The Queen - A Life In Film 9/9. Part 9 - A Family Album

you family as a theme has come almost to define the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second whether her own family or the family of nations that is the Commonwealth the Queen is known to value highly the shared strength which can be derived from family life and the importance of kinship in promoting peace and understanding between individuals and the wider community but what is her own experience of family and how has it helped sustain her during her long years as sovereign the Queen like a father loves having a family around her in April 2002 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died at 101 the Queen Mother had always been there in the background of the nation's life and on her death the public responded as if mourning a member of their own family deeply loved by her children and grandchildren for her elder daughter the Queen she had lost not just a mother but a close friend and companion with military precision the cortege came to a halt at the Arby's great-west door bang on time the bell tolling every minute 101 times once for every year of her life a family salute as inside the queen waited deeply moved she'd said by all the tributes I think it was surprisingly difficult for the Queen to lose her mother because they had been so close for so long and the Queen Mother had always been there and she was mentally very on the ball so she didn't spiral down very slowly she spiraled very quickly and it did it did come as a surprisingly as a shock throughout her adult life the Queen and her mother were in daily contact in her early years as monarch the Queen looked to her mother for guidance literally discussing everything with her the Queen always deferred to her mother I remember one story and they were they were sort of people that the palace were talking to the Queen about as usual cutbacks and saving money and they said oh we must get rid of the ascot office instead of not until mummy's gone she'd have a fit so there were all these things on hold until mummy was no longer there and in a way it sort of released the Queen yes at last after all those years she she didn't have to worry about upsetting her mother the two women were very different in style and personality the Queen Mother was forever an extrovert and a socialite her elder daughter naturally more reserved and prudent but there was a humor and sympathy in the way they related the Queen rather loved her mother's Hollywood style and they when Princess Margaret was still alive the Queen and Princess Margaret used to sort of almost tease the Queen Mother about her constantly ordering new dresses and when Sir Norman Hartnell died Princess Margaret said the Queen will what's mommy going to do about her frocks now if the Queen was devoted to her mother she was also close to her sister Princess Margaret protective of her younger sibling since childhood the Queen was understanding with regard to the princess's troubled personal life and sympathetic during the bouts of ill health that plagued Princess Margaret in her last year's they were very very different characters and I don't think it was necessarily always easy but on the other hand the Queen is tremendously loyal and helpful and loving and I think it was it was the best relationship that could have existed in view of the fact that they were very different characters the Queen's affection for her sister also extended to the princess's children Lady Sarah Chateau and Lord Lynn lanes they together with their offspring a regular guests of the Queen spending Christmas at Sandringham or joining the monarch for family holidays Queen very very fond of by count Lindley and Sarah and Sarah chato as she is now very fond of them because during the years when Margaret was gallivanting around Europe we know in the early years of her marriage with Tony armstrong-jones the Queen the kids were just sent up to Balmoral with the nanny every summer and so they they got to know that they were almost saw more of their aunt the Queen than they did of their own mother of the Queen's own children her eldest to Prince Charles and Princess Anne were born prior to her becoming Queen today is one of those happy occasions as the beam and the view pay with our children but once Prince Charles gets the knack of it he won't let anyone help their upbringing was typical of 1950s aristocracy Charles and Anne were cared for during the day by their nanny before the pre bedtime session with their mother parents are of the ilk of the royal family sort of grand aristocratic parents really didn't see their children there was none of this oh I love you and all that sort of huggy kissy stuff just did not go on and doesn't mean the Queen loved her children any layers but she really had very little time to see them I mean she would see them at night she would occasionally bath them when she could and she famously moved the time of the prime ministers meeting which was Winston Churchill to achieve the evening so that she could you know put the children to bed before he came um she did what she could when on holiday at Balmoral they were described as a very normal ordinary country loving couple with two small children who took pleasure in picnics and pony rides much as any privileged family would enjoy will leave the Queen and her family to enjoy they're all too short holiday goodbye and thank you for having us the nature of the Queen's role as head of state frequently took her away from her children when she travelled abroad they could be separated for weeks at a time the issue raised questions as to whether the Queen was a good mother Charles nan had quite a tricky up Bree in some ways because their mother was always away she was a loving mother there's no doubt about that and she was as tactile as she could be in there were times where she would put him on her lap and read rest' read him a story or go in at bath time but it was quite a distant relationship and in fact the the sad thing is that the nanny that was looking after