The Most Notable Royal Tours That Influenced The British Royal Family | Full Series | Real Royalty

[Music] they are one of the few enduring entities in a time of turmoil and unprecedented change five generations of the royal family ruled over britain and its colonies through the 20th century i think there is something about the royal family that represents decency that represents a way of life we all want to continue against a backdrop of wars ethnic crises scientific and technological advances they have been a point of reference even though the royal family were the grandest of them all they presented themselves as a as a middle-class family and you could be like them but rather than observing from the sidelines they have increasingly left the sanctuary of buckingham palace to be amongst their people the queen says herself that i have to be seen to be believed while the idea of roving royals was well established by the time the queen took the throne she has spent more than 70 years traveling the globe to experience life in the often overlooked parts of the planet along the way bearing witness to the metamorphosis of the modern world this is a royal tour of the 20th century [Music] royal tours have become an institution in their own right and this time it was an american welcome that greeted her majesty and the prince carefully choreographed time to perfection a chance for the monarchy to see and be seen while subtly reinforcing its role on the world stage it's really important that people like them that people feel they can relate to them and the only way that they can really make that happen is by going out and about and by meeting people it's an absolutely unique ability because britain has the world's most high profile monarchy that attracts enormous attention both for britain and for the host country they are a display they're meant to show people on the streets they're meant to put a nation on display they're meant to be colorful and they're meant to be incredibly symbolic of a passionate bond between the queen in this case and and her subjects around the world and what better way than by personal contact it's minimal of course one person in a crowd meeting the queen or somebody but the symbolism is there and of course the success of the royal family depends on how well the individual members of the royal family project personalities people to come out and cheer [Music] but elizabeth ii was not the first british monarch to visit foreign lands the impressive machinery of royal tours was set in motion by her great great grandmother in the late 1800s queen victoria only ruled for 22 days of the 20th century but her legacy was profound during the 63 years of her reign the empire expanded to include more than a quarter of the world's population yet following the death of her husband the great royal matriarch became somewhat of a recluse her son edward vii however was fond of state visits in his nine years as king he traveled throughout europe laying the foundations for modern royal tours i think what makes the post-victorian tours exceptional is the huge territories that they're able to cover that with steamships that you can have these very grand trans-oceanic tours and it's possible therefore to make the crown much more personal because more and more people are able to see the monarch in the flesh [Applause] george v also had the travel bug every available vantage point is utilized by onlookers anxious to catch even a glimpse of the royal procession as duke of cornwall he toured around the british empire visiting more than a dozen different territories including australia for the inaugural opening of parliament his heir however was more focused on hedonistic pursuits the prince of wales he was six on legs at the time he was the playboy prince he was very good looking he was young and blonde and had beautiful blue eyes and he was very good at working the crowds there was that feeling of anticipation that maybe you could be the lucky girl you could be the one who'd capture the heart why isn't he the handsome chap oh we got a lucky girl after serving in world war one he spent the 1920s and early 30s on extended tours of canada india and south america very comfortable voids in your ship waving the flag for his father while pursuing love interests many deemed to be inappropriate and none more so than wallis simpson when king george v died in 1936 parliament refused to allow edward viii to marry the divorced american the new monarch opting to abdicate rather than lead the empire without her long before there was any suggestion he would one day be king george vi had continued the family travel tradition touring through africa then to fiji new zealand and australia he managed his final overseas trip in 1947 to southern africa when his majesty went ashore he was the first british reigning sovereign to set foot on south african soil but by the time the next visit to the vast continent was planned the mantle had been passed to the next generation [Music] much of the global focus was on southeast asia in the post-war years civil unrest in china led to the formation of the people's republic and the world's most populated country while tensions in neighbouring korea had escalated into a major conflict but in early 1952 the eyes of the british were on the young princess elizabeth and her husband the duke of edinburgh as they boarded a plane bound for kenya this time they've faced a tour of some 30 000 miles with a brief stay in kenya on the way out after world war ii an enormous program of tours was arranged for the king george vi all too soon after the war the king succumbed to his heavy smoking habit developed lung cancer so it was elizabeth and her new young husband philip who went traveling awaiting the arrival of the royal plane many african chiefs had come in from miles away they did the usual things they met tribes people they met school children so to that extent what it was doing was trying to drum up support for the british colonial administration in kenya which was in fact really rather brutal and unpleasant official duties were put on hold as a royal couple headed for some rare moments of peace and seclusion in an otherwise hectic schedule and they found their sanctuary perched high in the branches of a fig tree it's quite seclusion and charm was bound to be greatly appreciated by the royal visitors on this and no doubt future occasions after the few public engagements they had they went off to do some game watching and they were in a really inaccessible place tree tops when the king died and it was difficult to get the news to them the news was first you know broken by telephone and the local diplomatic corps to philip and he was who had to go and tell his wife the sad news when she returned from a night in the forest it was to learn that she is now the queen it was a poignant moment really because here in this remote place in kenya began the longest reign in english history god save the queen [Applause] he sometimes said she would have liked to go on being a little girl in the country destined for a life of minor prestige i'm not so sure i think an element of her welcomed the challenge and we've seen in her life she rose to the challenge the new queen returned home immediately to mourn her beloved father and led a nation still reeling from the effects of world war ii there is no ceremony but all thoughts for her at this powerful homecoming i think it's hard to remember now how the war lingered into the 1950s so it was still very much a post-war world a state funeral was held for the king and his people turned out in large numbers to pay their final respects to the man who was never destined to be monarch an estimated 300 000 filed past his coffin at westminster hall in london he'd taken on the duty when his brother abdicated he had done his best he'd been amongst his people during the war he had been a consistent solid admirable presence and he was his daughter with the same personal qualities her dashing young husband and a young family and they would sit on the throne as soon as a funeral was over planning and preparations began for the crowning of the new queen [Music] 129 nations sent representatives to witness a three-hour service at westminster abbey grand prince akihito of japan has come over to represent the emperor at the coronation people from australia spent their life savings traveling by boat to be on the streets of london to see the procession flash by imagine if you can our young queen's feelings as he is slowly born towards the hour's long ceremony of trump circumstance and dedication the coronation was a supreme example of royalty as theater they had the time to prepare for it the one thing they didn't have was the weather and queen celotive tonga stole the show by riding in an open carriage despite the rain and the rains certainly didn't dampen the spirits of those who watched in their hundreds of thousands along the route holding high saint edward's crown the archbishop lowers the five-pound symbol of might and power and as he places it upon the queen's head and removes his hands the assemblage in one voice cries god save the queen 1953 had been a turbulent year in global politics a military coup had led to egypt declaring itself a republic russia's infamous leader stalin had died of a heart attack and the korean war ended with no victory for the u.s led south and as cold war tensions continued to simmer between the eastern bloc countries in the west america announced it had just detonated the world's first hydrogen bomb the shockwaves of the world's first h-bomb rushed towards the onlookers and spellbound they watched something never seen before against this backdrop of instability the queen and duke of edinburgh were to leave behind their young children prince charles and princess anne as they traveled to the farthest reaches of the commonwealth it was an innocent love affair with a monarch unsolid by scandal who symbolized an establishment that despite its distance and its different culture and climate from the colonies still impacted daily life queen of a mighty throne built on the affections of countless peoples enter your domain people in every town in every province in every country on the itinerary vied for the chance to glimpse their queen the first time a british monarch had traveled so far and so extensively while on the throne the scale of the great tour around the commonwealth that the new queen and her husband undertook had in fact been set by what was planned for her father he was supposed to be married in with the new royal britannia which didn't get completed in time and only turned up at the end of the whole enterprise so cruise liner had to be hired [Music] she got on the ss gothic and the most momentous tour the most momentous tour we can't imagine of a tour of that length these days and they didn't travel lightly on board was 8 000 kilograms of luggage two ladies in waiting three private secretaries 20 officials and staff 72 naval crew and a band of royal marines the welcome in fiji was a blend of royal and melanesian protocols and next came what was perhaps the most charming welcome of all the presentation of a bouquet by the three-year-old daughter of a chief now serving in malaya isn't she sweet the queen is reported to have said the clouds accompanied the gothic on the long sea voyage to new zealand but did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the welcome awaiting them in fact in its further the crowd outside the town hall broke wrecks when the queen took her place on the dick it's estimated four out of every five new zealanders turned out to see the queen and duke during the six-week tour there was something in the romance of those years he was linked with post-raw recovery and it was a way of transmuting transferring to the commonwealth or the excitement we had had at home with the coronation it was the most signal example of the way in which the personal contact of the royal tour established or strengthened the emotional links that the monarchy is all about but the trip was not without its controversy and tragedy just a day after the royal couple arrived 151 people were killed on the north island when a rail bridge collapsed as a train passed over it but as the gothic headed to australia in early february the overriding feeling was the visit to new zealand had been a resounding success and just a taste of things to come gothic steamed westward across the tasman sea ahead lay australia just the arrival of the ss gothic through the heads she was flanked by warships on either side there was the royal australian air force flying overhead they then moved to a barge onto the royal barge there was a mile long passageway that they uh sailed up through with hundreds of boats in the harbour waiting to greet her majesty where the governor general and the prime minister of australia and the governor and premier of new south wales it's estimated more than half of sydney's population crowded around the shores of its harbour to witness the arrival of the queen and duke standing at last on australian soil on this spot that is the birthplace of the nation i want to tell you all how healthy i am to be amongst you and how much i look forward to my journey to australia it's so obvious that it felt to white australia that this was the moment where our 167 year history as a colony would be recognised and validated it came out in a lot of the emotion around the tour that it had been a very hard journey for white australians obviously harder for black australians but white australia felt that people had been sent to this hard difficult unwelcoming land and had forged a modern nation out of it and there'd been a lot of sacrifice to do that and that we wanted the royal family to come and a reigning monarch to say to us you have done well you know we we are proud of your achievements we recognize you as a as a mature nation uh under our structures it was a blazing hot day and in the glare the queen was finally compelled to use her dark glasses official duties ranged from surf carnivals street parades to the opening of parliament in canberra where australians had the chance to see the queen at her finest rain caused some alteration in the arrangements and her majesty robed once more in her coronation dress had to pass directly into the parliament building the magnificent satin creation was intricately embroidered with the emblems of commonwealth nations in gold and silver thread it was a rare outing for the dress which the monarch only wore on six occasions after the coronation this was very much a case when the clothes were really important and the idea that the british public had seen the coronation gown and now the australian public were seeing the coronation gown really brought us both together we were both her people in the days before email and mobile phones all attendees were told to set their watches to the abc time signals at 9 00 am every day to ensure the packed itinerary was carried out with military precision during the eight week visit all day every day for the two months of the tour you could turn on abc radio at any point in the country and you could hear a live toy description of what the queen and the duke of edinburgh were doing so there was that there were nightly newsreels the newsreel cameraman followed the queen everywhere she went so one or two days later depending where you lived and how fast they turned it around you could go to a picture theater and watch the newsreels which people did in their tens of thousands unlike the intense and often scathing scrutiny of the royals later in the century coverage in the 1950s was generally far more loyal there was enormous protocol around it and it very largely wasn't broken we didn't have paparazzi there were very strict rules that were handed out in booklet form to journalists covering the two a very strict accreditation you were given a booklet about what you could and couldn't do it is hardly surprising that constant travel took its toll the royal couple visited 57 towns in as many days in their trek across the country the queen gave so many speeches she went on every form of transport in open top cars if it rained she would not let them put the roof up on the car if the people got wet she would get wet when she was on the royal train going through country towns she would get up in the middle of the night to wave at the people outside who had gathered along the route because she felt guilty that they had gathered to see her and they weren't seeing her [Music] the final stop of perth had some added complications with a polio outbreak threatening to derail the tour prime minister robert menzies insisted on a number of precautions but in accordance with precautions adopted by government order the queen's bouquet was not actually accepted by hand so she stayed on her boat which was moored out to sea the food was very tightly controlled and quite a bit of it was sprayed with antiseptic prior to being served to her to make sure there was no infection and people weren't allowed to shake hands people called it the city of bob's and bows because people just had to curtsy or bow to the queen they weren't allowed to touch it for australians their moment of being close to the monarchy and the mother country had passed all too quickly never again would they be so enamored with their british heritage and so in all of the people at its helm when the queen sailed away in april 1954 there was tremendous sadness as they had during other tours people stood on the docks in fremantle and just cried and by the time the queen came again in 63 it was a palpably different nation and while the royal couple no doubt felt nostalgic leaving behind a place that had provided so many happy memories there was still much to look forward to on the commonwealth tour the queen celebrated her birthday in salon she attended a birthday parade in her honor when men of ceylon's fighting services marched past at goldfest green columba as a monarch and her entourage slowly made their way back home via aden and uganda the royal yacht britannia was finally under sale and heading for the rendezvous in malta later prince charles and princess anne came ashore for the young royals a holiday abroad was a novelty and they were treated to all sorts of new experiences but for their parents it was business as usual and while they were close to concluding their lengthy tour there was still some delicate diplomacy required on the home straight the royal visit gibraltar in 1954 was a way of showing the gibraltarians that their loyalty to the crown was respected and was being thanked it is on the tip of spain and spain at that time was ruled by general franco who ran a fascist police state but still maintained claims to gibraltar the tiny british territory was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place its previous owners sincerely regretting handing over this tactical hot spot at the mouth of the mediterranean the spanish obviously protested the queen was going there this is an affirmation british sovereignty the intelligence services got very jumpy they thought there might be spanish neighbors working in gibraltar might demonstrate or there might even be some terrorist acts this was probably excessive nervousness nothing like it happened and gibraltarian's very happy to see the queen and made a great effort to show how loyal they still were and here come the queen and the duke to set foot in britain again after nearly six months away a joyous exciting and historic moment the royal family returned home to an ecstatic welcome from a country on the brink of social and political change the rationing that had become a staple in daily life since the start of world war ii was to be lifted creating a feeling of freedom and optimism that had been missing in the past decade of peace at around the same time prime minister winston churchill announced his resignation due to ill health at age 80. no man in our lifetime has better earned the right to withdraw from the scene of action with the temporary cooling of cold war tensions the soviet union turned its focus to the space race launching