The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story

in 1947 Princess Elizabeth made a prophetic coming-of-age speech I declare before you all with my her 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 little did she know that six years later she would be crowned queen this inexperienced young woman would be propelled onto the world stage to take Britain from its imperial past to a Commonwealth future [Music] I'm going to explore how Queen Elizabeth's role as the head of the Commonwealth helped define her as a person as she transformed from a young mother the Queen was pretty shy her mother wrote letters keep your chipper up keep smiling the people want to see you too a monarch in command length of time in that position and her ability to listen and talk to those leaders is virtually unique and how she in turn helped build the Commonwealth we know today I hereby declare of Commonwealth Games open being bold on the world stage in a way she couldn't at home do you think Margaret Thatcher felt she'd somehow been hijacked yeah by the Queen by her career ladies and gentlemen I feel enormously proud of what the Commonwealth has achieved and all of it within my lifetime I'm gonna follow in the Queen's footsteps well some of them anyway I'm gonna find out just how she shaped the Commonwealth and well how it has shaped her [Music] [Applause] [Music] June 1953 the world's leaders descend on Westminster Abbey to witness the coronation of Elizabeth the second celebrations were organized in britain's far-flung Imperial territories but in truth the British Empire was nearing its end India the jewel in Britain's crown had already won its independence a new institution was emerging the Commonwealth made up of former colonies that had fought for freedom I was born in Sri Lanka I spent my childhood in Ghana I've worked in South Africa and of course Britain is my home they're all linked together they're all Commonwealth countries but I never thought of them as being linked together by the Queen as head of the Commonwealth the role was thrust upon her after the untimely death of her father it had two state members all former British colonies including Australia Canada South Africa and India this voluntary Club gave new members an equal voice and opportunities for trade but still in its infancy it now fell to the young Queen to make it succeed in a volatile world [Music] with the coronation barely over the Queen was dispatched on the longest tour ever undertaken by a monarch for six months she would be away from her two young children so it was for the new head of the Collinwood that a Commonwealth journey was planned Queen would set foot in many lands Newfoundland Bermuda Jamaica Panama Fiji are taller New Zealand Australia salon aid and Uganda Malta and you brought the Queen would circle the entire globe visiting Commonwealth nations British protectorates and colonies mission to promote the Commonwealth and be accepted in her new role [Music] she sailed the Pacific to reach the farthest corner of the Commonwealth determined to squeeze in a visit to the tiny Protectorate of Tonga [Music] [Applause] I've done it awful lot of traveling in my time but I've never been out here we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean literally on the other side of the world just imagine what it was like for the Queen back in 1953 you know was her personal decision to come here to Tonga and it was all down to a very unlikely friendship Her Majesty Queen salute a 6-4-3 ruler of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific obviously delighted to be here for the great occasion Queen salute say first met Queen Elizabeth in London at the coronation six months earlier she travelled over 10,000 miles a gesture not forgotten by the Queen it is a simple meeting this our royal family of Tama waiting there for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip the Queen's are together at last the friendship between our two countries is renewed [Applause] [Music] now if anything takes you back to that royal trip of 1953 it's this this is the car in which the Queen travelled through the streets of Tonga even on such a remote island the crowds were out and forced to catch a glimpse of the pneumonic princess pillow Levu was a young girl at the time of Queen Elizabeth's visit my grandmother moved out your grandmother Queen sylheti moved out to the Royal Palace to allow Queen Elizabeth to use it yes it's a small palace maybe one of the smallest palaces in the world your royal highness I've brought some archive and it if you've seen it but tell me I've never seen it and you know Carla you haven't seen no no we're lit amazing this My Father I remember my nanny taking me downstairs and the royal palace dressed to the nines but told to be very quiet just be a what were they worried about well that one of us would you know scream out at the top of our lungs with our hands pointed oh look it's the British Queen something in Tongan did Queen silat ever talk about the way our queen eloped I remember queen solid this saying she's British she's not tolling so she's able to keep the same vigor because they don't eat tongue and food in England we're talking about tongue and food of course one of the things queen elizabeth had to do was to preside over a feast which is a big thing in tonin culture well they're sitting on the floor yes they are Duke of Edinburgh set us ligand you must be very fit the table is groaning with food yes the food is served on a huge banana leaves mm figs and hundreds of chickens lobsters have been prepared the feast works out at about two pigs per head did Queen seller t talk about how