Cartier-Bresson covered the coronation of King George VI, in London, on 12 May 1937, for the French Communist weekly Regards, focusing more on the people who were attending the official procession than in the event itself.
Many people had waited all night to see the event, and Cartier-Bresson in this picture shows a glimpse of the awaiting crowd on the steps of Trafalgar Square.
Six people, two women and one man, at the left, and three men, at the right, with a small space between the two groups, are seated, while clearly expectant for the procession to come.
Looking down, there is a man who seems to have fallen asleep on a large pile of newspapers and litter lying in the ground.
Cartier-Bresson explained: "People had waited all night in Trafalgar Square in order not to miss any part of the coronation ceremony of George VI...