Prince Philip & Queen Elizabeth: A Lifetime Of Love | 50 Golden Years | Real Royalty with Foxy Games

[Music] for the last 50 years the Queen's marriage to Prince Philip has been like a golden thread woven into the fabric of her life as Princess Elizabeth and as queen elizabeth ii in the massive change which her kingdom has undergone during her reign the Queen's relationship with Prince Philip has been a welcomed constant and a source of reassurance to her subjects it all began officially with their engagement in June 1947 but they had already been in love for several years one of the world's most glamorous couples at the time there's truly was a romance of the century in November 1947 emits cheering crowd they made their way to Westminster Abbey to be married in a magnificent ceremony [Music] Elizabeth's wedding dress of white satin was embroidered with 10,000 seed pearls and crystals to form the illusion of a mass of flowers including the Rose of York the Train over 18 feet long proved almost too much to handle for her pages her cousins Prince William of Gloucester and Michael of Kent when the royal couple appeared on the balcony of buckingham palace they were greeted by huge crowds it was hard to believe that the king and the government had originally planned a family wedding at st. George's Chapel for fear that a large ceremony would offend the British people still beset by rationing most of the jewelry worn by the royal family had been in stores since 1939 one of the most striking things about it was it was the first joyful royal event there been since the war and Britain had been through very difficult times of poverty of people without homes after all the bombing of the cities it was very a very depressing time and Churchill described the wedding as a bright ray of color on a hard grey road we have to travel many of the landmarks of the Queen's life was Prince Phillip including Philips 70th birthday have by necessity been official public occasions consequently too many of her subjects the Queen's relationship with her husband has sometimes seemed essentially formal even their departure for their honeymoon had to be supervised by countless officials but as they left by train four broadened the country seat of Philips uncle Lord Mountbatten it was quite clear that the future Queen was looking forward to spending some time alone with her bridegroom it had been a long wait for both of them the Queen was 13 when she first saw Prince Philip who was then young naval cadet at Dartmouth and very good-looking you know every sort of schoolgirls idea of a dashing hero blond life various of athletic they then met some years later and of course was so different then a courtship was conducted perhaps at a distance but the Queen had met the man she loved and I would think has never stopped loving perhaps their happiest time was between their marriage and her accession to the throne Prince Philip rejoined the Navy and was stationed in Malta here for much of the time the princess had the freedom to enjoy the life of a naval officer's wife for Princess Elizabeth it was like I'm flying out of a cage after all she'd been brought up during the war at Windsor Castle very much isolated and there in Malta she just lived the life of an enable one wife going to dances going to parties going to beach parties just living a totally normal life and it was perhaps the happiest period of her life during this near Dilek period Prince Charles was born Charles his grandparents George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth his great-grandmother Queen Mary and the entire nation were as excited at the birth of the second in line to the throne sometimes Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip shared their enthusiasm as new parents with the newsreel makers of the day anxious to show the progress of their son to his future subjects two years later Princess Anne was born as parents Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were delighted with the birth of their daughter so was the entire royal family but as the future Queen and consort they were equally delighted that with the birth of their second child they had already secured the succession of the monarchy sadly as the Kings health deteriorated Princess Elizabeth and her husband had to perform more and more of his official duties she was on a state visit going to visit Australia and New Zealand when she stopped off in Kenya and it was there that she heard that her father died a black cloud of grief descended on the entire nation when it learnt of the loss of its king at his death no one was more devastated than the new queen her mother now the Queen Mother and her sister Princess Margaret but while the old king was being mourned the new Queens reign had begun this was celebrated the following June by the coronation public support for the occasion ran so high that the Queen and Prince Philip insisted that their route to Westminster Abbey from Buckingham Palace be extended to accommodate the number of children that they expected to watch their progress the husband of a queen regnant has no set role in a coronation unlike a queen consort he is not crowned but it was arranged that following the homage the Queen and her husband now side by side for the blessing and together took holy communion her appearance on the balcony after her coronation was greeted with two mulches applause the Queen was only 27 a young wife and a