H.M. The Queen: A Remarkable Life (British Royal Family Documentary) | Timeline

in June 1953 in a ritual dating back 900 years the Queen was crowned as the years passed by a young family often took second place to the demands of their mothers job royal weddings came and went marriages were dissolved royal homes in flame in the words of one of my most sympathetic correspondents it has turned out to be an annus horribilis royal children tragically lose their mother and a new woman arrives this is the story of the life of a woman whose birthright was to be queen following the terrorist attacks in America the Queen attends a special service of remembrance at st. Paul's Cathedral before a congregation United in grief for the 3,000 victims a candle is lit and thoughts turned to grieving families at a more cheerful occasion the Queen with her mother and sister Margaret acknowledged the cheers as the Queen Mother celebrates her hundredth birthday a year later the scene has changed now Margaret can only raise her arm to acknowledge the birthday crowd from her wheelchair a lifetime flashes before her back to happier days when she and her sister were part of the royal family firm under the watchful eye of their adoring parents they were very tight-knit they did a lot of things together and of course King George 6 absolutely doted on his youngest daughter Princess Margaret who was cheeky and naughty and beautiful and Princess Elizabeth was more studious and he loved her too but it was Margaret sort of mischievousness that he adored and totally spoiled her trained by Queen Mary the young princess Elizabeth was very much like her grandmother she didn't inherit her own mother's warmth and spontaneity and the person she admires almost most I'm a pop from Queen Victoria is her grandmother Queen Mary and you can see a great resemblance between the two you know that shyness that formality that slight distance from the public [Music] aboard HMS Vanguard bound for South Africa the young princesses were filmed with their mother and father during the long journey to Cape Town it was 1947 the first royal trip to the empire since the war it was also an opportunity for the young Princess Elizabeth heir to the throne to pledge her life to the service of the monarchy I declare before you all with my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong but I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me as I now invite you to do I know that your support will be unfailingly given God helped me to make good my vows and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it nearly 50 years later after making that vow the Queen returned to South Africa she was welcomed to a country free from racial discrimination and a republic within the Commonwealth color pictures of sleek people carriers replaced the old black and white fuzzy images of opened saloon cars she advanced through the cheering crowds on a journey to meet the President Nelson Mandela and to unveil a plaque commemorating her visit in November 1947 Princess Elizabeth married leftenant Philip Mountbatten on his wedding day her husband to be was given the title Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh Princess Elizabeth was 21 years old following the war years the country was still in the grip of austerity the government recommended a low-key wedding but for millions it was a long overdue chance for celebration the wedding dress made of ivory satin was designed by Royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell it was the first joyful royal event there been since the war and Britain had been through very difficult times of poverty of people without homes after all the bombing of the cities it was very a very depressing time and Churchill described the wedding as a bright ray of color on the hard grey road we have to travel on a cold November evening the newlyweds arrived at Waterloo station to board the Royal train at the start of their honeymoon Princess Elizabeth took along her favorite corgis Susan the young bride had met her husband eight years earlier the Queen was 13 when she first saw Prince Philip who was then young naval cadet at Dartmouth and very good-looking you know every sort of schoolgirls idea of a dashing hero blonde life varies of athletic they then met some years later and of course was so different then a courtship was conducted perhaps at a distance but the Queen had met the man she loved and I think has never stopped loving princess elizabeth was a young naval officer's wife stationed in malta with her husband these were happy days for the young woman for Princess Elizabeth it was like I'm flying out of a cage after all she been brought up during war at Windsor Castle very much isolated and the in Walter she just lived the life of an enable wife going to dances going to parties going to beach parties just living a totally normal life and it was perhaps the happiest period of her life in November 1948 six days before her first wedding anniversary Prince Charles was born at Buckingham Palace Elizabeth wrote to a friend I can't believe he's really mine this particular boy's parents couldn't be more proud of him she saw him as much as any family's any aristocratic families see their children in those days when she would see him in the morning and she would see him in the evening and so she was able to have those first four