Charles and Anne was a fearsome woman that that the Queen was actually quite frightened of and so the Queen tended not to being assertive a young mother tended not to go near the nursery where the queens are bringing differed from that of her children was in their education the Queen was educated at home Prince Charles was the first heir to the throne to go to school aged seven he began at a pre preparatory establishment the following year he proceeded to team his father's prep school now a border the choice was perceived as progressive giving the heir to the throne an opportunity to mix with children from non Erised Kratt ik backgrounds five years later following again in the footsteps of his father Prince Charles moved on to Gordon stone a school on the northeast coast of Scotland in contrast to team he hated it what happened to Charles really was was terribly sad he was sent off up to the wilds of Scotland where the regime was incredibly harsh they had cold showers in the morning and a and a run in shorts shorts and a t-shirt before breakfast and and the whole regime was was like that it was very much sort of a healthy body a healthy mind no creature comforts at all and he was very lonely up there very homesick people didn't make friends with him he always had this problem that the people that that were friendly were probably being friendly for the wrong reasons and the people that he would have liked to make friends with him should have made friends with were holding back because they didn't want to seem to be sucking up to the prince if Prince Charles was a sensitive child Princess Anne was a bit of a tomboy at the age of twelve and two were sent to boarding school Bennington in Kent hers was to be a far happier experience at Bennington every new pupil has a girl called a mother to help her over the ordeal of the first few days to all appearances however Princess Anne was not suffering from nerves until now she's had private tuition but as a thoroughly sensible teenager she will quickly settle down to the new life Her Majesty greeted members of the staff and the atmosphere was unaffectedly friendly Bennington would also allow the princess to indulge her greatest passion riding within two years she was representing the school in dressage competitions it worked for her I think she's a very strong character like her father she made very good friends she was incredibly sporty I think that always helps whereas Charles what wasn't so sporty I mean and she just integrated I mean not immediately but she did and she wasn't particularly happy there her first term but she made it work if the Queen was sometimes absent parent to Charles a noun she was a much more natural and besotted mother with her younger children Andrew and Edward where the Andrew and Edward she she had she was able to spend much more time with them when I wrote a biography of Prince a but I remember going to talk to one of his school teachers and he said the Queen used to come down and she never missed a play she used to go to sports day she used to come in and talk to him and she would always be there and you don't think of her like that but the course in those days they weren't followed by cameras and press but she was a very hands-on mother the education of the two younger princes followed the pattern of their elder brother Andrew and Edward both attended Heather down preparatory school before heading to Gordon stem and like Prince Charles each Prince finished his schooling by spending six months at college in a Commonwealth country in Prince Edward's case Whanganui in new zealand where he received a visit from the prince and princess of wales in 1983 my feeling is that the the Queen's children have always been and probably still are used as a tool to demonstrate to the to the world to the common world certainly that that she is queen of Britain and the Commonwealth and I think there was a feeling that the Queen's children could go out and and represent her in some way and she could be seen to be thinking that a Commonwealth education was every bit as good as a as a British one then it would be helpful by the time of the Queen's silver wedding in 1972 the Windsor clan was hailed as an ideal and model family in a speech of the Guildhall the Queen spoke with conviction when she asserted if I am asked today what I think about family life after 25 years of marriage I can answer with simplicity and conviction I am for it the image was that of a United and happy family and it was an image which they deliberately cultivated it began with the Royal film and to some extent it went back to the 19th century and royal family hadn't normally been happy in fact they'd know leaving very unhappy it was a hopefully well-known public fact and it's Victoria and Albert who projected this rather bourgeois happy family saying allostatic families are normally happy and in retrospect it was a mistake for them to have done it because the monarchy isn't about happy families is very nice to have happy families monarchy is about the monarchy now in their 20s the Queens elder children Charles and Anne became a focus for media attention the image of the Prince of Wales as an over sensitive schoolboy was replaced by news clips of the Prince piloting planes and helicopters are engaged in Manly sporting pursuits like Poland he became this there's some actually was rather attractive man who was game for anything and and suddenly he had a string of girls Princess Anne pursued her passion for horse riding and distinguished herself in various equestrian competitive events as early as 1971 she was voted sports woman of the year - the obvious delight of her mother the queen who presented her with silver medal at the European Championships I think it was something that the Queen was very proud of it's obviously a sphere that she knows a lot about it's something that she can relate to it's a they have a shared passion of horses it's something she understands so I think she was full of admiration for the way that Ann went right to the top of the field the