The Complex Marriages Of The House Of Windsor | Royal Wives | Real Royalty

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] Princess of Wales and Sarah Duchess of York have not been seen together officially since their last appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and trooping the color in 1991. since that moment both their marriages have ended in separation once the world was enthralled by scenes like this ignorant to the reality that two of the world's most famous Royal women were unhappy in their marriages to the Windsor boys Charles and Andrew now living separate lives and no longer part of official Royal activities Diana and Sarah have chosen an independent lifestyle as single mothers Diana as mother of the Future King William can never turn her back totally on the Royal Family yet only six months after her separation to Charles her life took on the poignant role of a Lonely Princess [Music] [Applause] at Lord lindley's wedding to Serena Stanhope Diana appeared as a lone figure not yet divorced she was prevented by a royal protocol from appearing on the arms of another man [Music] a traditional family turnouts like the queen mother's birthday both Diana and Sarah are now conspicuous by their absence leaving their solitary men folk to highlight the state of their respective Royal marriages yet for the sake of the children Sarah and Andrew do appear together sports day they're both present to give their support and participate in all the activities including the parents race [Applause] [Applause] [Music] in the absence of a normal family life Diana is compensating her children by showing them a more relaxed style of Monica as a single mom she enjoys their company on a day out a thought part of popular theme park near London [Music] Diana is now out on her own officially independent of Charles she's determined to maintain a high public profile and continue an active role supporting her Charities at home and abroad on a visit to Nepal shortly after their separation Diana reasserted her position as a powerful Focus for her charitable activities energetic and compassionate way has become her trademark yeah despite the sadness of the marriage breakup Diana continued her public duties bringing a sense of style and glamor to her many public appearances [Music] [Applause] between all this though is the reality that her marriage to Prince Charles is over the family unit has been split down the middle and reunions are now centered around the two Crown princes William and Harry as loving and caring parents Charles and Diana get together when duties permit for occasional visits to their sons away at boarding school for Sarah the regular morning ritual of taking her children off to school hardly raises a flicker of interest between them the ex-roy wives of Windsor are gradually slipping off the public stage a position they once commanded so notoriously they married into royalty only to reject its Privileges and values in favor of a simpler quieter and more honest life the story of the royal wives of Windsor captured people's imagination and enthralled Millions the world over 150 years ago Queen Victoria visited aberdeenshire on the river D in Scotland and fell in love with its very special Beauty since then British monarchs have made it the summer retreat when Queen Elizabeth comes to stay on the estate of Balmoral Castle her family come too traditionally it's been a place to relax and hide but in the summer of 91 cracks began to appear on the unblemished facade of the family get-together rumors spread of Royal marriages in trouble when Prince Charles heir to the throne married Diana he brought his beautiful young bride to Scotland on their honeymoon alas their Loveless marriage ended in separation after 11 years the Queen's Second Son Andrew married Sarah within a few years drains began to appear in their relationship too after nearly six years they separated Sarah moved out of the family home with the two young princesses she realized there was no hope of trying to salvage her stormy marriage to Andrew the pressures were too much for these young women they married their prince charmings to discover that life within the Royal House of Windsor brought loneliness unhappiness and despair [Music] thank you [Music] on a trip to India shortly before the official breakup of her marriage Diana claimed that the Taj Mahal built out of one man's love for his wife was a healing experience in 1981 Charles had been here himself and had vowed to return one day with his new wife but when she eventually came she was alone the poignant signed that their love for each other hadn't survived the test of time in the months leading up to her official separation from Charles Diana projected the image of an accomplished Confident Woman a successful member of the royal family in her own right eleven years earlier their marriage was the royal event of the decade the wedding of the century the stuff that fairy tales are made of she vowed to love and honor but not to obey I Diana Francis take the Charles Philip Arthur George Dr George to my wedding husband [Music] [Applause] [Music] by falling in a look on the responsibility to play a major role in the royal family firm as well as providing her husband with heirs to the British throne she was now public property wherever she went millions of eyes would now follow thank you [Applause] the British Monarchy is a closed shop except through marriage initiation is a tough business particularly for a commoner when Sarah Ferguson Fergie to her friends married Prince Andrew like Diana she had to learn the ropes for herself sadly she too ended up alone Sarah had tried to do it her way and failed she too had hopes and dreams and like Diana she made promises but at 26 she was expected to bring a greater maturity to the role of Royal Bride on consort she was given away by her father major Ron Ferguson in later years he would become the man she would turn to for advice in the absence of her husband away at sea [Music] for the marriage ceremony they swapped wedding rings she agreed to obey saying I think it's the man's role to be the leader and he will make the final decisions but that does not mean I'm a yes woman I must stress that foreign [Music] attractive couple Andrew The Dashing naval officer Sarah his exuberant partner she was a breath of fresh air in the stuffy Royal circles together they projected a united front we're a good team anyway yes I think that's the same Grace it's the fact that in the last nine months we've discovered that we work very well together um we're good friends good team in contrast to the worldly manner of Sarah Diana at 20 was far more vulnerable than naive before the engagement was officially announced Her Shine is an inexperience of the mercy of applying press was very evident but there wasn't and he told reported yesterday that it may be coming soon has any comment to make about that yes [Music] questioned on television before the marriage Charles accepted press intrusion as an inevitable part of the job she felt that it was just something you had to adjust to and that Diana would learn how to deal with it pretty quickly that's part of it I think if you don't try to work out in your own mind some kind of method for existing and surviving this kind of thing you you would get mad I think so in the end you do get used to but I decided you find that I've now six months are beginning to get used to it just it is I suppose one of the most important things we're going to have to adjust to really isn't it of course yeah and Prince Charles has been a great help too Tower of strength Diana's a shy die image was in sharp contrast to Sarah's mature and extrovert manner as a professional woman Sarah had a career in publishing and was confident of her own identity she seemed far more prepared than Diana for the stresses and strains of marriage in the public eye but Diana's engagement the world was officially introduced to a shy kindergarten teacher daughter of an English Earl she was unblemished untrained and inexperienced her only expectation was to marry well in her new public role The Strain began to show at a polo match shortly before their wedding Diana was led away in tears exhausted by the marriage preparations and the constant glare of publicity but Charles was there to give her support when their first son William was born 11 months after their wedding she was happy and relaxed with no signs of strain six months later though during an exhausting trip to Australia in New Zealand it became apparent that Diana was losing a considerable amount of weight Buckingham Palace issued a statement dismissing rumors that Diana had the slimmer's disease anorexia nervosa in fact she was suffering from an eating disorder bulimia nervosa after bouts of massive overeating most sufferers induce vomiting but none of these problems tarnish the projected image of a happy and carefree family life [Music] with the pressures of public life Diana never really gained control over her bulimia she was now always the center of attention forever the focus for a media hungry to give a waiting public the photographs they craved foreign [Music] official tours she would go for days without eating properly pausing only to gulp a chocolate bar an ambulance had to be called during a visit to Expo 86 in Vancouver Charles was exasperated after She fainted in public and had to be helped away her eating habits found little sympathy with him moments later she reappeared her composure regained the Royal show must go on but behind the refined appearance and the thin pale face was a woman in distress [Music] there were happier times for Diana when Sarah Ferguson first appeared on the Royal scene she joined Diana and Charles on a skiing holiday in Switzerland her appearance confirmed speculation that she was Prince Andrew's girlfriend for Diana the prospect of another Outsider joining the royal family was a comforting thought Sarah was a fellow commoner who would hopefully bring companionship and support the royal family was relieved when Andrew married Sarah particularly the queen who was happy to see her second son betrothed after his Many Adventures with less suitable companions she felt that Andrew had met his match in Sarah voting well for a strong partnership the couple's own mood of Vitality and genuine happiness seem to rub off creating an unusually festive Royal send-off Overjoyed at his choice of bride the queen never looked happier and more relaxed it was the last time the royal family would present such a genuinely united front [Music] [Applause] thank you from the beginning Sarah found Royal life rather pompous skiing was one of her favorite pastimes and early on in their marriage the Yorks joined the Wales is on the ski slopes but for child duty comes first particularly when cameras are present there's a definite limit to how Royals should behave in public and it was just too much when his young wife and new sister-in-law were giggly and girly together on this occasion it was clearly Sarah's bad influence Charles obviously thought their conduct Unbecoming on and off duty Diana enjoyed Sarah's company in the early days they were frequent visitors to Polo matches as Sarah's father trained Charles's Polo ponies later though Diana had to officially detach herself from Sarah's unacceptable behavior and they drifted apart as Duchess of York Sarah embraced her royal duties with enthusiasm shortly after their wedding they left on an official visit to Canada Sarah's passion for life in general Bravada was greatly admired and the young couple's relaxed manner won the hearts of the Canadian people obviously still very much in love they were a huge hit foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] there were more surprises to come when the Yorks arrived at a farewell dinner in Ontario they had delighted Canadians with their informality and it wasn't over yet they were about to rewrite Royal protocol on after dinner speaking the commentators delightful phrase it's wild it's woolly it's Western and good watching like my wife sorry [Applause] thank you [Applause] before I have my head smashed in I mean my wife I mean my wife's hair it's at times like these but my speech runs out and I've decided that I'm going to give you a surprise I'm fed up with listening to my voice so I'm going to hand the lectern over to somebody else [Applause] I don't know what went wrong tonight because normally normally I'd check his speeches and he slipped that in about woolly Weston whatever anyway I could not go through a whole tour letting my darling husband of a year and a day do all the public speaking so we agreed for once that I should have the last word tonight you are very lucky to be living here and I can now count myself along with Andrew equally fortunate to be an honorary Canadian [Applause] Hurley in the wales's marriage Charles showed off his new wife to the Australian people though still very much in love they made a very different picture to the Yorks Diana less self-assured than Sarah was shy demure and acquiescing she allowed Charles to guide her in every sense [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] speech in Tasmania was poignant the last time I was here was two years ago in 1981 shortly before we were married and at that time everybody was saying good luck and I hope everything goes well and how lucky you are to be engaged to such a lovely lady and my goodness I was lucky enough to marry her and we had many many messages [Music] it's amazing what ladies do in your back step hiding behind her prince Diana was still bathing in the glory of being his princess and their love and affection for each other Shone through but Diana later became a master of hiding her emotions she became embittered about Charles's unbending attitude when it came to doing exactly as he pleased and she confided in friends that they were beginning to drift apart but to her adoring public Diana was still seen as a happily married woman supporting her husband [Music] the Spanish royal family were particularly welcoming they gave Diana the confidence and reassurance of an absent in her relationship with Charles as her confidence grew and her identity changed so did her image her flouncy girly gowns gave way to a more experienced sophisticated look acknowledging her own sexuality and power to Dazzle on state occasions her self-confidence was overwhelming gone was the shy die image of the past she no longer ran from the prying eyes of the media but flaunted her Newfound sense of power now she was sent to stage this was a butterfly bursting out from its chrysalis now an equal to Charles and no longer needing Him to guide her foreign tours Diana now complimented Charles by more than keeping up her end of their official partnership as ambassadors at Large [Music] she was now a personality in her own right striking out and conquering for herself [Music] foreign [Music] by showing genuine compassion concern and Love Diana became the people's princess their combined performances were stunning as the other royal couple Andrew and Sarah made a handsome double Act very different from Charles and Diana it was their relaxed manner that raised comment even during the most formal occasions Sarah's dress sense also came in for a lot of public attention when they were together they reveled in each other's company that these opportunities were rare as a naval officer Andrew was aware at sea for almost nine months of the year their time together was very precious and stolen kisses at Polo showed their youthful love for each other foreign [Music] but for most of the time they were forced to live apart and Sarah found the stress of being alone hard to bear with a natural zest for life she needed the buzz of excitement when Andrew wasn't around she found life within Royal confines rather dull to relieve the tea Pilots list flying was a way of life for Andrew and she wanted to learn more about her husband's work not to be outdone she also decided to fly helicopters I know exactly you're just talking about when he goes out on the sources so that's what I wanted to achieve so when he comes back in the evening tells him what he's been doing I know I know what he's been doing alone a lot of the time home was sunninghill Park a Texan style house with swimming pool sauna and Tennis Courts Royal status also meant Royal duties and Sarah performed these in her own very personal and relaxed manner her independence on Modern ideas were at odds with a formality and protocol of the British Monarchy Living in a gilded cage was not her idea of being Royal and as her privileged position opened new doors she was quick to grasp new opportunities for excitement and challenge foreign with Andrew away so much Sarah was often on duty alone she enjoyed the attention and Company of men and in Andrew's absence she turned to her father for support her man she had grown very close to after the breakup of her parents marriage when Sarah was a teenager [Music] with an absentee husband the media quickly focused on her performance as a single mum in 1986 public attention was caught by questions surrounding the state of the wales's marriage with press reports maintaining that they were turning away from each other newspaper coverage was quick to point out that Diana was very preoccupied with her two small Sons Charles on the other hand was spending less and less time with his family summer holidays as guests of the Spanish royal family was a welcome relief from the confines of British royalty Prince William felt comfortable in the arms of the relaxed and tactile King Juan Carlos Prince Charles preferred to keep his distance foreign [Music] enjoyed the easy manner of the Royal House of Spain childhood holidays for Charles had never been like this the concept of familiarity is alien to him he'd been brought up to believe that royalty must maintain a sense of formality and Mystique [Music] when William was rushed to hospital after an accident at school with a golf club Charles was accused of putting Duty before family despite the possibility of surgery He Slipped Away for an appointment naturally there was strong criticism for his Swift departure and the incident proved the Charles was to blame for his bad image as a father when William was out of danger his mother left for an engagement vivacious and sweet natured on the surface Diana has in her character an underlying sense of purpose with her High public status she threw her weight behind many social issues during a speech at a family Congress in Brighton she touched on the importance of the family unit [Applause] I could only point to those mothers fathers and children in lonely isolation or in comfortable conformity who simply do their best with what they have their success is measured by the care they have for each other and I suspect there is no better form of judgment Diana's concern for family life and the loneliness of others identifies her with women Under Pressure she