sputnik 1 the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth the united states wasn't quite as fortunate its initial attempt to send a satellite heavenward ended in disaster with the destruction of its rocket vanguard but there was far more momentum behind the civil rights movement which was just starting to gain traction with martin luther king its most visible advocate britain however had more pressing matters to deal with namely attempts by the newly independent egypt to seize control of the sewers canal this vital shipping channel from the indian ocean to the mediterranean sea ushered in two-thirds of europe's oil supply israel was the first to object to president nasa's nationalistic claim on the water passage meanwhile surrender terms having been rejected by cairo the beach build-up was being continued with calm efficiency by british and french britain finds herself defied in an area the middle east where she had assumed a paramount sea since the first world war this was unrealistic by 1956 but within the conservative party and certainly in the mind of prime minister anthony eden it was necessary to britain to make some grand imperial gesture in the old style this created international tension with both america and russia threatening economic repercussions that the allies did not retreat there was allegedly an incident when president eisenhower thought that eden had got completely out of hand and telephoned the queen and said your master look is there any way you can get rid of this man and i believe very coolly and politely she said i'm a constitutional mask i do not have that power maybe eisenhower has seen too many shakespearean plays in which monarchs do this sort of thing but uh he's quite a little this can't be done eisenhower did eventually get his wish prime minister eden resigned i wish my successor all good fortune and godspeed to you all but the damage was already done to britain's standing within the international community the united states britain's ally is is appalled the americans say well the british don't know which century they're in that this is why you might have done this in the 19th century you certainly did but this is not for our times and newly independent nations in the world say are the imperialists are always what they were armed thugs looking back on it one can really see that was a watershed britain's victory in the second world war was a great victory but it was achieved enormously with the help of the commonwealth and also with the help of america but britain went on riding this imperial crest for another dozen years suez showed who mattered in the world america might have been able to successfully flex its diplomatic muscle in sewers but elsewhere it was less effective just two years after the end of the korean war the united states was closely monitoring the conflict in vietnam america's concern about the spread of communism in southeast asia would eventually lead to their involvement in the war which would claim 58 000 of their troops and cause a major rift in public opinion but the mood was surprisingly buoyant as a queen stepped foot into the united states for a five-day tour greeted by president eisenhower i know that i speak for every citizen of this country when i did you a wrong welcome to this country the president shared a strong bond with the queen forged during his time as supreme ally commander in london where he struck up a friendship with her father king george vi eisenhower was to some degree of a father figure to queen elizabeth ii if you like a continuation of winston churchill she'd met eisenhower during the war when she was princess when he was in in britain commanding the anglo-american forces so there was that wonderful link the king himself was the first british monarch to visit the states in 1939 as he attempted to shore up support for the allies in world war ii well in 1939 there was so much isolationism and the feeling in the united states that this wasn't our war it wasn't our business and fdr had the great insight which eleanor roosevelt was absolutely encouraging that if he invited the king and queen that people would relate to the royal family who spoke our language who shared our vision and our values and that they would respond to this beautiful young couple american president and british sovereigns they and their first ladies like a party of friends it was conducted on a pretty informal basis they went to hyde park they eat hamburgers and roosevelt talked to george the six he said like a dutch uncle why don't my ministers talk to me in this informal fashion he found it easy to get on with roosevelt and roosevelt actually had a very soft spot for royalty and he liked the kudos that he was getting as a result of this royal visit uh without offending the isolationists the irish contingent and all the people who were going to object to anything to do with britain everywhere eleanor roosevelt went when she was with the queen she was dazzled by the queen's ability to just endure the heat was a terrible heat epidemic at that moment and it was really an incredibly wonderful friendship and it did indeed do what they had hoped it would do which was to make the united states realize that the first wave of battle was in alliance with england our people here at arlington is the national memorial to the men who lost their lives in the great war a war in which britons and americans fought side by side this royal visit was singularly important and as far as the king was concerned it helped to cement his position which he felt was shaky since the abdication and the queen in fact said it made us this visit made us the king and i there was less riding on the queen's 1957 tour of the states but it was still seen as a major boost to british american relations it wasn't her first time across the atlantic but it was her first visit as queen settlement in jamestown is the beginning a series of overseas settlements made throughout the world by british pioneers despite the hard-fought separation from the english americans seemed genuinely intrigued by the royal couple they in turn marveled at the brashness of the media who would often call out for photos in the informal manner not yet experienced with the press back home the queen found the americans larger than life no more so than at a game of college football where she questioned the local mayor as to where all the enormous players came from to which the official famously replied your majesty that's a very embarrassing question in new york the royal couple were treated like movie stars showered in ticker tape in a parade attended by a million people the incredible reception that queen elizabeth and her husband received was perhaps the first indication of the way in which the magic of the monarchy could redeem britain lift britain but also the links that go back whenever a royal person appears through british history reminded people of the more positive side of the anglo american alliance the young monarch made a speech to the fledgling united nations assembly acknowledging the difficulties it faced in its pursuit of peace at a time of increasing tensions and while the queen was tasked with delivering the feel-good factor behind the scenes talks were a lot more serious the royal talk coincided with a visit by british prime minister harold mcmillan who was on a mission to avert disaster i've known president eisenhower since the days of the war he was in the states to address russia's concerns that america and turkey were planning to invade syria a crisis that was ultimately avoided largely due to his diplomacy it was just one of many powder cake situations in the late 50s and early 60s a revolution in iraq led to the death of 23 year old king faisal as a military under the control of general kazim declared iraq a republic fidel castro seized power in cuba but his strong ties with the soviet union caused concern for the new u.s president john f kennedy not all victories at the time came from conflict ceylon achieved a world first when it elected a female head of state prime minister sirimavo bandaranaike but in other parts of the world politics were far less progressive construction had begun on the berlin wall that would both physically and emotionally divide east from west europe for almost three decades the commonwealth too was undergoing its own transformation as many of its countries came of age testing the ties that bound them singapore was amongst the first during this period to bid for partial independence nigeria and cameroon followed suit but with a greater level of self-governance the queen believed in the commonwealth she didn't much mind if they became republics and most of them have done so the important thing was that they adhered to this nebulous body of which she was head but nowhere was the severing of ties more profound than in the newly declared republic of south africa where the introduction of the racially divisive apartheid system forced its expulsion from the commonwealth demonstrations against the south african government's strict apartheid policies flare into shocking violence it would be another 32 years before the republic was welcomed back into the fold and the pain of apartheid south africa was in her mind a blot on what the commonwealth was all about here was one country where the principles of the commonwealth were not being applied there were fears that other african nations would take the opportunity to break away the gold coast was to become ghana an independent state within the commonwealth ghana had gained its independence in 1957 and appeared to be forming a strong relationship with the soviet union ghana was worrying and the 1948 riots the british secret service investigated and became frightened they suspected that there might be communists behind this well this seems to have been an illusion but nevertheless as the cold war was hotting up people became very nervous in terms of smelling out communists here there and everywhere the queen was due to travel to ghana to bolster support for its continuing membership of the commonwealth but it was now felt as safety was at risk it was ruled by a man called kwame nakrumah who was an anti-colonialist and had gradually between 1957 and 1961 established himself as a kind of dictator he called himself redeemer the redeemer nakrumah and he'd been pretty anti-british he'd locked up his opponents he'd crush the freedom of the press and so on so it was a real question as to whether the queen should visit him or not when questioned by prime minister mcmillan about her intentions the monarch declared i am the head of the commonwealth and i am paid to face any risks that may involve nor do i say this lightly do not forget that i have three children so the small west african nation remained on track to host the royal couple and there was certainly no sign of dissent among the large crowds who gathered to see the queen and duke [Applause] when the queen went to ghana to confront or be confronted by you know one of the most aggressive faces of african nationalism she worked a magic that you know was partly her also partly the institution but you know you can't imagine that any british prime minister or president going to a country that was so recently broken away somehow elizabeth defused all that what with the acclimation of a hundred thousand spectators coupled with the noise of musicians it was a tremendous welcome the impact of british rule was evident in the many formal parades and celebrations hosted in the monarch's honor but there were also displays of a more relaxed approach to life here crowds again to see the queen arrive for another fascinating spectacle the surfboard regatta the queen's decision to proceed with the tour proved to be a public relations coup on more than one front while ghana opted to remain with the commonwealth it was the moment's move at an evening function that did far more than all the behind-the-scenes diplomacy to endear her to the people footage of the queen dancing with president nakrumah raised more than a few eyebrows of the white establishment the queen danced with president and groomer in the high life a swaying swinging shuffle which is all the rage in west africa one mustang suggested anything improper was going on but there is a sexual magic in that formal sort of dance between the queen and the male head of state where she is that was the case with nakrumah well you look at the record you can see the impact that are on the kruma you can also see the way in which the press coverage spread that symbolism right round a developing country but not all problems could be whilst away so easily [Music] the queen's tour of india and pakistan came less than 15 years after the turbulent road to independence for the one-time jewel in the colonial crown despite the history of hostility towards the british the royal family had traveled to india on several occasions the first store was in 1911 when george v became the only king emperor to visit the 1911 tour which george v made as his sort of coronation tour he'd just become king was designed to weld the raj the british empire in india to britain itself this was to be a tour most remembered for its opulence and extravagance the royal guest of honor was fated by his hosts in a show of india's rich and colorful past magnificent processions lots of elephants all the princes in their wonderful regalia and they come before their king emperor he's splendid he's wearing his crowns coronation robes and one by one the princes come and bow before him in submission and this is understandable this is repeating the pageantry of the moguls who ruled india before the british it was a great public show this is our indian empire so what was going on here was the theatrical show of kingship it was a great theatrical act and as far as george the fifth was concerned the icing on the cake was a huge series of tiger hunts where he shot 21 tigers and seemed to sort of seal his majesty in the face of the indian princess but the mood had notably shifted by the time his heir edward viii toured as the prince of wales a decade later britain's involvement in world war one had exacted a heavy toll on india more than 130 000 troops were killed or injured and war expenditure in the uk was partly offset by the introduction of taxes on the subcontinent the murmurings of discontent were turning into shouts the prime minister stanley baldwin suggested it'd be a very good idea if the king's eldest son edward prince of wales the future edward the viii made a series of tours one reason of course baldwin was very concerned was that that would keep the prince out of mischief but here was this young glamorous playboy prince with an easy almost common touch visit his subjects but even the presence of the popular prince could do little to vacate the disenfranchised his trip was punctuated with protests and depleted crowds due to the anti-british sentiments stirred up by the independence movement the queen's visit 40 years later to the former colony had no hint of the tensions that surfaced in the battle to break with britain the highest in the land were there to welcome her including mr nero of course if anything interest in the monarchy had increased as millions clambered to view the woman who at one stage was destined to be their empress and a multitudinous welcome from the people of the city it said that such a tremendous reception has never been seen in calcutta before she is visiting a new largest member of the commonwealth india emerges a secular state and there is pakistan which is a religious state it's a muslim state and the partition had been a period of extraordinary bloodshed and so there are these two nations where there once once the indian empire india is conspicuously a neutral state it sees itself not as part of the cold war pakistan is if you like in the western camp it's allied with britain and the united states the seven week tour was to take in both india and pakistan along with nepal and iran and included a speech before a crowd of 250 000 even today it still ranks as one of the largest gatherings of its kind i just remember wonderful images of the queen um sitting on the top of a sort of highly comparisoned elephant it was all quite grand in those days one feature of the four day visit was the tiger shoot in which over 300 elephants played their important part the queen rode on this mount on her way to the scene of action which he planned to shoot with a camera and while traditional culture featured throughout this tour there was also an emphasis on the way forward there are plenty of elephants and there are lots of flag wavings and visiting places like cattle breeding stations all these places which are indicators of progress she talks about india as being a great civilizing influence on asia which means that like the british government she sees india as an emerging great power which has the capacity to influence smaller countries around the queen was careful not to ignore tribulations of the past treading a careful path of diplomacy she paid homage to the two men who were once at odds with britain as they helped shape modern day india and pakistan she takes special care to honor inspect the men involved in the indian independence movement she removes her shoes and lays a wreath on gandhi's tomb in a respectful and decorous manner a beautiful tribute to india's greatest son the mahatma [Music] she does the same on the tomb of dr mohammed jinnah the queen joined her husband when they visited the site of the memorial to mr jinner the founder of this country which became a republic nearly five years ago so she is respecting the independence movement and also making a public statement that the so-called enemies of empire have now become heroes of a liberal humane commonwealth that's what the queen will always do she is a tremendous conciliator and i think you'll find that the one common theme that goes through all these visits is reconciliation i think if you were looking for an epithet to apply to the queen like alfred the great elizabeth the conciliator would be certainly one of them that you should think about the exodus from british rule continued in the early 1960s with jamaica uganda and kenya all demanding independence but remaining within the commonwealth south africa continued its divisive rule with anti-apartheid demonstrator nelson mandela arrested for inciting rebellion and sentenced to life in prison another social change campaigner martin luther king delivered his famous i have a dream speech to an audience of close to a quarter of a million people at the time the largest single protest in american history but president kennedy never got the chance to oversee a more equitable united states he was assassinated during a motorcade through dallas in 1963. the following year the queen sailed into canada and right into the middle of a separatist struggle quebec is the center of the french canadian movement to break away from the rest of the country a group of french canadians based in quebec wanted independence from the british protesters had threatened to assassinate the queen putting security forces on high alert well quebec was always going to be very difficult now it was considered to be quite dangerous but the queen is never ever shirked from any kind of danger at all the quebec visit of 1964 was the first really dangerous tour that the queen had to go to and where her unflappable imperturbal character came into play brilliantly in arguably the queen's first taste of public displeasure spectators were outnumbered by troops as the monarch made her way to the parliament building driven in a bulletproof car in a break from protocol officers faced the people rather than the royal couple to watch for any signs of unrest once safely inside the queen displayed her command for foreign languages addressing the parliament in french another aspect of her visit to quebec was of course her mastery of french the fact that french people tell me she speaks french like a french woman the hardliners however proved difficult to win over and the queen emerged to a show of defiance as protesters shouted for her to leave [Music] the