formative years around him Princess Anne was born two years later in 1950 at her christening the young Charles shared his parents enthusiasm for the new addition to the royal family with the arrival of a little sister the toddler Charles needed special attention the Queen always had a soft spot for her firstborn the the boy child and add was very naughty and therefore not quite so endearing as Prince Charles he was very sweet very loving and just adorable in fact his grandfather said we love him just tumbling around the room in 1952 the sick King George said goodbye to his daughter at Heathrow Airport she was on a state visit going to visit Australia and New Zealand when she stopped off in Kenya and it was there that she heard that her father died a black cloud of grief descended on the nation when it learned of the loss of its but while the old king was being mourned the new Queens reign had begun the death of her father had a huge impact on her because suddenly her young marriage her young children were all but taken away from her she was queen she had Pacific duties which she had to do which really left her very little time to see her children the young children watched as their mother left Buckingham Palace in the gold state coach for her coronation at Westminster Abbey later they joined her on the balcony to acknowledge the crowds people were optimistic in the way that they thought this is going to be a New Britain with a young cream and then on the day of the coronation came the news that Hillary and Tenzing had conquered Everest and this was another terrific morale booster official duties meant long absences away from home for the young Queen on one occasion her son hardly recognized his mother being a young member of the royal family had its compensations occasionally Charles and Anne would join their parents on trips abroad we have to remember that Prince Charles and Princess Anne were born before she came to the throne and she was still just the heir to the throne and so she had more time she had a more private life as soon as she acceded to the throne she had so much to do so much to learn huge Commonwealth tours to do which in those days before the jet planes had rarely caught her on took months the steam train allowed the young family to spend more time together a special royal children's nursery coach was hitched up to the Royal Train allowing the young children to travel in comfort with their parents it was the great age of the Train they traveled everywhere by train and there was a special nursery coach for Prince Charles and Princess Anne and their two nannies and their detectives and their footmen and it was all fitted out beautifully the luxury of Royal nursery life soon gave way to the realities of Education for Prince Charles as a young boy his own father had been sent away to a tough school with a Spartan regime and so it was - Gordon Stern in Scotland that Philip sent his son he is very much boss in the home he was a man who he was the one who decided that the boy should go to Gordon stone you know whereas the Queen herself might have preferred Eton she took her eye off her son I think that um she listened to her husband and said look I think it's a good idea if he goes away to a boarding school I'm not sure in retrospect that that was such a good idea but then we'll never really know how Prince Charles would have turned out if he'd been to a sort of day school Lord had governors it's very very hard to tell but I think Phillip was very harsh on Prince Charles we know that this has not been an immense success and the poor Prince Charles was deeply unhappy there but I think Queen felt particularly that in her marriage it should be a traditional marriage of her time which were in which the husband called the shots and the women ran in the house and also I feel that she had to compensate felt she had to compensate for the fact that she was in essence the boss and this dominant male matter now Duke Vendrell had to take second place in public anyway in February 1960 Prince Andrew was born almost 10 years after Princess Anne so why the gap between their second and third child she was just too busy I think the Duke of Edinburgh thought that um two children probable enough they had after all a boy and a girl that was enough to ensure the succession but then I think is the queen like manoeuvres as a certain age becomes a little broody and things how nice to have a baby and that's what happens where one baby ought to have another keeper company at their first meeting the teenage Princess Elizabeth confided in a friend that she never took her eyes off Philip how have things changed since then the Queen will call Prince Phillip darling but if she's in public oh she's crosses him she had called him Phillip and one knows then that things are not are a little glacial and the queen is not the sort of person to lose her temper I think if there's a blistering rule about something she will probably go out and ride her horses or go and feed the dogs mmm the corgis and he may stomp about a bit but the Queen her voice is not raised loudly but everyone is aware if she is displeased and not amused in 1977 the Queen celebrated her silver jubilee the pageantry had not changed since her grandparents King George the fifth and Queen Mary celebrated their silver jubilee along the same route in the same coach in 1935 