mother of two young children during the ceremony his grandmother and aunt had real difficulty in restraining Prince Charles's bouts of over-excitement punctuated by extreme boredom which he expressed by sinking his head in his hand but he'd inherited some of his grandmother's way with an appreciative gallery and he instinctively knew how to win their affection people were optimistic in the way that they thought this is going to be a New Britain with a young Queen and then on the day of the coronation canon news that Hillary and Tenzing had conquered Everest and this was another terrific morale booster Queen Elizabeth was only 27 when she acceded to the throne having Prince Philip's some five years her senior at her side was to prove a great source of strength and comfort to her [Applause] within five months of the coronation the Queen and Prince Philip made amends for the official tour they had abandoned on the death of her father by embarking on a six-month tour of the Commonwealth in all they traveled some 43,000 miles travelling abroad they seemed to go from one official engagement to another with hardly a pause in between some critics have argued that the Queen was so preoccupied with her duties it appeared both she and Prince Philip were guilty of neglecting their duties as parents well I think we have to remember that Prince Charles and Princess Anne were born before she came to the throne and she was still just the heir to the throne and so she had more time she had a more private life as soon as she acceded to the throne she had so much to do so much to learn huge Commonwealth tours to do which in those days before jet planes had rarely caught on took months after long absences abroad the Queen and Prince Philip saw their children and grandmother as soon as they could occasionally Prince Charles and Princess Anne would be flown out to meet their parents on their way home and sometimes enjoyed the company of some exotic playmates there sometimes the Queen and Prince Phillip were able to relax with Charles and Anne in the tranquil setting of their royal homes at Sandringham or Balmoral at Balmoral especially the royal family were in some ways part of the local community which had known the Queen since she was a little girl consequently the Queen and Prince Philip could happily take their children to local events and therefore to a great extent enjoy the outing just like any other family no doubt the queen would have welcomed many more occasions like these but the business of being elizabeth ii and prince philip goes on almost round-the-clock between the trooping of the collar in the 1950s to the state visit of the Emir of Kuwait forty years later she has barely had a break from her official duties she must have accompanied state visitors on this route to Buckingham Palace more than a hundred times [Music] thirty years before she received the Emir of Kuwait she received King Faisal of Saudi Arabia each visit by a foreign head of state requires a massive research to ensure its success not only must she be fully conversant with her visitors personality likes and dislikes but also the political situation in their country and its relationship with Britain [Music] one of the climaxes of the Queen's reign was the Silver Jubilee of 1977 a million people packed the mall to cheer the Queen and Prince Philip as they rode in the Golden State coach from Buckingham Palace to some pause Cathedral for a service of Thanksgiving here she was accompanied by both Prince Philip and Prince Charles after the service she went on a walkabout through the city of London some of her subjects regarded the Queen's open enjoyment of mingling with the crowds as out of character she comes from an era when it was not done with other people to be demonstrative in public and sometimes she said after a day of meeting people you know I simply ache with smiling but as confided it's a sad thing she doesn't have a smiley face but where she was actually very touch and very natural was the time of the Silver Jubilee going through the streets and the people came out once again and shook a war melon and she was astonished by this I think she gets a lot of her shyness from Queen Mary the same sort of brightness and inability and yet it's so caring the Queen gratefully acknowledged the part Prince Phillip had played in her reign we and by that I mean both of us from most great earlier she reiterated the pledge she had made as a young princess in 1947 shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong God helps me to me put my vow the Queen made that declaration near the end of the royal tour of South Africa in 1947 one purpose of the tour was to thank South Africa for its effort in the Second World War another was to stop the rise of the Nationalist Party which planned to disenfranchise the black population the tour subsequent failure to achieve the same was a great disappointment to the Queen and so years later she took great pleasure in her visit to South Africa after the abolition of apartheid and its readmission to the Commonwealth and in receiving President Mandela as South Africa's first black president during their visit to South Africa in 1947 the royal family was given a rapturous reception wherever they went to accompany their children on the tour King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth had taken their favorite hair quarry Group Captain Peter Townsend with them faithfully as the tour