few people who waited to see her majesty only served to underline this humiliating situation the queen always handles protests and things with with great dignity and she does not like to be deflected from her chosen path she's the descendant of queen victoria tough old bird was queen victoria and we've seen those characteristics coming down through the generations displaying themselves in elizabeth ii in contrast the remainder of the tour took on a far more familiar feel as the royal couple ventured back into the english-speaking provinces while the queen emerged from canada unscathed the so far untarnished image of the monarch abroad had lost a little of its shine in a world where more and more people were prepared to stand up for their rights and express views that had previously been suppressed the royal family's relationship with the public and press was heading towards a scrutiny never experienced before as the world continued to transform before them as we navigated our way through the turmoil of the first half of the 20th century the royal family had been a safe harbor a beacon of hope in a world awash with wars depression and ethnic cleansing as they toured the commonwealth and beyond they attracted a level of devotion usually only associated with movie stars i think the royal family do just historically have a huge glamour factor of course the queen herself in the early days of her reign was this very beautiful and staggeringly glamorous figure the crucial thing is i think to go out there and to if not to meet the people at least to be seen by the people because in that way the fetish is presented to the people the sacrament is there it's to be seen and the religious devotion is thus stoked up [Applause] the royals and swerving adherence to traditions was the tonic many felt was needed in the 1960s in the wake of great shifts in the social fabric of the western world inspired by the music of elvis and the beatles a new generation was free to express itself in a way its parents and grandparents had never dared to the conflict in vietnam continued to divide public opinion more so than any other war and protests against america's involvement were both vocal and violent on another continent a separate war was as equally devastating for its people yet attracted far less attention around the globe among its many claims to fame ethiopia was and still is the world's most populated landlocked country in 1961 emperor haile selassie dissolved a federation agreement with neighboring eritrea declaring the coastal country to now be a province of ethiopia the war was still in its early days when the queen and duke arrived for a week-long visit at the start of 1965. ecstatic in many ways the queen's visit to ethiopia the first british monarch ever to go there the queen's 65 visit to ethiopia was another example of what could have gone wrong in these same years we've got france breaking up with its empire in africa in quite a bit of fashion uh ethiopia of course was an independent country and you have the magic of hailey celesti and the queen two ancient cultures coming together wonderful symbolism really abraham lester was actually one of the first state visitors to come to britain there were crowds and cheering all the way londoners turning out in large numbers to add their welcome to the queen's guest i think he was the second state visitor that the queen had on which occasion she made him a night of the garter and so she went back in 1965. ethiopia had never been part of the commonwealth but that did not stop its people turning out on mass to welcome the foreign dignitaries progress was slow for the royal couple as they travelled in a state coach drawn by six white horses flanked by a hundred horsemen of the imperial bodyguard each of which wore a heavy lion's mane helmet the tour in one way is all about lions of course hailey selassie greeted the royal couple with this wonderful lion's mane helmet at his palace there were his pet lions waiting during her eight-day stay she doesn't get close enough to pet the palace lions who are closely guarded so there wasn't much doubt that she was being met by the lion of judea but the line of judea was subjugated to second place especially in the preparations for this much anticipated visit the capital's daily newspaper for the first time instigated a women's page paying homage to the british monarch by the mid-60s the queen is becoming uh an international media figure she's not a stranger to the ethiopians this is the beginning really of her truly global status as a queen 1965 she was still a young woman and so still very sort of glamorous as a head of state and great deal more glamorous than a lot of heads of state so naturally it would be a very popular visit but the seemingly effortless diplomacy was the end result of months of meticulous planning by an army of staffers working behind the scenes a royal tour is prepared like a military campaign every detail discussed a number of different bodies come together first you know to discuss it in both in general and in particular we're talking the royal household government security the embassy from the country maybe various you know charitable bodies involved for several months both victorian and federal police have been involved in massive security arrangements leading up to the queen's visit there are recces in which people will work out exactly which way a door opens where a gangplank has to be who's going to be lined up where they are and so forth i mean down to absolutely meticulous and i must say having been on a royal visit or two one of the things that i learned was never ever lean against anything because invariably the wall had just been painted with white paint at that moment and then you'd be in big trouble depending on which royal is traveling they would normally be accompanied by private secretaries press officers a stylist hairdressers and an operations manager to ensure a mostly flawless visit but even on a more practical level there's things like oh designing the queen's wardrobe the queen mother accompanied by princess margaret talking with britain's top fashion designers including royal dressmaker norman hartnell there's so much to think about they need to have a number of outfits not repeat outfits or if they do repeat outfits they're doing it for a particular effect because very often the queen or one of the princesses will want to pay tribute to the host country so you'll see the queen wearing a maple leaf brooch in canada princess diana wearing cherry blossom pink for japan you've got to think about the colors about standing out and about reflecting the colors that are good in that country the queen always wears very bright colors so she stands out in the crowd because the queen for one is very much aware i think that people want to see a queen they want to see a bit of bling and of course the royal family can do bling like nobody else the relationship between england and the next port of call for the queen and duke had a complicated history twenty years after defeating germany in world war ii the wounds were still raw for many throughout the six-year war the royals had played a vital role in boosting morale amongst the british equal to the big blitz the visit of their majesty is the king and queen to districts in east london which suffered very severely king george vi had even managed a secret mid-war visit to the mediterranean where fighting for control of the strategic waterway had been particularly fierce he visited malta which is a great success he visited north africa and he distributed honours and so on and he even made eisenhower laugh by saying that he was glad to hear that general montgomery wasn't after his job his majesty intent on seeing as much of the army as possible wanted to express his own and the nation's gratitude and admiration for the job they've done it was a reasonably successful but the problem with king george vi was that he had all the charisma of a dishrag he couldn't empathize he couldn't emote and also he was physically rather prone to illness and seasickness and didn't like flying and so on so he wasn't a sort of heroic figure of the kind that churchill was during the war the planned tour of the queen and duke in the spring of 1965 would be the first official royal visit by a british monarch in more than half a century it was designed to help bridge the political chasm that had widened between the two nations the queen's uncle made an unsanctioned visit in 1937 as a duke of windsor the duke of windsor in 1937 wanted to get back into the limelight and in particular he wanted his new wife the duchess of windsor formerly mrs simpson to be treated with the respect due to a royal he had been mortified beyond words by the fact that his brother the king george vi had denied her the hrh these magic initials her royal highness going to germany would get her treated in royal fashion he would climb back into the limelight and he didn't have any objection to hitler at all this visit was uncharted territory for the british royals there was no precedent for an abdicated sovereign to act on behalf of the current monarch the king had hoped his brother would retreat to a quiet life in exile in france but that was not to be the case he had a meeting with hitler which was which was relatively successful he ohio hitler he clicked his heels which was rather old-fashioned as far as the nazis were concerned that was an old-fashioned sort of kaiser thing to do and he really felt he was re-establishing himself on the international scene going back to the days when he'd been the the prince imperial had gone around the world and been fated uh by the tour ended up being a political nightmare for the british royals and government leading to suggestions that the former king was in fact a nazi sympathizer as a result the duke was reassigned from his role in the british expeditionary force in france to the bahamas where he would remain as governor for the duration of the war he was very dim character he didn't realize what a monster hitler was i mean this is the extraordinary thing years after the holocaust after the whole thing was well known he said i didn't think that hitler was such a bad chap extraordinary intellectual and moral blinkers he wore princess margaret was the first royal to venture back into germany after the war with two visits in the mid-1950s when the viking of the queen's flight arrived at bonn there was a warm welcome awaiting princess margaret a decade later the queen and prince phillips visit was less about control of the country and more about promoting positive public relations and they were the ideal candidates for the job in the words of president lubka we regard your visit as a sign of growing trust in our people both the monarch and her consort had strong family ties with germany elizabeth's great-grandmother queen victoria married her cousin albert who was of german nobility the young prince had studied at the university of bonn before moving to britain at the turn of the 20th century the royals were known as the house of saks coburg gotha but anti-german sentiment in world war one convinced them to adopt the name windsor which is still in use today people forget perhaps that the name house of windsor is a made-up name it's a brand name the family decided they had to change their name we would call it a rebranding exercise it wasn't called in those days they searched back in history tudor stewart plantagenet should we have a double barrel name and then apparently the private secretary of the time looked out of the window saw the round tower of windsor castle and said let's call it windsor not a family name town name for prince philip the ties were even greater as a descendant of the house of glucksburg his family had strong links to the german establishment when he married princess elizabeth 1947 none of his sisters could attend the ceremony because they'd all been married to german princes who had been on the nazi side in the war this trip however was more about looking to the future than dwelling on the past the visit to west germany is a mark the queen is demonstrating to the world and to the british people and to the west in general that west german federal republic is a part of the western alliance that the war has been forgotten in so far as this new germany is a democratic humane state and of course germany at that time was very anxious to as it were be accepted back into the club of europe if you like and so the queen's visit in a sense did enhance that how much has been done in the last 20 years and nowhere more than in berlin to renew and repair the context between our people that go so far back into the past i believe they are now very strong for the germans there was a fascination with the british royals that extended well beyond compensating for the absence of its own monarchy the germans actually loved the grandeur of the british royals it's interesting because 1965 here in england the british press and public were almost beginning to feel that in changing times the royals looked a little bit out of touch a little bit you know old hat but in germany they just loved that to have met royalty in the person of such a queen amid such scenes of splendor must now be among their treasured memories and for the queen herself what more exciting memory than the great firework display a few days earlier the night the rhine caught fire but it was impossible to ignore the divisive nature of the capital city at the end of world war ii germany had been divided into four sectors administered by the main allied partners the united states britain france and the soviet union ideologically the soviet union under stalin sat poles apart from the three other victors and was far more interested in building up the power of the eastern bloc countries than in working with the western alliance a steady stream of people deserting east germany for west germany in the 1950s prompted the soviets to build the 156 kilometer wall that would become the most visible part of the so-called iron curtain for the queen it was impossible to visit germany without acknowledging the battles that still lay ahead for some of its people nowhere is the tragedy of a divided world made more evident than in this city she sees the berlin wall which symbolizes the partition of europe and the forceful constraint of people living within the communist area she also visits royal airforce cemeteries inspects german troops this is a formal recognition that germany has changed uh it has changed politically but also changed its inner nature and the germans were very appreciative the visit was the most enormous success i mean the queen made a great effort she got her dress designer hardy amis to design this you know wonderful dress to match the sort of lovely pale blue interior of the building where she was appearing the whole purpose of that visit was in the spirit of reconciliation and it was quite interesting that the press who usually were very subdivided actually all came together and said what a fantastic visit had been universally successful the scene outside west berlin's town hall acclimation for elizabeth as the crowd chants her name despite the excitement and joy the visit brought the german people faced many challenging years ahead before they could welcome the royal couple back to a unified country but germany was not alone in its struggles israel had taken on egypt syria and jordan in the six day war catching the arab armies off guard to claim west bank gaza sinai and golan heights there were military coups in ghana and greece the khmer rouge begun their brutal fight for control in cambodia and three american astronauts died when fire broke out on the apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch rehearsal but there were moments of celebration as well south african surgeon christian bernard completed the first heart transplant while canada went on show to the world in its expo 67 sixty two nations pay tribute to canada's hundredth birthday as expo 67 opens in montreal they've all participated in this giant and ambitious project the queen and duke arrived by the royal yacht britannia to tour some of the 90 pavilions which were based around the theme man and his world it is still considered to be the most successful expo of the 20th century and many of its relics such as the futuristic housing design habitat 67 are still in use more than half a century later the queen is aboard for a sightseeing trip on the overhead rail as it runs through much of the exhibition she could never have hoped to see otherwise the royal couple's attendance was hardly surprising considering the close relationship between britain and canada the queen has visited the north american country 22 times making it her most regular port of call i think there's two reasons for that and one ironically is the fact that the connection with canada has to be fought for a little bit because of course canada is a nation of two backgrounds and two languages there's always been an awareness that the french-speaking canada may not feel any particular reason for loyalty enthusiasm for the british crown but at the same time canada has been our foothold in the american continent they received overwhelming proof of the affection and loyalty of the younger generation of canada thus started a tour which in every sense seems likely to prove his story ever since uh the queen mother in 1939 said when asked are you english or scottish i'm canadian there's very little doubt there's been a very close relationship between the royal family and canada [Applause] the 70s would prove to be a turbulent time for the british at home clashes between the ira and royal ulster constabulary became known as the troubles and forced the united kingdom to deploy 21 000 troops in belfast the situation is now so bad in some catholic areas of belfast that even scout cars and personnel carriers have to patrol in pairs but there was unrest in other parts of the commonwealth as well bangladesh declared itself separate from pakistan and qatar claimed its independence closer to london another royal family was in the spotlight margrethe ii became the first queen of denmark in more than 500 years but it was britain's relationship with a different european power that was behind a visit by the queen in 1972 [Music] england and france had a long history of intense rivalry but by the start of the 20th century the two former foes had reached a more comfortable coexistence the links between france and britain had been closer since the anton cordial of 1904 subsequently of course there was the first world war in the second world war where we were allies and the liberation was followed by retrenchment of britain and france's imperial powers and there was discussion of a possible link between france and britain and nothing came of it the queen's visit at the beginning of a decade that was going to see all sorts of changes in the anglo-french relationship smooth the way in those days britain wanted to be part of europe and resistance the idea was coming from the other side of the channel for the royal party a hectic five days ahead with the european common market just around the corner the tour should cement our trade and friendship even more the election of charles de gaulle as french president in 1958 saw a cooling in relations as he actively campaigned to keep the british out of the newly formed european economic community fearing they would dominate continental countries but his successor george pompadou was interested in a far more cordial relationship so he invited the queen and you to visit in 1972. the queen made her first visit here 15 years ago the royal visit is perhaps one of the most significant steps towards developing a lasting friendship between britain and france a royal tour very often uh can be simply promoting goodwill but in 1972 there was a specific purpose when the queen visited paris the french president general de gola twice vetoed britain's application to join the european economic community president pompey to his successor was well disposed and britain's prime minister edward heath was an ardent