Coronation Streets, Roads or Avenues are generally dated according to one of the four twentieth century Coronations – 1902, 1910, 1937 or 1953. Spurring off Cardinal Avenue between St Budeaux and Weston Mill is a quiet cul-de-sac known as Coronation Place, named after the Coronation of King George VI. Christened Albert Frederick Arthur George, forty-one year old “Bertie” decided to take his father’s name as King in order to emphasise the continuity with the values established by King George V (who had, before his abdication, been succeeded by Bertie’s elder brother Edward). Curiously enough the day of the Coronation was also the day that Edward celebrated his forty-third birthday – 12 May 1937.
A shy man with an awkward stammer, the new king had been married for fourteen years, to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, both appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the day of the Coronation.