progressed his friendship with Princess Margaret deepened I wish to marry group captain towns and after his divorce from his first wife became one of Elizabeth the second and Prince Philip's most difficult problems I have to say that they didn't cope that well firstly they've tried to pretend that the problem didn't really exist and that it would go away and that problem Townsend and Margaret their romance wouldn't last what was interesting about it at the time was it was the first time that the public rarely felt that the Royal Family's private life was part of their life and that they had the right to comment on it when Princess Margaret went to the East End with a friend of mine to visit her settlements there all the women in the street would say you know go for it Meg yeah you do what you want now this is the first time that the royal family had experienced that kind of personal interest in their private affairs for allowing her sister's love much to be vetoed some critics have accused the queen of cruelty I think the Queen behaved beautifully and very humanely to her sister I think perhaps very early on then steps might have been taken to park the couple before it got too serious nobody did anything it was a very difficult time for Princess Margaret after all her adored father had died and she still felt his loss and she found in Townsend a very sympathetic shoulder to cry on and he was very popular with the royal family particularly with the Queen Mother and he and the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret very much part of the same circle that Clarence hearts unlike previous Dowager Queens the Queen Mother did not bow out a public life on the death of her husband on the contrary she issued a declaration that she wanted to continue with the good works that she'd been carrying out whilst Queen and ever since she has remained a pillar of the monarchy and a source of strength to her daughter an impressive trio in public even Prince Phillip is said to be wary of the strong bonds that exists between the Queen the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret those three are so close and they talk to each other every single day and the Queen and Princess Margaret will sometimes pretend to be exasperated with mummy as they call the Queen Mother when she buys yet another outfit you know credibly extravagant and appears you know suede and chiffon and flowers and they say Oh mummy what you've been spending money again but of course they totally adore her and they love this frivolous extravagance eyed her and in fact the Queen pays for the Queen Mother's Racing and for her horses I mean they totally indulged the Queen Mother and the Queen and Princess Margaret have a very close bond and in times of difficulty princess Marvel will be very supportive and the queen of her when she was a child she was taught to keep the wrapping paper from her presents and the ribbon and it all had to be flattened out and put away and then ribbons rolled up and I think there's a habits that stick with you you will still find the Queen and Buckingham Palace perhaps with a small electric fire I think it may run to three bars but the quiet and very often she'll put on too but she likes she likes to be thrifty and this is very sort of aristocratic anyway but it's curious because the Queen Mother is not thrifty at all and if you eat a client's house the food is lavish and whipped cream and wonderful salmon wonderful beep wonderful wine with the queen is perhaps a little different [Music] in February 1960 the Queen gave birth to Prince Andrew her third child almost 10 years after Princess Anne was born the Queen had been thrilled to find herself pregnant again and described the future Duke of York as a welcome surprise she and Prince Philip completed their family with the birth of Prince Edward four years later some commentators have claimed that the Queen and Prince Philip had an easier time with their two younger children as growing children both Andrew and Edward seemed more at ease than their elder brother perhaps this was because their parents took a more direct approach in their upbringing so why did they leave a gap of nearly 10 years between their 2nd and 3rd child she was just too busy I think the Duke of Edinburgh thought that um two children probably enough they had after all a boy and a girl that was enough to ensure the succession but then I think as Queen like manoeuvres as a certain age becomes a little broody in things how nice to have a baby and that's what happened one baby ought to have another keeper company all of Prince Philip's sons followed him to Gordon Stern where he had been one of Kurt Hans first pupils he is very much boss in the home he was a man who he was the one who decided that the boy should go to Gordon stone you know whereas the Queen herself might have preferred Eton we know that this has not been an immense success and the poor Prince Charles was deeply unhappy there but I think the Queen felt particularly that in her marriage it should be a traditional marriage of her time which in which the husband called the shots and the women ran in the house and also I feel that she had to compensate felt she had to compensate for the fact that she was in essence the boss and this dominant male matter that the Duke venomoth had to take second place in public anyway throughout his marriage Prince Philip has pursued many public interests of his own the most