玛蒂尔达和埃莉诺1

1953, a coronation fit for a king 1953

but it's a young queen

who is about to be crowned

And the crowd roars its approval

The fact that she's a woman attracts no comment

and she will go on to reign over us for six decades

But England's queens haven't always been greeted with such adoration

and throughout our history

women and power have made an uneasy combination

800 years earlier 800

another female heir to the throne came to Westminster for her coronation

She wasn't met by cheering crowds

Instead, she was chased away from the capital by an angry mob

Her name was Matilda

the first woman to make a claim to the English crown in her own right

But 800 years ago, power was inescapably male

There was no question in the medieval world

men ruled and women didn't