europhile a europe without britain like a britain without europe would be both weaker and less prosperous another vote was to be held later that year for britain's entry into the eec and with french backing they were finally welcomed into the fold the queen's visit was a very special link not a royal endorsement equally of course there was some division as to whether or not britain shouldn't join but the queen acts on advice of her ministers the five-day tour in may was all about promoting the great connection between the two nations including the shared elements of their history a lightning visit to northern france ended the tour her main engagement was at the commonwealth war cemetery on the outskirts of the town a very high percentage of the eleven thousand remembered here died from the effects of gas public interest in the tour was strong with large crowds gathering at all the best vantage spots i think it would be a fair comment that the french people indeed the people of most countries have a great affection for the queen not just a matter of longevity but the dignity and commitment that she's shown it isn't always shared by their politicians but then as a head of state the queen is above party politics and that is an absolutely essential part of the royal role it was a convivial visit the official party very relaxed in each other's company although possibly they were not on the same page when it came to matters of taste it's always intriguing to see which gifts heads of state give each other president pompidou's gift to prince philip was a gigantic wine cooler shaped like a grasshopper something so huge and so horrible that you cannot imagine anyone aesthetically appreciating it paris that city of enchantment switches on and prepares to entertain her royal guests the french government did hit the mark however when it arranged a performance from the highly skilled riders of the cavalry school much to the delight of their horse-loving guests [Applause] but not all animal displays on the tour received quite as enthusiastically the queen was said to be annoyed when the dogs belonging to the duke and duchess of windsor jumped all over her during a private visit for afternoon tea elizabeth had come to see her dying uncle he had chosen to live in exile in france with his wife wallace simpson he was her favorite uncle when she was a little girl but when she was 10 there was the terrible betrayal of the abdication that i have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as i would wish to do without the help and support of the woman i love the abdication crisis was the great royal trauma of the 20th century it affected everybody who had anything to do with the royals and it shaped the way that royalty behaved peoples steeped in the traditions of monarchy bound by the most affectionate memory of king george and by devoted attachment to queen mary inspired by a sincere admiration of king edward himself and his public service found themselves stunned by a conflict of sentiment elizabeth learned about it in those days through her parents through her bitter mother disapproving grandmother queen mary who felt david as they called him had let the family down so badly this lesson in loyalty and sacrifice as a sovereign is one that has underpinned the queen's approach to her role all throughout her career i think if you want to understand for instance the early days of elizabeth's monarchy of leaving her children behind for long periods of time that is one of the legacies that duty meant that your personal inclinations had to be subordinated to the expectations of what your advisors told you was required of the monarch the queen only had to look to her father for a role model in devotion to duty a shy man who had grown up in the shadow of his gregarious older brother he was forced to take up the mantle of monarchy when edward viii abdicated when george vi inherited the throne at the end of 1936 he said the throne was tottering he didn't know how he was going to save it well he did it actually by going through the traditional motions by basing himself on his father by adhering rigidly to protocol and precedence and all the traditions of the past he embodied i think it's almost impossible to overestimate the effect of the abdication crisis it was a ghost that haunted the british monarchy from that day onwards and probably still does the duke settled in paris and only a few days before his death members of the royal family visited him at his home in the vaudeville island despite the royal rift prince charles took leave from the navy to join his parents to say a final farewell to the man who had given up his right to the throne to marry an american divorcee the queen mother had never forgiven her brother-in-law but her daughter elizabeth ii felt it was only fitting to pay her respects she behaved with her normal total courtesy towards the duke and i liked to think that he'd only had the job for a short time but that was something they shared so for all the family bitterness there was a bond between those two people the duke passed away ten days after the visit and the final smoothed the way for senior members of the royal family to attend his funeral but there was a little comical relief at the end of the tour when an enthusiastic frenchman scaled the anchor of the royal yacht britannia the police red-faced over the failure of their security net hauled him away the queen didn't see the incident a few minutes later she and prince philip came on deck to wave goodbye to france this was one of the more extreme examples of breaches of etiquette towards the queen but there were often times on her overseas tours where people were unaccustomed to appropriate behaviour around the royals the media made up this word protocol without really knowing exactly what it means a lot of it is common sense and decency when addressing the queen the first time you meet her it is your majesty and thereafter it's ma'am men don't have to bow when you bow there is all this sort of thing of bending at the waist no you don't bend at the waist you just drop your head from the neck you don't have to do it if you don't feel comfortable ladies don't have to curse if you don't feel comfortable you're not going to get shipped off to the tower of london or have your head chopped off it's just a matter of taste but these physical faux pas were nothing compared to the nervous attempts at small talk with the monarch last time i was here it was a glorious summer afternoon like this very good and there's also this misconception you cannot speak to the queen first i mean she will come up to you and ask you a question and from then on you can have a two-way conversation people do get tongue-tied in her presence i've seen at palace receptions captains of industry in a group and these people are dealing with multi-million pound deals on a weekly basis and the queen enters their group and it probably all men they forget what they've got to do etiquette aside the early 70s were certainly a time of celebration for the royals i must confess my lord mayor that it came as a bit of a surprise to realize that we had been married 25 years [Music] the queen and prince philip marked a quarter of a century of marriage and a year later witnessed the wedding of princess anne to captain mark phillips a union that would last close to 20 years the queen visited sydney for the highly anticipated opening of the opera house an iconic structure that took 14 years to complete at a cost of 102 million dollars a staggering 15 times over the original budget this tour was a one-stop tour the queen needed to be there but she only came for three and a half days it was unheard of for the queen to come for such a short amount of time she was just going to do the one thing fly in fly out we've seen a bit more of that since then but we certainly hadn't seen it prior to that [Applause] politically britain was struggling during the 70s a hung parliament forced a general election ushering in the labour government of harold wilson and the exit of edward heath around the same time australia was experiencing upheaval of its own the government was facing a constitutional crisis that would embroil the queen prime minister goff whitlam failed to get his budget through the senate the governor general intervened sacking the nation's leader and replacing him with the opposition's malcolm fraser well may we say god save the queen [Music] because nothing will save the governor again now the queen has said that she didn't know about it and certainly there's a lot of record to say that she didn't know until the following morning but the perception was that she did know the perception was this constitutional monarch so far away from australian shores was actually dabbling in our politics the fact that a royal representative could exert control over the australian parliament helped to fuel the republican movement a push that has never been successful despite a groundswell of support in many parts of the country ironically there was no hint of a desire to break free from british rule when the queen visited hong kong in 1975 although the colony would eventually succeed where australia failed albeit with control ultimately passing to a different master hong kong about the island and part of what we call the new territories was actually part of the british empire in 1898 amongst other political developments this territory is uh extended it goes further into actually territory in the mainland and this territory is called the new territories and it doesn't become a permanent part of the british empire it became a leased territory for 99 years the one-time chinese province was no stranger to royal tours hosting 17 regal visits in the 134 years since britain had claimed it as its own queen elizabeth ii was the first reigning monarch to visit hong kong as she did in in 1975. the thing about hong kong was that its anomalous status a borrowed place living on borrowed time has suited everybody it suited the chinese because hong kong was a huge money-making machine it suited the british because they had this hangover really from from the empire it was an old-fashioned place there was no sort of democracy [Music] commemorative stamps and coins were minted in preparation for the queen's arrival and threats of protest by the revolutionary marxist league never eventuated as the public threw its overwhelming support behind the visit official functions were dominated by cultural performances as the country's colorful heritage was brought to the fore but it was the staging of the inaugural queen elizabeth ii cup that won the most royal favor the guests of honor among 40 000 who turned out at happy valley racecourse to witness nazarcat's victory the entire tour was declared a runaway success a chance for the queen to reassure the people of hong kong that it was business as usual despite the shadow that hung over them might say tong it was said could have taken hong kong with a telephone call but he didn't do that and he didn't stir up resistance to the british in hong kong the status quo suited everybody so all she was doing really was showing the flag and keeping the continuity going she had no more role than that but that in itself was quite important because until the end when the lease ran out in 1997 it suited everybody to allow this fantastic economic success to pull the whole of china up by its bootstraps economically and it suited us to have this offshoot of britain on the coast of china by the mid-1970s america was also enjoying a period of great prosperity with the launch of the apple computer company and the release of star wars the highest grossing film of its time but at the same time the entertainment world was mourning the loss of one of its stars singer elvis presley died from an apparent drug overdose 75 000 fans lined the streets of memphis for his funeral [Applause] the streets of great britain were being prepared for a far happier event 1977 marked the silver jubilee of the queen's ascension to the throne the year-long celebration was a chance for the royal family to regain its standing with the public london celebrates this is a gala day for young and old a once in a lifetime spectacle not to be missed the last jubilee during the reign of george v was out of most people's memory or seemed a sort of weird victorian thing everybody knew queen victoria had endless jubilees but people at that stage shouldn't feel the same about the queen the run-up to the jubilee there was a lot of cold water being poured on the whole idea but the antagonists had underestimated the pulling power of a parade especially one that honoured a royal who was recognized and revered around the world saint paul's cathedral where many have waited historically through a cold night for just this moment one million people lined the streets of london on june the 6th to take in the spectacle of jubilee day with a further 500 million watching the globally televised event i remember just you know the street where while i lived in south london in 1977 some busy bodies in the street said let's have a street party and nobody was very keen about it when it happened and the chairs are out in the street and the kinks of beer and there's music playing it all added up to a very potent mix and difficult to put your finger on but the crown and the woman who wore it became for that year but then thereafter the more potent symbols of what mattered in our lives and the celebrations extended well beyond british soil the queen traveled to germany to inspect the 3 000 british troops that were part of the nato force it was the largest parade ever staged by the army and no doubt felt never ending for prince philip who saluted most of the twenty five thousand spectators at senelaga are soldiers of the rhine army and their families for all of them it's a day to remember germany was one of 36 countries the queen visited in 1977 in the hope of reigniting a similar level of royal fervor as experienced on her commonwealth tour more than 20 years earlier and so in that jubilee year there were two huge visits to commonwealth chunks of territories the spring saw the pacific leg if you like australia new zealand and the pacific islands which the royal family have very warm connections and the autumn saw canada and the caribbean islands australia featured on the silver jubilee tour schedule but there were fears the queen would be given the cold shoulder by the public after her governor-general sacked prime minister whitlam two years earlier i think a lot of people were sort of expecting that she might get a reasonably rough reception and they must have been disappointed because there wasn't one australians yet again showed their infinite capacity to flop to the side of the british monarch what did you think of the queen today lovely she's beautiful ever expect to meet the queen in your lifetime that was a surprise very happy about it there was a little bit of issue in a couple of places but it wasn't really palpably not directed towards the queen but to some of the politicians who were accompanying her there was the warm welcome that she has always known i think if you look at the numbers on the streets they tell a slightly different story they weren't coming in quite as many as before but not everywhere was so welcoming the ira tried to force the cancellation of a planned two-day tour of northern ireland by mounting a campaign of violence in the lead-up to the visit but the controversies did little to mar the celebrations the queen's silver jubilee was a triumph of public relations the royal party attends a silver jubilee youth festival in which 1800 children from all over northern ireland take part it was a reminder of the fact that you know the monarchy represents the community the jubilee was about celebrating 25 years of the queen but actually it was 25 years of royal and national progress and there have been catastrophes like suez but here we were 25 years afterwards all those countries around the world like australia and new zealand and so on they have been a bit disenchanted with britain but they were still with us the changing reality of the world around them was brought home two years later when the ira assassinated the queen's cousin lord mountbatten and his 14 year old grandson during a boating holiday in northern ireland the royal family was devastated by the loss of someone so close a man who had mentored prince charles and held many distinguished positions including the last viceroy of india and in the midst of the irish crisis margaret thatcher became the first female prime minister of britain a woman who would become known as the iron lady due to her uncompromising approach to politics because their expenditure is profligate and they have little consideration for the pockets of their constituents a lot of people will tell you that the queen and margaret thatcher did not get on well um i do not subscribe to this at all because first of all the queen is absolutely understands that she will work with the chosen representative the elected representative of the people james callaghan labour prime minister before margaret thatcher used to say that what the queen offered was not necessarily friendship but friendliness she will support that prime minister very much i ronald reagan do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states and as america celebrated the election of movie star ronald reagan as its leader the music world lost yet another star with the murder of john lennon outside his apartment in new york ironically it was out of respect for the world's most established christian religion that saw the queen abandon her usual dress standard on a state visit [Music] vatican protocol required the monarch to wear black for her private audience with the recently anointed pope john paul ii but the dress requirement didn't sit well with her grandmother queen mary who insisted on wearing white with a pearl choker when she visited the vatican with her husband king george v in 1923. over the centuries britain's had a very difficult relationship with the catholic church but once again we are in the area of conciliation pope john paul ii was known for his restorative approach in relation to other religions and the meeting between the heads of the two churches was described as very warm and relaxed if you like you've got two people from what would once have been very different sides of a religious divide both very concerned now that perhaps the different branches of the christian faith should stand together and one of the points that she made was that amongst her subjects there were indeed four million catholics and she invited the pope to come and he came in 1982 and that was a very very successful visit i mean you had big scenes in canterbury cathedral when he and the archbishop of canterbury they were sort of embracing each other like like footballers these men of many churches then performed the ritual of giving peace to one another but politics in italy were far more akin to a tragedy at the time of the monarch's visit the country had voted in 39 governments in the 35 years since world war ii and was between prime ministers at the time of the royal tour it was left to 84 year old president alessandro pettini the host the queen at the quirinale palace in rome for her four-day stay his task was to walk the queen towards the splendors of this most ornate palaces but he covered most of the very long red carpet before he realized he was on the wrong side of the queen so with some agility he changed places while media interest in the visit was strong the number of people lining the streets was low as the country grappled with economic and industrial chaos it was a stark contrast to the royal tour 19 years earlier when the mood was far more buoyant and crowds much larger as the queen and prince philip traveled to the popular tourist spots including venice back then there seemed to be a simple pleasure a palpable excitement in having the queen come to visit but over time that interest would start to wane apart from a spike in popularity during the silver jubilee the british royals held less of a