famous of these has been the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme which he launched in 1956 since then over 2 million people have met personal challenges and enjoyed many forms of recreation which they would never have undertaken but for the schemes existent like his brothers Prince Edward successfully participated in the scheme to his father's great delight and took the scheme over after his father retired 1973 saw The Marriage of Princess Anne it was celebrated with a royal wedding in Westminster Abbey as befitted the only daughter of the Queen and Prince Philip in the spirit of the times and married the untitled captain Mark Phillips there was a substantial gulf between their social backgrounds but they were united in their passion for horses Mark Phillips was a member of the British Olympic team when he met Anne in 1968 the Queen and Prince Philip were apparently happy about the match and so with a British public who turned out in vast numbers [Music] the queen mother once ironically observed that had an and marks details been fed into a dating agency computer it would have certainly made them a perfect match Princess Anne's marriage was to end in divorce but not before to produce the Queen's first two grandchildren Peter and Zara Phillips Anne would often bring her young family to join her unmarried brothers and her parents at Balmoral where all together they would enjoy a well-earned rest [Music] amidst the tranquility of the countryside it's hard to imagine the Queen and Prince Phillip having their differences but when the Queen is cross how does she show it the Queen will call Prince Phillip darling but if she's in public oh she's crosses him she had called him Phillip and well knows then that things are not or a little delay sure and the queen is not the sort person to lose her temper I think if there's a blistering rule about something she will probably go out and ride her horses or go and feed the dogs or groom the corgis and he may stomp about a bit but the Queen her voice is not raised loudly but everyone is aware if she is displeased and not amused it's result Palmero whilst on holiday with the royal family more than 50 years ago that Prince Phillip unofficially asked the Queen to marry him and she unofficially agreed to it since then it's been the scene of countless private celebrations often was just the royal corgis for company the Queen an excellent horse woman has always had a passion for racing and has been a significant owners since she inherited a string of horses on the death of her father an early victory was in the year of her accession at glorious Goodwood meeting that the Queen at least the Colt gave time from the national star so it was a fitting climax when on the last day of the meeting Gordon Richard's riding for the first time in the Queen's colors red gay time to victory in the Gordon stakes since then the Queen has gone on to win all the English classics except the Derby but whatever the result horse-racing has always given the Queen enormous pleasure she has tremendous knowledge of horses and forestry and breeding but it's gone way back and there's a little story which I think is just so lovely about her and about racing she's very fond of her trainers and years and years ago there was a trainer called captain charles moore very old man who was very very ill and she went to see him with queen mother and she said well how are you at captain Moore well mommy said to tell the truth he said I feel like a rabbit has just been bolted by a ferret she said and turned to the Queen Mother she said well I've been called many things behind my back before but I've never been called a ferret to my face before a race meeting is one place the Queen makes no effort to hide her emotions as you can see the sort of absolutely girlish Glee with what she treats them wind shall run dumb you know to get rid of you in there you know her face lights up as you never see it light up on public occasions this is when you see the Queen really excited absolutely natural excited you see her nudging the Queen Mother whoever is beside her with binoculars up it's marvelous to see because this is this is the Queen at play sometimes the Queen is quite content to spent her time keeping her cool geese happy while Prince Phillip enjoys his favorite equestrian sport since the wrist injury put paid to his polo playing career this has been carriage driving this is a more sedate sport than horse racing but is still fiercely competitive no doubt drawing on the Queen's legendary knowledge of blood stock and horsemanship the Prince became one of the world's leading competitive drivers winning at meetings at home and abroad apart from the natural stimulation of the sport it also offers Philip a good chance to unwind from his public duties when technical problems arise the Queen shares Prince Philip's concern but she makes certain that he doesn't become so preoccupied with them that he forgets to give his horses all the encouragement they need and deserve a favourite competition of Prince Philip's has been the Herod's International Driving Grand Prix which is held on home territory for him Windsor Great Park Prince Philip is never averse to winning but more important to him is the chance to compete and the challenge each course present the 34th year of the Queen's marriage saw the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer the tragic death of Diana the Princess