The Queen - A Life In Film 3/9. Part 3 - Childhood

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second is Britain's oldest serving monarch in April 1926 however at the time of her birth there was no reason to assume she would one day become queen let alone rule for so long and be so revered for a portion of her childhood at least Elizabeth lived the life of a princess without the scrutiny that would normally attend the upbringing of a future sovereign but what was that childhood like and how did life change once destiny intervened and have fate as future Queen looked to be sealed suddenly to be catapulted into barking palace which hadn't had any children living there for ages and I remember mrs. Margaret telling me she said because the first thing I thought was oh Lily bets going to be Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in the early hours of the 21st of April 1926 her parents the Duke and Duchess of York had married three years earlier Elizabeth's father Bertie was the second son of George v and her mother formerly Elizabeth bowes-lyon was the ninth of ten children born to the Earl and Countess of straw the birth of the Kings first granddaughter attracted a great deal of public interest the Prince of Wales later Edward the eighth wasn't married and so of course she was basically number three at the time she was born and that's quite close to the throne and even in some of the publicity attendant on her birth there is a hint that this might be the heir so they kept their options open as the Duke and Duchess of York attended to their royal duties the baby princess was left in the care of her nanny hello Karen itis she was actually with her name was one of these sort of sterling nannies very much in charge of the nursery and very very important and because after all the nursery was their world when Princess Elizabeth was just nine months old her parents set off on a six-month tour that took them to Australia via Panama Fiji and New Zealand the Duke of York had accepted an invitation to open the Commonwealth Parliament in the new Australian capital of Canberra was the most exacting royal duty he had as yet undertaken what the Duke of York had very much wanted to go on that trip to Australia but of course it was a great ordeal because it involved a number of speeches he was going to open the first federal parliament whatever it was it can Canberra I think and he he had to therefore learn a lot about these countries and also be prepared to speak and of course because he had the speech impediment that was always very difficult Princess Elizabeth was left at home but she was far from forgotten instead the distant princess became a source of fascination for the press and public alike wherever the Duke and Duchess traveled in Australia they were bombarded with questions about their infant daughter and showered with gifts for her I think the Duke and Duchess of York returned with a ship full of presents for the the baby as Essbase was inevitable and great excitement at this unseen child and I suppose a certain sympathy with the parents you know that they were separated from the little one for such a long period of time because see travel in those days did take a long time from birth Princess Elizabeth spent a good deal of her time in Scotland staying either with her royal grandparents at Balmoral or with her maternal grandparents at gloms castle Princess Margaret was born at gloms in the summer of 1930 the event was marked with a giant bonfire four years later and the little princesses made one of their first recorded appearances together again in Scotland her happy are greeted by the muck with of Everdeen the image was that of a happy young family and the Juno Sofia where were very much like to mean they were popular they were perhaps not very prominent in those days I mean they were very very much a family and I think people like that and that is of course what the particular skill that the Duchess of York had was that she created a happy family atmosphere for her husband which involved you know Sunday lunch and a walk in the park and afternoon teas and things like that which is what of course they later brought in the form of a role that a domestic family monarchy the families London home was a spacious townhouse on Piccadilly number 145 it was here that they were tutored by their governess Marion Crawford known as craw fee Coffee was really totally in charge of their education I think you could say that the Queen Mother didn't God the education of women is very important so coffee had to struggle along covering every field fairly the little princesses lived lives relatively isolated from the world outside royal circles but although they lacked playmates like many aristocratic children they enjoyed the company of their dogs and horses there quite a lot of pictures around of princesses Elizabeth and Margaret as children I think that was considered great propaganda to a happy families number and there they were with their wonderful Wendy house and with their dogs and you know playing away I'm alone I think you know it was considered an ideal family the Duke and Duchess of York are bringing their little daughter to Olympia to see the royal tournament public interest in the Duke and Duchess of York and the two princesses continued unabated princesses revel in it even when young all the nice girls mother Taylor I think it was probably understandable that the public interest should center rather on these two young princesses they went any others around at the time as far as I remember and of course they were they were glamorous figures and nice little girls well-dressed well turned out polite behaves themselves and wise pays regarded as rather models her children to look up to within the family Princess Elizabeth was known as a favorite of King George the fifth in 1935 together with her sister she featured prominently at the Kings Jubilee a symbol of youth and renewal I knew he was not an easy father but then he probably was an easier grandfather because he didn't have the direct responsibility and I think I'm sure he would have been very fond of the children rather proud of them at the start of the following year celebration turned to mourning King George the