visited wives of soldiers sent to fight in the Gulf War and spoke from the heart there is nothing because that I can say which will fill that Gap in your lives and to say that I along with so many others at home understand and sympathize with you at this time by visiting AIDS patients Diana has chosen to take up one of the world's major issues in 10 years a public morati the human immunodeficiency virus has attracted more than its fair share of prejudice and ignorance meanwhile Sarah was doing her Duty performing in a style the cameras had come to expect unfairly she was lampooned determined to be herself she chose to support good causes but in her own way her lack of regard for the cool stuffy Royal performance left her wide open to criticism from Buckingham Palace [Music] I want to sing a song and I haven't prepared a speech but I I just I'm so pleased to be here today I mean it's just wonderful I mean it's not very much snow and I think you've done a fantastic job there was fierce criticism that her speeches and general Behavior were too unconventional and familiar the Press often made disparaging comments on her dress sense [Music] she was determined to survive the icy disapproval of Buckingham Palace and her confidence to handle the situation and go yabu at The Establishment was demonstrated by her liberated and relaxed fashion of bare legs short skirts and smiles all round she could never be like Diana and often referred to her as Miss Goody Two-Shoes over familiarity with the Press was frowned upon Diana would never have done this sadly Sarah's unguarded manner was to be her downfall in a fashionable block of flats in London's Chelsea her passionate nature and zest for life was suddenly exposed to the world when holiday photographs featuring Princess Beatrice and Texan oil millionaire Steve Wyatt were discovered by a window cleaner allegations of Sarah's infidelity confirmed gossip that her marriage to Andrew was on the rocks in the eyes of the establishment the lonely Royal mother had failed to progress from commoner to royalty Sarah was now convinced that Buckingham Palace was out to get her when Prince Charles broke his arm in a polo accident his marriage also took a turn for the worse leaving hospital followed by Diana he was clearly depressed at the prospect of a long convalescence the mask of coping crumbled when journalists asked how he was feeling foreign loving care he returned without Diana to their gloucestershire home and into the arms of his close friend Camilla Parker Bowles Revelations of their relationship revealed Charles's love for another woman Diana found her comfort in the company of a friend James gilby [Music] bug telephone conversations allegedly with James gilby revealed just how unhappy she was with her marriage to Charles but the show must always go on for Generations the ceremony and privilege of royalty have been carefully maintained to perpetuate the myth that Royals are a world apart something removed and unreachable its state occasions like trooping the color the royal family is Duty bound to put on a happy face a well-orchestrated management system creates this facade all the Pomp and Circumstance is an important part of presenting stability and continuity and giving the public what they expect foreign eyes into her family's personal lives is a phenomenon the queen finds difficult to understand like many of her subjects the British monarch is typically restrained when it comes to inquiring about other people's difficulties Keeping Up Appearances no matter what happens is a vital part of being Royal as a mother the queen finds it difficult to face up to family problems she will go to almost any length to avoid confrontation [Music] foreign s would have had arranged marriages perhaps this method would have been more successful a bride chosen from one of the European Royal houses would at least have known what to expect [Music] all royal family occasions must be seen to be enjoyed grandmothers have a difficult enough task holding any family together even without the constant prying of the media under the pressures of a crumbling marriage and in the full glare of publicity Andrew and Sarah tried to continue with their daily lives Andrew carried out his duties as a naval officer while Sarah took their three-year-old daughter Beatrice to and from school after weeks of speculation the announcement of the York separation was finally made after the Queen's solicitor and a team of lawyers had discussed all the details of exactly how it would be arranged including the custody of the children [Music] the pressure on Sarah was showing the palace was angry at the way she had handled her Affairs all of her public engagements were canceled she was cast as the Baddie in the scenario but she continued stoically with the daily domestic routines [Music] forces within Buckingham Palace closed ranks stories were leaked that Sarah's extravagant and irresponsible lifestyle had caused the marriage breakup now an outcast Sarah blamed the palace for having interfered in her private life the Press wouldn't let go and it became a war of words but as always the public front was maintained and such upsets outwardly ignored normal Royal duties continued that the queen was unhappy were confirmed when Palace officials claimed that the knives were out for Fergie newspaper circulations were boosted as more Revelations came off the presses yeah Sarah owed her public status to that one memorable day when she married Prince Andrew now she was suffering the consequences of taking on a job she couldn't fulfill branded unsuitable for public life Buckingham Palace now closed its doors on her Andrew responded with a round of public engagements outwardly Untouched by all the Scandal plans were already underway for Sarah to move out of the family house with the two young princesses and into rented accommodation down the road when asked he declined to answer any questions about his marriage breakup equalizer the death of Diana's father Earl Spencer once again focused attention onto the state of the wales's marriage Diana had been very close to her father at her engagement he was immensely proud of his daughter and very happy for her I saw Diana last night he took absolutely radiant Charles arrived at the funeral by helicopter alone this was immediately picked up on by the press as another example of their leading separate lives he then joined his wife and other members of her family at the church foreign Spencer family's private grief now became public spectacle as newspapers probed for more signs that Charles and Diana were moving further and further apart Diana's personal message of love to her father was simple I miss you dreadfully darling Daddy but will love you forever Diana still mourning her father's death Diana and Charles attended his memorial service Diana blamed herself for not being at his bedside when he died on a happier occasion she took her two sons to the premiere of the film hook again Charles was conspicuous by his absence alone without her husband she is Regal yet relaxed Diana dispenses with stuffy Royal ceremony she knows that her strength and popularity comes from being a princess of the people alone again this time on an official trip to Egypt her Elegant Style and uncomplicated manner stands out well against the Grandeur of the surroundings her visit was a major success Charles preferred the Solitude of a Turkish landscape separately they were happier people having first been introduced to foreign tours by Charles Diana now had the self-confidence to perform solo meanwhile Sarah was getting accustomed to her official single mom status she'd regained her composure and self-confidence even ex-royals must keep up appearances for Diana press attention now focused on the more intimate details of her relationship with Charles stories will leaked to the Press about the real state of their marriage there were startling Revelations [Music] in the face of this unprecedented speculation the palace insisted that it was business as usual the princess was doing her best and hundreds of people turned out to wish her well during her next public engagement at a hospice for cancer sufferers on merseyside but her personal unease became very apparent and the chairman paid her a warm tribute know that you do your effects so very sincerely philosophy of tender loving care which is and always will be a Hallmark of this hospice after all the strains such praise for her work with the sick and needy seem to bring her close to tears it was in sharp contrast to The Confident mature Public Image she'd cultivated so successfully over the years outside she gathered her composure to chapter the crowds but then once again her emotions spilled over and she had to retreat to the official car [Music] but strength of character seemed to pull Diana through the press houndings and the Relentless demands of personal appearances shortly after her public breakdown she appeared poised and elegant at trooping the color signaling that she was after all in complete control of the situation [Music] when the book Diana her true story went on sale it was clear she had a thorough understanding of her own image protection the fairy tale princess had suddenly disappeared now the Romantic image was shattered Charles was no longer the prince charming of every girl's dreams he was suddenly accused of being selfish and uncaring as a husband and father perhaps his own upbringing was to blame Diana too had a difficult childhood as her own parents divorced and she missed the warmth and security of a United Family thank you Charles's parents have stayed together but their relationship with their children has never been close being a monarch is a lonely and demanding role putting Duty first the queen regrets she didn't spend more time with her children when they were small but the Windsors are a close-knit bunch particularly at a family wedding when they mustered around cousin lady Helen Windsor for the sake of Harmony and to the cameras just for one day at least marriage difficulties within the royal family were put to one side as they all turned out in force the bride's mother The Duchess of Kent welcomed the guests [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Sarah had been the one missing wedding guest but as another marriage her eldest daughter Princess Beatrice was a bridesmaid the Queen's granddaughter a new generation of royalty enjoyed the Limelight usually taken by her mother But Mommy too was heading for more press attention and trouble after Revelations of Sarah's association with the Texan millionaire Steve Wyatt public interest now centered around another Texan Johnny Bryan his cover is Sarah's financial advisor was blown wide open after photographs appeared of the almost naked couple cavorting on holiday together in the south of France it was a royal expose without precedent and the world's press had a field day Sarah's alleged lover Johnny Bryan failed to get an injunction to stop publication of the very revealing photographs and the media Onslaught continued eventually Johnny Bryan and Sarah were successful in winning a court battle in France against intrusion of their privacy by the French freelance photographer Sarah insisted that he was merely her financial advisor and a close and trusted friend of her husband Andrew he was after all dealing on behalf of and with the blessing of the queen uh no further comments to make in addition to the comments and statements I made last night continuing to protest his innocence Johnny Bryan became the center of massive public interest and debate newspapers claimed that the photographs were published to strip away the hypocrisy surrounding the couple's relationship the Press were quick to tell their readers that the couple had spent holidays together in Thailand Argentina New York and Euro Disney when the story broke revealing Sarah's holiday romance with Johnny Bryan the royal family including Sarah Andrew and the children were the holiday guests of the queen at Balmoral Castle the newspaper headlines exploded like a bombshell at the Royal breakfast table immediately the Royal publicity machine went on the defensive prince Andrew claimed that the photographs were a setup stories were hatched that Sarah was suffering from a nervous breakdown even the queen doubted that Sarah would ever be able to shoulder official duties Again The Duchess of York left Balmoral in disgrace she discreetly drove her children to Aberdeen airport while the rest of the royal family prepared for church Sarah had to face the reality that the royal family no longer considered her a member with her children she boarded a flight for London and virtual exile [Music] the official line was that Sarah had always intended to leave Balmoral at this time normal Royal life resumed in Scotland as though nothing untoward had happened the royal family including prince Andrew attended morning service at the local church it was just like any other Sunday with the crowds coming out to watch when Sarah arrived at Heathrow there was little thought of future plans except to perhaps visit her mother in Argentina her main concern was to head for the sanctuary of home as quickly as possible outside the gates of her rented home remanda Lodge newsmen were physically pushed aside as Sarah's aides tried to open the gates it was home at last but under siege [Music] back in Scotland the royal family led by a waving prince Andrew were driven sedately home from church the palace announced that no significant developments were expected in the next few days for the moment at least peace and Tranquility returned to the Scottish Highlands yet the family holiday was about to be disrupted once more the privacy of the Scottish estate was again invaded by the Press transcripts appeared in newspapers of a bug's telephone conversation allegedly between the Princess of Wales endearingly referred to as squidgy and her friend James gilby the conversation was affectionate evidence suggests that the recording was made while Diana was spending Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham in 1989. more illicit recordings would later allege that Charles had had a telephone conversation at around the same time with his girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles [Music] leaving the funeral behind them Charles and Diana left on an official visit to Korea even a full-blown Korean welcome couldn't lift the prevailing Gloom the charade was over for all to see even Diana normally a master of hiding her emotions knew the game was up yeah but as ever a sense of professionalism prevailed and the show went on the necessary demarcation between public duty and private Folly was upheld although the Sparkle and life had gone out of the performance now it was a case of just going through the motions now out of the Limelight Sarah was improving her bruised image on a trip to Poland for the charity Angels International she used her high profile to draw attention to sick and deprived children in Eastern Europe okay lucky the Press had come to watch Sarah but soon found themselves drawn to the plight of children the world had forgotten for someone who once gained a school award for good service and prays for her cheerful personality and interest in people it's not surprising that Diana makes an almost perfect princess tactile by Nature she promotes the importance of physical contact and family values hugging has no harmful side effects if we all play our part in making our children feel valued the result will be tremendous there are potential Huggers in every household always the focus for hugs and kisses she represents a new more accessible type of Royal a much-loved icon the public won't want to give up their admiration is genuine their affection spontaneous thank you the Royal House of Windsor had been shaken by recent family crises but not yet broken it was then with cruel irony that Windsor Castle burst into flames with so many aspects of royalty already under question it was as if their home itself was now under attack the billowing smoke could be seen from more than 10 miles away the largest inhabited castle in the world was in the grip of a major disaster the queen and her sons could only wait and watch as firefighters fought to save what was left of their family home foreign was at Windsor when the fire broke out and was one of the first on the scene for those who saw the blaze as a symbol of a malaise within the very institution of the monarchy they hadn't longed to wait when Charles and Diana attended a Gala evening it was the last time they were seen together publicly before the Prime Minister John Major addressed the House of Commons it is announced from Buckingham Palace that with regret the prince and princess of Wales have decided to separate their Royal highnesses have no plans to divorce and their constitutional positions are unaffected this decision has been reached amicably and they will boast to continue to participate fully in the upbringing of their children memories of two Royal marriages were rapidly Going Up In Smoke a grand spectacle for some but taking with it the hopes and expectations of a majority who see the British Monarchy as a point of stability in a world of change the queen attended a banquet at the Guild Hall shortly after the fire and summed up the feelings of a wife and mother whose family and home had suffered incalculable damage her comments were poignant 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure in the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondence it has turned out to be an anus or rebellious [Music] the fire's Devastation was a sobering reflection of a family gutted by descent Scandal and bitter accusations all the Queen's grandchildren are now products of broken marriages the experiment of bringing commoners into the house of Windsor has failed and royalty can no longer set an example of Happy Family Life two young wives have gone and all that's left is the shell of respectability and tradition foreign it had all begun so well while marriage is off to a good start with spontaneous signs of affection and happiness grandchildren heirs to the throne and a promised future built on Mutual support and public partnership he had set against the power and ceremony of British royalty the dreams faded the husbands failed to live up to expectations and it was all too much for the wives of Windsor they were a new breed young independent and unwilling to bow to a system they considered stuffy and outdated they received little guidance from within the palace and had to find their own way neither had set out to challenge time-honored Customs but their effect on the whole image of the British Monarchy has been dramatic together they've opened up a new line of questioning on an institution that must move with the times if it's to survive into the 21st century [Music] maybe the Windsor boys were just stepping stones to a privileged lifestyle but Diana and Sarah