more than 40 years later the gold state coach pulled up in front of sin Paul's Cathedral sin succeeding to the throne 25 years ago the Queen acknowledges the warmth from the crowd in a manner unbeknown to her royal ancestors the royal walkabout is now part of royal duties she comes from an era when it was not done those people to be demonstrative in public and sometimes she said after a day of meeting people you know I simply ache with smiling but as confided it's a sad thing she doesn't have a smiley face but where she was actually very touched and very natural was determined silver jubilee going through the streets and the people came out once again and shook a war melon and she was astonished by this I think she's getting a lot of shyness from Queen Mary same sort of brightness and inability and yet it's so caring later during the silver jubilee celebrations the Queen paid tribute to her husband in a speech at the guild hall she explains the real meaning of the Royal wee-wee and by that I mean both of us I'm most grateful a 21-gun salute in Hyde Park to celebrate Prince Philip's 70th birthday culminated in an open carriage drive with the Queen Prince Phillip was born royal he was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and his British born wife Alice his royal heritage extended to the Queen's love for her pet corgis this fine specimen is the granddaughter of Susan she's the Corgi who accompanied the newlyweds in 1947 on their honeymoon to Hampshire the current pack of seven corgis is the tenth generation descended from Susan the queen is in the palace she does give them afternoon tea herself I mean she chops up their food and their biscuits and puts it down and little silver service and someone's not quite snappy and are not averse to biting an ankle sometimes her a very secret chuckle after lunch at Windsor and this is quite disconcerting for guests the Queen will spray dog biscuits around under the table with footmen prepares for the Sullivan on one occasion the salver of dog biscuits was presented to the Queen and a nervous Bishop who was sitting beside her actually took one and edit in Windsor Great Park the Queen watches Prince Philip enjoy one of his favorite pastimes carriage driving however she is not amused when a crowd of nosy photographers get in her way when Prince Philip gave up playing polo due to a bad back injury carriage driving became a source of great satisfaction [Music] although the Queen lives in palaces and castles she is a famously frugal person despite owning private estates valued at 75 million pounds he was still fine the Queen perhaps with a small electric fire I think it may run to three bars but the quiet and very often she'll put on two but she likes to be thrifty and this is very sort of aristocratic anyway but it's curious because the Queen Mother is not thrifty at all and if you eat a client's house the food is lavish and whipped cream and wonderful salmon wonderful beef wonderful wine with the Queen is perhaps a little different the Queen is custodian of many royal treasures her wealth is incalculable she has in her possession a royal collection worth more than ten billion pounds it's terribly hard to work out just how rich the Queen is it's very hard to separate the goods chapels which are very valuable ones that she is custodian of for her life she don't sell any of these things so I don't think that should be included in her assets the stamp collection of Buckingham Palace is worth millions all the China and she's got so many different sets of dinner sets and whereas you or I might have we consider so glad to have 20 set pieces her the most likely 450 set pieces of every item she's most likely got 20 of those mice and porcelain all the great ones of the world now is that hers or is she just custodian I think she's just custodian her art collection is just astonishing there are so many band Ike's around there are Michelangelo's I mean absolutely endless goodies but I'm not sure that she can classify them as being hers I don't think she can certainly not the crown jewels that's the state but um this is an immensely rich woman the queen is an excellent horse woman and enjoys a good canter in Windsor Great Park she breeds her own horses from her studs in Norfolk and Hampshire they are run on a commercial basis and all the profits are taxed [Music] [Music] every year in June the royal family attends Ascot races [Music] the Queen's passion for racing goes back to her father who had a string of racehorses an early victory for her was in 1952 at glorious Goodwood it was announced during the meeting that the Queen had leased the Colt gave time from the national star so it was a fitting climax when on the last day of the meeting Gordon Richards riding for the first time in the Queen's cutters round gay time to victory in the Gordon sticks horse-racing has always given the Queen enormous pleasure she has tremendous knowledge of horses and foresters and breeding but it's gone way back and there's a little story which i think is just so lovely about her and about racing she's very fond of her trainers and years and years ago there was a trainer called Captain Charles Moore very old man who was very very ill and she went to see him with Queen Mother and she said well how are you at captain Moore well mommy said to tell the truth he said I feel like a rabbit has just been