fifth died on the 20th of January 1936 the newsreels documented the demise of a much-loved King Britain and Empire mourned their beloved king the shadow of an almost personal grief darkens the houses of the people at Sandringham a few days ago his majesty caught a chill and was confined to his room but the expected easy recovery did not take place nine days later Princess Elizabeth was among the mourners at the funeral of the man she called grandpa England George the fifth funeral was I suppose the last real royal funeral in terms like rather like Queen Victoria's where all the royal Royals turned up it was a terrific display of troops that gun carriage the slow marching I think it would have made an impression on her I thought she was nine wasn't she I think so certainly of an age to take it all him at st. James's Palace God our King of Arms comes to proclaim King Edward the eighth the Prince of Wales was proclaimed king the imperial crown of Great Britain Ireland and all other his make Majesty's dominions is totally and rightfully come to a higher my dear Prince Edward Albert Christian George Engle Patrick David to whom we do acknowledge well faith and constant rebellion in his first broadcast to the nation King Edward the eighth acknowledged the high regard in which his father was held I feel that his death is not only an overwhelming grief to my mother and to us his children but that it is at the same time of a personal loss - you are arrivals for the royal tournament Duke and Duchess of York are incessant Elizabeth and Margaret rose with uncle David now King princess Elizabeth became second in line to the throne interest in the princess increased but as yet there was no reason to expect you would ever be queen instead life for the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose progressed much as before inside the little princesses walked between lines of a guard of honour to see the services own show Queen and Princess Margaret I think they relied on each other quite a lot or though Margaret was four years younger they even used to dress alike which i think is very odd by today's standards and they played with each other and when they went out into the park and they weren't allowed to play with other children and we only know that because of the memories of the governess Marion Crawford the garden party this year was a royal reception burrowing to the morning for the late King there will be no cots this year and so when King it but walked out into the lovely grounds of Buckingham Palace it was for more than a garden party by this time news was leaking out of the King's association with an American woman mrs. Wallis Simpson princess Elizabeth's parents the Duke and Duchess of York did their utmost to ensure their daughters were shielded from the gossip extort thing about mrs. Simpson was that really the British public knew nothing about her at all until very very shortly before the abdication Society of course did know about her but a man in the street didn't and then even at the time when things were getting very difficult the Foreign Press we're talking about the crisis that was looming but the British press guarded a kind of they had a bond of silence between them in the newspapers as editors simply didn't report it the specter of the head of the Church of England marrying a divorcee was unconscionable to the church state and royal family Edward though was unwilling to forgo his relationship with mrs. Simpson belatedly the Duke of York realized his brother might choose to abdicate I think it would be fair to say right up to late November 1936 given that the application was on the you know 10th 11th of December half you look at it he had no idea that the king was actually likely to go and of course it was an enormous shock to him because suddenly he was going to be propelled on to the throne like it or not with absolutely no preparation no training and not at all sure as is the thing which worried both the Duke and Duchess of York not at all sure that the British public would like them or even accept them King for barely a year Edward the 8th abdicated on the 10th of December 1936 and his reluctant brother ascended to the throne and now we all have a new king I wish him and you his people happiness and prosperity with all my heart god bless you all god save the king Queen Mary made her own appeal to the nation in support of her blameless younger son his wife and family the Queen Mother in her message to the nation said I commend to you King George the sixth I ask you to give him the same full measure of generous loyalty which you gave to my beloved husband with him I commend my dear daughter-in-law who will be his queen I know that you have already taken her children to your hearts we feel you will welcome these intimate pictures of our beloved king and queen with their children the Princess Elizabeth heir to the throne and her sister Princess Margaret rose the head of the greatest empire the world has ever seen is rightly described on state occasions in elaborate terms by the grace of God of Great Britain Ireland and the British dominions beyond the seas King defender of the faith emperor of India but above all his Majesty King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth receive our hearty and humble affection because they are true home lovers in the sense most respected by every man and woman throughout the civilized world and it is in this role before the pomp and pageantry that are to come that we bring them to you now in the most charming and natural pictures ever taken of our royal family Princess Elizabeth was now first in line to the throne a fact she is said to have absorbed gradually in an interview years later princess margaret recounted a conversation with her sister when our father became King I said to her does this mean you're going to be Queen she replied yes I suppose it does she didn't mention it again the new royal family had left Piccadilly and were now installed at Buckingham Palace it was no longer possible to retain the illusion of being an ordinary family for Princess Elizabeth a detective now accompanied her everywhere she discovered by merely walking in front of a sentry on ceremonial duty she could make him present arms and