duo their men folks something their status and their notoriety as the ex-royal wives of Windsor Diana and Sarah will fight hard to maintain their influence over the children as mothers to the Queen's grandchildren they still have an important role to play in the lives of the next Royal generation [Music] on February the 10th 2005 the engagement was announced of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles she has waited over 30 years to become his wife her patience has been rewarded with the ultimate Triumph [Music] from soldier's wife to Royal mistress to Royal consort Camilla Parker Bowles has made a unique transformation this Majestic makeover has been achieved by expensive grooming cosmetic dentistry Botox injections and even a facelift have been rumored Dowdy country clothes have been banished and replaced by Sleek new outfits Couture houses such as Valentino and Versace now clothe the mature figure so loved by the Prince of Wales no longer hiding in rural seclusion Camilla enjoys the Ritz and Glitz of her celebrity status plays and premieres Grand dinners and parties lavish holidays and Suites in Royal homes fill the life of the best kept woman in Britain Camillo was carefully repackaged and presented to the public as a wife in waiting foreign Mrs Wales she's having a wonderful time money is No Object Charles adores her he shows her with jewels she is a very rich woman now thanks to her royal lover a front row place beside the catwalk at Fashion parades such as Stella McCartney's Chloe show in Paris Mark Camilla as a client with International prestige she's learned to dress the Royal way with restrained outfits conspicuous hats and serious jewelry [Music] Cabela gets sent to New York to have a bit of a makeover and she gets given a a big clothes allowance by Charles to go and look right the one thing where she does of course score wonderfully now she is beginning to get some decent jewelry the proper stuff from Charles Camilla is adorned with fabulous gems at events such as her 50th birthday party held at Highgrove Charles's country home at his 50th party she wore this aquamarine and diamond necklace it belonged to her great-grandmother Alice keppel Mistress of king Edward VII Charles's great-great-grandfather Charles is fascinated by today's repetition of their great Romance he goes out of his way to find jewelry which belonged to her great-grandmother Alice keppel he wants to revisit history and what he's done has gone out of his way to try and find all the Jewelery which King Edward VII gave to Alice keppel and give it back to Camilla now you can call it sentimental or you can call it what you want some would call it expensive Charles learned that a well-kept mistress can cost as much as a wife Camilla wears clothes from Versace one of Diana's favorite fashion labels the princess wore a Versace gown in Chicago in 1996. tall slim and elegant she was an iconic style setter glamor gowns are less suited to the more matronly figure as Camilla has discovered I think she feels uncomfortable wearing these clothes which is why she is such a figure of fun with the British press it doesn't quite hang together right and she does not like the comparisons with Princess Diana well a lot of photographers came to me recently and said my God we took some pictures of Camilla last night and she looked transformed she was a different woman now lines on her around her eyes apart from that I've noticed that she's trying a lot harder with her makeup and her hair for many years Camilla and I have been to the same hairdresser and I've seen her sitting at the next wash basin to me but when she had her hair done she'd insist on brushing it out herself she wouldn't let the professionals do it and she always had a kind of 1970s bad fire faucet Majors kind of looked to her hair that was very dated but she seemed to like it like that that seems to have changed there's a bit more slick it's a bit more polished a bit more professional nowadays so she's certainly trying harder and one reason for that so I'm told could be that she's worried about hanging on to her prince and she's trying very hard to to look the part and to keep him luxurious holidays courtesy of wealthy friends with Sumptuous Villas and palatial Yachts have a certain appeal a Greek Islands cruise on the mega yacht Alexander cost ninety thousand dollars a day but it's free to Charles Camilla and their guests there are Chelsea's residences to enjoy Highgrove with its cherished Gardens and admired architecture was chosen by Camilla it's where she Stables her horses convenient for a woman who likes to hunt with a local Gentry a hobby which costs Charles around 45 000 pounds a year [Applause] on the Queen's Balmoral estate in Scotland there is Burke Hall Once the queen mother's home it was the scene of many a secret rendezvous [Music] she was quite willing to throw open her house at Burke Hall in the highlands for Charles and Camilla and of course nowadays it's Charles's home the queen is has passed it on to him and he's redecorated it and he and Camilla spend many holidays there owned by a trust the castle of May on the Northern tip of Scotland was the queen mother's private home Charles adored his grandmother and feels that he and Camilla are keeping her memory alive by staying in her favorite retreat Camilla is shatlin of Clarence House the queen mother's old London home it's worth 150 million pounds when everybody moved into Clarence house once its refurbishment was complete that William and Harry found themselves Living For The First Time with their father's mistress now if that was difficult enough it was made more difficult by the fact that Camilla also imported her father major Bruce Shand and so suddenly there are people that they don't really know terribly well and they're supposed to share a roof with them and I think both William and Harry found that a very uncomfortable experience Mark Boland who has since left the prince's household for a media relations career also served Camilla courtiers like Poland owed allegiance to both The Prince and his mistress I wouldn't call them sycophants but I would say that they're all extremely loyal to Prince Charles and therefore when Camilla moved in they are extremely loyal to her if they want to keep their jobs they have to like it or lump it being a royal courtier is pretty much a lick spittle job you know you you uh tug your forelock to the boss and if the boss has got a new girlfriend then you go along with whatever the girlfriend says whatever they feel privately she's part of the management team now and they have to work to her as well as worked Prince Charles it's a wonderful life for a woman who lives like a queen but has few duties except taking over Charles's Splendid homes Camilla isn't is running the Royal show she's in charge of three Royal residences uh Clarence House the main Royal residence Burke Hall the Scottish residence and Highgrove which you must remember is the house that she chose for Prince Charles not Prince Charles choosing for himself she had a very strong say in the way that the houses were refurbished she oversaw the way that the gardens were reorganized and she really really runs the everyday business of all Royal palaces on Prince Charles's behalf she's a very powerful figure in that way and although we don't see very much of her in public at the moment you mustn't underestimate the power which she wields both over the Prince of Wales and the prince of Wales is staff and households Camilla's own home Ray Mill House was brought after her divorce in 1995. smaller and less imposing than Highgrove a few miles away the house was redecorated and the gardens maintained to exacting standards with costs met by Charles members of his close Circle helped to buy the property when she wanted to buy her country home in Wiltshire a group of Prince Charles's friends raised the money for the mortgage and so they kind of bailed her out apart from the upkeep of the 17-acre estate Charles also pays for Camilla's security system he provides her with highly trained bodyguards to protect her from harm in 1997 Camilla had a minor accident on the winding roads leading to Highgrove Charles pays all her motoring costs certainly now her clothes her running expenses her car the two police former police people who who look after her show for her around and act as her protection officers they're all paid for by Prince Charles Camilla undertakes some low-key charity work she became a patron of the wheelchair Bobby Vance appeal a scheme which provides voluntary Home Security in 2004 she joined Prince Charles on a public engagement for the appeal her sister Annabelle Elliott came to see the couple's fundraising attempt [Applause] received in a county which is home territory for Camilla a shrewd way of guaranteeing public approval for their relationship one onlooker told the Press it's nice to see them together they've got a life to lead haven't they I don't see why not we can't all live in the past [Applause] but this campaign to launch Camilla as a charity Queen has had to proceed with caution if she did take on more charity works you might be accused of following it or trying to follow in Diana's footsteps but the problem is she's not very good what her biographer Christopher Wilson described it to me like this he said she's great one to one but she's no good with a crowd the difficulty for Camilla is she's uneasy in the presence of the British public Diana had a wonderful magnetic charm which made everybody feel better once they'd spoken to her and met her and so it made her an absolute natural going out on the charity circuit raising money and raising awareness Camilla just doesn't have that common touch and as a result she has stayed away from the one vehicle which could bring her in contact with the British public and allow the British public to assess for themselves whether this woman who lives with the Prince of Wales is worthy of their support in 1997 Camilla became a patron of the national osteoporosis Society although she had a personal interest in the bone thinning disease the charity was a useful launching point for a more public role posing where British celebrities to raise a Charity's profile also served to enhance her own she became president of the society in 2001 a self-assurance crew quickly as she took on more engagements in 2002 she attended the society's book launch about this little book of calm well I think anybody who is very interested in osteoporosis should read it it's very cheap it's very good reading and it'll tell you all about it why are you particularly interested in it um [Music] acting as an ambassador for the society she attended the World Congress on osteoporosis in Lisbon opened by Queen Rania of Jordan Camilla made a speech my family knew nothing about osteoporosis the local GP was kind and sympathetic but he like us was able to do little to alleviate the terrible pain my mother suffered so stoically we watched in horror as she quite literally shrunk in front of our eyes Camilla took her place with confidence at this round table of international women's leaders she had begun to perform like a royal a walk with the prince in Green Park near Buckingham Palace was another milestone in operation Camilla the carefully orchestrated campaign by Charles's Spin Doctors to gain acceptance for the couple Charles and Camilla met on the polo field at Smith's lawn near Windsor in 1971. Charles began a lifetime romance with Camilla but she was already in love with another Polo player Charles's friend handsome guards officer Andrew Parker Bowles he had quite a collection of female admirers after a brief affair with Charles Camilla married Andrew she was not aristocratic enough to be Princess of Wales and Charles was committed to a naval career her marriage did not end the Royal liaison on leave from the Navy Charles would meet Camilla at whole place the home of her grandmother Camilla helped him choose a wife to provide heirs to the throne Lady Diana Spencer was ideally Suited [Music] second birthday but there wasn't and he told afforded yesterday that may be coming soon is there any comment to make about that yes [Music] the engagement was finally announced in February 1981 shortly before Charles left for a trip to Australia minutes before these pictures Charles had taken an intimate call from Camilla his teenage fiance knew and was left fighting back the tears she was crying at the airport because she knew instinctively that this wasn't going well that Charles still was obsessing about Camilla a thought about her we saw later of course in the Royal honeymoon that the cufflinks and the photographs of Camilla which fell out of his pocketbook these are things that she knew instinctively already that his mind and thoughts were with Camilla and not with her his future wife Charles stayed on the remote Ranch in Queensland of his old Polo trainer Sinclair Hill he didn't contact Diana but kept in touch with Camilla from Sinclair Hill's home the prince's phone calls to a woman were secretly recorded and the bugged love tapes passed to the Press who naturally assumed that the mystery female was Diana I think it must have been a double blow for Diana because already there had been the Royal train incident when it was suggested that Diana had spent the night on the Royal train with Charles in fact we now know it was Camilla Parker Bowles now this new blow she is just a moment away from actually getting married to Prince Charles and she discovers that he's been making private telephone calls which have been bugged they're supposed to be to Diana but in fact there to Camilla now she is within weeks of actually getting married to Prince Charles Charles isn't calling her at home but he's calling Camilla can you imagine what was going on in her mind later Diana called her wedding day the most emotionally confusing day of my life Camilla had been in Saint Paul's Cathedral as Diana and Charles exchanged their wedding vows for several years the palace protected the fairy tale when deceived the British public and the media about the state of the marriage of Charles and Diana and the fact that Camilla was involved they always operate at the palace a defensive public relations system not an offensive one so they were trying to protect his reputation and a lot of people were fooled for a long time myself included I thought that he's far too Noble a person to be unfaithful to his wife and betray his marriage vows but he said do you expect me to be the first prince of Wales doesn't have a mistress leading the guard of Honor for the carriage taking the couple to their honeymoon was Camilla's husband Andrew Parker Bowles a page of the Queen's coronation he was now a lieutenant colonel with the household Cavalry interviewed that day he described Charles as a marvelous leader and a marvelous man very few knew that boli Hyde Manor the parkabol's home a few minutes drive from Highgrove had been used for trysts between Charles and Camilla in time Camilla also made secret visits to Highgrove it's important to remember that when she got married Highgrove was Diana's home I mean Kensington Palace was her London base but Highgrove was home and on the occasions I visited the house it was her place but I think as the marriage deteriorated and she knew that that Highgrove is where her husband entertained Camilla Parker Bowles obviously her views on the place changed so that by the time she left she metaphorically and pretty much literally shook the dust of it off her off her shoes Charles had bought Highgrove to be close to Camilla it's near the gloucestershire town of tetbury with its centuries-old buildings despite its Queen charm Diana never felt at ease in the area it was too near Camilla and the Beaufort hunt at this time Diana didn't ride and she was suspicious of the hunting set who might provide opportunities for Charles to see Camilla once when she was having lunch the Hunts sort of came Galloping through the garden the local Hunter Beaufort and she was outraged because Prince Charles jumped up left his lunch to get cold on the table and rushed out to sort of look at them and she was Furious Charles also met Camilla at safe houses loaned by friends who encouraged his betrayal of Diana they were photographed together at one of their Secret locations Glen selling house near Brecken owned by friends in Camilla Circle in 1986 the Parker Bowles family moved to middlewick house again close to Highgrove caught out by the Press Charles made a frantic Escape hidden under a blanket he also journeyed to love nests around the country [Music] the locations included garabee Hall in Yorkshire home of the Earl and Countess of Halifax Eaton Hall in Cheshire home of Anne Duchess of Westminster and northmore farm then the Suffolk home of the van cutsims Florence in Tuscany was a shared passion they visited a villa bought by King Edward VII for Alice keppel here they love to paint the couple visited Turkey in 1989. when these sneak pictures in the Press fail to end the affair Diana took action herself Prince Charles really believed that he could manage his love life he could keep Camilla in one compartment of Diane in the other and he was appalled when he was invited by Lady Annabelle Goldsmith to her house ormley Lodge to go to a birthday party to discover that Diana who had also been invited was actually going to come surprisingly the Prince of Wales didn't expect the princess to go but but but but she did and I went with both the prince and princess of Worlds and he was appalled at the thought that the two women in his life were actually going to meet and all his worst nightmares came true Camilla and Charles had nipped off together they were having a private conversation downstairs away from the main party within about an hour or so I was I heard my voice being shattered from the from the hallway and it was it was the princess and she's rather distressed and she said to me can I I can't find the Prince of Wales so I said well you know I'm not buying so much I can do but you know why he says well you know I can't see Camilla either so there was a sort of a rather serious tone that came out of the expression came across her face will you come and help me find them finally Diana cracked she raced down the stairs she confronted Camilla and said leave my husband alone Diana had control of that moment and I think it must have been a wonderfully triumphant moment for her because it was the only time during all the time that she was married to Prince Charles that she was ever able to confront Camilla and tell her to keep off her husband I think when we were on tour in Egypt Diana told me about confronting Camila Parker Bell's at the Goldsmith party and I mean it didn't surprise me very much because I knew the princess was a pretty feisty lady and I was quite pleased on her behalf that that she was confronting somebody who she felt was a very unwelcome intrusion in her life Diana privately nicknamed Camilla