Winston Churchill as a Knight of the Garter all took place.
The funerals and the Garter service were held in St George's Chapel, where I was a chorister. For the Coronation, our choir was one of many invited to sing in Westminster Abbey.
Over 70 years, memories fade or are altered. So I shall turn first to what, as a 12-year-old, I wrote to my parents five days after the greatest of those royal events, the Coronation. The letter opens with personal matters rather than the historic occasion – Nigel Molesworth slightly avant la lettre: Down with Skool! would appear that autumn.
‘Dear Mummy