of Wales makes it impossible to recall this event without extreme sadness but now account as the Queens marriage could be complete without the marriage of her eldest son and heir apparent overshadowed though it is now by subsequent events Charles and Diana's wedding was one of the most magnificent royal occasions of the century it would be impossible to pass over the nation's massive enthusiasm for this occasion huge crowds flocked to London and an enormous audience watched the ceremony on television there has never been better evidence for the deep affection the British people had and continues to have for its monarchy [Applause] [Music] one of the many national rituals the Queen performs is the State Opening of Parliament in the Queen's speech she outlines the forthcoming program of legislation there are numerous other rituals more intimately connected to the throne which the Queen dutifully performs every year among these are the investitures of the several orders of chivalry over which she presides the most senior of these is the Order of the Garter those who've been appointed to the order includes several foreign royalties as well as senior members of the British royal family senior members of the nobility and the most distinguished former politicians and servicemen as the knight of the Garter Prince Charles used to attend these ceremonials with Princess Diana as head of the Commonwealth the queen fervently believes in this unique international club the curious grouping of countries which encompass a quarter of the earth in many ways she is the Commonwealth and she sees it as a central part of her role to ensure that the Commonwealth is preserved and strengthened since she came to the throne virtually every nation in the Commonwealth has achieved independence and most of them have opted to be Republic's so that the Queen is no longer their head of state many people believe that because of this the Commonwealth would disintegrate but the reverse has proved true Prince Phillip has shared the Queen's commitment to this family of Nations by accompanying her on all her Commonwealth tours he's also undertaken several tours on his own to some of the more remote regions despite all the Commonwealth conferences that have taken place during the Queen's reign it can still prove extremely difficult to get its leaders organized for the official photo this can irritate the queen who is always keen to get the formalities over with so that she can renew old friendships [Music] you only have to go to a Commonwealth Day reception to see the tremendous joy there is on her face and in the face of people around at the Commonwealth lover they think that she's the person who cares about them that the government of the day in Britain usually doesn't and also she's been around so long that all these she's such friends with all these leaders she knows their problems she knows their families she knows intimate details about them you know whether that brothers just died or something so they really feel that she genuinely cares and she does breaking with all tradition queen elizabeth ii was the first English monarch to meet the Pope since the establishment of the Church of England by Henry the eighth's although the queen is an hereditary monarch she's often seen as the guardian of democracy this was one reason why she was invited to visit the United States to celebrate the bicentenary of American independence there is a symbolism in the events of such a visit that defies analysis but which has a way of reaching the hearts of people far and wide when the Queen visited the Czech Republic her presence was generally regarded as a sign that the new nation had been reintegrated into the mainstream of European culture and politics after years of isolation under Soviet domination President Havel saw his meeting with the Queen as an endorsement of its democratic constitution in order to cement Britain's friendship with the new democratic state of Russia the Queen and Prince Philip paid a state visit there they were received by the Russian President in the Magnificent setting of sin George's Hall in the heart of the Kremlin later they traveled to Leningrad here they made a spectacular boat trip across the river from the Winter Palace to the chapel of st. Peter and st. Paul where the Russian Czars are laid to rest [Music] they also attended a commemoration of the 600,000 Russians who died of starvation in the 900 day siege of the city in the Second World War this was a rare British acknowledgement of Russia's crucial role in the Allies defeat of Nazi Germany one evening the Queen and Prince Philip furthered cultural relations between Russia and Great Britain by attending the Bolshoi Ballet the Queen also entertained the Russian president and his wife mrs. Yeltsin aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia with a banquet in true royal style the Queen and Prince Philip second son Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in July 1985 there was unrestrained excitement during the celebrations led by the Princess of Wales [Music] [Applause] on that heady summer's day it seemed that the new Duchess of York could only benefit the monarchy with her boisterous informality it was unprecedented that the Queen stood amidst her subjects Princess Diana carried the second in line to the throne amongst the throng to see his uncle and his new aunt head off for their honeymoon the Queen was initially very