King Charles' Memory of Queen's Coronation: Glorious Music, a Short Haircut

Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 created only a few lasting memories for King Charles III, mostly revolving around his hair, according to a 1994 biography he was interviewed for.

Charles was four years old at the time but still received his own personal invite, addressed to "His Royal Highness Prince Charles."

His presence was not a foregone conclusion after the palace decided the funeral of his grandfather, King George VI, would be too somber for such a young boy.

However, he was given a seat for the coronation in the royal box next to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, while his sister Princess Anne, then aged two, stayed at home.

Charles' experience of the day is recounted in The Prince of Wales: A Biography, by Jonathan Dimbleby, which the king himself gave interviews for.

The book read: "He [Charles] tugged frequently at Queen Elizabeth's sleeve but could not later remember what precisely had excited his curiosity.

"Aside from a vague memory of glorious music and coronets doffed in unison, his only indelible recollection is that beforehand the palace barber cut his hair too short and plastered it down with 'the most appalling gunge.'

"Afterwards, he was brought onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to join the Queen as she acknowledged the tribute of the vast crowd.

"He stood there sheltered by his parents, while down below the soldiers marched and wheeled and the people roared approval.

"This exposure to the force of public emotion formed an elemental part of the process by which he came to appreciate how very different he was from other children."

The reference to "gunge" is described in a footnote as coming from a conversation between the author and Charles.

Meanwhile, the biography also accounted for some of the soul-searching around whether he should go to the abbey at all: "Prince Charles had been dispatched to Sandringham during the funeral rites for his grandfather as the solemnity was thought to be too distressing for so young a child, and probably beyond his comprehension as well.

"However, a little over one year later, amid much public speculation, the Queen decided that he should take his place in Westminster Abbey to witness the coronation.

"Mindful of the fact he was a fidgety four-year-old, the court decided that he should be allotted no part in the ceremony itself except as a spectator. He would sit beside his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, looking down on the proceedings from the royal box."

Elizabeth's was the first coronation in history to be televised and the cameras cut momentarily to a shot of Charles at the moment she was crowned.

Jack Royston is the chief royal correspondent at Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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