our queen coped she said she cooked very well she did taste everything the young queen born into the British aristocracy seemed adapted taking in a new culture this Commonwealth tour the first one we did was the longest one we've we've ever done but of course it was very interesting being able to go and see the people who come to the coronation see them in their own countries like getting to Tala and visiting the queen of Thailand in her own country I mean crossing the Pacific in in a ship which one never does nowadays was an experience in itself three weeks at sea by stacking all pictures and photographs in my photograph album which I'd never have done otherwise extraordinary look back Huntsman [Music] but after Tonga the Queen was to face a far greater challenge Sydney Harbour came in sight that great Harbor one of the wonders of the world alive with people and decorated boats Australia an influential founding member of the Commonwealth with the organization still being established it was vital that young queen win over this vast nation it started here she sailed into Sydney Harbour on the 3rd of February 1954 she was the first reigning mana to do so and she came here as the queen of Australia this all this was her realm every major city was included in the grueling two-month itinerary the idea was to be seen by as many Australians as possible to strengthen bonds with Britain Queen was about to be very publicly scrutinized if you can imagine this whole foreshore thronged everywhere you could find a space miles Farwell was 6 years old when he first saw the Queen oh well it was almost like a goddess descending from Mount Olympus that's wonderful listening to you it's as if you were describing a kind of mania why would people so excited George so many people here had a parent or a grandparent born in the United Kingdom when we're at school we learned about the kings and queens we related to all the pink countries on the map of and the Empire of the Empire absolutely standing at last on Australian soil on this foot this is the birthplace of the nation I want to tell you all how happy I am to be amongst you and how much I look forward to my journey through Australia [Music] [Applause] the city spent nearly 2 million pounds on the decorations it was incredibly lavish and all along the Royal route this road are the roads across Sydney people camped overnight just to catch a glimpse of the Queen the world's media added to the intense scrutiny they weren't called paparazzi van but their job was the same we called every detail and nowhere demonstrates this better than the archives of the Australian Women's Weekly eneter Julia Trident has a treasure trove of images and stories from the time that 54 tore because it was such a long tour the Queen was our cover girl for weeks and weeks on end right I've seen some archive of this speech it was very interesting because she read that speech without looking up once yes well I mean this was her first speech of the tour the Queen was pretty shy she was just 27 but see that that kind of tells you how much pressure she was under she was on show all the time couldn't let her guard down definitely couldn't let her guard down at all and of course a lot of it was also about what she was wearing and was it all right there are so many things to worry about when people are watching you under that scrutiny one of the big things that you have to do of course is smile a lot a huge strain I would have thought a huge strain but she would have been taught well by her mother her mother wrote her a lot of letters about two things one the children back home and how they're going because the Queen Mother was looking after them and the other about keep keep your tipper up make sure you're seen that's why your bear keeps smiling that the people want to see you that 54 tour the pace of it is incredible with cars and boats and planes and the Royal Train you know have this amazing observation carriage at the back and lady Pamela Hicks the Queen's lady-in-waiting on this tour said that on that royal train there were times in the middle of the night when the Queen thought she should get up because people had gathered on stations so she would sit up in her nightie and way back to the window and that's what every royal tour is about their charm offensives we had our hands full like until the transport people in every state said it was one of the biggest mass movement since the war children across the country were marshalled into attending mass rallies [Applause] [Music] it's just epic I can't imagine how many rehearsals they would have had to have to do that and it's an awful thing to say but it sort of reminds me of one of those orchestrated events you you get in some in some communist state and I suppose it was part of a plan to make sure that every generation got to see the Queen and be affected by the by the other magic of monarchy I am glad that I have had this opportunity of meeting so many of the children in my first visit to Australia for it is really who will guard the safety and guide the destiny of this country in the years to come will Her Majesty accept a small token Australians rapini bits for Prince Charles and Princess Anne [Music] the Queen's trip was relentless over eight weeks in Australia she took thirty three flights spending nearly 60 hours in the air visiting some unlikely destinations Broken Hill I can tell you is a long way from anywhere looking out the window last night on the flight and there's virtually nothing out there and it makes you wonder why the Queen came here and the clue is in the street names Broken Hill at a mining town mining is its business for