unprecedented step of a princess entering the world of sport brought Princess Anne into contact with people from outside her circle including captain Mark Phillips an army officer a show jumper and a commoner the couple were engaged in May 1973 when exactly miles did you decide that you were serious and when it became mutual I think it was even well I suppose after badminton they were married six months later at Westminster Abbey it was a popular match the welcome four years later in 1977 Princess Anne gave birth to a son Peter Phillips he was the Queen's first grandchild and when he was born was fifth in line to the throne however in the hope of giving him as normal a life as possible it was the expressed wish of his parents that he should not be given a title in 1981 Zara Phillips was born the princess joking with the nurses said she's quiet isn't she a reference to the fact that the new baby hadn't given her much time to sleep over the weekend the smile on the princess's face belied the trouble that was already brewing in her marriage to the outside world however the Phillips appeared like another ideal family in the making it's not clear the state of their marriage at the time when Zara was born but certainly there were rumours of affairs well before they got separated which was in 1989 two months after the birth of the Queen's first granddaughter the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer the heir to the throne was 32 his bride just 20 but despite the age gap the Queen together with a nation rejoiced that her son had finally married the Queen really liked the Spencer family of course they've been royal toady's for years centuries and I think because we actually wrote a letter saying how much he liked Diana which got him to the public friend and she had high hopes this innocent lovely young girl and Prince Charles have been influenced by Mountbatten saying you must marry someone who has no past and it all seemed perfect a bit too perfect the Queen's family continued to grow within a year of the wedding the Princess of Wales gave birth to a son Prince William two years later another boy was born Prince Harry the Queen's two elder children married and apparently settled attention turned towards the younger sons Prince Andrew now in his 20s had earned himself a reputation as something of a playboy the tabloid press labelled him Randy Andy for his highly publicized friendships with among others actress KU stark and Katie rabbit together in public at last and official Andrew and Sarah stand in the gardens of Buckingham Palace just about the same place as The Prince and Princess of Wales stood on their engagement day Prince Andrew's image changed again when in 1986 his engagement to Sarah Ferguson was announced although the payer had known each other since childhood it is understood that romance blossomed only after Princess Diana orchestrated to bring them together at a house party at Windsor Castle I asked Sarah some weeks ago and Sarah actually said yes supposin surprised but surprised me she did say also which an Atlantic date for you is that she said he said if you wake up tomorrow morning you can tell him it's all a huge joke I didn't the couple married in July 1986 once again the public was entranced by a royal romance it looked as if the fairy tale would continue without end and Sara soon to be Duchess was ready to marry her prince the Queen led out the family then Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary blissfully unaware of traditional ceremonial took over the proceedings she was startlingly well behaved but she did seem to have a sense of occasion two years later the Queen became a grandmother for the fifth time for the arrival of Princess Beatrice grandchild number six Princess Eugenie arrived in early 1990 Princess Eugenie was fast asleep blissfully unaware of her celebrity status by 1990 however the first fracture in the world's most famous model family had appeared the Princess Royal separated from Mark Phillips in August 1989 Mark Phillips wasn't the first commoner to marry into royalty but he was the first to make it clear that he felt uncomfortable in world circles instead of blending in with his wife's hectic schedules he opted out Princess Anne was dubbed by the press as the most unpopular royal but her public image was transformed as she became increasingly absorbed in her work as president of Save the Children fund in a recent interview she showed how committed she became to the charity I do say from time to time and people tend to laugh but at that age I mean I wasn't particularly keen on children and I'm still not but you don't actually have to like children very much to be interested in giving them the best possible start in life if you're looking towards the future and that's quite important for a lot of people to remember she made long and often exhaustive visits to third world countries they were pursuing their own interests they lived separate lives out of army service captain Phillips based his life at the farm in gakuen Park with his shy personality he became a reluctant royal pursuing a career as a skilled and successful horsemen a few occasions he and Princess Anne appeared publicly were invariably at equestrian events their love of competitive sport became one of the few things they had in common a year later the Princess Royal denied rumours the couple would divorce in fact the couple divorced in April 1992 the Princess Royal was the second member of the royal family to divorce since Henry the eighth the first being Princess Margaret fourteen years earlier her mother the Queen was reported to have agreed only reluctantly to her daughter divorcing I think she was quite surprised I mean she just I think thought that Anne would just carry on with it even members of the royal family are not immune from the ills of the world and one of the ills of the world is divorced quite simply Anna mark just drifted apart and their marriage fizzled 1992 was also the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession it would become