reportedly she no longer referred to mummy and Papa but the king and queen suddenly to be catapulted into barking palace which hadn't had any children to being there for ages and I remember mrs. Margaret telling me she said because the first thing I thought was Oh Lily Bert's going to be Queen and asking her and I thought well you know I get an even then she thought well it's rather like losing a sister in some ways because a minute the Queen when they moved into barking palace and she was the heir she was educated very different good from Princess Margaret only once or twice in the life of each one of us come such a day as this and we realized that we're watching history in the making when we know that generations of Englishmen to come will look back on this day for may the 12th 1937 will be one of the dates in English history that the school children will learn may be a thousand years from now every moment the flow of excitement increases early in the day the vast crowd chairs there right Highnesses Princess Elizabeth and Margaret rose and then their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Kent and always the air is filled with the expectant murmur of what must surely be the largest crowd London has ever known gathered in its hundreds and thousands and million on this dolls spring morning and now with a flashing of breastplates and the clatter of hoops the moment has come with slowness and dignity the coronation coach moves forward bringing with it symbolized in our royal family all the history and tradition of Britain and the Empire never before have such solemn and dramatic pictures appear on the screen the ceremony that has remained unchanged for a thousand years the precession of Her Majesty the Queen moves up the nave to be greeted after the anthem by the scholars of Westminster school with Avot Regina at the Kings coronation the young princesses sat with their grandmother Queen Mary in the Royal Box at Westminster Abbey during the three-hour ceremony Princess Elizabeth watched intently as her father and mother were crowned king and queen she wrote after the event I thought it was all very very wonderful and I expect the Abbey did to the arches and beams at the top were covered in a sort of haze of wonder as papar was crowned at least I thought so but not everything about the ceremony impressed her at the end the service got rather boring as it was all prayers granny and I were looking to see how many pages to the end and we turned one more and I pointed to the word at the bottom of the page and it said Feeney we both smiled at each other and turned back to the service she took it all in very much I think I mean she did she was much more serious minded than Princess Margaret which is probably lucky I remember mrs. Margaret or she thought about the coronation was that the Queen was going to wear a sort of golden crown and Fitz's mark kept on saying where's mine and they sort of said well I were not quite sure whether you care to wear one a bit small anyway he absolutely insisted stamped her tiny foot and as you can see in the photographs there she is wearing her crown to yet again press and public interest in Princess Elizabeth intensified the king and queen also recognized the importance of equipping their elder daughter for public life one initiative encouraged by their governess craw fee was the establishment of a Girl Guide company at Buckingham Palace thousand Girl Guides attended the national services in George's Chapel Windsor the Princess Royal president of the Guides was present with lady baden-powell chief guide I was a trail lead of the Kingfisher betrayal and Princess Elizabeth was my second and I remember thinking what a remarkably helpful and useful person she wants to have as number two in command of something because who could absolutely rely on how to do it anything it was needed as the threat of war grew stronger so the diplomatic workload of the king and queen increased on occasion the princesses played a supporting role as when they accompanied their mother for the launch of the liner Queen Elizabeth though accompanied by her two daughters this day our queen seems strangely alone lacking for the first time on any big occasion the escort of His Majesty grave Affairs have kept the king in London we have great pleasure in presenting to you from the grounds of Buckingham Palace these delightful and informal pictures of our royal family it Majesties the king and queen with their two daughters in the windswept garden of their London home they're discussing details of their Majesties forthcoming voyage across the Atlantic the princesses were left at home when the king and queen traveled to Canada and North America in spring 1939 as the storm clouds gathered over Europe the trip was seen as an opportunity to strengthen transatlantic ties the press presented their six-week separation as an example of the sacrifice the royal couple were prepared to make for the national good we take this opportunity of wishing many happy returns to Princess Elizabeth on her birthday and also wish a safe and happy voyage and a safe and happy returns of our popular young king and queen queen mother always said of that trip to Canada and the United States just before the war that was a trip that made us and I think after the abdication and people knew this is a lot of shy stuttering sort of king the American public were completely won over them whereas they were all pro the Windsors before that so from their point of view it was a huge success from the princess's point of view it must been quite strange because they haven't been used to being without their parents for quite so long so it must have been really worth quite puzzling war was declared on the 3rd of September during the course of the next six years the princesses spent the majority of their time at Windsor while the king and queen stayed most often at Buckingham Palace the evacuation of the Monarchs children to Berkshire was a useful tool in the ministry of informations propaganda kit and was the theme for princess Elizabeth's first broadcast in October 1940 thousands of you in this country have had to leave your home and be separated from your fathers and mother my sister Margaret rose