local historian Christine Adams the visit showed the Queen was making an effort to touch the lives of ordinary working people it was really something that frightened and they have their spirits because this city is a harsh city but in the 50s it was even a harder place to be we had men being killed on mines and quite often there was someone that you knew had died so for a queen to say I'm coming to see you I was something had to be something very very special with a visit from the Queen that really put the city on the map so it was always going to be an advantage to our mining companies who had a great connection to England at that time so for them it was almost like a sort of huge amount of publicity for that oh yes what it was look at the face of the men all smiling an estimated 75 percent of the Australian population turned out to see the Queen in 1954 revealing just how successful she'd being and winning over the people by the end of her first Commonwealth tour she visited over 10 countries representing the new progressive organization but success had come at a personal cost the Queen and Prince Philip had missed out on six months of their children's lives Prince Charles was five years old and Princess Anne just three her predecessors had traveled enormously that was the expectation and they'd been away for very long times and that was again part of the expectation and of course it was it was made worse by the by her father dying so early on in her career that she didn't have the option really to spend more time at home [Applause] [Music] [Applause] by 1961 the Queen had given birth to her third child Prince Andrew and the Commonwealth had expanded to as old colonies gained independence it had grown from eight to twelve members [Music] one of these was Ghana the first black African colony to win independence and the first to join the Commonwealth with several other African colonies on the verge of winning their struggle for independence Britain wanted to show they too had a future in the Commonwealth if the Queen embraced Ghana's independence she'd be showing the way but this new challenge was going to require more than a shy smile and the glamorous wardrobe I remember coming here to a crowd with my family in 1961 I went to primary school in this city we were the first generation to be taught under a black president there were high hopes that Queen Elizabeth would come to the country that year but then came some troubling news reports [Music] the President of Ghana was this man Kwame Nkrumah just four years after independence he'd been locking up his opponent and there'd been a backlash there were explosions around a crowd and a statue of the President had been damaged there were two aspects to the controversy first of all fears for the Queen's safety following the dynamite incidents in a car and secondly the current political situation which now bears that had little resemblance to our ideas of a parliamentary democracy the timing couldn't have been worse back in Britain some said the Queen would be propping up an unpopular lead if she came here the Prime Minister Macmillan will he thought the visit would be just too dangerous the Queen was having none of it arguing that canceling the trip would reflect badly on her as head of the Commonwealth apparently she didn't want to be seen behaving like some film star flouncing out at the merest hint of trouble one account has her telling Prime Minister Macmillan don't forget I have three children the message was clear it wasn't a decision she was taking lightly McMillon was so concerned he dispatched a member of his cabinet to recce the trip but at least the stubborn low secretary of rooted honor to examine the security arrangements but it was decided that he would drive along the route the Queen would be taking he was accompanied by none other than the President and creamer himself it was a risky strategy but the president wanted to prove the streets were safe and the Queen would come to no harm in his company this was a bold move the slightest hint of trouble and the royal visit would have been called off the Queen's former private secretary Sir William Hazeltine has the inside story why was it so important to take on the Macmillan's of this world and said I hear your advice but I am going it had been time for the two years before but she became pregnant with with Prince Andrew and she had to be put off and crewmen had been deeply disappointed had he come to a pinch she would have been obliged transposed to take the advice with the British prime minister but she was the head of the Commonwealth and that was very important to her and cruel Mao wanted to be friendly with the West but also with the Communist world readings she said something like how would it look if I didn't go was she aware of the kind of the competition for influence around the world and she saw herself as plainly knew she must have been news but this rehearsal passed off without incident and we gathered the tour was definitely on and crew MERS risky strategy paid off allowing the Queen to make her own bold move what must surely be one of the most controversial royal tours ever made within crew myrrh being courted by the Soviets there were fears that he might pull garner out of the Commonwealth as a constitutional monarch the Queen couldn't get mired in politics but she did have eleven days to try and keep and crew myrrh on side into the sunshine of a late afternoon in Accra came Queen Elizabeth there to meet them was dr. kwame nkrumah president of the Republic of Ghana Chris Hesse was the president's personal cameraman he witnessed the Queen's charm offensive in action right in