the Rottweiler Camilla called her Barbie after the doll everyone in Royal circles knew that Charles and Diana now lived Separate Lives Charles played Polo every summer a hobby Diana disliked almost as much as hunting in 1990 the prince broke his arm in a dangerous fall Diana was with Charles when he left hospital but this show was a deliberate smoke screen to conceal the true state of the marriage they went home to Highgrove together but Diana soon left its front door for London and Camilla arrived by the back entrance to nurse the prince the marriage entered a terminal stage with Diana and Charles both using Highgrove at different times Camilla took over every aspect of Charles's private life she is a mother to Charles she's a nanny she's a nurse she's a mistress she's somebody who treats him as a little boy which I think is what he wants half the time I think she must be great in bed with him and looks after him in that department exceptionally well this is a lady who just does everything for the Prince of Wales and doesn't actually ask for that much in return to be fair I don't think she's even asked him to marry her in June 1992 a biography of Diana revealed her suicide attempts and an eating disorder caused by her anguish over Charles's closeness to Camilla her secret cooperation with author Andrew Morton betrayed her husband and the Royal Family the couple was scarcely speaking as they performed their last Foreign Tour in Korea that November days later the Prime Minister John Major made this historic announcement it is announced from Buckingham Palace that with regret the prince and princess of Wales have decided to separate 1993 began badly with Camilla gate a bugged intimate phone call between Charles and Camilla [Music] [Music] Charles's advisors encouraged him to tell his version of events to biographer Jonathan dimbleby on television he admitted adultery with Camilla she was exposed to public censure whenever there's a crisis the royal family has one rule and one rule only and that is don't do anything and when the Camilla gate tapes were published when Andrew Morton's book exposing Charles's long affair with Camilla was published Prince Charles did nothing he let her take care of Affairs for herself as a result she was put under house arrest by the British press she was vilified in public people throw bread rolls at her and basically he did nothing to protect her nobody was sent in by his team his Prince Charles's team to actually make life more easy for her she had to survive by herself Diana also mapped out a route for her own Survival on the night of Charles's televised admission of adultery she upstaged him by wearing one of her most daring dresses at a charity event a year later she bared her soul in a remarkable interview for the program panorama she spoke of her illnesses her Despair and her feelings of failure as a wife with calculated Revenge she blamed Camilla Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage well there were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded famously Diana said that there were three in her marriage by which I guess she was referring to Camilla parker-bowles and it's a fair bet that if there had only been two in the marriage then it would have been easier for those two to do what was after all their Duty constitutionally which was to stay married I think that's sometimes forgotten that that uh that fairy tale wedding in Saint Paul's in 1981 was the Windsor Dynasty's best bet for long-term survival and the fact that that didn't work for whatever reason whether it was Camilla Parker Bowles or anything else is the gravest most dangerous threat to the long-term future of of the dynasty Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles were divorced in early 1995. a few months after Charles's admission of adultery Andrew had been embarrassed by his longtime friend and fellow army officer Camilla remained silent when Camilla got divorced from Andrew Parker Bowles the only reason that that happened was 100 percent Prince Charles's fault it would never have happened if he hadn't humiliated Andrew Parker Bowles by going on television he admitted that he'd been unfaithful three days later it was as quick as that Andrew then said a divorce has to go ahead in fact he behaved very well he became the guilty party it was very old-fashioned and he took all the blame and I think she divorced him but that would never have happened if the Prince of Wales hadn't made that ridiculous admission to nimbleby not only did it cuckold him in front of everybody but it also was a fellow brother officer in one of the regiments saying I have been having an affair with a fellow officer's wife that is an absolute No-No in the British army you do not behave like that Andrew who had retired from the Army on a pension remarried his second wife Rose took Camilla's place at Society events such as Ascot each summer the divorce cleared the way for Camilla's second marriage Charles who'd been having this wonderfully illicit Affair which went on for years and years and years was in the position where he had to make an honest woman out of Camilla now it may be that after all these years they've been together he was actually tiring of her and we may see that today that they live in Clarence house but set living Separate Lives who knows but what I do know is that Charles forced this divorce and he ended up with Camilla whether he wanted her or not Camilla's children Tom and Laura were affected by their mother's affair with Prince Charles Tom was so embarrassed by other boys teasing that at one stage he changed his surname to balls he also turned to drugs and was caught out amid unrestrained publicity Charles had to distance himself and his boys from his Lover's son one of the Great disasters of the Camilla campaign the the campaign to try and make a more acceptable to the British public was to try and join together the Parker Bowles family and the house of Windsor Family the the children of Camilla and the children of Prince Charles and the Spin Doctors were trying terribly hard to make this look like one nuclear family but in fact it was never going to work uh Prince William and Prince Harry are remarkably suspicious of the whole Parker Bowles ethos and they wanted to maintain their distance Parker Bowles is a valuable brand name Tom who once sold wax jackets in Harrods has reinvented himself as a cookery writer Charles and Camilla's friend Emily van cutsem fell out with them over Tom's influence on the young princes the feud was exposed when her son Edward married lady Tamara Grover daughter of the Duke of Westminster two or three years previously the van cutsims had atadena had warned Prince Charles that the boys were mixing with Tom Parker Bowles Camilla's son who had been taking drugs and they said you know he's a bad influence when that dinner table conversation got back to Camilla she struck back by making comments about the van cut some children the presence of the queen added the aura of royalty and the rigidity of protocol with her status defined by her role as a mistress Camilla had to be seated away from the Royal Family she knew that she wouldn't be sitting with Charles but when she read in the papers nobody had the courtesy to tell her this that she was not only not going to be sitting with John but she'd be sitting over the other side of the church somewhere at the back I think she felt a bit peaked we've got a royal mistress whose status and and position is still very ambivalent uh and of course the whole the whole Pond is made muddier because there are so many people stirring away in it Charles faced a dilemma if he attended Camilla would be effectively snubbed if he stayed away he could be accused of letting down the bridal couple in their families it became the war of the wedding and Camilla won for the first time since I can almost remember the Prince of Wales actually stood up and got counted and showed some real fighting Venom in favor of Camilla and for the first time Charles said obviously fine I don't like this either I'm going to find a good reason not to go to this wedding Charles seems to have learned nothing in the the sphere of public relations he doesn't know about damage the mistake limitation he doesn't know how to see a problem that's coming down the road and take avoiding action and in the van cutsen wedding we see um a royal piece of Machinery which doesn't work during the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations in 2002 an open-air pop concert was held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace most members of the royal family attended in the row behind the princes Camilla sat with her friends Angus Ogilvy and his wife princess Alexandra the Queen's cousin [Music] when anger sadly died of cancer in 2004 Camilla was not allowed to be near the royal family at his funeral things were different in King Edward the seventh day most of the aristocracy knew about Alice keppel but the public were kept in ignorance her identity was not disclosed by the deferential Press of the time the British press still kept a king's secrets in 1936. Edward VII's romance with twice divorced Wallace Simpson was unknown until he abdicated and they went into exile but the world Knew Too Much about Camilla's role in the breakdown of Charles's marriage to let her be forgotten the problem is that he now cannot dump or ditch Camilla because he's gone too far down the Camilla road to made all that unhappiness and created so much misery for the monarchy for Diana for his children for everybody for her sake he now has to stick with her it's almost like Edward and Mrs Simpson back in the 1930s he couldn't drop her I mean he didn't Peter want to but it's a situation whereby he's made his bed he has to lie in it it's almost like the famous saying that you know when you marry the mistress you create a vacancy and I've always felt that Prince Charles was a natural Bachelor I remember the days before he was married and I thought he doesn't need a wife he's got housekeepers Galore he's got valid so he's got you know Butlers he's got everything that a normal man needs to run his household a wife was just an accessory what he really needed was a mistress the contender for that role was blonde australian-born lady Tryon married to another of Charles's friends nicknamed Kanga by Charles she ran a smart dress shop in London she was injured in a fall and confined to a wheelchair and died shortly after Diana in 1997. before her death she recalled her friendship with Charles just because you have to speed Prince of Wales doesn't mean he's any different from lots of other friends and I love my friends and I love him a lot but this very different thing um saying you're in love with someone than that you love them and my friends have been a wonderful wonderful support after their parents separation William and Harry were given a young Nanny Tiggy leg Burke a daughter of a courtier her family were respected Welsh landowners and Charles often stayed on the Family's glanusky state both Diana and Camilla were jealous of tiggy's easy relationship with Charles this led to rumors that despite his Reliance on Camilla Charles still had a roving eye Camilla seems to be the kind of Nanny that he had when he was a small boy and that nurtured him and the person he ran to when he was upset and she sort of replaced the mother that he never really had because his mother was too busy running the country or reigning and I think he's now old enough to feel a bit trapped by that he has had friendships friendships and inverted commas with other ladies and maybe they were when Camilla wasn't available who knows but he certainly has had other friendships and perhaps he thought well you know if I were a free agent I'd be able to have a little bit more fun [Music] Camilla's reputation preceded her when her old friend Lucia Santa Cruz invited her to a home in Chile Camilla received the frenzied Paparazzi treatment once endured by Diana there is a prophet in pictures of Camilla and those who take them sometimes get closer than she would wish strain on her was evident but by taking bodyguards paid by Charles to protect her Camilla will avoid this ordeal in future being the prince's companion meant that she was never really free from press attention even on a night out at the London Ritz with her elderly father major Bruce Shand sometimes she welcomed organized publicity as part of the strategy to gain public acceptance [Music] but eating a sausage could be risky for the image if there was a photographer around I think the British press love to have a bit of a laugh at Camilla she doesn't quite have it they have a wonderful time making jokes about how she doesn't quite carry it off Camilla feels at ease with the hunting set which Diana disliked she's at a most confident on Horseback and can even joke with the Press promises do the Press treat her well I don't think Camilla gets a particularly Fair press but once she came into that Firing Line she's always going to get shot at I mean it's a bit of a nightmare for any woman least of all um Camilla to be permanently compared on the looks front with Diana I mean most women even supermodels sort of suffered a bit when in comparison to Diana you know I don't think that worries Camilla particularly I don't think it worries Charles I think Charles has always found Camilla infinitely more attractive to behold than done okay very strange but love is blind isn't it hunting a country Pursuit she shares with Charles is one of the passions which unite them however beautiful and accomplished an ambassador for Britain Diana could not retain a husband's love Charles preferred the woman who presented no threat to his fragile ego his wife was simply too popular but were the underlying cultural differences between Charles and Diana too wide Darla was a town girl married to a countryman and although she had lots of friends and she grew up in Norfolk and northamptonshire she wasn't really a part of that Polo loving hunting group she did not like horses or horse riding and she resented the time it took Prince Charles away from her but also I think because she suspected that he was using the hunt to as an excuse to meet Camilla William and Harry had to cope with the complexity of their parents separation and divorce and with the adverse publicity surrounding it after their mother's untimely death Camilla became part of their lives I think Harry more than William has been really upset by the fact that Camilla walked in and took over Diana's home Diana's man Diana's lifestyle Diana's everything she stepped straight into a dead woman's shoes and Harry who was perhaps you know the baby of the family much closer to his mother than William he bitterly resents that Prince William seems to be very diplomatic and very conciliatory he knows his father's had a rough time and he seems to think well if it makes you happy Dad fine because remember William hasn't really been around very much at home he's been away at University for the last four years more or less so he hasn't had to put up much with Camilla it's been worse for Prince Harry who seems very unforgiving and not ready to to accept Camilla in his life whatsoever they have always felt uncomfortable in her presence and it is significant that although they moved into Clarence House as part of the so-called nuclear family of the House of Wales they've moved back into their old apartments at St James's Palace they just don't want to be close to Camilla the couple considered marrying in Scotland to sidestep any difficulties presented by the church of England of which Charles will be Supreme Governor Charles's divorce Sister Anne married Tim Lawrence at Balmoral under easier Church of Scotland rules in 1992 for Charles a compromise was reached the church just had a very significant role in forcing Charles's hand in marriage they have been very uncomfortable for a long time to see Charles and Camilla living as they see it in sin the difficulty they face is that the church is split over this uh the Evangelical side of it um really believes that Charles is beyond the pale and can never really hold any responsible role within the Church of England and so they don't want to see a marriage at all the pragmatist side of the of the Church of England wants to see this problem solved and in the end it was the pragmatists who won Camilo was carefully positioned during the Jubilee pop concert in Buckingham Palace Gardens not allowed to sit beside Charles and his sons she was kept well away from the queen who simply ignored her I've no idea what the queen thinks of Camilla Parker bowls and very very few people do have an accurate idea of what the queen thinks to come up vacaville's I think it's quite eloquent that the queen has obviously been at some pains to distance herself from the prince's mistress despite complicated and expensive attempts by the prince to to manipulate the media in Camilla's favor people don't yet regard her as somebody they want to see on the balcony of Buckingham Palace one day they may never think that that she's a suitable person to do that and until then I'm sure the queen is wise to um uh leave her own views tantalizingly unspecific as head of state and supreme governor of the Church of England the queen is always conscious of the example she sets for years she has kept a delicate balance knowing that Charles's adultery with Camilla could easily impact on her own standing and popularity for this reason she avoided confronting the Camilla issue her own thoughts on this she has a constituency she has to answer to the right-minded people of this country people who believe in Morality and uh and not in adultery people who she wants to represent she wants to put distance between herself and Camilla because she has her eye on History she believes that she is now contending with Queen Victoria to be the great Sovereign of this nation and she doesn't want anything to taint that history when it is written and certainly by involving herself with Camilla Parker Bowles it can only be a downside so the queen will always maintain a very large distance between herself and Camilla Charles told the queen that Camilla is the one non-negotiable area of his life he made public appearances with Camilla which put the queen in a difficult position we can see over the period of the last three or four years that she's been snookered more than once she has been pushed by Prince Charles and his courtiers into doing things that she would prefer not to do the queen does not accept Cabela Parker Bowles and that is a problem for the future foreign is for Camilla to be her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall while the queen is alive and Princess consort when Charles becomes king this is an apparent contravention of English law but it leaves the door open for her to become a queen consort while Charles is living with Camilla and they're married in orbit name that doesn't seem to matter much