The late, great Poet Laureate John Betjeman was among the congregation when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 — and he wrote about it for Country Life. We're very proud to reproduce that article now — The Queen's Coronation: In The Abbey by John Betjeman. is reviewed between 08.30 to 16.30 Monday to Friday. We're experiencing a high volume of enquiries so it may take us The competition is being run by East Cambridgeshire District Council over the Easter Holidays, with under 18s being asked to compile an illustrated poem entitled “If I were King Charles for the day.”

The illustrated poems need to be in portrait format and no longer than one sheet for A4 paper or in an equivalent digital format. The council is accepting entries until 12pm on Friday April 21. The concepts of kingship and the crown are not uncommon in literature. From Tolkien’s fantastical Kingdom of Gondor to Shakespeare’s representation of historical English monarchs, there is plenty of literary material to explore and debate. The coronation of King Charles III offers a rare insight into the non-fictional world of royal ascent and, for teachers, an opportunity to ground classroom activities in the experienced reality of current events. Entries are restricted to one entry per person. If you are under the age of 16, you must obtain permission from your parent/guardian before entering. East Cambridgeshire District Council does not accept any responsibility for late or lost entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt. Prof Nagra is often described as a national treasure and received an MBE for Services to Literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022. He was BBC Radio 4’s first Poet in Residence, and he presents the BBC Radio 4 Extra’s weekly Poetry Extra. We’re Lighting Up The Nation

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Here I must say how supremely well the Mistress of the Robes and the Dean carried out this delicate office. It must he difficult to make the robing of someone in public, even a Queen so dignified as ours, not look slightly ridiculous, but they managed to make it something beautiful and tender. Writing for NATE, Lesley Nelson-Addy, Furzeen Ahmed and Harmeet Matharu call for a diversification of poetry in the English curriculum, including consideration of such collections as Daljit Nagra’s British Museum in which Nagra considers his identity as a British Asian and how institutions such as the British Museum and the BBC have guided him on his journey to understanding his culture. As Nelson-Addy, Ahmed and Matharu suggest, in considering the anthology, When the Queen has had the symbols of all the cares of being a Queen given her, those Regalia of which you will have read elsewhere, the Archbishop goes to the Altar and fetches the heavy glittering Crown of St. Edward which outshines all the diamonds in the Abbey, and he puts it reverently on her head. Then we all shout, “God save the Queen.” The Archbishop blesses her, the choir sings, and the Archbishop blesses us as we kneel, and she is led to the Throne.

A man touches the boundary stone in Eyam from which no resident could pass during the village’s isolation in 1666. Photograph: Gary Calton/The ObserverThe winners will be announced on Wednesday 26 April and we will aim to have the winning entries turned into a book by the start of May.