the front row yeah his footage has been screened for over 50 years she's meeting the Chiefs and the Kings he has a lot of wishes what sort of questions were they she wanted to know they're many of the headgear the middle of their costume when they pulled a stunt man Luther culture did she seem interested berry not just going through the motions and she learnt a lot I can see in the footage I mean they're spending a lot of time to wither physically close to each other yeah [Music] what's she doing what is that thing she's look Louise they're back wrist oh dear what's happened there now okay now where do I put is wrong door and then kwame nkrumah has to go around yeah yeah this confusion yeah she was very particular was she correct at the state ball and Majesty was introduced to yet another Ghanaian tradition the high life now the queen is dancing within cruller yeah did they seem comfortable with each other she was enjoying their dance I love music and in the oil [Music] [Applause] the Queen's tour included visitin crummers old school historian NAT nunu are marked FeO was a student there at the time say yes he'll he'll he'll we were all terribly excited to see her I'm somewhere in there in retrospect it was a brave decision of the Queen to come to garnet because it is thought that she put her foot down it was a gallant decision the Commonwealth could easily have divulged into almost a whites-only Club so it was vitally important that increment stay in to cement the loyalty of Ghana to the whole Commonwealth idea so from chroma to move out at that time would have been catastrophic for British political prestige in the world there's archive of Nkrumah and the Queen dancing together in here with women whose country whose family once represented Empire was there dancing with their president a man could not have done it because he is our president being respected enough by Queen of England for her to put their arms around him and she was fairly graceful she does like a white woman but a good it's like another version of dad dancing precisely [Music] the Queen had shown her resolve in Garmon and there was no sign of the shy young monarch when she'd joked about the birth of Prince Andrew but in due course my son some perhaps make amends for the inconvenience of cold [Music] [Applause] what we see at the end of this royal visit to Ghana is I think a much more assertive queen a woman who's grown into her role as head of the Commonwealth she's no longer a girl which is how Prime Minister Macmillan is supposed to have described her mind you he also noted just how absolutely determined she'd be [Music] in 1961 the same year as her visit to Ghana the Queen also came to India she was here to acknowledge the country was an important and highly valued member of the Commonwealth but forging a new relationship with post-colonial India presented an even more daunting challenge the Queen would have to face the darker aspects of Empire this was her first visit to the country and she was coming here and this is important she was coming here as head of the Commonwealth now that was in stark contrast to what had happened fifty years earlier when her own grandfather had come in 1911 George v came as emperor of India presiding over the Delhi Durbar a lavish and extravagant ceremony to celebrate his coronation see the whole point about ruling India was not simply that it made Britain richer but that it also gave Britain status little wonder that Britain tried to cling on to its Indian Empire for as long as it could rebellions were crushed political opposition was outlawed and nationalists were imprisoned and independence when it came in 1947 well that was accompanied by the violence of partition so by the time the Queen gets here in 1961 she's got quite a challenge she's got to show that the past was indeed the past [Music] the Queen was driven a lot what used to be called Kings Way and is now rods buff her visit coincided with India's Republic Day now that's a moment where the country celebrates severing its ties with the British monarchy as the guest of honor this would be a difficult journey the Queen was in effect confronted with Britain being forced to give up India I hope that our visit will demonstrate to the world the respect and friendship which exists between Britain and India and indeed between all the countries which are joining together in the free partnership of the Commonwealth [Applause] [Music] given Britain's history in the country she couldn't have known how the gathering crowds would receive her [Music] but any fear she may have had was soon dispelled [Music] two million people are thought to have turned out to welcome the royal motorcade this joyous reception must have been a huge relief for the Queen [Music] [Applause] and it was a key turning point in Britain's relationship with India when she visited the Gandhi Memorial a Majesty's first official act was to pay tribute to Gandhi's memory a few yards from the tomb she put on velvet sandals in accord with Indian custom before walking to the place of cremation here with the prince she laid a magnificent wreath made of hundreds of roses a beautiful tribute to India's greatest son the Mahatma when the Queen laid a wreath here at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi if she was paint tribute to the man Indians called bapuji father of the nation the very man Britain had jailed on numerous occasions [Music] well for us for India to see the Queen bowing her head at the Gandhi Memorial were three significant for writer and journalist Jyoti Malhotra the Queen's visit in 1961 made a lasting impression on the Indian public she wasn't just an