to people to the to the British public at large anyway they sort of think oh well he deserves a bit of happiness but at the same time if you question them and say would you like Camilla to be Queen they get horrified the fact is that she's automatically Queen that's it that's the law of the land here that a woman takes on the rights and titles of her husband [Music] Edward VII was forced to choose between the throne and Wallace Simpson his prime minister Stanley Baldwin warned him in the choice of a queen the voice of the people must be heard he chose abdication and married Mrs Simpson at the Chateau de Conde in France but she was denied the title her Royal Highness as Duke and Duchess of Windsor they spent the rest of their lives in Exile Charles has pursued a high-risk strategy to keep the throne and the woman he loves the divorced and widowed Prince looks poignantly alone on his solo engagements he will be happier with Camilla at his side but could her presence damage the monarchy which still depends on public Acceptance in Britain and in the commonwealth countries speculation will continue over the Constitutional problems raised by the Royal marriage reactions to Camilla show divisions of national opinion some feel that Charles has put Camilla before his duty and should surrender his rights to the throne the queen too is concerned over Charles's ability to ensure the survival of the monarchy harmonic is only as strong as the weakest link and right now Prince Charles certainly looks like the weakest link he seems to sacrifice everything and then at one stage we all thought you can have either Camilla or the crown but you can't have both well he sort of said nope I am I'm going to have both the long shadow of Diana reaches over Charles and Camilla's marriage will they ever be allowed to forget the fairy tale wedding that ended in misery and tragedy I think the Great British public are ready to forget and they're probably not ready to forgive and so they will always eye Camilla with slight suspicion a lingering disregard she will never be a darling of the people like Diana was there's too much against her but at the same time I think everybody realizes that this marriage had to occur their position had to be regularized and it's a good opportunity for a brand new start the newly engaged Camilla posed with Charles at Windsor Castle wearing a half million pound diamond ring from the late Queen mother's collection all right I'm just coming down to work did he get down on one knee to propose are you very happy sir this is the unlikely story of a woman who won a prince Against All Odds now she has a harder task ahead winning the heart of the people will not be as easy [Music] Prince Edward announced his engagement to Sophie Reese Jones she will be the last Royal Bride of the century and the millennium it is often compared to Diana Princess of Wales who was 19 at her engagement in 1981. a shy kindergarten assistant Diana had little experience of publicity or of the family she would enter for 34 year old Sophie things are different she has served a five-year apprenticeship with the family firm Diana's marriage seemed a glittering fairy tale but it ended in divorce and tragedy Sophie will avoid Diana's mistakes the best thing Sophie can do for herself is to establish her own identity and step out of Diana's shadow [Music] Sophie has already taken the initiative in dealing with speculation about her personal life contrary to popular opinion we've never lived together and I've never issued any ultimatums Edward's delay in making Sophie his bride had caused rumors of a split he had Charles and Diana's divorce he had Fergie and Andrew's divorce and he had the sad death of Diana if he'd got married to Sophie at any time in the past few years it would have been as the good news the royal family desperately needed he didn't want that it was too much pressure Edward wanted Sophie to have a slower and smoother passage into Royal life than Diana or Fergie The Duchess of York at first he was concerned that the media would spoil his relationship with this very special girlfriend [Music] to protect Sophie from press intrusion he took the unusual step of making a direct appeal to newspaper editors the Press were hounding her certainly were hounding her and uh Edward put out a facts from Buckingham Palace asking them to lay off I don't think he was scared of uh of losing I'm pretty sure that would happen I think he's just he is genuinely concerned about that sort of behavior and he didn't see he didn't think it was fair especially as though as they weren't even engaged social activities are established Edward's romance was revealed in December 1993 after Diana temporarily withdrew from public life learning how to cope with brain injury in this speech she blamed the media for her problems when I started my public life 12 years ago I understood the media might be interested in what I did I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives but I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become as the separated wife of the Prince of Wales Diana's role with the media as with the royal family was uncertain but with the public she was still the greatest star in the theater of royalty at first Sophie unwisely chose Styles reminiscent of Diana's but she never achieved the same charismatic effect in 1994 Sophie joined Edward and his family for the wedding of Princess Margaret's daughter Sarah Armstrong Jones waiting for Sarah the royal family drew the crowd's cheers but they knew that Diana's presence would upstage the bride very difficult time for the princes of Wales she knew that people were looking at her for the right reasons and for the wrong reasons and in a sense at weddings particularly anything she did could be interpreted however you'd like to look at it if she came in late people would say oh she wants to steal the bride's Thunder she came in early people would say well she wants to steal the bride's Thunder I think she was in an almost untenable position because it is true that wherever she went however she went the camera the people they couldn't take their eyes off for her Diana wanted attention to focus on the bride and her attendance including princess Anne's daughter Zara the Queen's only niece had been one of Diana's friends in the royal family and she had no wish to ruin her big day [Applause] Diana and her look-alike Sophie were bound to attract comment if Sophie's smart she will absorb what happened to Diana and work out her own look Diana decided towards the end that the clean paired down very simple Chic line was best for her it certainly photographed very well but you know she mustn't be seen to be copying Diana too because that would be disastrous Sarah's wedding was Sophie's first Royal event although she had often joined Edward's family at church a privilege not accorded her predecessors Diana took a close interest in Sophie's Royal progress her self-sufficiency enabled her to cope Under Pressure a public relations executive she could deal easily with questions any comments about the stories in the paper this morning getting a little too excited please Sophie's work especially for a London radio station had meant frequent contact with the media somehow she balanced the Dual role I think Savory Jones is coping brilliantly with all the intention I mean she is a PR woman herself so she knows exactly I think the right distance to keep from people which is important she has shown immense professional dignity immense professional determination and I think a rather engaging quiet charm that is now her own I mean she seems to have found herself and found her confidence and and seems comfortable with it all she knows her place now it's it's there and she's she's happy about that Sophie grew up in branchley a quiet Village in rural Kent and seemed set for a typical middle-class life she and her brother David lived in a comfortable rather than ostentatious home security and stability were key values to their parents Christopher and Mary Reese Jones well I would call her country middle class her parents are not rich but they believe that education is a better indicator of class than money so they were prepared to spend the money they do they did have and do have on a good education for Sophie she went to a private school in Kent she very much had a village middle class upbringing she gained eight o levels at school but Sophie was an unexceptional pupil in a class that included a future Olympic swimmer Sophie was a good mixer she liked the theater and Sport a foretaste of the interest she would share with her prince in 1977 the queen Silver Jubilee year Sophie played netball for her school she grew up into an attractive young woman with no shortage of male admirers [Music] she is an extremely popular girl she's a sport she's a great sport she'll take part in any sort of game really fun-loving out outdoor girl once uh on a Capital Radio trip a chap called Merino franchi who was nobody at that time broke into her bedroom well into the room she was sharing with another girl and nicked a pair of her knickers and that night at uh a cons at a concert they appeared on stage addressed and they stripped down until Sophie realized they were wearing her knickers and started screaming you dirty blah blah blah and running all the way back to hotel but she found it very amusing compared with Fergie's excesses stories like this in tame Sophie avoided real scandals after a level she worked in London then in Switzerland as a ski rep she later accompanied a boyfriend to his native Australia when they broke up she dated Australian Eon Balmain for several months foreign she's 34 she's been around the block she's had a couple of flings uh only a couple of serious love affairs the Australian ski instructor was the most serious I think she followed him back to Aussie but then it cooled down often when you fall in love and the snow slopes it turns out you know a bit of a damp squid when you get home and she was befriended by a guy called Ian Balmain another Australian he sort of took on yachting trips I don't know how close that relationship was but he did come to England with her and offered to sell the story to one of the Sundays of probably the news of the world but something made him change his mind I'm not quite sure what and he's never spoken a bad word about her after working briefly in Australia Sophie traveled with Eon and their friends visiting tourist areas like the Blue Mountain and the Great Barrier Reef she loved deep sea diving and sailing however in 1991 this idyllic life came to an end I think she was hoping to get married and settle down in Aussie and when everything went slightly wrong she started getting homesick the English girls want to come back to some more sophisticated people if we put it that way and she did immediately and she went to work for Brian McLaurin where she really hunged up on her skills and her popularity was fantastic she's very popular with all the clients just over to your right if you could public relations brought her into contact with the hard side of the media she learned to please the cameras as well as the clients Sophie was skilled at organizing people people in 1993 her boss Brian Mclaren asked her to promote Prince Edward's Summer Challenge held for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme it was a complete accident every girl's dream uh how to meet a prince uh completely by fluke Sophie stood in for a celebrity who had had to back out of a photo shoot with Edward at the last minute she went along Edward liked what he saw and posed happily for pictures with Sophie later she started her own public relations company in London's Mayfair she is an independent accomplished young woman but it was her connection with Edward that made her famous Hello magazine certainly wouldn't have run her story on Sophie if she hadn't been involved with Prince Edward it just so happened that um there was a gap in the Royal ranks for a young attractive woman and Sophie's filled it you know Diana has disappeared now increasingly a solo Royal Diana grew into a global icon she became an International Celebrity fated around the world as here in Washington in 1990 as Diana's Royal role was changing she found a new rival one who could look uncannily like her Sophie's dress by Thomas dashevsky bore a certain resemblance to Diana's red gown by Victor Edelstein Sophie's necklines and hairstyles were noted she was nicknamed the new Diana there's absolutely no danger whatsoever that Sophie's a new Diana a lot of people in Australia and America seem to think she is because she's filled the gut that's left by Diana which there's just no comparison between the two Sophie's shorter she's um she hasn't got the wonderful peachy complexion that Diana had she's got quite a lot of freckles she's much more of a simple natural outdoor girl doesn't wear much makeup surprisingly for someone in her position and she's got quite a short torso so she doesn't show off clothes as well as Diana did she needs to dress more carefully Diana was arguably at her most glamorous in her last years as here in Argentina in 1995. she was ambivalent towards her style rival Sophie sometimes worrying about her prospects in the royal family but mostly deriding her imitation she's done too many things that I know used to irritate Diana she cut her hair like Diana's she even went to lose weight and keep fit at the Chelsea Harbor club which was Diana's you know famous Fitness Center she's done you know chosen dresses red dresses that were almost identical to things that Diana wore the Blazer and the and the trials as the Diana War she just seemed to be aping Diana and Diana was sort of partly amused and partly irritated by it she used to say oh look here comes my double I mean even the designer she likes Thomas starzewski used to design for Diana she really ought to get her own look and there are plenty of things she could do she could dress in softer less tailored clothes just to find her own look and I think she even thinks that she can outsmart the media the way Diana tried to do well believe me you can't Diana was never reviled like Fergie over her occasional fashion lapses she is remembered for her unique Allure and her incomparable magnetism Sophie may never be described like Fergie as a style-free Zone but not everyone approved of her engagement suit the engagement outfit she wore looked to me like something you wear at six o'clock in the evening not 11 o'clock in the morning partly because it had glittery beads all over it and that smacks of a cocktail are not you know a morning engagement the other problem with that outfit was that it was gray and standing next to a prince in a dark suit didn't exactly make them look a colorful pair if she'd been as clever as I think she is she would have worn something that was more colorful pastel you know this spring we're told that lilac and blue and and pink are the big colors for spring she seemed to ignore all that and she wore gray which is a color which was in two years ago so you know I think Sophie has to study the fashion pages and the glosses a bit more carefully Sophie may take on while appointments she already has experience through her promotional work with the cancer MacMillan Relief Fund and other charities behind the scenes grooming has ensured that she already looks and speaks like a born Royal children are wonderful but one of them cried not one of them refused to go on and I think they made it a lot of fun for everybody ex-rolling Stone Bill Wyman and his family helped Sophie promote her Children's Fashion parade for the charity baby lifeline any smart Royal who gets involved with the baby charity is doing themselves a power of good because it's much more difficult to get you know handicapped people mentally disabled people in in a newspaper or on television it's just a fact of life it's it's not politically correct but it happens to be a fact so you know you notice that Diana really became world famous for cuddling appealing little children so I think you know Sophie um was was you know she's a PR girl she knows how the world works and I'm not saying that her motives are purely sort of to exploit that side of the of the baby charity but it certainly has not done her any harm [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] mixing with celebrities was part of Sophie's work she has many Showbiz friends just as Diana did foreign but Sophie's predecessor had qualities that were so unique they can never be copied the handicapped or disadvantaged found a remarkable empathy in Diana and ordinary children everywhere were drawn in by her boundless affection such Charisma had its downside Diana could hardly go anywhere without a throng of cameraman recording her every movement tragically this media Obsession contributed to her death now Sophie must find a way to cope with her own celebrity status [Music] seems like these will be frequently repeated now that she is the new Royal Star [Music] Sophie will look to Prince Edward for guidance and support in the early and testing years ahead [Applause] foreign [Music] Sophie is no stranger to palaces she's a regular guest at Windsor Castle and at all the other Royal residences the queen riding at Windsor with Sophie took an instant liking to this uncomplicated friendly girl and gave her unprecedented access to the Royal homes she stayed many many times at Buckingham Palace she has her room in Edward's apartment he has his room exactly where the sleep is is something I don't really know it would be a shame after being together for five years if they'd never done the deed well Sophie is Diana without the dramas and Fergie without the frivolities but what does she think of her future in-laws I think Sophie's had plenty of time to decide what she does and doesn't like about the royal family we're talking about uh you know five six years of living that life Diana had a much quicker introduction into the royal family with the engagement and marriage was done and dusted within a relatively short time so she learned about the life as she grew into it and she was also of course much younger than Sophie when she married Diana was 18 or 19 not a particularly formed personality at that time Sophie's into her 30s and if she doesn't know what she does and doesn't like about the royal family now then she's never going to know as Sophie's future mother-in-law the queen has effortlessly formed a close friendship with her son's wife to be she's told friends Sophie has made me smile again the Royal Family's problems have undoubtedly bonded Edward and Sophie together they've spent several years after all under the same roof they've experienced the strains and the and the enormous emotional turmoil of the royal family to hideous time in the last 10 years for them they've seen the damage they've watched the hurt they've seen the sort of disadvantages of being Royal which which a legion I would have thought and I think