bolted by a ferret she said and turned to the Queen Mother she said well I've been called many things behind my back before but I've never been called a ferret to my face before at the races she expresses her emotions you can see the sort of absent girlish Glee with which she treats them I'm really one dumb you know to get a bit of you in there you know her face lights up as you never see it light up on public occasions this is when you see the Queen really excited absolutely natural excited you see her nudging the Queen Mother whoever is beside her with binoculars up it's marvelous to see because this is this is the Queen at play she's very knowledgeable on the way horses are be they racehorses two-year-olds in training sprint horses or whether they're driving carriages [Music] among the queens myriad of less well-known duties is her stewardship of the Duchy of Lancaster her huge landholding which makes a substantial contribution to the monarchy's finances as its landlady the queen pays the Dutchie regular visits her tenants turn out delighted to see their queen at close quarters [Music] there is nothing which arouses more interest among her female tenants and their daughters than the choice of clothes the Queen makes for these visits to the Duchy she has a very matter-of-fact attitude to clothes she has always said I'm not a film star the clothes you know are just essential to the job and she has very strict rules she was say to designers who will draw up some beautiful thing for a tour and she said hopeless for waving I can't wave with sleeves like that so they must always ensure that she can wave hats must always be off the face because people must be able to see me and lipstick is always a very strong red and this is for the sake of the photographers and so that she can be seen by people from a great distance but she doesn't have a frivolous attitude to clothes if she does like pretty bright colors she likes lemons Pink's blues purples although she looks very good actually in dark colours on one occasion she was wearing a very she chosen a very pretty outfit for Fergie and Andrews wedding it was kind of LOUIE LOUIE lilac I and some kick pleats and she was trying it on with her dress makeup and Prince Philip walked me said mmm that's rather nice Lily burped and she flushed right pink so she does like to be praised and she is there is a feminine side to the Queen which perhaps we don't always see her hair is immovable probably in in whatever the weather conditions and I once said to her hairdresser what is the secret of the Queen's hair you know what why does it never move in the wind and he said brute force and lacquer Elizabeth is queen of 15 countries her Commonwealth is very dear to her a lot of people don't appreciate this they consider the Commonwealth as really very unimportant a relic from the past it's not how the Queen visit at all she considers her role as queen of Australia New Zealand Canada and in the other 16 Dominion countries she considers that every bit as important as being Queen of Britain UK Northern Ireland Wales all that every bit as important and she loves her prime ministers the Commonwealth lover they think that she's the person who cares about them that the government of the day in Britain usually doesn't and also she's been around so long but all these she's such friends with all these leaders she knows their problems she knows their families she knows intimate details about them you know whether that brothers just died or something so they really feel that she genuinely cares and she does as a world traveler the Queen is often exposed to all the pitfalls of bad planning during a visit to the United States a speech at the White House resulted in some red faces some nitwit had got to the stand from watch where she was reading her speech a little bit too high and the camera was too low and you just had a picture up over the lectern onto you couldn't see the Queen's face properly all you could see was the Hat and every we dubbed it just the speaking hat she finds this actually immensely amusing she has a great sense of humor during a visit to Russia the Queen entertained President Yeltsin and his wife receptions on the Royal Yacht drinks are very lavish indeed and of course this loosens people's tongues and she loves that and she loves people to be natural and I've been at some receptions abroad where people have perhaps relaxed a bit too much and they start a terrorist story which is terribly funny to the rest of us but you wonder how is this going to go down and she loves it she'd very easily amused and makes people feel very good well the Queen's friends will tell you a wonderful sense of humor she has and how she finds she likes to laugh at herself for a start and she loves ridiculous things I mean she'll laughter look tears run down her face and then she's got a quick with a sense of our name as it's story I particularly liked and she was in a North workshop dressed as she normally is in the country with her head scarf and everything and a woman came up to and said damn I hope you don't mind my saying so but you look awful like the Queen and the Queen said how very reassuring [Applause] in 1981 Prince Charles set out to marry Lady Diana Spencer the daughter of one of the Queens equus it was heralded as a great step forward for the House of Windsor I think the day that