Proclamation of accession of Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II was proclaimed queen throughout the Commonwealth after her father, King George VI, died in the early hours of 6 February 1952, while Elizabeth was in Kenya. Proclamations were made in different Commonwealth realms on 6, 7, 8, and 11 February (depending on geographic location and time zone). The line of succession was identical in all the Commonwealth realms, but the royal title as proclaimed was not the same in all of them. Accession was followed sixteen months later by the Coronation of Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in London on 2 June 1953.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council met twice at St James's Palace: first at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, 6 February, before the Queen had returned from Kenya, to make their proclamation declaring the accession of the new sovereign, as the late king's successor in accordance with the line of succession to the British throne, and, second, at a meeting begun at 10 a.m. on Friday, 8 February, when the Queen was present, to receive her oath for the security of the Church of Scotland and her personal declaration that she would always work to uphold constitutional government and to advance the happiness and prosperity of her peoples all the world over. Her declaration for securing the Protestant succession, as required by the 1689 Bill of Rights and the Accession Declaration Act 1910, was made later, at the next state opening of parliament, on 4 November.

After the Accession Council had completed the formalities for their proclamation on 6 February, it had been issued for publication in a supplement to that day's ''London Gazette'':

The accession proclamation was published in '' The Times'' on 7 February, quoting the ''London Gazette''. According to the ''Times'', it was expected that the public proclamation would be made in due form by the heralds of the College of Arms. The practice had been to read it first from the Friary Court balcony at St James's Palace and, in the City of London, the custom had been to lay it before the Court of Aldermen and to read it, after a ceremony at Temple Bar, London, at the corner of Chancery Lane, in Fleet Street, and at the Royal Exchange.

After the meeting with the Queen at St James's Palace in the morning of 8 February, the accession proclamation was read to the public by the Garter King of Arms, Sir George Bellew, first at 11 a.m. from the Friary Court balcony, then in Trafalgar Square, in Fleet Street, and at the Royal Exchange.

Other Commonwealth realms

Each of the Commonwealth realms issued similar proclamations of the accession of the Queen.

Australia

The Governor-General of Australia

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