known as her annus horribilis 4 where once the Windsor family stood proud now it was beset by sadness and disharmony the princess Royal's divorce was preceded in March by the announcement that the Duke and Duchess of York were to separate the announcement made it plain that she had initiated the separation and as the day went on it became clear that while the Queen was saddened by the breakup of the marriage she was also angry at the way the Duchess had handled the issue I think the Queen was very upset when when she sort of realized that that marriage was falling apart and what she always says she did to Charles and Donna and she did to Fergie and it is wait a bit just don't rush out of this just wait and see if you can't get it together again in December 1992 Buckingham Palace announced the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales they're admitting defeat they're admitting failure and that's something that no one wants to to admit I think they'll also be terribly worried about their children the Queen in the Duke of Edinburgh were largely unaware of what was going on in Charles's marriage to Donna there were episodes that they were aware of because when Diana's behavior erupted in front of them it became apparent that things were not altogether rosy but they had no idea of the of the depths of despair to which their son had fallen the sole bright spot in the year was the remarriage also in December of the Princess Royal - commander Tim Lawrence at a quiet ceremony in Scotland Princess Anne was the first member of the royal family to remarry after divorce since Henry the eighth's he's a super boy and the royal family I like him and and that's really all they asked for and I think they respect him too I think that they respect him and and how he's conducted his relationship with Anne you know throughout this period the marriage is due to take place on Saturday at crappy parish church next to Balmoral Castle the reason she got married in Scotland was because you can have a second marriage within the Kirk as it were and she wanted a very low-key event and of course she's a love Scotland and the family just loved that marriage it was it was incredibly informal nothing grand about it at all the Queen remained wholly sympathetic towards her children but also bewildered she and the Duke were left wondering where as parents they had gone wrong I think it must have been extremely difficult for them I mean is in a way my husband and I were in the same situation with some of our children's marriages and I know that it's a double sadness first of all for the young couple we are very fond of and secondly for yourselves because you it's very sad to watch children who from scratch from babyhood and who appeared to be starting off on a happy life when when things go wrong The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York finally divorced in 1996 by now royal deference seemed a thing of the past the tabloid press laid siege on a regular basis to the private lives of the Queen's children the antics of the younger Royals played out like a compulsive soap opera Queen would have found the whole thing embarrassing it's entirely at odds with the way that she's always lived her life she would never have found her in the same sort of situation in a million years but her attitude to her children I think has always been that they should be allowed to make their own mistakes and they've certainly done that by the time Diana Princess of Wales died in August 1997 the public reacted as if the royal family themselves were responsible this evaluation was compounded by Diana's brother Earl Spencer in his oration at her funeral in it he alluded to the alleged coldness of the family she had married into and famously promised to protect his royal nephews so that as he said their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned I think the Queen must have been I don't know she was hurt by it but she must have felt pretty saw what he said cool mysteries rushed by a certain day and we've seen a lot of evidence of Earl Spencer's influence on the young boys that he promised to have and promised to protect them and all the things and I think the Queen would have thought to herself rather fine coming from that family the Queen was by now approaching her golden wedding anniversary the traumatic events of the summer had taken their toll on both the family and his reputation a period of rehabilitation was required to enable not just her children but her grandchildren to come to terms with both family breakdown and personal loss the queen who we know to this day is still puzzled by the public reaction she almost wanted her family to go into a period of perder they'd been pretty sans merited broken up 3rd Prince Andrews marriage had broken up Charles and Diana had broken up and they looked tired the public image was sullied there had been feud over taxation and and she just thought they needed to retreat to recharge their batteries and to be seen as they had been many years earlier see that see them less that see them in a different light it was inevitable that the wedding the following year of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward and his girlfriend Sophie rease-jones would be a low-key affair when their engagement was announced the couple were asked about previous royal marriages that have ended in divorce if anybody's going to get married I hope that they think that they're going to get it right so and as I said I mean it's you know that we're the very best of friends and that's essential and it also helps we happen to love each other as well very much and so it's great so we're very happy at the moment and long may that continue I think it's quite well known Queen and Prince Philip have quite a difficult relationship with Charles and I think the Queen has a less complicated relationship with Edward and she certainly is very close to his wife Sophie and has always admired the way that she's conducted herself and the way the is being absorbed quite well and easily in turn