Draft:Coronation Girls
2024 Canadian documentary film
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Coronation Girls is a 2024 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Douglas Arrowsmith and produced by FeltFilm Inc. The film follows a group of surviving women who, as teenagers in 1953, were among fifty young Canadians selected to travel to London to witness the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II — the journey sponsored by businessman and visionary Garfield Weston. Seventy years later, Arrowsmith reunited twelve of the women and accompanied them on a return trip to London, culminating in an unscheduled private audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
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| Coronation Girls | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Douglas Arrowsmith |
| Written by | Douglas Arrowsmith |
| Produced by | FeltFilm Inc. |
| Cinematography | John Price |
| Edited by | Eric Lasby |
Production company | FeltFilm Inc. |
| Distributed by | American Public Television / FeltFilm Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The film had a regional US premiere on 26 December 2024 on WNED PBS and subsequently broadcast in 2025 across over 300 PBS member stations through American Public Television (APT). It received coverage from major UK and Canadian media outlets including the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, and the Evening Standard, all of whom published reviews following a press screening at Buckingham Palace in December 2024.[1][2][3][4]
Following the film's release, several of the surviving women at its centre were recognised with the King Charles III Coronation Medal — an honour directly connected to the film's role in bringing their story to public and institutional attention.[5]
Background
The 1953 Weston Coronation Tour
In the spring of 1953, the Canadian Education Association issued a memorandum to provincial and territorial deputy ministers of education requesting their co-operation in selecting high school girls to participate in a fully-funded tour of the United Kingdom. The purpose was to allow a representative group of young Canadian women to attend the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, scheduled for 2 June 1953.[6]
The tour was funded in its entirety by Garfield Weston, a Canadian businessman with significant commercial interests in the United Kingdom, including the purchase of Fortnum & Mason, the storied Piccadilly department store. Weston hoped the experience would inspire the selected women to become leaders in their communities. The initiative became known as the Weston Coronation Tour, and the participants as the "Weston Girls."[6]
Fifty young women were selected from across Canada's provinces and territories, many from rural communities. Each received a uniform, luggage, and a travel allowance for the seven-week journey. Beginning in the Yukon, a cross-country train collected the women before they boarded the ocean liner SS Empress of France at the Port of Montreal, sailing for Liverpool.[7]
After navigating icebergs in the North Atlantic, the group arrived in London, where they held reserved places on Oxford Street to watch the Coronation procession. Each received a silver medallion inscribed with lines from a poem ('The Winds of Fate' by Ella Wheeler Wilcox) selected by Garfield Weston: "Tis the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go." The trip also included visits to war graves in France, performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and historic sites across Britain.[8]
The women went on to distinguished careers across numerous fields, including civil engineering, acting, academia, and climate activism. Their friendships, formed aboard the Empress of France, endured for decades.[6]
Production
Development
Arrowsmith, whose previous documentary work includes Love Shines (BBC Four, 2011) and Picture My Face (TVO, 2020), began development on Coronation Girls in the summer of 2022 with interviews with twelve of the surviving women. Carol Bowyer Shipley, from Fort Whyte, Manitoba — who had kept meticulous scrapbooks of the 1953 journey — became the film's central narrative figure.[6]
Letter to King Charles III
Recognising that the film required an ending commensurate with what the women had experienced in 1953, Arrowsmith wrote directly to King Charles III while on holiday in Ontario's Haliburton Highlands. He received a reply from the King's office the following morning expressing genuine interest, and after several months of communication with the Royal Household, he negotiated access to Buckingham Palace with the King scheduled to make a surprise appearance.[6]
The London reunion trip
In December 2023, twelve of the surviving women flew to London at their own expense, accompanied by travel companions. The journey revisited key locations from 1953, with additional stops including Windsor Castle and attendance at Evensong at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle — the resting place of Queen Elizabeth II.[6]
Filming at Fortnum & Mason featured participation by actor Richard E. Grant, whose obsession with scent became a trigger for memories aligned with the film's central theme. Grant drew out one of the film's key exchanges when Carol Shipley observed: "When we are together we can go back to being 17 again."[6]
Buckingham Palace
The women toured the palace's state rooms before being escorted to the Bow Room for tea. At precisely 10:45 am, King Charles III entered unannounced. The encounter, planned for ten to fifteen minutes, extended to more than thirty minutes. The King discussed his memories of his mother's Coronation, including recalling that Queen Elizabeth II had practised wearing the Crown at bathtime in the days before the ceremony — a disclosure that attracted widespread coverage in the UK press following a palace press screening of the film.[9][10][11][12][13]
Press screening
In December 2024, the Royal Household hosted a press screening of the completed film at Buckingham Palace. Attendees included representatives from the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, the Evening Standard, the BBC, Channel 4, and People magazine, as well as the Chair of Fortnum & Mason and Canada's Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Robert Fry. Fry described the film as "exquisite" and praised its treatment of Canada–UK ties and "life issues like aging."[6][14]
Subjects
The film's primary subjects are surviving participants of the 1953 Weston Coronation Tour. Those featured include:
- Carol Bowyer Shipley (Fort Whyte, Manitoba) — the film's central subject, who kept extensive scrapbooks of the 1953 journey.
- Sheila Washburn (St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick) — civil engineer.
- Clarice Evans Siebens (Calgary, Alberta) — stage actor.
Richard E. Grant appears in the film in a sequence filmed at Fortnum & Mason. King Charles III appears in the final sequence filmed at Buckingham Palace.
Broadcast and distribution
The film had a US regional premiere on 26 December 2024 on WNED PBS, with repeat broadcasts on 27 and 28 December 2024. It was subsequently officially released in 2025 across over 300 PBS member stations through American Public Television.[15][16]
In 2025, broadcaster TVO acquired Canadian broadcast rights to the film for linear and digital distribution via their YouTube platform (geofenced for Canada only).
Reception
UK press
A press screening at Buckingham Palace in December 2024 generated coverage across major UK national titles. The film's reception was shaped in part by King Charles III's disclosure, made on camera, that Queen Elizabeth II had practised wearing the Crown at bathtime in the days before the 1953 Coronation.
- Daily Mail (8 Dec 2024) — Rebecca English, Royal Editor: "It is a really beautiful lyrical piece of film-making."
- The Daily Telegraph (8 Dec 2024) — Victoria Ward, Deputy Royal Editor: "A truly delightful documentary."
- The Times (9 Dec 2024) — Kate Mansey, Royal Editor: "Charming...worth the watch."
- The Independent (9 Dec 2024) — Athena Stavrou: "Explores themes of enduring friendship and the impact the historic event had on the young women."
- Evening Standard (9 Dec 2024) — Rosie Shead: "Life-changing. Magic."
The film holds a rating of 8.6/10 on IMDb.[17] CBC News and The Globe and Mail both published substantial features connected to the film's release.
Legacy
King Charles III Coronation Medal
Following the film's production and release, all surviving Weston Girls were recognised with the King Charles III Coronation Medal, for their significant contributions to their community, province, and to Canada. The recognition was directly connected to the film's role in bringing the women's story to public attention and was initiated by the office of the Governor General, Ottawa.[18]
The honour completed an arc that had begun seventy years earlier: the same women who had watched a young princess ascend to the throne as teenagers in 1953 were recognised by the newly crowned King in acknowledgement of the lives that moment had helped to shape.