and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all to you living in new surroundings we send a message of true sympathy and at the same time we would like to thank the kind people who have welcomed you to their homes in the country my sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you come on Margaret good night children good night and good luck to you all so many people have forgotten how terrifying it was I was a child in the war but we thought that Hitler was going to invade any moment and as a child we all admired the Queen and Princess Margaret you know they were children but they didn't leave England they remained in England they were so beacon of hope actually they used to speak to the children of England and we were tremendously comforted fun enough by their presence throughout the war the public was variously informed of a fine example set by the princesses in particular Elizabeth in support of the war effort they used to listen to the war news and when terrible tragedies happened like the sinking of the royal oak early in the war oh they listened to that and they were both in tears and then they would knit things for the soldiers and all that kind of in 1942 Princess Elizabeth accepted the title honorary Colonel of the Grenadier Guards and on her 16th birthday she carried out her first inspection of the Windsor based regiment two years later on her 18th birthday Princess Elizabeth was given her first constitutional role Princess Elizabeth heir is presumptive to the crown of England the celebration of her 18th birthday brings forth the sincere good wishes of the peoples of the British Commonwealth of Nations by the Regency Act of last year Her Royal Highness has had bestowed on her the important office of potential councillor of state officially she reaches her majority but in the full legal sense she will not come of age until her 21st birthday these special newsreel pictures were taken a few days ago I think we made a Council of state means that you are very close to the king you are one of the few members of the royal family who are going to be the councilors to the king I've been on ray but it was a very important step it was yet another that this is going to be your future Queen no longer a child Princess Elizabeth wanted to play her part in the war effort she persuaded her parents to let her join the auxiliary territorial service or 80s and in February 1945 was registered as second Sultan Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor you I think it must have been a great satisfaction of pleasure to her to feel that she could play a small part in this dreadful war and doing all sorts of things that normally of course she wouldn't have expected to be able to do she was transport drivers who drove lorries and she learned how to take them to pieces and put them together and do the sort of small repairs and things and I know it was an experience that I'm sure she would have really enjoyed just a few days before the final end of the war Princess Elizabeth was promoted to junior commander on the 8th of May 1945 the Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced a cessation to hostilities and victory in Europe hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight Tuesday the 8th of May but in the interests of saving lives the ceasefire began yesterday to be sounded along all the fronts the German war is therefore at an end we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing this was the British people's finest day v-day the end of the German war throughout the country let's load it with spontaneous rejoicing for a great and wonderful deliverance war scarred the face of britain but nothing ever cept or changed the character of our people Buckingham Palace became the focus for the celebrations outside Buckingham Palace the clouds cheered themselves for the seven times during VE Day the royal family appeared on the balcony the royal family the king in his navel and Princess Elizabeth in her 80s uniform were given a rapturous reception their appearance on the balcony and the celebrations at the end of the war was a tremendous national event you know the feeling that we've all been through it together and a family like our family were all celebrating it's been very hard but we've done it the celebrations continued well into the night the princesses were eager to join the festivities outside the palace and set out in a small party accompanied by a police officer in a rare interview fifty years later the Queen would recall I remember we were terrified of being recognized so I called my uniform cap well down over my eyes a Grenadier officer amongst our party of about sixteen people said he refused to be seen in the company of another officer improperly dressed so I had to put my cap on normally I think it must have been an amazing experience for both urban services to be able to just walk down and join a crowd never did even recognizing them at the time to feel part of this great big mob that was rejoicing and so happy that this horror of the war was over and an experience that would be unique I think for for her and for her sister princess Elizabeth's teenage years had been set against the background of war now aged 19 a young adult an honorary colonel and counselor estate she was increasingly called upon to undertake solo engagements there was no longer any doubt she would one day be queen her brief experience of normality in the 80s was over the relative privacy of childhood long gone what lay ahead was marriage family and a life of duty and service to the nation I think she grew up in a family that put Duty very very high on the list of attributes which they would like to pass on to their family and I think it was appeared to have that when wishes and feelings were secondary to what we see the best way to act for for four people generally you

Channel: Chronica

Views: 205,918

Keywords: Queen, Elizabeth II (Monarch), royalty, The Queen (Film), Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (Noble Person), Monarchy (Form Of Government), Monarchy Of The United Kingdom (System Of Nobility), Commonwealth Of Nations (Membership Organization)

Id: qyoJGqhK14o

Length: 33min 47sec (2027 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 15 2015