fond of both her daughters-in-law but the problem was she didn't fully appreciate the Gulf which existed between her and them their backgrounds are so very different from hers after what she'd grown up with it she'd been used to Buckingham Palace Windsor Castle as a child she'd been trained for her job for forever and so I don't think she fully understood the difficulties that these girls experienced and I think when it came to the Duchess of you're particularly so because for the Queen her own naval days as a naval wife had been absolute joy to her and the fact that Sara focusin didn't you didn't seem to enjoy that aspect of her husband's life she found very difficult to understand although differences were to develop later on the Queen obviously thought she'd done her best to protect Princess Diana if we look back remember it was the Queen who called the editors to the palace in the early days when the Princess of Wales thought she was being pressurized by the press and the media and the Queen said you know my daughter-in-laws peace must must be protected and she at that time moved to protect the princess Prince's wealth to her was like an adorable skittish niece I mean she just knew Diana from childhood and so she was indulgent caring a little bit bewildered sometimes I mean in the early days when the princess was married and there at Balmoral and it was stuffy occasion princess would jump up from the table and run round the table and sit on Prince Charles's lap and give him a kiss I mean something like that had never been seen before amongst the royal family the Queen would just shake her head and give a little smile whatever her problems with her daughters-in-law the Queen like her mother has always enjoyed a close relationship with her grandchildren if they're going away for a long time the Queen likes to stay with them until the last possible moment [Music] whether at Windsor Balmoral or Sandringham time off with the family is undoubtedly precious to the Queen and Prince Phillip [Music] the more private royal surroundings offer their grandchildren the chance to relax and spend time with their cousins and to keep up with each other's parents [Music] in formal occasions are ideal opportunities for passing on ideas and enthusiasms over the years it has been known that four generations of the Windsors have attended church together particularly at Christmastime something not many families can boast the Queen takes an active interest in all her grandchildren but in particular from his earliest days she has played an important part in preparing Prince William for all of the responsibilities he will undertake when in due course he becomes king not only is she an important figure to her grandchildren but she has been a great support to Princess Margaret's children the Linley's during the Queen's reign alone Windsor Castle has been the setting for hundreds of state occasions net will enter the shipyard worker who rose to become the Polish President came to Windsor Castle to pay a state visit to the Queen in 1992 because of Poland's recent emergence from the communist bloc it attracted considerable public interest whatever their previous background every world leader is given the same ceremonial hospitality and afforded all courtesies by the Queen and Prince Phillip The Statesman that he is mr. valensa took great care not to break any royal conventions by sitting down before the Queen Mother at the occasion progressed no one had any inkling that this was going to be the last royal banquet in st. George's Hall for many years to come a few months later Windsor Castle was severely damaged by fire where the finest carpets once laid there were now only charred remains massive Timbers centuries-old had become nothing more than two smoldering ashes the Queen's grief at the fire and other events of that year were graphically alluded to in her speech at her traditional December banquet at the guild hall 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure in the words of one of my most sympathetic correspondents it has turned out to be an annus horribilis I suspect but I'm not alone in thinking it so it couldn't have been worse could it all the children's marriage is going wrong one after another the tremendous scandals in the papers the constant attention to the family's private lives and then the outspoken criticism of her which she wasn't used to she'd been used to nothing but kindness all her life and when the public turned on her at the time of the Windsor fire and said no we won't pay I think she was deeply hurt and surprised by this still the Queen could not escape the never-ending treadmill of public engagement no doubt she had to struggle to keep up appearances when she welcomed the president of Malaysia to an official banquet at the dorcester hotel but the Queen and Prince Philip treated the Malaysian leader and his wife with all their usual charm if the rift between the Princess of Wales and their son Prince Charles was troubling them they made certain they did not spoil the occasion for their gas by betraying any sign of it [Music] but there were one or two heads of state whom the Queen might have felt she knew so well that she could have unburdened her family's problems to them these included President Mandela and other Commonwealth leaders whom she had met regularly at Commonwealth conferences over the years tremendous bond between some people like President Mandela I think