that both of them have found something in each other at least I hope they have I'm sure they have that will sustain them as a couple in the future Elizabeth had been Queen for 12 years by the time Edward was born in 1964. now there was a mix of teenagers and toddlers at the palace Charles was 15 and 13. their brother Andrew was four this time around the queen made more time for her younger children she cherished her second family and doted on her last son whose childhood marked a period of great stability for the Royal Family [Music] his grandmother seemed an eternally warm and welcoming presence in their lives Scotland they broke off their journey to greet her before spending their annual summer holiday at Balmoral [Music] on weekends away from boarding school there were walks through the grounds of Frogmore at Windsor one of several Royal houses Edward grew up in a highly privileged environment that inevitably separated him from The Real World you're the Queen's youngest son so like many youngest sons Edward was pampered privileged so he was always very prone as a youngster to being rather arrogant and pompous I don't particularly blame him for that because I think it comes with the territory I think people tend to lose sight of that that they judge members of the Royal Family by everyday life and they don't live in everyday life they live a life where you have a I mean Edward still has a valley who brings him a biscuit at the half past six and a cup of tea in the morning I mean that's how they live they have nannies until they're sort of 70. it's very much a a world that that we don't appreciate Andrew and Edward still a gordonston Schoolboy acted as supporters when Charles married in 1981. no one could guess the turbulence that lay ahead the royal family were unknowingly facing a private Revolution within a few years their world that had seemed so secure would fall apart with devastating consequences in 1983 during their Commonwealth tour Charles and Diana met Edward in New Zealand where he spent a year teaching before going to Cambridge and the fun of student life hopefully this will be the first and last time that my birthday will fall on rag day it's been very tiring anyway if you're in good company today you have probably the most professional crawlers in the world [Applause] I've been waiting to say that all week up on your dummies I will start you are you ready AudioBox [Music] Chrome when Andrew married in 1986 Edward had graduated and joined the Royal Marines Andrew's bride Sarah Ferguson would bring drama and fast into the Royal Family and Edward would soon leave the Marines for a theatrical career I don't think Edward ever wanted to be a marine traditionally there is a a tradition that the princes go into the services and so he had to follow his brothers by doing the same sort of thing and his father it just is a natural thing for the royal family to do it's just tradition I'm sure he would have been far happier becoming an actor and going to Radha he once told a female journalist she asked him if he'd had the chance would you become an actor and he said yes I would no swap over like Charles Edward had begun acting at school and continued as a student the Cambridge reviews provided the slapstick comic roles that he preferred one week to give me the dressing up and excitement of Stage production took hold people as his gifts [Applause] the appeal of acting the theater Showbiz in general all comes from the way the royal family lived they they're surrounded by people who dress up in funny costumes they like to dress up they like to play party games where you dress up and act roles it's one of the traditions of family holidays at Sandringham and Balmoral the royal family their euros and heroines are movie people they you know they they are Starstruck as anybody else DiCaprio arrives or Michael Cain and you know they they really have them because they've got nobody else to look up to so they really are I think that's part partly but I think he just is Arty like some people are and some people aren't in 1987 Andrew and Fergie took part in it's a royal knockout a game show in fancy dress organized by Edward the day that he was filming it's a knockout it was a horrible day the weather was foul the media sat drenched in the rain all day long so at the end of the day when he came in for a press conference with everybody and he said don't you think that was wonderful they all said well no not really we didn't very much they'd had hardly any access they certainly weren't allowed to get any pictures because Edward had done an exclusive deal and they're all thoroughly Fed Up I only hope that you've enjoyed yourselves have you yeah thanks for sounding so bloody enthusiastic going in here all day have you been watching it yeah yeah what did you think of it I thought it was great he took this as a terrible personal criticism and I remember one reporter filing the story that he flounced out of the press conference like a ballerina with a ladder in her tights and he he was just not prepared to see the other side of the story he couldn't see that this huddled massive wet reporters and photographers were just you know thoroughly fed up and wanted to go home Edward started working for the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber at a London theater on the first day the Press waited for Edward Windsor as he now called himself On Cue the prince jokingly indicated his lowly role as a production assistant by carrying tea bags later Edward left the theater and formed his own television Company Ardent Productions [Applause] while he moved in Theatrical circles gossip about his private life became a source of annoyance it all started in fact uh from Edward saying I'm not gay and with the that classic newspaper trick the headline on the front page was Edward says I'm not gay the whole world had no idea whether he was gay or not before he said Pat it's um and since then it's been open season on discussing his sexuality I just think people should forget about it he likes the company of gay people he's possibly so convinced of his own heterosexuality doesn't bother him he gets on extremely well with gays it gets on extremely well in all the theatrical set but it really bothered Sophie that he was a lot of people said he was gay and she said to a close friend he is definitely not gay I can guarantee that taken from there Edward's main sporting interest is real tennis across between lawn tennis and squash which he took up after sustaining too many injuries on the Rugby field he said with real tennis I could belt the ball as hard as possible and it would come back into court off the back wall perfect for a slogger like me [Music] real tennis had some Majestic fans notably King Henry VII his romantic life princess Martha Louise of Norway was just one of Edward's girlfriends along the way but perhaps it was a shared love of sport that was to be the deciding factor it was Sophie who eventually won his heart at a real tennis match he found that her confidence and professionalism helped her cope with the publicity surrounding their Romance I think when he was younger he uh and and the girls involved did find the Press attention particularly difficult and this is why I think he he and Sophie have done so well being that little bit older and a little bit wiser they've been able to compromise where necessary and uh get along quite well with the public attention they've done very well on that sphere it's hard to say whether being a PR girl helped Sophie become a princess or not it certainly made a fairly astute and I think that Edward appreciated that she knew the ropes it wasn't like plucking an ordinary girl out of obscurity Sophie already was familiar with the way the media works and she's mentioned in interviews that she knows all their tricks so in that sense it's helped her and it's probably helped Edward [Music] the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia in November 1997 was a nostalgic event for the queen and the Royal Family Sophie's Presence at the emotional ceremony was another clue to her acceptance within the Royal fold she makes every effort to fit in Sophie goes out riding with the queen so she she really was a pretty hopeless ride and she's still not very good and she said she's got an electric bottom which means that when she gets on a horse it takes off at Great rate of knots which of course the rest of the Royals think it's hilarious but Sophie tries she doesn't mind making a fool of herself getting her hair out of place her makeup a skew she's very much in the tradition of what the queen likes the royal family disliked the way Diana always stole the show with her clothes and conduct distracting attention at solemn events like VJ Day in 1994. I'm pretty certain that the royal family look on Sophie as a very good substitute for Diana because she's the sort of substitute that suits them she's not as high profile as Diana never will be she's not as gorgeous as Diana she's the sort of person they wish Diana had been a girl who knows her place and doesn't try to Dazzle the rest of them they'll never really have any serious problems with with Sophie she's in it for the long term Royal reaction to Diana's death caused a crisis Sophie was absent from the Royal group at her funeral she may be close to the royal family but obviously was not considered to be part of a state event the tragedy altered Royal plans I'm convinced that the engagement would have been announced much sooner if it hadn't been for first of all the divorce of Diana and Charles and then a year later the the funeral of Diana it certainly meant that the royal family felt it would have been distasteful to rush out happy news of an engagement they would have felt that with all the bad publicity they'd had the public would have been suspicious that they were trying to um Berry Diana metaphorically as well as physically and and move on and try and say well it doesn't matter about her we've got this other news to divert you now a year after her death a memorial service was held for Diana there had been criticism over the world's slow reaction to Diana's death now they were Keen to avoid controversy the queen led her family including Sophie into balmoral's little church where they had worshiped for many years in December 1992 the divorce Princess Anne had married her second husband Commander Tim Lawrence at krathy church that low-key ceremony was the last wedding of any of the Queen's children before Edwards at Windsor this summer the queen is going to have of course an extraordinary experience at that wedding she's going to look around her children and she's going to see two of them divorced both her sons and she's going to see her daughter divorced and remarried and she's going to be praying praying please God let it work this time [Applause] on the way to Diana's memorial service Princess Anne Edward and Sophie traveled with Prince William she was now a family member in all but name Sophie's links with various Charities provided an acceptable introduction to the public life that she may be taking on as older members of the royal family retire from public life but will Sophie's ordinary background be enough to sustain her move into Regal circles there is just one other Royal wife with a middle-class background The danish-born Duchess of Gloucester formerly bagita van derz a secretary since she married the Queen's cousin in 1972 Vegeta has Blended seamlessly into her husband's family today no one would suspect that she wasn't born into Royal life if Sophie's as smart as I think she is she'll probably model herself on the Duchess of Gloucester whose doesn't give interviews he's always kept a low profile knows her place doesn't rock the boat and does certainly doesn't try to um look more glamorous or more appealing than the Royal ladies who are more senior to her I think it's very difficult to predict what Sophie Duchess of wherever would be like as opposed to this nice girl from the home counters that we've got at the moment sometimes putting a Coronet on somebody does wonders sometimes it's a disaster and sometimes you hardly notice frankly I think Sophie is quite likely to be the invisible Duchess with or without her correlate [Music] in 1996 Edward took a 50-year lease on bagshot Park in Surrey he and Sophie will make it their country home the Mansion set in 88 acres will also be the base for Ardent Productions his television Company the house was originally built for Edward's Royal ancestor the Duke of Connaught Queen Victoria's favorite son how different is the new owner all the men in the royal family are quite self-centered and arrogant they can't help it it's the way they're brought up I mean if you grow up with people buying and scraping to you and deferring to you and you have a bodyguard and you're always different from your friends at school how can you help but be a little bit you know think yourself anywhere a little bit special because you are special you're not ordinary you're extraordinary and so the wife of a man like that the wife of a prince has to take that on board and there's two ways she can go she can deflate the inflated ego and stop a prince becoming too pompous and if he's a sort of reasonable man he will won't mind too much and the other route you can take is to be totally subservient you know and rather do what Camilla Parker Bowles has done with Prince Charles and be happy to be just a supporting player and prop the man up when he needs it I think with Sophie and Edward it's much more equal partnership I think Edward defers to her a lot and relies on her a lot because she has had much more contact with the real world than he's had he's a privileged Prince and I think that's one great reason why this this marriage will work all the other Royal marriages were a marriage of unequals but this time I think they're much more evenly matched Edward's wife will be the new focus of high society I'm sure she'll enjoy uh being the duchess she has always had a hankering for uh social position friends who've known her for many years have told me this I don't mean that in a nasty way I just think that's something she enjoys I'm sure she'll have great fun being a society Hostess down there but I think she'd go mad if she was there all the time she's worked until until her mid-30s she has a very successful career and I'd be amazed if she wanted to give it up this is this is very interesting especially the question of whether whether uh Sophie and Edward are going to have children I mean her biological clock is ticking on so they've got to get around to it fairly soon but I've got the feeling that he wants to uh wants her to continue with her business because at the moment it's making more than he he is lady Helen Windsor was the last Royal bride to marry at St George's Chapel in July 1992 as her own marriage came under scrutiny Diana joined the royal family in this return to an earlier tradition of private weddings [Music] Saint George's Chapel Windsor had once been the setting for Royal weddings before the more public and Splendid ceremonies became National events foreign with the breakup of that marriage the whole idea of the royal family as a monument of national virtuous the Ark of the Covenant of family values was destroyed and I think what we're seeing and what I hope we're seeing with the marriage of Edward and Sophie is a retreat to something more modest something less pretentious something more if it's not a paradox a sort of private royal family or at least one in which you don't parade Family Values [Music] for her wedding to Tim Taylor Helen the daughter of the Duke of Kent the Queen's cousin chose a very formal gown [Music] made of heavy silk with a Regal neckline it was especially created for Helen by Catherine Walker one of Diana's favorite designers the next bride to walk down these steps will be Sophie what will she be wearing any wedding in the royal family is a solemn occasion joyful and solemn not dreary not over formal but it's important it's an important dress which has to match its surroundings and match the occasion at which obviously World here present Sophie will want a gown to reflect her individuality there was speculation that Thomas starchefsky might win the coveted Commission Thomas has spoken to a lot of other couturias all of them have been trying to ask each other who's doing the dress I know he is not and I know for a fact that a very close friend of Sophie's from his school days is actually doing the dress Sophie is going to give a a really big boost but I think you know this is great sort of helps everybody I think this reflects extremely well on Sophie she's not just going for the big names she's going to help help people who've helped her in the past but Sophie's engagement suit was by starshipsky who may also make some of her formal wardrobe her three-stone diamond engagement ring cost about 55 000 pounds it was bought from one of her company's clients the Royal Jewelers aspirin garage I suspect that the queen will give her something and I suspect the queen will give her son something to give to her as well so I imagine she will be given certain really lovely pieces to wear on and from on her wedding day I imagine it'll be probably a tiara earrings necklace and you know various people may give her different things but I'm sure that will be provided for there will be no Diana to upstage the bride and Sarah Duchess of York may not be invited but memories will surely arise of their bright promises which turn to ashes ex-royal wives are Perpetual reminders of failure the queen began her Reign by taking a public vow on the day of accession that she would keep the monarchy as it was in the days of her father and her grandfather and those were at least in public model Royal marriages and it was a model family and these Ex-Wives these ruptured marriages are reminders to the queen I think bitterly of her own failure and somewhere deep inside herself at least if she's like every model that I've known including my own finally she'll probably blame herself Christmas 90 1988 the days of Diana and Fergie as Royal wives of Windsor have long passed but the traumas of those times still haunt the Royal Family they know that present is rooted in the past and the future in both on the Royal stage there is another character who may share the Limelight with Sophie Anita Charles's longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles soon after Edward's engagement Charles attended a party at the Ritz in London afterwards they left together in a blitz of camera flashes Charles had made Camilla his public partner Parker bones I think must be both the Queen's worst nightmare as a future Princess of Wales and of course her best possible hope if only Charles had got to her first Camilla is the obvious Windsor wife Winds of women on the whole are not clothes horses they're not beautiful they're horsey they're into headscarves and Country Pursuits they have a certain