The Queen chats about her crown in a rare recorded conversation

“Crowns are quite important things”, says the woman who wears them rather a lot, but there are “some disadvantages”: principally “your neck would break” if you looked down to read a speech.

Of course, most people don’t need this sort of advice but they come from a most experienced source when it comes to wearing crowns: Queen Elizabeth II.

In a rare recording of the Queen in conversation, the Monarch has been discussing her memories of her own coronation as she watched ITV’s broadcast of the ceremony in 1953.

It’s thought she has never watched the footage of her coronation before.

And there is an equally rare glimpse of the Queen’s sense of humour as she examines the Crown Jewels – her Crown Jewels.

She spoke for a new BBC documentary to mark her coronation’s 65th anniversary.

The St Edward Crown is only ever worn at the moment of crowning itself.

So the Queen was looking at the item she last saw as a young 27 year old woman in Westminster Abbey.

The St Edward Crown together with the Imperial State Crown – which is used after the coronation and at the State Opening of Parliament – are both part of the Crown Jewels.

The collection of sacred and ceremonial objects is perhaps the most famous – and yet least understood – jewellery collection in the world.

Most of the highly symbolic objects date back to the coronation of Charles II upon the restoration of Monarchy in 1661.

The crowns were transported from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace for the filming.

The Queen told the programme that her coronation was “a beginning of one’s life really, as the sovereign”.

“I’ve seen one coronation,” she said referring to her father’s in 1937, and “I’ve been the recipient in the other” - referring to her own.

She calls that “pretty remarkable.”

Watching footage broadcast at the time in colour by ITV, The Queen, speaks of her“horrible” ride in the 3 metre tall Gold State Coach which weighs nearly four tonnes and has been used at every coronation since the one for George IV in 1821.

“It’s not meant for travelling in at all”, she says.

And she reveals how she got stuck in Westminster Abbey under the weight of her coronation dress: “I remember one moment when I was going against the pile of the carpet and I couldn’t move at all.”

The programme makers, Atlantic Productions, says it’s the first time a Monarch has spoken on camera about their experience of their coronation.

But Buckingham Palace is not referring to the conversation as an "interview" even though the conversation with royal historian Alastair Bruce does contain some questions and her answers.

The Queen has never given an official interview.

Later this year, ITV will air a documentary in which the Queen speaks to fellow nonagenarian Sir David Attenborough.

It seems that at the age of 91, the Queen is becoming more relaxed about having her conversations recorded for broadcast.

• The Coronation will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday.