Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal


The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal is a commemorative medal instituted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953.

Award

This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir from the Queen to members of the Royal Family and selected officers of state, members of the Royal Household, government officials, mayors, public servants, local government officials, members of the navy, army, air force and police in Britain, her colonies and Dominions. It was also awarded to members of the Mount Everest expedition, two of whom reached the summit four days before the coronation. It was struck at the Royal Mint and issued immediately after the coronation.
For Coronation and Jubilee medals, the practice up until 1977 was that the authorities in the United Kingdom decided on a total number to be produced, then allocated a proportion to each of the Commonwealth countries and Crown dependencies and other possessions of the Crown. The award of the medals was then at the discretion of the government of each territory, which was left free to decide who was to be awarded a medal and why.
A total of 129,051 medals were awarded, including:
The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal is a silver disk, 1.25 inches in diameter. The obverse features a crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, facing right, in a high-collared ermine cloak and wearing the collar of the Garter and Badge of the Bath. There is no raised rim and no legend.
The reverse shows the Royal Cypher "EIIR", surmounted by a large crown. The legend around the edge reads "QUEEN ELIZABETH II CROWNED 2nd JUNE 1953". The medal was designed by Cecil Thomas.
The dark red ribbon is wide, with wide white edges and two narrow dark blue stripes in the centre, each wide and apart.
Ladies who were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, can wear it on their left shoulder with the ribbon tied in the form of a bow.
The medals were issued unnamed, except for the 37 issued to the British Mount Everest Expedition. These were engraved "MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION" on the rim.

Precedence by country

Some orders of precedence are as follows:

Notable recipients

New Zealand

The following list includes notable New Zealanders who received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, and is not an exhaustive list of recipients.