This chair was given to my grandmother by her mother. She attended Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation on June 2, 1953 with her husband, my great-grandfather, because he was a Member of Parliament from Skipton, Yorkshire. My great-grandmother would fondly tell the story of being able to sit inside of Westminster Abbey to see the United Kingdom’s longest reigning monarch become crowned, and then laughing with everyone while they took the chairs they sat on home as a memento of the joyous event. The chair is made out of royal blue velvet and limed-oak. On the upper left corner is the emblem of Queen Elizabeth II. My grandmother brought over the chair to the United States in 2003, after the death of her mother. My grandmother immigrated in 1964 to the United States to be married after meeting my grandfather in Italy. She feels an even greater connection to the chair because it is number 64, the year she left England. My grandmother placed this chair in my room at her home in Princeton, New Jersey because she knows how much I love British history. Whenever I sit in it, I am reminded of my great-grandmother, whom I was only able to meet once but am said to have a lot in common with. The chair fills me with an immense feeling of pride for my relatives and England, along with reminding me about the important role politics has played in my family. I hope that I will be able to pass along this same chair to my granddaughter and tell her the story of our family’s past.

– Alexandra

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant