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The Queen Salote of Tonga won the hearts of the waiting crowds by refusing to raise the roof of her carriage for protection despite the rain.

Instead of breaking from tradition and wearing wild flowers in her hair, Kate chose the middle ground approach. Her headpiece, made with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread-work, was fashioned in a wreath shape. The design was a collaboration between the British milliner Jess Collett and Sarah Burton, the creative director of Alexander McQueen who also designed Kate’s ivory dress, which sat beneath her blue silk mantle.

Here are 50 little known facts about that remarkable day on 2 June 1953:

What better way to make such a remarkable day even more memorable than with beautiful accessories? Perfect for your flat or street party, you and your child will be coronation-ready in no time with our selection. Guests seemed keen to embrace Britain’s unofficial dress code for summer events – florals. Emma Thompson was pictured in a rose-printed red silk coat while Lady Louise, the eldest daughter of Prince Edward chose a pale blue iris-printed dress from the British brand Suzannah London. The Queen was crowned in St Edward's Chair, made in 1300 for Edward I and used at every Coronation since that time. It is permanently kept in Westminster Abbey.

Many people camped in The Mall to catch a glimpse of the procession, including a family who had sailed all the way from Australia in a ketch for the occasion. Thousands more celebrated throughout the country and the Commonwealth with street parties.

Princess Kate's coronation headpiece in detail

The recipe for the Anointing Oil contains oils of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk and ambergris. Usually a batch is made to last a few Coronations, but in May 1941 a bomb hit the Deanery destroying the phial, so a new batch was made. The Queen succeeded to the Throne on the 6 February, 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI. She was in Kenya at the time and became the first Sovereign in over 200 years to accede while abroad. In 1937, the 11 year old Princess Elizabeth had watched her father, King George VI, crowned in the elaborate ceremony and 16 years later on 2 June 1953, her own official coronation was to take place. On 2 June 1953, news reached that Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay had made it to the summit of Mount Everest. The Queen presented the 14 members of the expedition with special edition Coronation medals with the extra wording 'Mount Everest Expedition'. The Queen's Lord Lieutenants commissioned artist Terence Cuneo to paint the Coronation ceremony and in 1954 Herbert James Gunn painted a State Portrait of The Queen in her Coronation outfit.

The first overseas tour The Queen undertook after the Coronation was to Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand starting in November 1953. HM returned in 1954 visiting Australia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Aden and Uganda – going home in Britannia from Aden via Malta and Gibraltar. Mordaunt’s substitution felt radical, especially compared with Camilla, who commissioned the British couturier Bruce Oldfield to design a gown made from silk woven in Suffolk. Oldfield has a history of designing for the royal family, working closely with Diana, Princess of Wales in the 1980s.Some people in the Abbey witnessed their fourth Coronation. Princess Marie Louise (Queen Victoria's granddaughter) had also seen the Coronations of King Edward VII (1902), King George V (1911) and King George VI (1937).