fascination for people outside the united kingdom as the 70s drew to a close the monarchy has undergone huge ups and downs in popularity during the queen's reign she was greeted with huge enthusiasm at home and abroad as this massively glamorous young figure but the 60s 70s 80s that began to fade away a bit in a rapidly modernizing world the monarchy had increasingly appeared outdated and stuck in traditions that no longer seemed relevant but as the focus shifted from the queen to the next generation of the family a young trendy commoner was about to reinvigorate interest and elevate the royals to cult status once again [Music] through the trials and tribulations of the first half of the 20th century the optimism of the post-war years and the rebellious 60s and 70s the royals had stood as a symbol of strength and unity the head of the large family of commonwealth nations at its best a monarchy stands for the things we all agree about that's domestically in britain in the great commonwealth countries like canada australia new zealand and so on india it also has this link of the memory of the ancient relationship with britain and the enduring relationship today the member countries of the commonwealth assembled here today constitute more than one quarter of the nations of the earth the commonwealth which like the monarchy has switched from being a matter of purely british interest to stand for common values on which we all agree [Music] while support for the royals have begun to waver with the passing of each decade they were about to ride the crest of another wave of popularity this one much higher and more sustained than any they had seen before i think that the times when members of the royal family are at their most popular is when there's being born being married or perhaps celebrating some great anniversary or indeed eventually dying and so of course when prince charles and princess hands emerged from school and college people were terribly interested in them you know who were they going to marry what were they going to do they were new youngsters coming on the scene the engagement of the heir to the throne to lady diana spencer ended years of speculation prince charles was to marry lady diana spencer at saint paul's cathedral in front of three and a half thousand guests including heads of state and european royalty so charles and diana come together before god and the world to make their vows each to the other the service is to be taken by the archbishop of canterbury an estimated 750 million people watch the ceremony on television around the world and a crowd of more than a million line the streets making the most of clear skies and the declaration of a national holiday [Applause] a kiss which receives a roar of approval from the crowd who called the couple back and back again onto the balcony it's hard to argue with half a million people who know what they want [Applause] being royal is a very fine balance between representing the great values that the monarchy stands for and of course at the end of the day the interests of britain but as history shows it's the individuals with the most interesting personalities if they're young or so good looks that have an impact diana was a fantastic example of that diana's face graced the cover of every popular magazine as a media fed the public hunger for every minute detail of the princess's life diana had that x factor she was beautiful of course but it was so much more than that she could connect with the people i think for the royal family she bought a sense of compassion that we we hadn't really seen before the princesses appeal to family values came at the relaunch of barnardo's which wants to abandon its victorian image and highlight its work fighting modern problems she very quickly overtook the queen as the most popular royal and provided a welcome diversion for the british in 1982 unemployment was at its highest level since world war ii and britain was at war with argentina over the remote falkland islands john paul ii became the first reigning pope to visit britain and as china's population exceeded 1 billion the united kingdom was only interested in the birth of one child crowds gathered outside buckingham palace throughout the evening then at 10 25 their patience was rewarded with the formal notice of the birth prince william arthur philip louis was born on the 21st of june 1982 becoming second in line to the throne after his father prince charles at st mary's paddington thy euphoria overflowed into song [Applause] the future king made history as the first royal baby to be born in a hospital and again less than a year later when he accompanied his parents on a tour of australia and new zealand after a wait of several minutes the prince and princess emerged showing no sign of a long flight and obviously well educated in the right sort of clothes to wear in central australia at the time william was the youngest royal to ever go on an overseas visit a record that was only broken by his son prince george more than 30 years later he arrived here blinking into our very harsh sunlight and then he spent the tour on a homestead in rural new south wales where he was not bothered by all the reasons why the queen had not taken her children before the royal couple stopped several times to chat with the crowd some of whom had driven hundreds of kilometres for this moment right from the moment charles and diana touched down in alice springs it was clear this was to be a different kind of visit one that focused more on the remote and often overlooked parts of australia the palace had chosen the outback as a first stop on diana's debut tour to give her a gentle introduction to the rigors of royal visits although prince charles put a different spin on the choice but we thought it was rather appropriate to start here in the in the center of australia after all the center of the wheel is what helps the spokes from the outside to go around but whatever the reason the royals had completely underestimated media interest in the princess and the baby air in the early days of their marriage of course prince charles and diana were sent out as a double act and this staggeringly popular global double act the years before that royal tour the crowds have been going down quite significantly we'd become used to the royal family they'd come more often they were a bit dowdy and then suddenly there was this breath of fresh air in lady diana and we're all back out again we were back on the streets again even the non-royalists were out for a look if only to catch a glimpse of this woman the world had made so much fuss about fields of flowers were presented to the princess who is only too happy to zone in on the younger members of the crowd one strong-minded little man had his heart set on a kiss from a princess and his persistence paid off the media dubbed it diana mania in a nod to the similar hysteria stirred up during the beatles tour almost 20 years earlier every word every gesture every outfit was broadcast around the world as the focus was firmly on the woman who in a short space of time had transformed the royals from a somewhat stuffy institution to a people-friendly public relations enterprise [Music] the adulation diana received gave diana an idea of the power she was able to wield in the service of charity and also her personal magnetism which she had not realized before and the next day at perth airport on their way to bunbury the royal rainmakers were at it again this time it was a downpour while it did rain on their parade as they traveled through every state and territory in australia the weather had little impact on the sense of fun they seemed to share wherever they went i was lucky enough to marry her and we had many many messages it's amazing what ladies do when you're baxter the good humor could be largely attributed to the choice of destination for the first overseas tour charles has always felt right at home in australia ever since spending two terms as a teenager at the country campus of geelong grammar school in victoria at 17 charles interrupted his time at gordon's tune to experience school life in australia timbertops was the outback branch of geelong grammar school in melbourne it was a chance for him to find himself he talks about how he felt free here where he hadn't in his own country he liked the australian attitude where he wasn't treated as someone special but the images that seemed to represent the tone of the tool were the ones of the royals enjoying some of australia's most popular tourist attractions from prince charles and princess diana's point of view it was joyous when you look at their faces it was a lovely time in their marriage they looked like they were really really happy i don't think you can fake that the prince and princess of wales headed straight from australia to new zealand where they received a mixed reception crowds were less than anticipated and protests were plentiful although peaceful as the push for independence from the crown gained momentum the princeton princess had a few words with the prime minister mr muldoon of whom the prince once said in a speech he's a splendid fellow but he does tend to think he's my father a maori warrior was arrested after mooning the royal couple on their arrival in wellington while he failed to gain the attention of his intended targets he was successful in getting publicity for the republican plight public in britain don't normally take a great deal of interest in royal tolls abroad or indeed state visits here because the schedules have been rehearsed everything has been handled in usually down to its minutiae eye but anything unexpected or anything that's disastrous obviously that gets a lot of prominence tonight at the saint james's theatre this lady was not so much cleaning the red carpet as trying to fumigate it a few days ago demonstrators had set off stink bombs and the whole theatre smelt of sulfur but along with the angst there was still a whole lot of love possibly a little too much for the prince of wales who by this stage was accustomed to the attention being directed towards diana i haven't yet worked out a method of splitting my wife the two-week visit allowed for a brief family reunion as charles caught up with his brother prince edward he was spending a gap year tutoring at a private school on the north island although the younger sibling's choice of outfit was the cause of some good natured ribbing [Music] but the family pictures most remembered from the tour are of charles diana and william on the lawn of government house in auckland these scheduled photo opportunities had become a standard in royal life in the latter half of the 20th century for the palace it was an attempt to satiate the public and media's never-ending thirst for images while retaining some control over the content it was also seen as a way of tempering the power of the paparazzi the infamous pack of photographers who had risen to notoriety through their targeting of celebrities by the 1980s their focus had expanded to the royals thanks largely to the interest in the newest member of the family in the early tours when you when you look at the newsreels and the photographs it's almost like going back to edwardian times there's a formality a distance partly a reflection of what we would now regard as the pretty primitive technology of the time the flash photographs the old-fashioned cumbersome cameras the series of great royal pictures was beginning inside the abbey the record of the ceremony was one which even surprised us privileged to be present and equipped with new lenses and new fast film stuck we had no conception beforehand of the magnificent film which our cameras would bring us from that dimly lighted abby even i can remember when the press secretary could ring up a newspaper and complain about an article in which case you know perhaps the reporter would be sacked or anyway taken off royal tours or whatever in the 1950s it was deferential elizabeth receives what is likely the greatest civic ovation in the annals of the windy city in the 1960s the royal family was the one part of the establishment to escape punishment by the press subsequent to that we had murdoch and the paparazzi and the royal family were supposed to speak in a goldfish world of course when the royal family are out celebrating i.e doing jubilees royal weddings and things like that then of course the press get very excited and they want to to cover it but the raw family can't be doing that the whole time so in sort of lean periods you'll find sometimes they start getting sort of very fractious the press drumming up stories where no stories really are there's a fortune to be made speculating on the state of the royal marriage when the british saw the photos and news stories of the monarchy beamed across the world on a state visit it helped to focus attention beyond their own shores the importance of of the media covering world tours is as important as it is the media covering uh political happenings but media covering disasters people want to know what is going on particularly want to know what what the the monarchy as an institution is doing whether it's at home and abroad sometimes they'll put a bit of spin on it and and interpretation which isn't necessarily helpful i think one of the skills of the few tours that the queen has conducted in recent years has been her ability to maintain her dignity and the traditions of the monarchy despite the pressures of the modern celebrity culture as proof of how times were changing the first overseas tour of charles and diana completely diverted attention away from the monarch's visit to the west coast of the united states [Music] the queen and duke had forged a strong bond with president ronald reagan and his wife nancy when america's first couple spent time in the united kingdom the previous year the queen has of course met a great number of american presidents right back so she has already had great experience of all of them president reagan that was quite an entertaining visit when he came to windsor castle it had been an historic visit for the united states leader he had become the first american president to address the british parliament this moment occupies a special place in my heart and in the hearts of my countrymen a moment of kinship and homecoming in these hallowed halls on the face of it ronald reagan was not the queen's sort of person film star hollywood glitzy not her sort of world but i so often seemed to have happened to these american presidents there was a magic between the two of them and they seemed to glow in each other's company they had of course one huge topic in common horses when ronald reagan came to visit the queen here they were photographed riding together in windsor park i guess there are advantages to the fact that he had been a cowboy film star and when the queen was visiting america she was very anxious to go and visit his ranch the weather made it in fact a rather difficult trip while bad weather prevented the much-anticipated horse ride it did make for an interesting car trip on the hazardous roads a journey the queen is said to have thoroughly enjoyed it was a happy time for us british relations and that was reflected in the closeness between reagan and the queen and the way they hit it off and in reagan's terms created some wonderful photo opportunities we have had a visit which has been spectacular and has fulfilled a long-standing ambition on my part to visit california on the west coast what better time than when the president is a californian but the relationship would be tested a few months later when the united states invaded grenada one of the commonwealth countries without the queen's knowledge i believe our government has a responsibility to go to the aid of its citizens if their right to life and liberty is threatened but the incident caused no long-term damage to the british u.s alliance and the royal family maintained their close ties with the reagans as grenada recovered from the political instability another commonwealth country was facing its own crisis india's first female prime minister indira gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards in retaliation for a government-backed assault on militant sikhs [Music] for the british there was plenty to celebrate in 1986 with a wedding of prince andrew to sarah ferguson the queen's second son was a naval pilot at the time of his marriage and had served in the falkland war a few years earlier i think initially when prince andrew and sarah ferguson led their engagement and throughout their wedding there was a lot of excitement people actually really warmed to sarah they felt that she was a breath of fresh air she was quite fun she was very open people could see that she and diana had this quite nice friendship and they became very popular the kiss the grand finale to a perfect day when everyone had difficulty suppressing a smile there was a lot of celebration however as time went on and as the marriage started to unfold and become more difficult there were quite a lot of stories surrounding therapeutics and that obviously caused issues for the royal family but as the queen headed to china a few months later the monarchy was still basking in the glow of its latest love story this was to be one of elizabeth's most important tours that evening in tiara diamonds rubies the full fig the queen climbed the staircase of the great hall of the people you could almost hear rumblings from the old chairman's mausoleum across the square and once again a british sovereign was making history when the queen visited china in 1986 it was only the second time she'd visited a communist country yugoslavia was the other it came at a time when it was important for britain to forge good relationships with china it was not long after britain had agreed to hand back sovereignty of hong kong and the queen's visit was seen as an opportunity to kind of strengthen those relationships with china margaret thatcher had been reluctant to sign the sino-british joint declaration preferring to retain control of the south east asian territory as an important center for trade and defense perhaps naively margaret thatcher who of course you know was no fan of the chinese communist party suggested that perhaps a lease could be renewed that of course and very much laid bare the the very naive understanding of the british of what hong kong really meant for china for the chinese hong kong was a symbol of humiliation not only was it a symbol of affiliation it was part of that unfinished mission that china had to be unified under the rule of chinese communist party the best the united kingdom could negotiate was a promise that hong kong's capitalist system would remain in place for at least another 50 years ensuring the transition back to communist rule would be as gentle as possible the queen was sent to smooth the ruffled feathers of chinese officials who were not entirely happy about the terms of the handover for the queen to go and extend hands show that she could charm these old wax works on their balconies as much as she could charm the rest of the world it was another great notch in her belt and another way in which britain adjusted itself and and survived and moved forward in in the late 20th century the queen and prince philip were given unprecedented access to restricted sites including the forbidden city which had once been off limits to all foreigners the 9999 room complex had been the heart of chinese power for over five centuries housing 24 successive empress and while the queen was no stranger to lavish surroundings she seemed captivated by the detailed decorations the queen got the chance on this visit to do some fairly amazing tourist type things she and prince philip went to the great wall they were photographed there and went to see the terracotta warriors an impressive image from the country's insular past in a china that's looking increasingly outwards the british media were less enchanted by their experience constantly clashing with chinese security who were not comfortable with the press being in such close proximity to dignitaries it was common