into such a public role into the royal family Edward and Sophie known as the Earl and Countess of Wessex became parents in 2003 their daughter Louise was born a month premature and was cared for initially in a neonatal unit a great day great relief and enjoy today that we've been able to reunite mother and daughter which is just fantastic it's been a priority for the last week and and it we the amazing thing is that our baby girl has recovered well enough that she can come here to join Sophie which is fantastic obviously the Queen was very concerned that Sophie had been so ill just around the time of the birth of her first child that she did go and see her in hospital which she doesn't normally do but she was concerned and and I think it was a sort of very nice thing to do four years later in December 2007 the countess gave birth to a son the Queen's eighth grandchild by count seven of the Queen's two elder sons only the Prince of Wales has married again this time to the woman who played a part in the breakup of his first marriage Camilla parker-bowles I think the queen was very pragmatic about kamila I think she realized that it was absolutely what Charles wanted to do and that there was no point in standing in his way even if personally she didn't approve of the role that she played in the breakup of their marriage if the Queen had been reluctant to accept kamila into the fold the transition of the former royal mistress to titled consort was no doubt easier for the Queen to accept due to the obvious enthusiasm of her grandsons for the match I think probably it was it was the children's acceptance of Camilla that probably warmed the rest of the family to her because it was a genuine acceptance I think Harry found it harder than William because Harry was younger when Diana died William was a little more realistic he had he had grown up a bit by the time dad died he could see that there was a there were two sides to the story the turbulence of the 1990s has in the first decade of the 21st century given way to a period of calm three of the Queen's children remain married while the divorced Duke and Duchess of York remain firm friends and room Fergie's marriage founded because Fergie primarily made a series of mistakes but I don't think they ever stopped getting on and I think it was incredibly important to her to keep the family together in some way and I think she's really worked at that and has been pretty successful at it the queen has established strong bonds with all her grandchildren and is always eager they should spend Christmas at Sandringham or join her at Balmoral for the summer holidays the Queen like a father loves having a family around her and they do what all big families do and they all sit down together for meals and it's a chance for her to actually relax and be with her her grandchildren and she takes them out riding and they go on on long walks and they go on barbecues and they go on picnics at night I look gold in the rain and it's it's what she's always done and it's what she loves it is a testament to the Queen's devotion to her grandchildren but they too enjoy spending time with her in a recent interview to celebrate her 18th birthday Princess Eugenie described the Queen as truly one of the most amazing women ever the princess added you can tell when she is happy having all her family around at Christmas and watching them all laugh and having so much fun on Christmas Day it just makes her very happy Christmas is very jolly the family are all together it's all very traditional very traditional and and very jolly and they they're great games players they play charades a lot and that sort of thing and they go for long walks and they are they are actually very like a normal family the Queen is anxious knowing how her own children have suffered that her grandchildren will make successful alliances which may in time echo her own experience of marriage I think the Queen probably would say aye let's hope to goodness these marriages last but you know she is a she's not is nothing she's not that she's not going to interfere I think she just thinks please may they work out because of course as she's devoted her entire life to the monarchy she doesn't want to see it rumpled anymore and she wants them to be happy the image of the perfect royal family has been shattered instead it is the story of a very modern family familiar to many where parents live apart and grandparents often provide the glue keeping the generations together and at its head is the queen who on her 80th birthday received the most glowing of tributes from her eldest son the Prince of Wales for very nearly 60 of those 80 years she has been my darling muammar and my sentiments today are those of a proud and loving son who hopes that you will join with me in wishing the Queen the happiest of happy birthdays together with the fervent prayer that there will be countless memorable returns of the day that speech I would say was absolutely 100 percent from the heart he adores his mother he almost worships his mother he is somewhat in awe of her I think that maybe because she's sovereign maybe because there was the distance in the early years I'm not quite sure why it is but it is it is not quite the normal son mother relationship the day ended how it began with happy birthday the family has rehabilitated itself and shown that recovery is possible in this regard the Queen's family now offers a new role model one that is entirely fitting for the 21st century you

Channel: Chronica

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Keywords: Queen, Elizabeth II (Monarch), Family, Politics (TV Genre), Monarch (Noble Rank), Monarchy Of The United Kingdom (System Of Nobility), Monarchy (Form Of Government), Royal, Royalty, Buckingham Palace (Tourist Attraction), London (City/Town/Village), England (Country), United Kingdom (Country), Commonwealth Of Nations (Membership Organization), Armed Forces (Employer), Life

Id: nmTMKjnEOwU

Length: 37min 39sec (2259 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 28 2015