the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer was a great day for the Queen what it was sharing that day was that the continuity of her family was can was being continued in a correct and proper manner he was quite late when he married Prince Charles you know he was he was old for a Prince of Wales to marry anybody I think there was always a certain amount of concern about Danner who was really quite young for her yes she was young anyway but she was quite childlike and I think there must have been a little bit of concern from the Queen on that she'd come from a family who the Queen knew and respected I mean Diana's father Earl Spencer had been Aquarian not only to herself the Queen but to her father King George the sixth and previous ancestors of the Spencer's had served the royal family going back two or three centuries so there was sort of good pedigree there and although the Queen may have had one or two reservations I mean we'll never really know she's so clever at hiding all our feelings I think she was happy and satisfied that her son was marrying somebody and they would produce children and and the continuity of the House of Windsor would almost certainly keep going the young Princess Diana was thrown into the public spotlight totally unprepared for the demanding nature of the job the Queen must have known that there were all sorts of problems almost from the word go so without us knowing and she hid this very well she was aware that diana was having an incredibly difficult time settling down to married life with the focus of attention now firmly on the new Princess Diana accompanied the Queen to the State Opening of Parliament in 1984 unaware that her new hairstyle would overshadow the solemnity of the occasion she had this incredible new hairstyle and this very important dignified occasion which is all part of the process of being the sovereign the head of state the opening of Parliament was just blown out the window because all the newspapers and the televisions really concentrated on Diana's hairstyle rather than the solemnity of the occasion now this I was told very close to the time had really infuriated the Queen she didn't mind on having a new haircut that wasn't the point the point was that by introducing it on the day of the opening of Parliament she took all the emphasis away from the dignity of the occasion and it all concentrated on Danna and that was not very good for democracy and for the House of Windsor in 1985 Prince Andrew a naval officer married Sarah Ferguson a commoner all the royal family turned out to welcome their new member as the former naval officer's wife herself the Queen could not understand why Sarah was so different to her their backgrounds are so very different from hers after what she'd grown up with it she'd been used to Buckingham Palace Windsor Castle as a child she'd been trained for her job for forever and so I don't think she fully understood the difficulties that these girls experienced and I think when it came to the Duchess of York particularly so because for the Queen her own naval days as a naval wife had been absolute joy to her and the fact that Sarah Ferguson didn't well the judges didn't seem to enjoy that aspect of her husband's life she found very difficult to understand the Queen did not fully appreciate the gulf between her and her daughters-in-law although differences were to develop later on she obviously thought she'd done her best to protect them if we look back remember it was the queen who called the editors of the palace in the early days when the Princess of Wales thought she was being pressurized by the press and the media and the Queen said you know my daughter-in-laws peace must must be protected and she at that time moved to protect the princess princes wealth to her was like an adorable skittish niece I mean she just knew Diana from childhood and so she was intelligent caring a little bit bewildered sometimes I mean in the early days when the princess was married and there at Balmoral and it was stuffy occasion princess would jump up from the table and run round the table and sit on Prince Charles's lap and give him a kiss I mean something like that had never been seen before amongst the royal family the Queen would just shake her head and give a little smile in 1993 the Queen attended the wedding of her nephew Lord David Lindley at Westminster Abbey there was a close bond between them and to David's sister Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones their parents were married in 1960 and by the time their marriage was dissolved eighteen years later the Queen had become a very supportive aunt to her young niece and nephew who spent many weekends and holidays with their aunt Lily Bert she dotes on Princess Margaret's children especially Lady Sarah who is just a favorite niece and she was a very sort of loving aunt figure and very proud of Lord Lindley I think one of the Queen's quarters said to me that sometimes as young children thought the Queen was their mother because she always take them out to Balmoral with her when Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon would go on their summer holidays to Sardinia or to Tuscany and she was very much a stable figure in their lives and she loved them very much in 1989 the Duke and Duchess of York were with the Queen aboard Britannia with their new daughter