ordinary head of state coming to India there was a British Queen the head of this former Empire but now we were not her subjects anymore so it's a very important moment for us where she recognizes that India's a free and independent country we're only 14 years 15 years in fact from independence and Gandhi had been in jail just a few years before how come they gave her such a rapturous welcome you're absolutely right she does get a rapturous welcome I think it came down to she is a visitor we will give her the respect that a visitor deserves that's an old Indian custom I don't think we blamed her for the evils of Empire you have to understand what India went through for 250 years it was a brutal suppression of the Indian people but it wasn't really her fault that the Empire had done what it had done to India and here was the opportunity to speak of India's strength of her futures of our dreams until 1961 when she comes we were able to welcome her warmly later in her India tour the Queen traveled over a hundred and fifty miles south of the capital to Rajasthan within the gates of the palace of the maharaja of jaipur we're waiting half a dozen magnificent elephants the most splendid of them assigned to carry over the Queen and her host tented in gorgeous silks in Brookhaven the elephants epitomized Indian splendor after paying homage to a modern India in Delhi coming here to Jaipur was like stepping back in time to a princely India now this part of the trip was private the Maharaja and his family were old friends they'd met back in England and shared some of the same aristocratic pursuits among them have passion for polo they were known as one of the most glamorous royal families in India every now and again they would come to father's house near Windsor Park the friendship sort of built up say your father the Maharaja had a house near Windsor Park yes because his Ola was next door and so there was a lot of connection playing polo Maharaja Jai Singh remembers his parents hosting the royal couple away from the limelight when it was sort of on the car that the Queen would be coming out to visit India father thought that will kind make it a sort of private part of the visit the press being kept away for that appeal to them because privacy I think for the British royal families is a great premium which they seldom enjoy you could see the way she was talking to my parents so the Queen just enjoy yourself for the whole time then there was a picnic in the jungle everybody sat on the floor and here then that's the sort of thing they enjoyed among the aristocrats pursuits was one which would now be considered shocking tiger hunting now kind of see where are you I'm being father as he you're there that's your father that's a queen and that's you in the middle there it's quite a difficult photo today this animal lying in front of the shooting party here I mean we are talking about 1961 and it was the accepted norm but the same area now is one of the major sanctuaries of India tiger sanctuary yeah is that right yes now shooting all animals is banned in India [Music] from the Queens points of view from India's points of view the 1961 trip was a great success the Queen had accepted her place at the Republic Day celebrations and been seen to embrace India's independence she'd witnessed firsthand how this post-colonial proud nation had flourished [Applause] [Music] the Commonwealth is also growing in strength by the 70s it had more than doubled its membership to nearly 30 Nations and the Queen had made almost a dozen Commonwealth tours [Music] but as the world drifted even further from the deference of empire her visits were losing their sparkle on a return visit to Australia in 1970 a bold new strategy was rolled out a former private secretaries of William Hazeltine helped mastermind a new charm offensive the royal walkabout says it William we brought some archive along and I hope it brings back some memories for you yes I've been a heavy rain storm but the crowd soon forgot their soaking and the Queen and Prince Philip stopped to chat informally with a number of them the poor thought it was groundbreaking territory it certainly made for an entirely new sort of relationship between the Queen and the public now she was walking up the street talking to spectators on the other side of the road was she good with people she was immediately good at that kind of thing yes you weren't having to say this is how you do it well she I supposed to a lot but she was going to do it by now two of her children were old enough to join in shortly afterwards Prince Charles and Princess Anne flew in to join them in the wind Princess Anne's charming hat was to prove something of an embarrassment look at the wind catcher yes it was a very windy day reports say the princess am troubled by her hat made some unguarded comments about the blustering wind there was a drama because the princess was overheard to say this bloody whim memory and help through quite shocking and instead one or two of the prestige referred to this blustery wind oh she's got this thing training behind her and we wind catches the wind that was a very early walk though yeah it wasn't obvious success but you just suddenly thought this works and the Seekers for the moment so this is changing things forever [Music] we hated them I mean imagine as teenagers yes are hardly the sort of thing you would volunteer to do I mean it gets easier but I mean we can you imagine I mean how many people enjoy walking into a room full of people that you've never met before and then try a street I don't think many youngsters would actually volunteer to do that [Music] nowadays because