Local royalist lives through third coronation

DIEHARD royalist and Heathcote resident Rowena Bull has just clocked up her third British coronation.

Although she was only a baby when King George VI was crowned in 1937, it was a story her mother told her many times.

“I was born on the third of May and the king was crowned on the twelfth of May,” Mrs Bull said.

“Mum was in hospital and the ladies that were in the ward with her in the Women’s Hospital, they were all awake all night to hear the coronation on the wireless from England.

“She was up listening too, and she said the most gorgeous thing she ever heard was God Save the King in many different languages, she died at 95 and she never ever forgot it.

“The doctors wouldn’t let the ladies out next day because they hadn’t slept all night, so they kept them in an extra day.”

Ms Bull was working in a drycleaning shop in Melbourne when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952.

“I did the window out in all the royal stuff, flags and everything and they all thought it was lovely,” she said.

It was only a few years later that she encountered the late Duke of Edinburgh on his way back to the royal yacht Britannia during the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

“I’ve seen the Queen very close up too,” she said. “And I went to the races with Princess Margaret, we were members at Moonee Valley racecourse, and we were sitting just near the royal box.

“She was tiny, you didn’t realise how tiny Margaret was and she was very very posh and polite, with a cigarette in her mouth all the time.”

Last Saturday’s coronation lived up to Ms Bull’s expectations.

“I sat up right to the very end,” she said. “I loved every moment of it.

“It wasn’t as long as Queen Elizabeth’s, but everything was there, all the pageantry.”

Ms Bull said it would be daunting for King Charles to take on such a big role at his age.

“I hope he does a good job, he’s got big shoes to fill,” she said.