you know good rough breeding about them Camilla is the perfect Windsor wife none of the nervousness or moodiness of Diana but unfortunately of course she's second helpings and that's the difficulty Christmas 1998 and a less glamorous Royal Parade makes its way to sandringham's church what lessons have they learned from the past it's very difficult to say whether the royal family have learned from their mistakes in one sense how could they the problems that they've had or the problems that the Queen's children have had are very similar to the problems that so many other parents children have had this is an age of marital breakdown the problem for the royal family is a different one it is whether you continue in an age where it is more likely that a marriage fails than that it succeeds whether you stake so much on the outcome of that marriage we entered into a kind of collective Daydream Collective myth that turned finally into Collective nightmare we've all got lessons to learn not just the royal family before this skiing holiday in samuritz Sophie said she was fully aware of her future responsibilities and was ready for commitment to Royal life but given the high failure rate of Royal marriages does she have any doubts Sophie's had five years to prepare for this she knows the worst she knows what life will be like she knows the limitations that'll be placed on her and obviously it's it's a deal that she's prepared to sign up to she doesn't seem to mind I think she thinks the advantages outweigh the disadvantages she loves Edward and I think also she loves the life you know the glamor of it all and then she could never have gone off to samuritz for a luxury skiing holiday if she worked the fiancee of Prince Edward and that is certainly a big part of the appeal I think any girl would would be enraptured by you know the glittering court that surrounds a royal Prince Sophie will be the third lady in the land the ascent of an ordinary girl into the highest ranks of the royal family is the last fairy tale of the Millennium hopefully this one will last if anybody's going to get married I hope that they think that they're going to get it right so and uh as I said I mean it's you know that we're the very best of friends and that's essential and it also helps we happen to love each other as well very much and so it's great so we're very happy at the moment and long may that continue and I think getting married is a very personal thing I mean naturally there's going to be more interest um in us than there would be in other people but um it is a personal matter and it's a family occasion foreign [Music] this is the story of how an ordinary young woman from an ordinary family became destined to be the future Queen of England [Music] seems like a fresh chapter at the beginning of something quite new what you see is pretty much what you get William and Kate have bought a real relevance to the monarchy the Royals never really lost popularity because the monarchy is uniquely trusted it is above politics she's possibly one of the most scrutinized Royals ever one of the things that the young Royals have done very successfully is to renew the Royal brand abroad most of the nation has fallen in love with Kate [Music] foreign we are seeing a queen and waiting [Music] well in in terms of the Duchess of Cambridge um what you see is pretty much what you get I've met Kate now on quite a few occasions she's very kind she's very thoughtful um she's very easy to get along with I think she's been very well brought up she comes from a lovely family she's got two feet firmly on the ground and the people who know her well are very loyal to her and they they you know they love her in one sense will and Kate marrying it seems like a fresh chapter at the beginning of something quite new and if you go back to when uh the present queen married Prince Philip in November 1947. at this at that time was thought to be a new beginning and then later on people said what happens when they get old we'll get bored with them we don't want them anymore and particularly with the present Queen who's now the longest reigning monarch in British history foreign [Music] as her rain has gone on the affection in which she's held it's deeper and not less this suggests the monarchy has very deep roots and these periodic Refreshments of young blood do it nothing but good but it still goes on just the same thank you very much I think William Kate have bought a real relevance to the monarchy they're young they're very good looking Kate certainly injected quite a lot of Glamor but more importantly perhaps they're working on subjects that are very relevant to the younger generation at the moment so in their charity work they're focusing on things like mental health wildlife conservation and even things like cyber bullying which is a real modern day issue the former Kate Middleton has done a remarkable job in being the wife of William in almost every circumstance that she finds herself in she acts with a Charming combination of good nature and a proper sense of the Dignity of the occasion at some date in the future Prince William will become king Kate by his side will be Queen consort well there are two roles to a future Queen one is to produce theirs which he has done and one is to learn how to One Day become Queen and and that is very much what we are seeing we are seeing a queen and waiting um we are seeing the duchess take on more duties more Royal engagements more of a public profile than ever before she's taking on more patronages she's taking on patronages from the queen and from the Duke of Edinburgh now this is all very deliberate very much a part of the the palace machine bringing her from the from the shadows of anma into the Forefront into the spotlight because they're very clever they they realize the power of Kate they realized the potential of William and Kate as this young glamorous dynamic duo who actually do have the ability to reshape and project the monarchy into the future foreign if you had asked me in the 1990s what I saw the future for the royal family as being I would then have shared the pessimism about its longevity not because the opinion polls suggested that was right because one of the things that people always misunderstand is even though there was the Anna cerebralis even though there was that huge controversy around the the collapse of the the Charles and Diana marriage and in fact also other Royal marriages um in spite of all of that the Royals never really lost popularity individual members did but the family didn't the queen didn't in any real way there was always there's never been really more than 25 Republican sentiment in this country however I would at that point of thought that the way in which the modern world was developing mitigated against a monarchy continuing well into the 21st century because we seem to be entering a society that was more egalitarian and had more faith in the transformational effects of politics and was somehow kind of moving into a joyous modernity and in fact we've gone totally the other way and people have lost faith in politics so profoundly that that is actually in a strange way shored up and made much more important the position of the royal family obviously whether you're a Republican or a royalist your view is going to differ but um when you see how the nation came together to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday there was no doubt in my mind that the United Kingdom loves its Queen there will always be people who say it's a waste of money well you know they cost us less than a pound a year in terms of upkeep and I think they're worth every penny and William and Kate very much are the future of the monarchy I think monarchy is now more relevant in the early 21st century than it has been for many years and I think the answer is because the monarchy is uniquely trusted it is above politics and at a time when a public trust and respect for not just our politicians but many of the forces in society which hitherto had bound us together is beginning to break down the monarchy is the one common point above a politics above at suspicion so I think as long as the monarchy can keep a um the sense of it being a a family and a wholesome institution in place the country is going to want to not just at a a superficial level but at a very profound emotional level Bond into the monarchy as the representation of what it means to be British [Music] exactly testing it out on the computer well I think that Kate's family background has been very helpful to the image of the monarchy and William and Kate it's that happy family that you know everybody getting along well being supportive of each other which the middle ones are and I think that that's been a considerable help the fact that she's young and she's known only the years of peace and relative Prosperity um might suggest that you know she hasn't uh got that kind of experience of life but then if you look at her family you'll see that it's really much more interesting and reflects such a huge variety of English History her grandfather was a RAF pilot in World War II helped to nudge the wings of the v1s when they came over London away from away from London her grandmother was at Bletchley with her twin sister and um received the news of the Japanese surrender and you can trace it all the way back the the idea that uh to be middle class is to come from nowhere they come from a great number of different parts of um of English History and so you know she she is not she is not from nowhere um you can trace her way all the way back our ancestry back to Harry Hotspur who died in the walls of the Roses um so this is this is a family like many families um who have deep roots in the nation's history and the fact that she's young is nothing but a good thing well it was always remember that Catherine's great great grandfather was a minor a coal miner in County Durham in fact he worked in the mine beneath Queen Elizabeth the queen mother's estate in County Durham saw a romantic connection there for hours as well yeah pretty freezing wind is facing Dundee uh quite something to think they had to climb All About Time well they only lost one one SEMA in the first expedition and he was in the Crow's Nest and fell from it [Music] foreign [Music] guards the privacy of his family um I think more highly than anything else in his life and it doesn't take a psychologist to work out why you only need to look at William's own background his relationship with his mother what happened to his mother um the untimely death preceding that the breakdown of the world's marriage everything played out in the media poured over in the press and he hated it and you can completely understand why all he wants is a quiet family life out of the spotlight foreign [Applause] [Music] I think the palace take a great deal of care of William and Kate and I don't think they make them do too much or take them away from their children too much I think that they have a really you know modern sympathetic View but I think he really understands that there's a huge public interest in their lives and affection towards them as a result of that and and that the media is necessary certainly when it comes to conveying messages I think he totally understands that it's it's a vital tool for him Kensington Palace has you know warned against the use of Paparazzi photographs um of the children in particular although they're still being taken quite frequently there aren't any UK Publications who will use them and I think that's probably helped a great deal to to reassure him instead we have William and Kate choosing when they want to issue photographs of the children they have taken George on a public engagement in the UK for the first time he went to the Royal military air tattoo with his parents and I think that's something we're going to see increasingly so I think it's very much a case of him wanting to protect them while they're very young and just do things in a way that he feels comfortable with [Music] thank you [Music] one of the very first things I noticed about Kate was the way in which she is not like the Mother-in-law she never met and I think that will actually help her a lot both in in her sort of non-roll as as Queen in waiting and and eventually his Queen she is extraordinarily self-possessed somebody who's very comfortable in who she is and very self-assured which just with that level of attention she gets is incredibly important so I think that self-possession that self-confidence that sense of who she is will be extraordinarily useful when I first visited the hospice in Milton I had a preconceived ideas to what to expect far from being a clinical depressing place for sick children it was a home most importantly it was a family home a happy place of stability support and care it was a place of fun I see Kate's confidence increasing as she gains an experience over the years she's going to be speaking more in public she's in a difficult situation because I think she's not always able to be completely spontaneous in front of the cameras and you have to remember that she's possibly one of the most scrutinized Royals ever because of the rise of smartphones and social media any tiny slip up or mistake she might make could go viral within seconds and she must be really conscious of that which which must be a challenge but when you see her interacting and engaging with people up close you know you real you really get a sense of warmth and of genuine interest she's someone who does a lot of research she reads up on everything to do with the charity she's visiting and I think to the people she's engaging with that must really come across well Kate has shown herself to be a wonderful addition to the Royal Family in a more egalitarian society Kate has the natural connection with ordinary people that may well prove to be both the salvation and preservation of the monarchy I think the times we see Kate really relaxing are quite often um the most informal moments when she's getting involved in some kind of sporting activity particularly when she's competing with William at something or when she's interacting with small children and you get these fantastic fun facial expressions she looks to be really enjoying herself I think that's when you can really imagine what she's like behind closed doors [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] Kate will Drift Away from her family into an exclusively Royal life seems to me to misunderstand what's happened what's happened is a permanent removal of the old barriers Anna if you like a domestication of the of of the of the idea of of of of of royalty and that she will be able to vast happily amongst her family for for the rest of her days and um so to that extent we have moved um into a much less uh magical um era of monarchy one in which they seem to be much more people like us leaving leading lives like us though of course they don't need lies exactly like us I think far from this being something which will weaken the whole of the monarchy upon the public imagination I should have thought it would would strengthen it yeah I think very much there is a feeling in the palace that they want to learn from the mistakes of the past and they didn't want a royal bride who felt isolated and lonely and cut off from her family and miserable because that has happened before and they didn't want a repeat of Diana so I definitely think courtiers were were determined that that Kate should marry into the family feeling as comfortable as possible and I just think William wasn't going to take any chances and he adores the middletons he has a very close relationship with Michael and with Carol so he also didn't want them to be sidelined as soon as Kate married into the family uh I don't I don't think there'd be any need for her to distance herself from her family they're obviously very important to both William and Kate and they've really been accepted into the Royal fold if you like and we've seen the queen driving Carol Middleton around at Balmoral pointing out sites to her they're obviously very comfortable in each other's company the family have also enjoyed you know lunch at Sandringham and they've stayed at Prince Charles's book Hall home they're very much welcomed into the fold and I don't see any reason why that would change in future I I think that William found the home life of the Middleton's tremendously reassuring and appealing and I think that's an atmosphere he wanted to reproduce in his own home and I think that's been very important to him in previous generations the imperious Target of the Court would have ensured that the the incoming princess would have been swept up into the in into the court with all its protocol and formality and this clearly hasn't happened in this case and obviously the fact that the middle middletons are clearly a happy family unit has has a lot to do with it I think again that's that is a sign of General change uh because I think in previous the generations the um the new princess would have been pulled into the court much more um and indeed um that happened vice versa uh with um with Prince Philip who founded felt that he was becoming a mere appendage uh but he of course had no home at all and you have to remember that he came from a home which was broken in the most spectacular way that his his mother became a a nun and uh his father became a Playboy in the Riviera and he had no family at all this couldn't be a greater contrast between that and and and and Kate Middleton's upbringing [Music] thank you [Music] Kate has provided William with a stable family life one that he himself never had and one that he values enormously much as he loved his mother Diana and much as he still loves his father Prince Charles William never knew the Simple Pleasures of a warm settled and happy family life I think that Kate's influence on William has been very very important I think that he was quite seriously affected by the bad relationship of his parents and I think that Kate has strengthened him Harrier goes bounces along anyway but I think William was all sensitive and more affected by say the suffering of his mother and I think that Kate has provided the necessary like stability for him when I was growing up I was very lucky my family was the most important thing to me they provided me with somewhere safe to grow and learn and I know I was fortunate not to have been confronted by serious adversity at a young age for some children maybe there are some here today I know that life can sometimes feel difficult and full of challenges I think that every child should have people around them to show them love and to show them kindness and nurture them as they grow don't be under the illusion that she's a Wallflower because she's not she's very strong she's very confident and I think she has a real Clarity of vision and I think William depends on that hugely so she has brought a huge amount to William's life she has filled