knowledge that the queen wanted to meet members of the chinese public things came to a head in shanghai when her press secretary michael shea had an argument with the security men but it was the meeting of the british head of state with the communist leader deng xiaoping that captured the most media interest the 82 year old described himself as an old man when he greeted the queen but it was his old habits that raised a few eyebrows from the british establishment at a state dinner the elderly host made use of a carefully positioned spittoon much to the amusement of the duke who laughed at the tradition the mid-1980s prince philip was well known for his gaffes at public events and the media took great pleasure in exposing every insensitive comment it's not of course the first time the man the newspapers like to call faux pas phil has put his foot in it there was the visit to china in 1986 where he mentioned slitty eyes the visit to the electronics firm where he asked if the wiring had been put in by indians the queen is very very cautious and careful about what she says prince philip he likes to go in there and he knows he's only got a very very short time to get a rise out of somebody or get a laugh out of them or get onto terms with them and sometimes the press have decided that these things are what they call gaffes and actually what prince philip is really doing is trying to relate to somebody very quickly and i think you'll find he usually knows exactly what he's saying he's a man's man he's a macho man he sees himself in the old-fashioned line of male superiority and i think that this is a difficulty that he has to endure and this perhaps explains the many gaffes that he has made on these royal tours he steps out of line all the time because he doesn't like the idea of being eclipsed by his wife and a woman elizabeth had navigated her way through the often troubled waters of eastern diplomacy using every available means to impress her hosts the royal yacht britannia proved an important platform for trade talks for the british delegation accompanying the monarch the queen and the duke of edinburgh entertained chinese leaders to a banquet on board the royal yacht britannia but the britannia was more than just a floating function room it was a home away from home for the royals people always make the the mistake of saying we're going on board you never go onboard britannia you go in britannia because britannia was always designated a royal palace and you go into a palace and it was a sort of safe haven particularly for the queen and prince philip that when they got in the yacht they were really cut off from wherever they were and they were able to sort of let their hair down kick their shoes off and relax and so a visit for the history books was over the first to china by a reigning british sovereign the first chance for the chinese to set eyes on a constitutional monarch perhaps both sides have learned something about each other after all this is what these visits are supposed to be about the year following the queen's visit china would once again highlight the folly of a capitalist culture with hong kong traders causing the collapse of stock markets around the world in a plunge referred to as black monday trouble was flaring again for israel and palestine with violent clashes in the gaza strip and west bank in the midst of the region's unrest benazir bhutto became prime minister of pakistan the first female to be democratically elected as a leader of a muslim-majority country she took her inspiration from margaret thatcher who at the time was serving her third term as british prime minister for the british the focus was much closer to home in 1988 as both the government and royal family sought to soothe simmering tensions with spain over gibraltar it had been seated by spain at the beginning of the 18th century and ever since spanish governments have wanted it back and it became a matter of national prestige it had become such a sticky issue that king juan carlos of spain had refused to attend the wedding of charles and diana as they had chosen to spend some of their honeymoon in gibraltar king juan carlos was cross that the prince and princess of wales were going to embark on britannia from gibraltar he suggested that they might like to send the royal yacht britannia to al-jazeera's instead the queen didn't like that idea so for political reasons not personal reasons but political reasons king juan carlos did not attend the wedding of prince and princess of wales at the last moment indeed he was the only european monarch not to attend margaret thatcher had recently paid a visit to spain now it was the queen's term this visit is the clearest proof yet of how relations between britain and spain especially between the two royal families have improved for the sovereign it was an opportunity to catch up with one of her european counterparts who for a long time had seemed destined to be denied the throne the spanish king's father was exiled in 1931 when spain became a republic the monarchy was only restored a little over a decade before the queen's visit the monarchy of course is fairly recent a revival after the years of franco i think she derived a lot of satisfaction from the example of an ancient monarchy being revived in the 20th century and actually helping to pull a country together everybody says you know monarchies are surely out of date they're stupid but look an example of spain the four-day itinerary included an address to the spanish parliament where the queen directly addressed the issue of gibraltar by building on our shared experience and dealing with areas of historic misunderstanding they will enable our two nations to play a role in the future development of europe and while in reality little if any progress was made in resolving the future of gibraltar to the rest of the world spain and britain presented a united front unification was also at the forefront of german politics as a slip of the tongue from a socialist official led to a much earlier than planned opening of checkpoints along the berlin wall it would take another year until the structure was finally dismantled almost three decades after its construction in south africa the first steps were taken towards the scrapping of the racially divisive apartheid system with the election of progressive politician f w d clerk as president the following year freedom fighter nelson mandela was released from prison after 27 years in jail [Music] in china the government had pressing concerns a student-led protest in tiananmen square had been brutally suppressed by troops with automatic rifles and tank fire in scenes played out across the world an estimated 1 000 people were killed only meters from where the queen had stood three years earlier for the united states all attention was turned to the middle east as iraq invaded the former british protectorate of kuwait concerned that iraq's aggression could set off a powder keg of middle eastern tensions the united states intervened 34 other nations including britain backed america in the five-week campaign known as operation desert storm america was appreciative of the backing of britain and as a sign of gratitude invited the queen to address a joint session of congress the queen is not to be honest a brilliant public speaker she is shy she's very dependent on notes although she has adapted very well to the world of the teleprompter so when she addressed congress it wasn't so much that the content of what she said as the feeling that she generated as the first british monarch to be given this privilege the queen received a lengthy standing ovation the enthusiastic reception was somewhat amusing i do hope you can see me today from where you are but it would be a speech 18 months later that is perhaps to this day her most memorable 1992 is not a year on which i shall look back with undiluted pleasure it was a very difficult year for the queen three out of her four children either divorced or separated in that year it was the year that andrew morton's book about princess diana a tell-all book detailing her unhappiness in the royal family was published in the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondence it has turned out to be an anus or rebellious it was also the year that a fire burned down a large part of windsor castle the sight of that little woman in her raincoat picking her way through the ruins the winds of capped the whole year [Music] it would take several years and more than 36 million pounds to restore the structure while the press was sympathetic about the loss of one of the queen's residences they were ruthless in their coverage of the marriage breakdowns it massively affected the view of the royal family here at home in britain but it also affected it abroad they began to be a feeling that this was tarnished currency the damage to the reputations of the younger members of the family and the monarchy in general was substantial but the queen herself garnered more sympathy than anything else new institution city monarchy whatever should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support it's interesting that in the 1990s just when because of the diana factor the royal family were at very low ebb at home the queen was actually pulling off some significant foreign coups not all world war ii allies had remained close in the past half century and in october 1994 the queen was to embark on a bridge building visit to a nation that not so long ago had been considered britain's greatest threat [Music] [Applause] the queen russia and britain have had their history over the centuries and here was the queen giving the chance for some sort of new relationship in the post-cold war world this was to be the first visit by a british monarch to russia ending almost 70 years of what the queen referred to as complicated history relations between the two nations had been strained since tsar nicholas ii was forced to abdicate following the february revolution of 1917. the beginning of the 20th century the king of england the kaiser in germany and the tsar in russia were all relatives kissing cousins the russian monarch had been a first cousin of the queen's grandfather george v and had even reached out to the british royals for asylum following the coup when the romanovs were looking for a place of exile at first britain extended an invitation but then it was king george v himself who said that no the invitation should be withdrawn it was a real piece of self-preservation on the part of the british monarchy following imprisonment tsar nicholas ii and his family were executed in july 1918. the recently formed soviet union found itself in an uneasy alliance with great britain against the common enemy of germany in world war ii not only tanks but war supplies of all kinds have been flowing in a steady stream for months from britain to russia [Music] pretense of a partnership had been abandoned in the cold war years as the two countries struggled with their ideological differences mikhail gorbachev's progressive policies had paved the way for a rekindling of close relations but it was the election of boris yeltsin that convinced the queen to accept an invitation for a four-day visit i don't think the official papers have been released yet so we don't know whether it was a government initiative or a royal initiative the likelihood is it was a government initiative and from what i've heard the queen elected it after all if she could handle china the new russia would be even more of well not just a challenge but an opportunity this was to be a schedule filled with ceremony and culture the latter through a performance of giselle by the bolshoi ballet but the historical trip was overshadowed by persistent scandal in the royal family the latest was a controversial book about prince charles claiming he never loved diana and suffered from a domineering father but for members of the royal press pack like james whitaker the book is now a bigger story than the queen's arrival in moscow oh i think it's completely overshadowing that and of course i think the courtiers of the queen and the people who serve her are fully aware that it is detracting enormously from this visit and i do know that they're very irritated about it the publication held little interest for russian media who were caught up in the glamour of a royal visit at the time of the tour almost one-fifth of the population claimed they would support the reintroduction of a monarchy a movement that was to never gain traction crowds were small but curious to catch sight of the queen thirdly the queen's cottage made a majestic sight as it proceeded down lenin avenue towards the center of moscow small crowds of onlookers reacted with evident enthusiasm i was on the russian trip and it was absolutely fascinating to see how very quickly she established good relations with president yahtzee when one looks back at the foreign leaders with whom the queen has established rapport there have been some surprising ones and yeltsin was another one boris yeltsin this great big bear of a man [Music] petersburg she had britannia and he put on a special display for her march pass before she left and then he kissed her hand he'd made as it were a new friend that he might in fact and indeed never did see again you and i have spent most of our lives believing that this evening could never happen i hope that you are as delighted as i am to be proved wrong despite the problems in her own family the monarch continued to renew old friendships in the mid 90s almost 50 years after her previous visit to south africa the queen was heading back to the country whose social policies for many decades had seen it shunned by most of the world elizabeth's previous visit had been as a young princess in 1947. she celebrated her 21st birthday here during a three-month tour with her parents and sister the 1947 trip to south africa by king george vi and his family was significant because it was the first time that a monarch had traveled with their whole family and fine weather continuing to grace the voyage everyone made the most of it the princesses for example are here seen enjoying deck games in company with a number of midshipmen and when i say enjoying i mean just that the trip had particular significance to the future queen as a setting for her first public address to mark her coming of age i declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong more recently it's emerged that the author of that speech was der matamora the times correspondent to accompany the royal family it was very much in keeping with his vision of the role of a modernizing monarchy a monarchy that would be fit for purpose for a post-war transforming empire one that would evolve into a commonwealth that speech is looked back on time and time again as an example of her dedication to service her commitment to duty and also it's a speech that is used a lot to support the fact that she will never abdicate as far as she was concerned it became the motter of her reign and that's why she's still on the throne she won't give way she won't abdicate she took this pledge and she's jolly well going to keep it [Music] a wonderful welcome from the people of the cape had been certain that the experience even exceeded expectation huge crowds turned out at every event excited at the rare opportunity to host both the monarch and his heir but behind the facade of flags and finery was a country on the brink of social and political change [Music] the 1947 royalty can be seen as a bridge between two eras in southern african history but also in the history of the british empire commonwealth it's significant because it happened on the eve of the really important election of 1948 when the national party came to power on their electoral platform of radical segregation that is apartheid there were so many factions at play at the time in south africa each trying to forge a new way forward and most to at least some extent frustrated with their country's political links to great britain from that point of view the royal tour could be seen as a failure in the sense that jan smith's the prime minister of south africa at the time who had wanted to use the royalty as a means to galvanize his faltering united party in the face of africana nationalists very soon afterwards precisely those individuals who had been greeting the king and the queen voted in a national party intent on introducing a radical program of racial segregation on the lines that were being issued elsewhere as the empire was decolonizing so it is a very important marker of significant change britain along with the vast majority of the united nations was concerned about the discriminatory policies and criticism by prime minister harold macmillan was the catalyst for south africa declaring itself a republic and its subsequent exit from the commonwealth as you are well aware mr stadium a large number of people in this country how do they dislike your government's racial policy i am well aware of the fact that from time to time unfriendly criticism is level at my country growing international pressure finally forced the government to abolish apartheid more than 40 years after it was introduced for the first time all south africans will go to the polls we're going to elect a new government and we are here to discuss that with you the process began under the guidance of president f w d clerk and continued under the leadership of freedom fighter nelson mandela i was confident that my efforts to bring peace and democracy would finally bear fruit today we are almost there when the queen visited in 1995 it was to a unified country who had only recently been welcomed back into the commonwealth fold one of the aspects of the queen's life and work is that she sees the most confidential diplomatic dispatches so when the changes happened and mandela came through then it was genuine rejoicing for her that south africa a very complicated country but south africa could now join the commonwealth in a full and proper sense [Music] soweto the heart of the struggle against apartheid cheer the queen's arrival hundreds of school children in this sprawling township had been given time off to see her south africa having been the world pariah was able to participate again and carry a sense of pride about doing so in the world and a lot of interviews with members of the crowd who'd gone to watch the various events associated with the tour what comes out very strongly was the sense of we are back south africa is back in the world we feel great we feel part and parcel of the society we feel important today but the path to true democracy had taken its toll fourteen thousand people died in the four years prior to the monarch's visit a tragedy she openly acknowledged we in britain have been deeply saddened by the violence which has said resettle equally we have been encouraged by the evident determination of ordinary men and women to overcome their problems and to find ways of working together unlike the sanitized south africa presented to elizabeth on her first visit there was no sugar coating the problems this time around no house no no work nothing no left no water nothing no doing this and i think the really striking difference if once to compare the twos was that in 1947 huge effort was given to hide from the royal family the dirty secrets of south africa the poverty the desperate situation squatter areas and the slums whereas in 1995 the purpose was to show the queen and the duke of edinburgh places where further development was required earlier at soweto's avalon cemetery the queen joined by president mandela attended a moving service to pay tribute to those who died serving in a labor corps during the first world war more than 600 black south africans drowned when a ship transporting them sank in the english channel their sacrifice had never been officially honored interestingly on this visit the monarch had to share the limelight with president mandela he was considered a hero by many of his people for his long battle for equality when he met with the queen there was great media interests were recorded events and what one sees in