Recoronation of Elizabeth II

The recoronation of Elizabeth II was the second coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom which was held on 23 November 1997 after she had been briefly deposed by Ice Lord Xznaal during the Martian Invasion in May that year. It was the only instance of a recoronation in the history of the United Kingdom.

The ceremony was held in the morning within Westminster Abbey and was recorded by television cameras. Taking her seat on the coronation throne, the Queen received the Imperial State Crown which was placed atop her head. The recoronation was to clear the constitutional way for the election of a new Parliament following the Provisional Government. The event was attended by representatives of every nation on Earth, including heads of state and ambassadors, who called "God save the Queen". Sat behind them were senior military men and other heroes of the invasion. Amongst them was General Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who attended with his wife Doris, and Brigadier Winifred Bambera. Despite his role in thwarting the invasion, the Eighth Doctor did not attend; however, as Alistair pointed out to Doris, the Doctor did attend in their fourth incarnation, accompanied by companions Romana II and K9 Mark II.

Hearing the sound of talking, a couple of people leant over with stern looks on their faces; it was only after the Brigadier smiled back at them that they recognised him, returning their attention to the ceremony after mumbling their apologies. Montserrat Caballe took her place in front of the choir where she sang the Recoronation Aria, a specially-commissioned piece by Lord Lloyd-Webber. Glancing over at Bambera, Alistair thought to himself his hopes that he had done a good job, lived up to his ancestry and set a high standard for his successors to follow. Believing he had had a "good innings", Alistair, lost in the enjoyment of his retirement, let out a roar of laughter within Westminster Abbey. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

The recoronation was celebrated by a boxed set of coins, accompanied by a leaflet which promoted it as the only recoronation in British history while diplomatically failing to mention why it had been necessary. Such a set was found amongst other human artefacts in the Seventh Doctor's TARDIS. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

Future historians would count the recoronation as the first moment of the New New Elizabethan Age, when British art and literature entered a brief, but prolific resurgence. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

Behind the scenes
As acknowledged by writer Lance Parkin in the Author's Notes for The Dying Days, the recoronation of Elizabeth II was first mentioned in Christmas on a Rational Planet by Lawrence Miles, intended to explain how there could be a King in TV: Battlefield, believed to be set in the mid to late 1990s, while allowing Elizabeth II to celebrate her golden jubilee in PROSE: Head Games, set in 2001. Unaware of Miles' intent at the time, Parkin wrote the reason for the recoronation into The Dying Days, establishing that, rather than taking back the crown from a British King, the Queen was actually restored to the throne after being deposed by an alien invader.