A family friend recently found a picture of my mum at a 1953 coronation party in her village. A grainy black and white image that has already become a treasured possession.
There is a huge smile on her seven-year-old face as she poses in her fancy dress costume. My aunt still has the coronation mug that all the children in the local community were given that day.
She remembers holding on to it tightly on the long, but happy, walk home. An indication of what that day meant to people in our post-war history.
Seventy years on so much has changed. Attitudes are very different, even the crowning of divorcee Camilla would have been inconceivable not that long ago. Yet after witnessing first-hand a coronation so steeped in rituals that date back centuries, it's clear that at the same time very little has changed too.
Charles III is the 40th monarch to have been crowned in Westminster Abbey and as the order of service for the 2023 coronation points out in its opening page: "For almost a thousand years, Westminster Abbey, with the Shrine of St Edward, King and Confessor, at its heart, has remained the place of coronation for our Monarchs."
There have been a few tweaks here and there, a gospel choir performed for the first time, but many of the rituals that started all those centuries ago are still in place today. The moment you walk into the Abbey that sense of history is all around, from the architecture that dates back to the 13th to 16th centuries, to the countless memorials and tombs that are littered around.
Rising to the occasion for any historic event, the floral displays and the elaborate lighting and staging was breathtaking. Stunning seasonal flowers in reds, burgundies and golds recently cut from RHS Gardens covered the top of the ornate golden High Altar.
Having to arrive four hours before the ceremony meant there was plenty of time to get your breath back. Time to take in the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, the tombs of kings and queens, and countless memorials to the famous and the great that this unique pageant of British history houses.
Guests were told to arrive for the 11am ceremony at 7am to allow time for security checks to be made and for the majority of the 2,000 congregation to be seated in time for the arrival of the heads of Commonwealth, European royal families and other members of the royals.
Plenty of time to try out your best Huw Edwards impersonation putting names to familiar faces. Lionel Richie, Ant & Dec and Dame Judi Dench on the arm of Kenneth Branagh were easy, but trying to identifying some of the lesser known European royal families and that MP you saw on the television last week but can't quite get the name of makes you realise it is much harder than the Welsh presenter makes it look.
It was a little disappointing to see Gyles Brandreth not wearing one of his infamous knitted jumpers, even if he did look very suave and sophisticated. And there was a little cheer for Ant & Dec that seemed to follow them as they walked to their seats.
After a couple of hours you get used to a passing soldier with a huge white feather plume, carrying a sword that is nearly as tall as him, or the Prime Minister walking in front of your row, or Floella Benjamin sitting in your line of vision, it was time for the actual ceremony.
For obvious reasons, it was a very different atmosphere to the Queen's funeral eight months before. More colour, more chaos as some guests couldn't find their seats, but when the procession arrived outside on a grey and damp London morning, the Abbey fell silent.
The layout means you are not going to be able to see every moment, so large screens are placed in some areas for the congregation to be able to see, and the 50-page ornately designed order of service helps keep the congregation in the right place (most of the time).
And then it was time for the two-hour ceremony to get underway. We watched in wonder as Penny Mordaunt held a very large sword for more than two hours, worried that the King's crown was going to topple off, but were mainly amazed by the pomp, the pageantry and the music.
A member of the clergy later admitted there had been "one or two" hiccups during the ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury spent several seconds adjusting the crown as the King was officially crowned.
As St Edward's Crown was placed on the King's head, there was complete silence in Westminster Abbey as the congregation stood for the occasion. The archbishop placed it on the King's head firmly, before giving it a twist in an attempt to keep it on.
But after the twist failed to work he lifted the crown up again, before having another go at securing it in position. After his second attempt the crown tipped forwards on the King's head.
Mr Welby then tilted it to the side before he was happy to remove his hands from the crown. The archbishop leaned forward towards the King and carefully inspected the crown before eventually retreating.
The official crowning of the King took about eight seconds in total and it is the only time he wears the heaviest crown in the Crown Jewels . The 2,300 guests then heartily echoed the archbishop's cry of God save the King.
King Charles didn't truly look happy until he walked in procession through the nave of the Abbey at the end of the ceremony. In his sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the "weight of the task" facing "Your Majesties" as he steered them though the nation's first coronation in 70 years.
It was all watched from the side by Charles' grandson, George, who is second in line to the throne. A page for his grandfather, he watched in wonder at the service unfolded. While this coronation was unlike any that had gone before, it did make you think about future services. How will it look when it is Prince William and Prince George's turn to be king.
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