William's life with love and happiness and security and she's given him the family life through her own family just regular things that he never got to enjoy but he is enjoying now and I think she's made him incredibly happy William and Kate's marriage is very much a love match and I think they seem incredibly happy together you can see a huge amount of affection between them on engagements you know that that's often an arm around one another looks that they share um and I hope that's going to last I think they certainly you know got a fantastic example in the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and I think because William experienced um his parents difficult marriage he's very keen to not repeat that that scenario and I don't think that it will ever happen Cates is hugely boosted the popularity of the monarchy I think people find it very appealing that she's someone from an ordinary background who has joined the ranks if you like and is perhaps able to to bring her experience of of a so-called normal life to the royal family and it's it's something I think that particularly William really appreciates he's always said that he wants to give their children as normal and upbringing as possible how's that together straight first the Windsors are among other things are brand and Brands need renewal and one of the things that the young Royals have done very successfully is to renew the Royal brand abroad if you look at the kinds of crowds that their trips Attract it is extraordinary the younger Royals can do that in a way that the older ones cannot I include in that Prince Harry I I traveled to the US with David Cameron in 2013 and I was in New York with David Cameron when we met up with Prince Harry and there was this extraordinary scene somewhere in the middle of Manhattan where Prince Harry sort of suddenly came around the corner and I'm standing there with the prime Min then prime minister of the UK and there was a screeching like we'd get with a Beatles concert in in the 1960s foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the thing about that is that sort of rock star appeal that the younger ones have it's incredibly detached from who they are as people but it is also incredibly potent and you see it in the level of coverage they get not just the crowds they attract but but the amount of column inches so yes clearly that has an impact on the brand and in the sense that the brand is most closely identified with in Britain foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] she's going to be the queen of a very modern world and I think it's going to help her hugely that she hasn't come from blue-blooded aristocracy and and a background perhaps that people cannot relate to she comes from a very hard-working family who have you know climbed up the echelons of society from you know working class to the very top um she hasn't got above her station she's she is very approachable that air of normality and ordiness that you see in her I think is is what makes her real to people she's very solid she's very consistent she's incredibly loyal which is incredibly discreet all of these things that we've seen over the years she's been an amazing companion and girlfriend and now wife to William they are a partnership she also has a innate understanding of what she's married into and that sense of Duty but I suspect that those 10 years of dating Prince William were probably enough to make her realize exactly what life was going to consist of she had time to know whether or not she was cut out for it but William was very lucky that she did have those characteristics which not everyone does Kate has a natural sympathy and connection with the public it is unusual for someone so young to possess so many qualities that combine charm with graciousness I just wanted to say how delighted I am to be here this evening to celebrate the Fantastic work of the National Portrait Gallery the gallery's achievements are exceptional they hold the most extensive collection of portraits in the world and their unique and Brilliant exhibitions never fail to inspire us all she's um she's the sort of girl who will walk into a room and light that room up not in the same way that Diana did Diana was a head turner she was you know she was the glamor girl she dazzled in diamonds Kate is more understated but there is a a warmth about her and something incredibly appealing and all of those are going to be things that stand her and I think in very good stead for her future role uh Kate might not have the blue blood of the aristocratic monarchy but she has every bit uh in her character and behavior uh the um virtues of monarchy uh all around the world at its very best and uh I'm sure that William married her not thinking uh whether she was a royal family member or not but because he fell in love with her and who can blame him most of the nation has fallen in love with Kate [Music] thank you [Music] I don't think that there's anything at this stage that I could teach Kate about being a member of the royal family because she clearly took to it very quickly but she also had this very interesting period in her relationship with the prince where they split up and then got back together again which was very clearly a a testing period a proving period something where she'd already been through the baptism of fire in terms of what it meant for destroying any chance of a private life she would ever have and she went into it in that sense with her eyes open the one thing I suppose she may not have known and will now know very well is just how peculiar Royal life is it is the strangest place that I have ever spent time is it in the Palaces just that sense of never ever really being alone and the the Palaces are sort of strange old buildings that are all about actually being built for show for people to look inwards and so they're really not about Comfort they're really not about family life so by now she knows that by now she knows the peculiarities of the etiquette um the young Royals have dispensed with some of it in a way that Prince Charles for example has not he still insists that not only that his staff call him sir and curtsy or bow but actually many of his friends do I think that what William saw in Kate was a woman who would never leave him and that she had that sense of faithfulness to him which would ensure all their lives and given his own experience of his parents turbulent marriage I think something deep inside him was calling him and saying I didn't want that for my marriage I want to be with somebody who I can be together with when I'm 90. I think when Monica's changed a great deal in the last century um I think since World War II particularly of the private sectors and the palace they have a big sense of PR nowadays which they certainly didn't I remember the queen she had a press secretary who said to a group of American journalists I'm not what you journalists would call a public relations man that was the press secretary speaking so there was that mentality very sort of built-in mentality at the palace not necessarily by the queen herself but that has changed a great deal particularly after the anus horivilus when Diana died I think that gave the system a big shock and I think that it shook them into a more modern approach [Music] I think the life and death it's just out there is is is simply a a tragedy whose seeds were laid uh seeds were sown uh even before she met Prince Charles I think she she had a she had a very bad start in life uh and things went badly wrong and went badly wrong in the most uh public way imaginable and the the funeral of Diana was one of the most heartbreaking events in in um in British life in in the whole of the last century and everyone felt this uh uh and I think although it's she's now not spoken of nearly so much I think it was quite a trauma whose effect is still being felt William and Kate I think have inherited an interest a passion from Charles of being extraordinarily interested in the least well-off the least financially prosperous but also those who are suffering and it clearly touches the hearts of both William and Kate this is utterly genuine and they want to use the authority of their offices their status to see if they can touch the lives of those who are mentally suffering and try to bring the them some light some release some joy into their troubled lives Catherine Harry and I have decided that we can use our positions to make a difference on the subject of Mental Health it should not be a taboo subject in the year 2016. the heads together campaign is all about getting people talking about the hard times that many of us will face and have faced in our lives tonight we're celebrating a truly remarkable work taking place across these three schools in support of children's mental health without many of the inspiring people gathered here this evening countless of children would not receive the transformational support in their schools it is because of so many of you here tonight that in their time of need children have for help care and attention that will get them through tough times in their lives I think it's really quite a brave move these are the subjects that traditionally have been fairly taboo they're talking about really difficult things such as suicide and addiction bullying and I think it's really been very important to bring it out to the fore and get people talking about it and you can see um you can see the genuine concern we have an incident recently where Prince William comforted a young man who had lost his mother recently and obviously you could see that his empathy is genuine he's been through the same thing but that's incredibly powerful thing to be able to do to go and bring their own experience and share it with others and let them know that it is okay to talk about these things it seems to me an enormous challenge for all of the young Royals but in particular for William and Kate to find a way to do the empathy thing to do what they they you know seen as being their core role in terms of performing a charitable role and maintaining something that they are clearly setting out to do which is redefining how much of themselves they make public they are trying to and I'm by the way very sympathetic to them on this they are trying to carve out a space for themselves to have a private family life they are also I think very interestingly positioning themselves for the age that they are in the era in which they are in the public eye which is of course a social media saturated Instagram selfie era where they are in some way going very much against the tide on that um trying to reclaim something for themselves now I think that is potentially quite a clever thing to do in the long run in the short term it is inciting the ire of the press so they're getting a more negative press as a result because the Press feel um shut out and you see some quite silly and nasty reporting as a result um but there is also the danger that they just end up looking like they're not doing very much which of course is the big criticism there's absolutely it has been the case that William and Kate having some breathing space and some time out to enjoy being married to have children um and I think that does come down from experience I mean Charles and Diana were thrown into the thrust of Royal life you know weeks after their wedding they were touring around the world Diana became an International Celebrity overnight totally Eclipse Charles no one wants to see history repeating itself in that respect and so what you have seen is a far more controlled release of William and Kate into the public domain it hasn't just been an explosion you know after The Royal Wedding they went to Canada and then things settled down so there are tours and there are engagements all over the world the visits of Kate and Prince William have led to a renewed enthusiasm for the Royal presence abroad heads of state are pleased to welcome the royal couple everywhere and audiences are clearly Charmed by Kate [Music] foreign [Music] tour program of William and Kate I think became even more important after Britain decided in the referendum vote to leave the European Union and what better emblem rather than the prime minister of the day the come and go Prime Ministers who pitch up uh but are little known by the public in these far-off lands but the images of Kate and William are known every bit across the world so they have an extraordinarily valuable role to play in ensuring that the future of Britain in the uncertain world into which we're going to be going will be as as good as strong and as high as possible and William and Kate are already traveling a great deal throughout the world they're visiting many of the Realms and countries that they're going to be visiting for decades to come and their visits are enormously popular but Kate in particular seems to really capture the international imagination she has fans all over the world and that's going to stand her in great stead in years to come and she's going to be able to grow this you know soft diplomatic power which would be perfect for her role as Queen one of the things that has been very interesting for me because I covered the Royals for such a long time you know I first started covering the Royals in the I guess early 90s and covered them you know right the way through to now so I've seen the evolution of Royal press management and I have seen in it it become much more sophisticated much more aware of the issues but they even so cannot even begin to keep up with what's going on in the development of the press and the development of the world at the same time in the early days and why they got so blindsided by having Princess Diana they're actually working against them and doing her own having her own direct line to the Press but in that era that that was the end of the year of deference where you know you could say to an editor don't run this and an editor would not run it you could put out statements and say we will not answer any more questions on this and that would be the end of a story The that is so far gone that was the Royals themselves helped to blow that out of the water the the collapse of the royal marriage and so now you have them operating in this take no prisoners environment where even if the Royal press managers can stop the mainstream media from reporting things that they don't want or can encourage them to report things that they do want they have no control control over the wider online world and um that is huge and it and it also presents very new and big challenges for the Royals [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign strange belief that the young have no interest in ceremonial or in the past and I've lost count of the times in which people have said oh let's stop doing this commemoration the Remembrance Day or whatever it is because it won't appeal to The Young and the same is true of the monarchy that this is a an institution whose Roots lie too far in the past to interest the young but every time every generation improves this to be wrong and that the crowds at remembrance stay and that at Royal events remain as large as ever and as filled with the young as ever because the idea that the young have no sense of the past um is is one of the greatest of all modern illusions the current position of the monarchy in Britain was pretty much defined by Queen Elizabeth II and by her father George VI as the focal point for the nation not just at times of Crisis and War but at times of reflection but even in a day-to-day way there's a sense in the British public that they have an almost religious uh reference for uh the monarchy in a way that they would never have for the political Masters well I think the royal family is in a very unique position in that you know the queen is is on the throne because it was her god-given right but I think that that is now I've seen as quite an Antiquated concept I think certainly if we're looking into the future towards King William and Queen Catherine um it's not going to be seen as a god-given right they're going to need to justify being there they are going to need to be a king and queen of the people figureheads representatives for the UK hard-working members of the royal family and actually one has to respect the queen hugely for that because I don't think she takes her position for granted at all the image that is being cultivated of William and Kate now is going to be very important several years down the line because all of this will reflect our opinions of them as a future king and queen my prediction I'm happy to make a prediction is that you will see the royal family continuing but the royal family slimming down and slimming down and paying more and more attention to looking like value for money and what sort of Queen will Kate be will her easy going manner be an enormous change to the style of the British Monarchy the memory of Princess Diana shines down as an alternative way of being Royal that tragically was never to find full expression will Kate be very different as Queen to what Diana might have been [Music] and how different a court will Kate preside over with King William to that of the court of the present Queen Kate has that rare ability possessed by very few people of being able to talk to speak to relate to those of utterly different ages backgrounds ethnicities it's a magical talent that is infinitely precious really and you either have it I think in Life or you don't most people don't Kate does it's impossible to tell what sort of Queen uh should be like we can only observe what we we see and read um but she seems to be a rather modest cautious sort of person uh who's unlikely to uh in danger the monarchy and um I should have thought she would be a kind of reassuring presence but who knows what what the future will bring oh I think I think Kate will make a dignified Queen it's very hard to imagine her sort of emerging in in a sort of social activist role like her father-in-law or anything like that um I think you know in terms of what people expect of a queen as the current Queen has defined it she'll be quite close to that same model I think Kate's gonna make a fantastic Queen I think she is hugely interested in the causes that she supports and I can imagine her giving that level of commitment to the role in future she's got a great diplomatic power she's hugely admired across the world well when Kate does become a queen she will have had Decades of experience within the royal family so the fact that she wasn't born blue-blooded will not matter at all in fact it will be that that stands her in the best possible instead she will have the advantages of Both Worlds that experience of royalty and having been born an ordinary girl from the home counties it's a perfect combination

Channel: Real Royalty

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Length: 201min 54sec (12114 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 02 2022