this is extraordinary informality and friendship but this was not merely stage managed i would suggest and one gets the sense of it from the memoirs of others who were close to mandela at the time particularly his personal assistant who describes the relationship as extraordinarily warm as he being one of the fewer only world leaders who could call the queen by her christian name through the 1980s up to the mid-90s the royals had been on a roller coaster ride of public approval from the heights of weddings and births to the lows of scandals and private revelations most media attention had been focused on the younger members of the family throughout it all the queen had continued to quietly go about her business playing an important role as an ambassador for britain on the world stage but if the monarch thought she had weathered the worst she was sadly mistaken as the events in the next few years would damage the royals reputation to a degree that had never been experienced before and even the queen would falter in the court of public opinion the royal family had weathered the winds of change that had blown through much of the 20th century through two global conflicts the cold war and the constant restructuring of the commonwealth they had stood firm largely beyond reproach a comfort for their people they are the still point in a turning world they have managed to evolve incredibly well while still seeming part of the past and part of the future but as the marriages of three of the queen's children broke down at a time when social justice was becoming increasingly important cracks began to appear in the carefully polished royal veneer the queen herself was still held in high regard and while the younger members of the royal family were starting to share the responsibility for official visits the 70 year old monarch could now be a little more selective with her tour schedule in 1996 she chose to return to thailand [Music] she had first visited the country almost a quarter of a century before with the duke and her daughter princess anne back then the tour had garnered plenty of attention not only from ties but royal watchers who noted the queen's unconventional choice of dress first surprise in a day of considerable surprises was the queen's dress slit to the waist on both sides to reveal a white underskirt a meeting of thai and english styles for two monarchs from such different backgrounds king pumipan and queen elizabeth surprisingly had many things in common any royal family feels a connection with another royal family certainly it has been said that the thai royals the recent history of the family has certain similarities with the british a younger generation with marriage is in trouble and so forth much like the british queen the thai king enjoyed a huge amount of support in his homeland but his popularity was decreed by law but in 1996 royal fervor in thailand was at an all-time high as a king marked 50 years on the throne she visited thailand for example to mark a great jubilee for the thai king and in her speech referred to him as my brother historically there always has been a brotherhood sisterhood of royals which maybe extends across national religious ethnic barriers british and thai flags intermingled in a sea of red white and blue as the queen joined her royal counterpart for the celebrations rather than just play a passive role the british monarch chose to use her visit to highlight some of the problems that continued to plague thailand today including human rights and drug use and trafficking we must remain vigilant to ensure that the rights of individuals adults and children are protected in society and that justice for all prevails at the time of his death 20 years later king pumi pon was the world's longest reigning monarch that title is now passed to queen elizabeth ii but it was another member of the british royal family capturing the headlines on the next overseas trip almost from the first day she stepped foot inside the palace the princess of wales had pushed the boundaries of normal royal protocols she was determined to make a difference at one stage she was patron of over 100 charities and championed causes more commonly avoided in her circles she went to open an hiv aids award at the middlesex hospital she walked in stuck out her hand and shook hands no gloves she took hands with an hiv patient she stayed more than an hour but was not filmed with any of the patients they were worried about public exposure and then suddenly woke the media up say hey there's more to this woman they suddenly saw this is somebody who's doing some worthwhile work and then they they really did focus on her and the work that she was doing but her last tour was to be her most controversial fresh from her divorce from prince charles she wanted to channel the unrelenting media attention on herself to the little publicized problem of landmines it is my sincere hope that by working together in the next few days we shall focus world attention on this vital but until now largely neglected issue at the request of the red cross she traveled to the southern african country of angola to highlight the damage the devices had done during two decades of civil war i was african correspondent for my newspaper sunny times when she went to angola on what turned out to be the last trip before she died and i was told to go and cover her visit and actually i was really angry because i thought i'm not a royal correspondent i cover wars and conflicts and disasters and and this is going to be kind of silly thing but angola was still at war at that time really brutal civil war and i have to say my impression of her completely changed because it was a difficult trip two years of peace had done little to stop the carnage with millions of minds still scattered around the nation at the time of her visit during her tour the princess will see firsthand the effects of the country's 20-year civil war which ended just two years ago she'll visit some of the victims of mine explosions as well as centers designed to help them we went to hospitals where nobody had ever heard of princess diana it was really one of the few places on earth where people didn't know who she was but not all in the british establishment were in favor of her involvement while officially the foreign office and palace supported her tour one politician labelled her a loose cannon ma'am the government ministers home has said you're a loose cannon by supporting this campaign and do you have any reaction to that there are many trying to highlight a problem that's going on all around the world that's all when we went to the hospital and there was a little girl who horribly injured from her mind and her stomach sort of hanging out and i have never seen apart from nelson mandela that was able to show such empathy towards children and people in hospital as she did i mean it was amazing to see and the little girl said to me afterwards who was that and i said it was princess and she said i thought it was an angel images of her watching a young girl getting fitted with a prosthetic limb and wandering through a cleared field in full body armor did more to advance the cause and years of campaigning by aid agencies could ever hope to achieve angola is an example of what the red cross can achieve around the world given the sort of cooperation that we have seen that exist between the red cross and the ngos and the angolan authorities [Music] more than 20 years on the work to clear the minds continues but for britain the focus was much closer to home as a landslide election victory in 1997 delivered the first labour government in 18 years at 43 years of age tony blair became the youngest prime minister of the united kingdom in almost 200 years as i stand here before number 10 downing street i know all too well [Applause] the huge responsibility that is upon me and the great trust that the british people have placed in me his first year was to be a baptism of fire two months after taking office he oversaw the handing back of hong kong to china [Music] prince charles was there to represent the royal family in the handover and to subtly remind the chinese of the terms of the joint declaration signed 13 years earlier it meant that the laws that had been established under british rule were going to be kept in place for example the idea that there was an idea of economic freedom the freedom to express themselves of course it was the understanding that the people of hong kong were entitled to rights that those in the mainland actually did not have the british had ruled over hong kong for over 150 years and close to 20 royal tours had taken place during that time the fact that we still had a british colony in hong kong up until 1997 is a good example of how colonialism still existed in asia up into that period something that would have thought was very much part of the past was still part of everyday life in hong kong up until the end of the 20th century was a second trip for charles and his displeasure with the proceedings would eventually become widely known prince charles's style has come to be a little more different from from that of his mother the queen there always was an awareness i think that they were in different positions different roles and so that's why prince charles could be sent to some places take part in some ceremonies like the handover of hong kong where it wouldn't have been appropriate you know for the sovereign herself to go several years later a private diary he wrote was published in a british newspaper where the prince referred to the handover as the great chinese takeaway he also mentioned the intricate negotiations required to work out who would walk on stage first in the end and somewhat fittingly the prince and president entered from opposite sides at the same time a guard of honour from the british armed forces and one from the pla took to the stage simultaneously prince charles's attitude towards the transfer of sovereignty in hong kong is an example of both the strengths and weaknesses if you like of the royal family when these private thoughts on it got released later much was made of it i would argue that was beside the point that was mischief-making the whole point of the royal family blessing controversial event as they are told to do by the political powers that be is that personal opinions have to be set aside to all the people of hong kong who have been such staunch and special friends over so many generations we shall not forget you and we shall watch with the closest interest as you embark on this new era of your remarkable history in his diary charles lamented the loss of another part of the once strong british empire but he was more emotional about the decommissioning of his base for the handover the royal yacht britannia the labour government had announced the vessel would be retired at the end of the year after 43 years of service covering more than a million nautical miles in its travels it was pure gold so far as both the monarchy and the taxpayer was concerned but because of the election in 1997 and a decision tony blair the incoming prime minister later admitted was a mistake it was decommissioned ironically its first passenger was to also be its last prince charles and princess anne went on its maiden voyage to malta in 1954 to meet their parents at the end of the six-month tour of commonwealth countries the britannia had been a staple of the queen's reign it really allowed her to become the travelled monarch that that she has throughout her reign it was also a place that the royal family loved to spend time on they also used it for holidays it was used for honeymoons it was a place where they had great fun and when she was decommissioned in 1997 is often described as one of the only times that the queen has ever cried in public it was noticed that she was emotional throughout the service and potentially that reflected how big a role britannia played in her life the loss of the royal yacht was to be eclipsed by a far greater tragedy in the coming months as a monarchy would be shaken to its core by the death of diana [Music] the princess of wales had struggled with the relentless media attention in regards to her personal life she had become arguably the world's most recognizable woman and there seemed to be nowhere to hide on a private holiday to paris with boyfriend dodie fayed diana's desire to flee the photographers ended in disaster killed in a car crash in the early hours of august 31st 1997. we have reports from paris the diana princess of wales has been killed in a car accident and that her partner dodie fired has also been killed i remember waking up at about five and switching on my radio and catching the news and thinking i didn't hear that and then listening again saying oh my god it was an enormous shock and i think the shockingness the suddenness of it enhanced the grief factor i feel like everyone else in this country today utterly devastated as the world reacted in shock the palace underestimated the level of grief for the woman who had become the people's princess all those who've come into contact with diana will share my family's grief she was unique she understood the most precious needs of human beings particularly those that suffered it is heartbreaking to lose such a human being especially when she was only 36. as britain learned of the death of its favorite princess shop members of the public started queueing at the gates of diana's kensington palace residents to lay flowers and light candles when princess diana died i've never seen the british public reacts like they did to anything it was astonishing people who'd been completely uninterested in the royal family went to kensington palace and laid flowers people were very emotional about it in a way that british they're not normally it was almost like being in a different country i can't really explain it for many mourners caught in the ground swell of grief the royal family's initial reaction was inadequate at best i think more than a statement our queen should be here in london with her people this is her nation and they should know how all her people feel about diana i think it's probably one of the only times when the monarch reacted personally rather than as queen i don't think she understood initially just how huge that death was in terms of public impact and for her her priority was her two dearly loved grandsons who just lost their equally dearly loved mother and i think she was very clearly distraught for them and focused on that it's quite interesting because a lot of the media was contrived transitory relations you ask a question you get the answer that you want depending on how you ask the question question was to whoever was hanging around outside buckingham palace in kensington palace do you think the queen should be here obviously the answer is going to be yes if you ask the question the queen and prince philippa at balmoral their grandsons are there they've lost their mother most tragic of accidents she is counseling them she's looking after them do you think she's doing the right thing yeah of course she's doing the right thing the queen has asked me to say that the royal family have been hurt by suggestions that they are indifferent to the country's sorrow and the tragic death of the princess of wales when the royals did arrive back before the funeral the palace immediately went into damage control when she arrived at buckingham palace and got out the car there was polite applause i thought we're okay she spoke to people she laid their floral tribute she read the inscriptions on plural tributes she was walking along and there was a 11 year old katie jones there with some roses and the queen said can i put those down for you in case you said no your majesty these are for you first i want to pay tribute to diana myself she was an exceptional and gifted human being in good times and bad she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness this week at balmoral we have all been trying to help william and harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered i thought it was a grandmother speaking and not a queen i was quite moved by it she spoke from the heart she spoke as a grandmother then the following day when the gun carriage went past the palace queen was the first one to drop her head but for many it was seen as too little too late the negative coverage in the press had taken its toll on the royal family when i go on tours today there is always someone in the crowd who wants to talk to a member of the royal family about princess diana prince william will tell you that members of the public are always asking him about his mother they see his mother in her children and that's why they are still so popular princess diana is everywhere still [Music] the royal tour of pakistan and india two months later did little to boost the queen's popularity either [Music] and it's always very difficult actually if she goes to pakistan first or india first the other one gets a bit upset and that certainly happened in 1997 while the press was keen to share images of a sock-clad monarch at the fizzal mosque in islamabad they were equally enthusiastic to highlight the diplomatic tensions behind the scenes as she opened a trade exhibition she remained as serene as always events behind the scenes however were another matter the 1997 tour of india and pakistan was very fraught the 1990s was not a good decade for the monarchy and so what happens the indians are celebrating 50 years of their independence and in doing this they are focusing to some extent on the struggle for freedom and remembering that the british did resist the independence movement so they are looking back and it's not an entirely affectionate glance back at the raj and an enthusiastic welcome for the living symbol of india's colonial past the most contentious element was a visit to the site of a colonial massacre back in 1919 in amritsar a british general reginald dyer ordered his troops to open fire on a peaceful gathering of civilians almost 400 men women and children were killed in recent days victims relatives demanded the queen apologise for the sins of her ancestors but without success the queen is not going to apologize but she is going there and she is going to lay a wreath and i think those of you who appreciate the subtle distinction will recognize it as a special gesture while the wreath laying pacified some the underlying resentment still remained it didn't help that prince philip poked the bear so to speak by commenting at the memorial that the signs declaring 2000 had died were vastly exaggerated which he was right actually but it was a sensitive area so this led to tensions and the visit was if you like marred by this black memory it was difficult to avoid comparisons with the princess of wales's tour just five years earlier where diana had won over a new legion of fans amongst the countries disenfranchised the poignant image of the princess of wales all alone at the great monument to romance was seen by many as symbolic of a royal marriage tearing apart at the seams diana god bless that she she did milk it but then the setting of the taj mahal is such that you can't help but be moved by the whole ambiance of the place it is after all a temple of love it was built by shah jahan in memory of his wife and in memory of the love that he had for his wife diana's bond with india had also given her a close friendship with mother teresa the catholic nun who had devoted her life to helping the country's poor diana went to calcutta and particularly wanted to go to mother teresa's home for the dying which is incredibly moving and when she got in the car afterwards she was actually physically exhausted from it the noble prize winner had passed away only days after the princess of wales so soon after the loss of two of the world's most high-profile humanitarians the queen's tour had failed to produce the kind of heart that india and the rest of the world desperately needed at that time [Music] a year after india and pakistan notched up 50 years of independence it was sri lanka's turn but there was little cause for celebration