Olivia Colman reads a letter from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

[Music] thank you very much it's really good that i can't see you so i can pretend there's only two people there september the 13th 1940 my darling mama i hardly know how to begin to tell you all the horrible attack on buckingham palace this morning bertie and i arrived there at about of course to 11 and he and i went up to our poor windowless rooms to collect a few odds and ends i must tell you that there was a red warning on and i went into the little room opposite b's room to see if he was coming down to the shelter he asked me to take an eyelash out of his eye and while i was battling with this task alec came into the room with a batch of papers in his hand at that moment we heard the unmistakable whir were of a german plane we said ah a german and before anything else could be said there was the noise of aircraft diving at great speed and then the scream of a bomb it all happened so quickly that we had only time to look foolishly at each other when the scream hurtled past us and exploded with a tremendous crash in the quadrangle i saw a great column of smoke and earth thrown up into the air and then we all ducked like lightning into the corridor there was another tremendous explosion and we and our two pages who were outside the door remained for a moment or two in the corridor away from the staircase in case of flying glass it is curious how one's instinct works at these moments of great danger as quite without thinking the urge was to get away from the windows everybody remained wonderfully calm and we went down to the shelter i went along to see if the housemaids were all right and found them busy in their various shelters then came a cry for bandages and the first aid party who'd been training for over a year rose magnificently to the occasion and treated the three poor casualties calmly and correctly they poor men were working below the chapel and how they survived i don't know their whole workshop was the shambles for the bomb had gone bang through the floor above them my knees trembled a little bit for a minute or two after the explosions but we both felt quite well today though just a bit tired i was so pleased with the behavior of our servants they were really magnificent i went along to the kitchen which as you will remember has a glass roof i found the chef bustling a bite and when i asked him if he was all right he replied cheerfully that they had been on putting kelker a little something in the corner um a little noise with a broad smile the putty kalka shows a little something was the bomb on the chapel just next door he was perfectly unmoved and took the opportunity to tell me of his unshakable conviction that france will rise again we launched down in our shelter and luckily at about 1 30 the all clear sounded so we were able to set out on our tour of east and west ham the damage there is ghastly i really felt as if i was walking in a dead city when we walked down a little empty street all the houses evacuated and yet through the broken windows one saw all the poor little possessions of photographs the beds just as they were left at the end of the street is a school which was hit and collapsed on the top of 500 people waiting to be evacuated about 20 are still under the ruins it does affect me seeing this terrible and senseless destruction i think that really i mind it much more than being bombed myself the people are marvelous full of fight one could not imagine that life could become so terrible we must win in the end darling mama i do hope you will let me come and stay a day or two later it is so sad being parted as this war has parted families with my love and prayers for your safety ever darling mama your loving daughter-in-law elizabeth p.s says sorry um dear old buckingham palace is still standing and that is the main thing you

Channel: Letters Live

Views: 1,044,131

Keywords:

Id: 5jHTOInw6KQ

Length: 5min 10sec (310 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 28 2021