Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth imperialism to the Empire. The coronation was an important event in the history of television, being the country's first major outside broadcast, although television cameras were not allowed inside the abbey. It was also the first coronation to be filmed, as well as the first to be broadcast on radio. In January 1936, King George V died and his eldest son, Edward VIII, succeeded him as king-emperor of the British Empire. He was unmarried at that time, but the American socialite, Wallis Simpson, had accompanied him on numerous social occasions in years leading up to 1936; she was married to
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial, situated between The Mall and Carlton Gardens in central London, is a memorial to King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth. Completed in its present form in 2009, the memorial incorporates an earlier, Grade II-listed statue of George VI by William McMillan, unveiled by his daughter Queen Elizabeth II in 1955. The reconfigured memorial, which includes a statue of the Queen Mother by Philip Jackson, relief sculpture by Paul Day and an architectural setting by Donald Buttress and Donald Insall, was unveiled by Elizabeth