tamil tiger rebels unleashed their deadly terror in sri lanka for the second time in two weeks the attack came hours after britain's prince charles left sri lanka with a plea for peace after taking part in the island's independent celebrations the former british colony was in the midst of a civil war that would ultimately run for 26 years and claim close to 100 000 lives australia meanwhile was debating its own independence with a referendum to decide if the country wanted to become a republic i think will be a very sad country if we vote no because i think many of us perhaps most of us will feel that somehow or other we've failed the queen doesn't like republicanism understandably but she never ever comes out with her opposition to it and in public at least she was content for the australians to do exactly what they wanted to do the fact that so many tours were arranged for herself and for other royals to go to australia the fact for example that prince charles was sent out to go to geelong and sort of bond as it were with the australian people and the many other connections indicated obviously that she and her family wanted to keep the australian connection as much as possible in a general sense the queen will again accept any decision that is taken by something like the australian referendum what she does mind about very much is whether a country leaves the commonwealth just over 54 chose to retain the queen as head of state this debate is not over and we look forward to another referendum in due course the result showed how divided australians were on the issue and i think she's a wonderful queen of australia and we're very lucky to have him because the problem is when you do away with the monarchy to whom do you hand all that celebrity and dignity you just hand it on to the prime minister of the day or do you create a pseudo celebrity monarchy of retired tv presenters or pop singers or whoever as the world waved goodbye to the 20th century and welcomed in a new millennium the challenges of international relations would again be tested to a devastating degree september 11 2001 saw terrorism attack at the heart of america i can hear you the rest of the world hears you and the people who knock these buildings down we'll hear all of us soon retaliation was swift america launched the war on terror drawing in allies including britain and australia in a long-running battle to oust rogue elements in iraq and afghanistan the queen's grandson prince harry would eventually participate as part of the british force that would see the third in line to the throne in the thick of the fighting but the focus was back on the monarch in 2002 as she celebrated her golden jubilee we're here for the four days of it and uh looking forward to everything about it plans were in place for special events around the commonwealth requiring the queen to travel more than 64 000 kilometers the golden jubilee those who hadn't been involved in the silver jubilee as i had were nervous about how that would be received there was a lot of speculation that perhaps people weren't going to be that excited and maybe people didn't feel that strength of feeling about the monarchy that they wanted to party and celebrate but actually when the celebrations came around in the summer the public really got behind them thank you all for your enthusiasm to mark and celebrate these 50 years there was little cause to celebrate elsewhere in the world more than 200 people were killed in a coordinated bombing campaign in the tourist district of bali seven crew were lost when the space shuttle columbia broke up on re-entry into the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission in early 2003 the following month american and british troops invaded iraq starting the second gulf war which would last for eight years and cost the lives of over 460 000 people with the queen spending less time abroad and princes william and harry concentrating on studies and military careers it was up to prince charles to take over the bulk of ambassador duties on behalf of both the palace and the foreign office and it was a clearly relaxed prince of wales who toured australia in 2005 just a month before his marriage to camilla parker-bowles maybe it's the jet lag or the sun or too much white wine or possibly being in love but whatever the reason something extraordinary has been happening on this trip no one can recall prince charles being in quite such a good mood it was to be one of his last solo tours camilla would accompany charles on most of his future foreign visits including trips to brunei in 2008 and brazil in 2009 where the prince of wales received an award for his work on climate change the race in which we are all engaged now is to restore harmony to the forces of nature unleashed by climate change when a royal turns up to an event or a royal supports an initiative people notice it gets reported on other people want to get involved prince charles uses this a lot he may not enjoy the same publicity as some of the other royals but in his decades as the heir apparent he has learned the power of patience and persistence the prince and the duchess of cornwall they're very happy together and they make an excellent pairing they do their duty but in an unspectacular way and that is probably the way it will continue because the media interest and the public interest would tend to be elsewhere in 2010 the interest was in southern africa where two royal siblings went on tour together [Music] the younger royals william and harry do represent right across the board a sort of newer fresher face for the royal family you can see it at home and you can see it abroad too much like their mother prince william and harry chose to concentrate on children's charities receiving rousing welcomes at the hospitals and orphanages they visited although not everyone was sure what the fuss was about england the relaxed and often jovial encounters proved william and harry had observed and learned from the public appearances of their parents and created their own more informal style of touring people say well diana was a good mother and they always leave charles out they were both very good parents and they both give william and harry the best of both worlds diana gave them the high street he gave them the supermarket the clothes store the apartmental store the movie houses the book shops took them out at night to see how the homeless sleep rough the down and outs prince of wales their dad gave them the countryside and gave them the environment their hands-on approach to diplomacy was a major feature to their visit to lesotho harry's gesture to this chilly eight-year-old gives some indication of his attachment to lesotho and its people they care for other people not only for themselves they are benevolent they are generous they were really the shepherd because the shepherd are the people who cares prince harry in particular was drawn to lesotho by its appalling aids statistics one in four of its people are hiv-positive with almost half of its children affected he had made it his mission to improve the outlook for its youngest citizens the tour of southern africa by the royal brothers was considered a major public relations coup by the palace you mean william one sees one part of diana in harry one sees another part of her at the moment one would say that they're restrained and in many ways ekko the queen in her early years when she was finding her way all attention was back on prince william in november 2010 when he announced his engagement to kate middleton the timing is right now everybody's very very happy and i'm very glad that i have done it once again the crowds turned out on mass for the nuptials next april and followed every step of the new royal couple on their first overseas trip [Music] there's no question the duke and duchess of cambridge are much sought after as ambassadors abroad they promote soft power and goodwill in europe but their first official tour to canada was especially significant the treatment for her cancer has claimed diamond and marshall's blonde hair but not her resolve she was determined to meet the duchess of cambridge and she seized the moment the week-long visit to canada allowed the duchess of cambridge to have a gentle introduction to life on tour for the occasion kate was wearing a hat adorned with a canadian maple leaf she's become an instant media sensation here kate mania has been added to the vocabulary it was a perfect blend of firstly the formal at the appropriate time and secondly in playing games and sports the informal calgary is the end of a long journey for william and kate they don't cowboy outfits for the occasion and it showed a modern monarchy adapting for the times but also keeping the necessary amount of dignity two years later canada would receive another royal visit this time to mark the queen's diamond jubilee unlike the golden jubilee celebrations 10 years earlier this time the 86 year old monarch would not leave the united kingdom instead sending the younger members of her family around the commonwealth the overseas tours were extremely important because all these countries islands and so forth all wanted to celebrate and they were really delighted if they had the opportunity to welcome a member of the royal family to come along and help them in a carefully coordinated campaign prince charles and camilla covered canada australia new zealand and papua new guinea prince harry headed to the bahamas belize and jamaica obviously i bring you the warmest greetings from the queen of belize this diamond jubilee we're celebrating here tonight while prince william and kate went to the solomons and tuvalu this land is the most beautiful place imaginable and the people of the solomon islands are amongst the most gracious and friendly we have ever met [Music] it was a start of a new generation of royal tours [Music] when in 2015 prince william set off to the far east there's always that trade that brand building connection if you like there was this movement the great campaign as they called it going on in the wake of the olympics and the raising of british profile there so he was going to japan to china partly to raise british profile in those very important territories prince george had stayed at home with his pregnant mum kate it was a rare separation for the young royal family who in stark contrast to the monarch 60 years earlier insisted their children accompany them on tour i think the queen and the royal family came to recognition that all the queen's tours partly of course to step in for her father in the early years of her reign had a deleterious effect on charles and anne it was not by modern standards ideal parenting and it's often thought that the queen's second family of andrew and edward reflected her own wish to spend more time with her children diana had set the standard traveling with young william to australia in 1983 and while the duke of cambridge wasn't able to do the same with his son on this tour he did follow in his mother's footsteps in other ways just like diana the prince laid a wreath at the commonwealth wargraves ceremony and met the emperor and empress at the imperial palace in tokyo a reserved bow of the head a less obvious gesture than his mother's curtsy 19 years ago but the tour turned problematic when the prince visited fukushima which just four years earlier was the location of a highly publicized nuclear power plant failure when he went to fukushima it was felt rightly or wrongly in japan that he was possibly being used as the puppet of a pro-nuclear japanese government the prince was asked to plant a tree in a children's playground to demonstrate how safe the area now was and while he happily obliged it did little to reassure the people who had lived through the disaster the contentious nature of his tour to southeast asia continued with a visit to china where he met with the president to appeal for his assistance in stopping the illegal wildlife trade the visit to china was actually very important to prince william on a personal level as well and he used the trip to speak directly to the chinese people about the illegal wildlife trade which is something that he has campaigned heavily on he is very keen to try and stop poaching rhinos for their ivory i am absolutely convinced that china can become a global leader in the protection of wildlife your influence in the world means you can change the face of conservation in this century as the younger royals found their stride on foreign tours the queen was planning to pack away her suitcases for good her final overseas tour was a short visit to malta at the end of 2015 for the commonwealth heads of government meeting but her most memorable trip that year was to germany at age 89 the monarch's movements were more measured and her pace a little more labored but her mind was every bit as sharp as on her first trip here 50 years earlier in our lives mr president we have seen the worst but also the best of our continent we have witnessed how quickly things can change for the better but we know that we must work hard to maintain the benefits of the post-war world after two world wars that both essentially involving britain fighting germany the peacemaking aspects of the monarchy have come into special play but more so that the you know the british royal family has such very strong german links standing amongst the well-wishers the monarch was in her element she accepted flowers with the same grace she had shown at the thousands of public engagements that had made up her lifelong role [Music] whereas in the old days the monarchy existed on top of a social pyramid and the monarch cultivated relations with the dukes and then down with the barons and then finally it's the people the trick of the british constitutional monarchy is to make its appeal from the top down to the bottom direct link to the people in her own way the queen had moved with the times and while she might have preferred traditions over technology she was still delighted by a display of robotics by some university students [Music] but there was no mistaking the nostalgia on this tool and acknowledgement of past atrocities in the hope of creating greater tolerance for the future particularly poignant the visit to berg and belson the concentration camps were something hidden during much of the second world war their full horror only became known to the outside world afterwards and as ever the reaction of this woman who had lived through those years brought a living touch to something that was more than just a matter of the history books [Music] the queen had a personal link to the holocaust her mother-in-law was among resistance workers who provided shelter for jews in greece during nazi occupation princess alice died at buckingham palace in 1969 but her final wish was to be buried at the convent of saint mary magdalene in jerusalem a city considered so volatile it was off limits to all british royals but in a sign of the changing times in recent years both charles and william had been allowed to visit the grave in israel the highly volatile relationship between the jewish state and its neighbours had prevented the royals from making an official visit despite dozens of invitations that changed in 2018 when prince william was given the green light by the foreign office for a tour of both israel and the palestinian territories william was the first member of the royal family to make an official visit to israel in the west bank members of the royal family have been to the area before but not in an official capacity on a formal visit but previously they have clearly taken the view that they didn't want to be seen to be taking sides in the conflict that israel visit in particular it is something that it would have been hard for the queen or maybe even for the prince of wales to do prince william there's just that awareness that he's younger he's a little bit freer he carries less baggage but diplomatically this was never going to be an easy visit with both sides in the long-running dispute taking exception to aspects of the itinerary i like you look forward to understanding lots about the region and about hoping that peace in the area can be achieved william clearly took the view that actually he wanted to play maybe a more active role in trying to help bring about peace and rather than being concerned about doing the wrong thing he wanted to kind of try and do what he could to to help move things on into his own place it's very meaningful to palestinian people he has a solidarity sympathy to the palestinian people but still refugees in palestine the emphasis was on meeting the people affected by the territorial dispute but keeping a diplomatic distance here proved more of a challenge i saw angela zone the tremendous hardships faced by the refugees and i can only imagine the difficulties of life lived under these conditions the limited resources and the lack of opportunity my message tonight is that you have not been forgotten increasingly this is a way royal tours have played out ostensibly a non-bipartisan visit that unofficially hopes to make headway on issues where normal diplomacy has failed locations and timings of tours are far more critical and calculated today than they were even half a century ago as a british government uses the power of the palace to its political advantage but that may not always be possible i think the success of the british monarchy today owes a great deal to the fact that we have a queen and you look back into the history of the monarchy it's these women victoria in particular elizabeth green glamour there's something about the femininity and the mother-like aspects of these women which adds something to the the culture you know which is one of the challenges facing a king like charles or william in the future now in her 90s the queen has retired from international touring having completed 270 visits to more than 120 countries but even with her travelling days behind her her commitment to her role and her people around the globe remains unchanged the monarch the job never ends she made very clear in 1947 on her 21st birthday speech i declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong we don't have an imperial family anymore we have a commonwealth family but that shows commitment so she's going to be around until she draws last breath there's no retiring much has changed in the world since elizabeth made that promise she has witnessed the aftermath of global conflicts the rise and fall of communism the tyranny of terrorism the devastation of epidemics and the ongoing global struggles to find economic and political stability but she has also seen the breakthroughs in social and racial justice explorations of space and advances in technology that have connected the world in the 20th century and beyond i think there's still a lot of stardust about the royal family i have seen grown republicans go weak at the knees when they are faced with a member of the royal family and it's about palaces it's about princes it's about tiaras it's about the places that they live it's about the history they have been there in the background through every tragedy every triumph they have celebrated and commiserated with us always a little removed but a vital point of reference nonetheless they've also provided us with spectacular stories symbolism which we all like and enjoy very few countries don't want their heads of state to be able to put on a degree of pomp and ceremony and we like the heads of state that manage it best while retaining it a kind of accessibility it's a very difficult balancing act but somehow they have managed to move with the times yet retain the mystique so many of us crave and as their role evolves from guardians into global ambassadors we rely on them to influence to affect change and to speak for those that have no voice in the royal revolution of the 21st century

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 1,659,566

Keywords: real royalty, real royalty channel, british royalty, royalty around the world, royal history

Id: Gj1zuVUW_rc

Length: 194min 6sec (11646 seconds)

Published: Fri May 27 2022