Royal salute guns mark 57th anniversary of Coronation

A 28-strong firing party from 53 (Louisburg) Battery, 5 Regiment Royal Artillery based at Catterick, gave the salute in the city's Museum Gardens when 21 rounds from four guns were fired.

Brigadier David Maddan, the commander of 15 (North East) Brigade, the largest regional brigade in the UK, and York Garrison escorted the inspecting officer, the newly-appointed Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Sue Galloway.

Crowds gathered in the Museum Gardens to listen to music from the Band of the King's Division, which is normally based at Weeton Barracks near Preston, before the salute began on the stroke of noon.

The guns were fired at 15-second intervals to mark the anniversary. The Queen's Coronation ceremony took place on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey in London.

York is one of 12 saluting stations in the UK, and the light field guns which were used yesterday have previously seen service in both the Falklands and Afghanistan.

The others include London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, although York is the only one in the North of England.

The right of a saluting station was granted to York to commemorate the 1,900th anniversary of the city in 1971.

The discharge of cannons as a form of salute is almost as old as the artillery itself, although Royal salutes are relatively modern.

The first military regulations governing the firing of salutes were made in 1827.

The Board of Ordnance ordered that 41 guns were the correct Royal salute when fired from St James's Park or the Tower of London.