It was on this day in 1952 that King George VI died of lung cancer, while his eldest daughter Princess Elizabeth was touring Africa.
Princess Elizabeth acceded to the Throne as Queen Elizabeth II.
Five months prior to her father’s death, on October 2, 1951 Princess Elizabeth visited Canada for the first time with her husband Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. An estimated 500,000 people greeted them in Toronto. Canada Post released a special stamp to commemorate the visit.
On June 2, 1953 Elizabeth II’s coronation as Queen of the Commonwealth at Westminster Abbey becomes the first coronation broadcast on television. CBC beats U.S. competitors by commandeering an RAF plane to fly the film back to Canada for broadcast.