there are so many cameras around you can't see the people especially those who insist on using their iPads I haven't even got any heads so that changes the crime structure of it [Music] [Applause] [Music] on her chores of Commonwealth countries the Queen has worked hard to win the hearts and minds of the public over the decades the Queen's stewardship of this growing Commonwealth has made her one of the world's most experienced leaders politicians come and go but the Queen has been a constant binding force every two years she's taken center stage at Commonwealth summits where leaders from all the member nations gather to discuss everything from economics to environmental issues [Applause] everybody does she doesn't take part in the main meetings but she does have private audiences with the heads of state Prime Minister of India your Majesty's Prime Minister Fiji I'm sure we can talk back to the former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended many Commonwealth summits how did the Queen cope with being a woman in a very much a male-dominated world but I think that was an issue for she was a person for whom I developed an almost unlimited respect the wife she went about her business length of time in that position and her ability to listen and talk to those leaders is virtually unique she's been in that situation of being an honorary man for a very long time you know people get used to the fact that maybe you can't have a conversation about things which they otherwise wouldn't talk to women in mind there are about 50 countries in the column and she can talk intelligently and only about the politics and the economics of all of those countries she had a lot of interests that which Solomon said I mean one big thing was horses dry sources and that was out of the usual also a lady with a very good sense of humor did she ever confide in ladies-in-waiting ladies-in-waiting I think were there principally in the role of confidant so she could complain about the private secretaries were never allowed time in the program for her to have her hair done all these other feminine requirements but it wasn't hugely until feminine requirements as you put it was she having her hair done was very important they had to be right for the tiara I spares for an evening engagement and I was criticized many times how my speech get my hair done [Music] despite the Queens vast experience of the Commonwealth in member-countries attitudes towards her can change and she hasn't always been in step with the mood of the people on her first trip to India the Queen had had a rapturous welcome and it seems she'd put the more difficult days of empire behind her it was very different when she came back in 1997 then she found herself mired in controversy a few hours before her arrival a group of demonstrators headed for the British High Commission in Delhi to press their demand for a formal apology for the 1919 massacre the Queen had returned to India to celebrate 50 years of Independence she visited Amritsar the Sikhs holiest city but also the scene of a shameful episode in Britain's imperial past [Music] the jeonghan wallah Bagh massacre in 1919 started when british troops fired at unarmed civilians who'd gathered for a protest demonstration in the carnage nearly 400 people were killed and more than a thousand injured many in India saw this is the moment for apology a chance for the Queen to atone for the past the British High Commissioner in New Delhi firmly stated the Monarchs position 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 at a state banquet the evening before her visit to Amritsar the Queen referred to the massacre as a distressing example of a difficult episode in our past [Music] for many Indians the gesture of laying of wreath was sufficient but others expected more what do you think had changed between 1961 and the reception the Queen got then and what happened in 1997 when she came back so in 1961 in there was a free nation but it was still a little bit of a new Republican perhaps by 1997 when in they were celebrating 50 years and which is why the Queen was here in there was more powerful nation a stronger nation economically which allowed us to therefore be much more critical of the former Empire so when the cream comes to India in 1997 we are much less forgiving and then she goes to janaballah bog which was the site of the massacre in 1919 and she describes it as a difficult episode in our history you know she could have just said I'm so sorry for what happened security is looking for one word just why I'm sorry absolutely it would have been closure for one of them lost uncomfortable and distressing parts of of Indian history she could have just said this is your 50th year of independence and that your success is my success in our success and we have to look forward into the future what happened on that Indian trip was a collision between the Queens to Roald's British monarch versus head of the Commonwealth a constant balancing act [Music] on this occasion many felt that her role as Britain's head of state meant she was unable to apologize for over 65 years the Queen has been the figurehead of the Commonwealth she's deployed tact and diplomacy but she's carefully avoided any actions that might be regarded as political but when her beloved Commonwealth is threatened it turns out rules can be bent [Music] perhaps the biggest test of the Queen's quiet diplomacy was what to do about racist South Africa in the apartheid era [Music] Princess Elizabeth first toured South Africa in 1947 with her family when it was part of the Commonwealth but political events here would stop her returning for over 50 