she feels that she's seen these countries through lots of turbulence she's seen in her own family and it's it's coming good in the end the 50th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in the Second World War was marked by several eye catching ceremonies both on sea and on land by this time much of the British public were preoccupied with the marriage difficulties of the Queen's sons her response was to put them to one side and make the most of the celebrations the Queen when she was Princess Elizabeth had joined the 80s learned how to drive heavy vehicles and how to service heavy vehicles and she's always been very proud of what she learned then and regards herself as extremely good driver as a result and also conjured up memories of their father who was the leader during the war they all stood on the balcony the family being cheered by the crowds at the end of the war in Europe so there must been many memories of that day and I think what was particularly nice for them was the huge crowd that gathered in in the mouth I can't remember how many there were 50,000 or so and the great feelings of emotion from that crowd which is something that you can't choreograph or can't organize and one young man said although he hadn't been born at the time the war ended this is what the royal family is all about no doubt amidst the splendor and excitement of the occasion members of the Queen's Own wartime experiences came flooding back but the problems of her sons and their wives could never have been far from her mind I know that when these divorces came one after another she did say to close friend well what have we done wrong but she said we didn't I what are we done wrong where we gone wrong I think partly it's a question of circumstances it it's very difficult to be the queen and a mother I think every important executive woman finds this and the Queen aspect adds even more difficulty we were speaking earlier about the aura I think that the winds of temperament which has been handed down from George v and Queen Mary has also been a factor the stiff upper lip the sweeping problems under the carpet and the lack of communication and this also comes from living in enormous houses like Buckingham Palace where they live quite separate lives each with their own suite and their own servants and so it isn't that to have a jolly get-together in front of the television it's a different life Prince Philip may have sometimes seemed a forbidding even distant figure while springing up his own sons but he clearly enjoys the sympathetic relationship with his grandsons his closeness to Prince William has already become evident in the wake of Princess Diana's tragic death Prince William asked his grandfather to walk in the funeral procession it was present in Prince William's request and I think that Prince William is probably the sort of son Prince Philip would like to have had I think he's not very proud of him and he likes Prince Harry's robustness and I I think he's very devoted to them in his in his way the Queen's premature returned from her holiday at Balmoral to witness the full extent of public grief before Diana's funeral was unprecedented the death of Diana will have a lasting impact I think it probably will be looked at in the history books as the time when the monarchy radically changed its attitude to its past and its future and really took aboard the necessity for modernization for closer relationship with the public and also one has to say a better public relations attitude than they've shown it but immense the cause for changes in the monarchy we should not forget the extraordinary relationship which has existed between the people and its sovereign over the last 50 years and before who can deny that when they look back over the great events of this nation's recent history the images of the Queen inevitably come to mind in good times and in bad the Queen has continued to represent her nation's independence even identity [Music] Prince Philip once claimed that the monarchy exists not in the interests of the monarch but in the interest of the people this has certainly been true throughout the Queen's reign for all its problems her own family with its succeeding generations is the guarantee of the monarchies continuity like most families the Windsors have not been unscathed by the vast social changes that have occurred over the last half-century but whatever challenge life has brought them the Queen and Prince Phillip her face them together [Music] thank goodness that while her subjects look forward to their monarchy changing with the times there are so much the Queen and Prince Philip can look back on with pride not least that royal romance which began over fifty years ago [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Real Royalty

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Keywords: queen elizabeth coronation, royal drama, prince william and kate middleton, prince william and harry, prince harry and meghan markle interview, prince william and harry talk about diana, prince william and harry young, royal family 2019, royal family channel, meghan markle prince harry prince william and kate interview, prince charles and camilla, princess diana conspiracy theory, conspiracies, conspiracy theories, real royalty, queen elizabeth and prince philip, british history

Id: rOSU63yRLfU

Length: 49min 28sec (2968 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 01 2019