Princess Beatrice as the couple's marriage broke down the Queen confided in a friend about Sara's behavior I can't understand my children Sara didn't even try to be a naval wife she said by 1991 the Queen was aware that parts of her family were crumbling around her there had already been a royal marital breakdown when Princess Anne and her husband Mark Phillips had split up after 15 years of marriage the publication of Andrew Morton's book Diana her true story ended any sympathy Queen Elizabeth might have had for Diana these events focused attention on the Queen's relationship with her grandson when Prince William was at the Queen saw a lot of him and got to know him quite well she was concerned in the early years that she never saw them because Diana in her Diana ruch way sort of made a great thing of bringing the children to see Queen usually when she wanted something so it wasn't always a natural happening and she didn't see very much of them but then when William was at school she saw a lot of him but now sort of geography really keeps them apart and Williams you know his own man now and he's at st. Andrews and he doesn't see that much of his grandmother Harris sees more of her because he's just over the road and he goes to Windsor Castle for tea in public William and Harry appeared at ease with their estranged parents but the whole Royal myth which the Queen had tried so hard to build up had started to unravel she found her son's behavior unsatisfactory if Charles and Diana met each other after they both be married to someone else it might have worked because there was a magic there there really was but I just she was too young and he was too emotionally young too and he just had never met anyone like Diana who was so demanding and she was so basically insecure that she needed love and attention all the time which his role prevented him from giving her the Queen had the highest hopes for Diana and I think she rather liked the way that Diana was such a hands-on mother she was almost envious of the fact that Diana could spend so much time with her children but as the years went on and the cracks appeared in the marriage I think she felt that Diana's smothered rather than mothered her children and she also disapproved strongly of Diana sharing such emotion and she in front of her children many stories of William pushing tissues under the bathroom door Diana sobbing in the bathroom and the Queen rarely thought that that was the wrong way to bring up children not to let them feel guilty about their mother's own unhappiness [Music] the two young women who had voluntarily married into the royal family enjoyed all its privileges and then turned on the system I know that when these divorces came one after another she did say to close friend well what have we done wrong the Queen Mother said to her well darling you haven't gone wrong it's just a different era and it's hard for children to bring people from the outside into that very stiff world of royalty and it still remains hard so I don't think the Queen totally blames herself but I think she feels had she been around a little bit more for them perhaps she could have been more help but I don't think I think perhaps they just married the wrong people it is very difficult to be a queen and a mother I think every important executive woman finds this I think that the winds are temperament which has been handed down from George v and Queen Mary has also been a factor the stiff upper lip the sweeping problems under the carpet and the lack of communication and this also comes from living in enormous houses like Buckingham Palace where they live quite separate lives each with their own suite and their own servants and so it isn't the to have a jolly get-together in front of the television it's a different life in 1992 the Queens home when the castle was severely damaged by fire we're the finest carpets once lay there were only charred remains the government asked the Queen to pay for rebuilding and restoration coming on the heels of her family's other catastrophes the Queen alluded to her sadness in a speech at the guild hall 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure in the words of one of my most sympathetic correspondents it has turned out to be an annus horribilis I suspect that I'm not alone in thinking it so it couldn't have been worse could it all the children's marriage is going wrong one after another the tremendous scandals in the papers the constant attention to our family's private lives and then the outspoken criticism of her which she wasn't used to she'd been used to nothing but kindness all her life and when the public turned on her at the time of the Windsor fire and said no we won't pay I think she was deeply hurt and surprised by this on duty again for the second world war anniversary celebrations the Queen is dignified in the company of other statesmen I can do it she says because I have been properly trained for the job she has been doing it for a very long time 20 years ago in Scotland she was photographed arriving at the Braemar Games it was the same thing 30 years before same camera positions almost the same people back in the eighties the Queen was hoping that a new royal generation would be equipped to take over in the event the new blood made her task a little more difficult [Music] despite her natural ability to raise the image of royalty with her hands-on approach diana realized too that she was not the queen's type of girl for the job it has to be said that diana was more interested in buying clothes than country pursuits did the news of her death shocked her of course the Queen was shocked when Diana died as was everybody else but her concern wasn't actually for Diana or her family or Prince Charles it was for her grandchildren and William and Harry were up at Balmoral staying with the Queen in Scotland and her whole concentration was on protecting and safeguarding those poor young children as best she could when the royal standard was not flown at half-mast the Queen narrowly escaped a major public relations disaster she then gave orders for a flag to be put up never happened before and that it should fly at half-mast I think she was out of touch I think it was mainly because she was trying to protect the grandchildren and I think she very nearly got it seriously wrong at his mother's funeral the young Prince William walked beside Prince Philip Prince William asked his grandfather to walk in the funeral procession it was Prince William's request and I think that Prince William is probably the sort of son Prince Philip would like to have had I think he's not very proud of him and he likes Prince Harry's robustness and I I think he's very devoted to them in his in his way the death of Diana will have a lasting impact I think it probably will be looked at in the history books as the time when the monarchy radically changed its attitude to its past and its future enter mrs. Camilla parker-bowles longtime friend and mistress to Prince Charles and possibly his next wife I don't think the Green will ever willingly accept Camilla parker-bowles Ascend daughter-in-law I think that any marriage between Charles and Camilla gives a big problem to the House of Windsor and that is the Queen's consideration above the happiness of her son Charles so I don't think that'll happen she has seen and met Camilla once in the last I think it's 26 years they met for about four seconds Camilla parker-bowles dropped two curtsy and said hello ma'am and then the Queen moved swiftly on since then she has not set eyes on the lady at all [Music] the unity of the royal families held together by an aging generation of Royals essentially private and self-contained in their own world royal appearances often make headlines for the wrong reasons Princess Margaret's health is a major concern for the Queen she's quite strict with Margaret when Margaret burned her feet in the bath a few years ago which is the beginning of all her problems the Queen would make her get out of her wheelchair and walk she's quite strict with I mean she she says get on with it it's her sister but she's also very concerned for Margaret and wants to have her around her so that she can sort of lend a sisterly support and during the unhappiness of Margaret's marriage the Queen was always there for but she was kind of this thought Margaret was a bit of a drama queen and she wouldn't stand any nonsense from her for all its problems the Queen's own family with its succeeding generation is the guarantee of the monarchies continuity there won't be an abdication that's never ever been discussed at Buckingham Palace or anywhere else it just doesn't enter any of their minds of an application the main reason for that they're all sorts but the main one is that the Queen was anointed with holy oil and took a vow to continue as sovereign until she died was taken before God the Queen is in a deeply religious person a practising Christian and when she took that vow that was for life that's why there won't be an application above all other considerations like most families the Windsors have not been unscathed by the vast social changes of the last century I think in this day it's very difficult being a queen because you have to appear to be modern and outgoing and yet remember she's been in that ivory tower since the age of 26 she's never been able to walk down a street and buy an apple and doesn't even know the price of an apple so then relating to this modern world when you're in the ivory tower very difficult and really she's often said she just wants to go and live in the country with her dogs and horses [Music] [Music] Prince Philip once claimed that the monarchy exists not in the interests of the monarch but in the interest of the people this has certainly been true throughout the Queen's reign [Music] [Music] [Applause] amidst the call for changes in the monarchy one should not forget the extraordinary relationship which has existed between the people and its sovereign over the last 50 years and before who can deny that while her subjects look forward to their monarchy changing with the times there is so much the Queen can look back on with pride [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 298,365

Rating: 4.6237783 out of 5

Keywords: History, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, queen elizabeth, royal family, united kingdom, prince harry, princess diana, queen of england, prince william, prince charles, prince andrew interview, prince andrew interview full, prince andrew bbc interview, prince andrew interview highlights, prince andrew bbc, queen elizabeth ii, the crown

Id: WjxL8Nfqn38

Length: 49min 29sec (2969 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 26 2019