years in 1948 just one year after the Queen's visits the government formalized racism and segregation under the system of apartheid despite hundreds dying in the fight for freedom there seemed no end in sight and Nelson Mandela the political activist was imprisoned by the 1980s South Africa had pulled out of the Commonwealth but many of its nations wanted to impose sanctions to force change Margaret Thatcher however disagreed some feared the Commonwealth could fall apart the Queen could not relate to our part that she was steeped in a Christian values and an awareness of what apartheid would do to that Commonwealth it could destroy it so the Queen did are quite on precedented thing 7 Commonwealth prime ministers including mrs. Thatcher were due to meet in London to try to agree a policy on South Africa in a rare departure from convention the night before that critical meeting the Queen invited them to Buckingham Palace there were no spouses Dennis wasn't there but Phillip wasn't there she did everything to demonstrate that this was a working dinner [Music] Commonwealth secretary-general says Sony Rumsfeld was also a guest the queen was clearly on the side of the commoner of being in agreement that meant bringing mrs. Thatcher around but the Queen was not confrontational with mrs. Thatcher it was making the Commonwealth the issue at stake now it's 7 to 1 what was the message the clear message was Margaret you've got to allow a consensus to develop if you don't tomorrow find a way of agreeing you will hurt the Commonwealth immeasurably you cannot allow that to happen was it understood by everyone around that table and Buckingham Palace that this was in effect a message to Margaret Thatcher oh absolutely where she was going to be and bound to be in the minority absolutely minority of one yeah she's looking pretty girl do you think Margaret Thatcher felt she'd somehow been hijacked yeah by the Queen by a hair cream [Music] in terms of political initiatives it was perhaps the boldest initiative of that decade one looks for political initiatives through the rain they're not very common and but this was a very bold one I think and a successful well it would take another four years before Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990 by 1995 South Africa had rejoined the Commonwealth and after nearly 50 years the Queen finally returned and was met by the new president I regard the visit of the King as one of the high water when he came out of prison he knew that one of his benefactors was it Queen in a miraculous way messages got to him you know how they got to you know gonna tell me no I'm not taking the counter your tight circle see 16 people I may not look say about tomorrow [Music] President Mandela put formality aside with the Queen former South African politician dr. Mamphela ramphele witnessed this firsthand and that's why he made their relationship very informal and people who say why do you call her Elizabeth he said she calls me Nelson so it's we are friends I remember at st. George's Cathedral he would stop of course as usual greet everybody and you know she's a very shy very retiring person and he didn't mind her weight she had wait for him to greet people and afterwards I said but how do you let's say wait no no no no she must learn to wait that what he said he really seemed to like her absolutely took the ramp early many people argue that the Commonwealth is is what it is because of the Queen that she's somehow shaped it she's had to navigate the end of empire towards the Commonwealth do you respect that transition not been respected because for a woman of her age to still be active and engaged at the level she is she is determined I mean but she where's the determination with grace you have rounded off quite splendidly what has been one of the outstanding experiences of my life I shall never forget the Welcome you have given us a welcome it shows your feelings for both Britain and the Commonwealth I think South Africa shows just what the Queen was capable of when she thought her beloved Commonwealth was under threat she played her hands deftly and as ever behind the scenes but she really was willing to push those boundaries being bold in a way in which well I don't think she would at home even when it left her being open to the charge that she was being political [Music] over the past 20 years the Queen has firmly established her position as the elder stateswoman of the Commonwealth so today's Commonwealth represents a quarter of the world's population with over 50 countries as members when Princess Elizabeth became Queen there were just eight I've been following in the Queen's footsteps and it's been fascinating watching the transformation from that slightly nervous young woman who set foot in Australia in 1954 change into this woman who commands respect around the world I think the Queen and bodies Britain's transition from imperial power to what it is today you know I think that transition might have been much more acrimonious more unsettling were it not for what I would call the Queen's quiet diplomacy then I think that's the unique contribution she's made to the commerce [Music] Lenny Henry investigates the complicated history with the Commonwealth this Easter Monday at 9:00 as he visits the Caribbean to understand its legacy and also its future take a peek at the trail coming up over on bbc2 now time to get the gray matter working in Qi [Music] you

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Keywords: The Queen Commonwealth

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Length: 58min 10sec (3490 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 01 2018