A 97-year-old war veteran has experienced his third royal coronation.
William Mason served in World War Two and has “fond memories” of both the coronation of late Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and King George VI in 1937.
He was a boy of 11 years old when King George was crowned and later he had a family of his own when he watched Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on the telly as he joined friends and neighbours huddled round a TV set.
William was among community champions from across West Lothian who were invited to attend a coronation event hosted by The Provost Cathy Muldoon and Depute Provost of West Lothian, Peter Heggie.
Each community champion was invited by a local councillor from their respective ward area and William was guest of councillor Jim Dickson from Whitburn & Blackburn ward - as well as being the councillor’s father-in-law.
His daughter, Mary Dickson, said her dad - who still lives in his own home in Whitburn - really enjoyed the event he was invited to and the coronation itself.
She said: “We try and take him to as many places as we can and that was an ideal occasion to take him to as he has now seen three coronations and he did serve in the Argyll and Southern Highlanders in World War two, so he was the ideal person to take.
“He was over the moon and it was really well done and he was pleased. He says he doesn’t like being in the limelight, but he really does!
“He was 11 when King George took the throne, he’s the same age as the past queen and born in 1926, like she was so they shared the same year of birth.
“He remembered that occasion, but it really was a big occasion and he remembered the Queen being crowned in 1953, he remembers it well. He didn’t have a television but there were shops that had them that they could watch.
“He has find memories of the street parties, he comes from Greenock and I think back then there were more street parties than there are now.
“People made a big effort and he has great memories of that.
“At his age it’s lovely to look back. He does have slight dementia and can be quite forgetful sometimes, but we just take each day as it comes and celebrate it as much as we can.”
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