The Queen's Jubilee: How Britain Celebrated In 2012 | Queen & Country | Real Royalty

i'm alice loxton and i present documentaries over on history hit tv if you're passionate about all things royal history sign up to history hit tv it's like netflix but just for history you've got hours of ad-free documentaries about all aspects of the past you can get a huge discount for history hit tv make sure you check out the details in the video description and use the code real royalty all one word when you sign up now on with the show [Music] london february 2012 60 years since this city and the world woke up to the news that the country had a new his daughter elizabeth was in kenya on a tour of the commonwealth which she and the duke of edinburgh had agreed to undertake because the king was too ill to go 36 hours later she'd be back in london this first sad grey figure confronting the nation confronting the world for the first time she knew that she would never have another almost another moment's freedom for the first but not for the last time the appearance of this woman created a sense of reassurance that now all would be well this sort of image of incredible youth and hope and yet huge sadness it's a sort of end and a beginning australia's parliament building in canberra the new queen was 25. she'd already pledged her life whether it be long or short to the nation but in 1952 perhaps even she could not have imagined that a rain would span six decades that it would run parallel to the most momentous events of the post-war world and that it would give her a view of life unequal by any head of state she remembers people she's got a very good memory which you have to have i think if you're going to reign over that length of time it's a great advantage to a monarch who's been there a long time that she's accumulated a tremendous amount of historical and political experience the queen understands the soul of the british people she represents the nation to itself she's been incredibly good it seems to me for 60 years at never putting a step wrong and that is something that i think even non-monarchists like me rather admire at the center of this royal story is london here elizabeth was proclaimed queen here she was crowned and from here she set out on a never-ending journey which has made her the world's most recognizable mono perhaps the most recognizable person the queen is there at the top of it all the head of the commonwealth universally revered throughout the commonwealth the queen's presence is a very very important factor she has set such a shining example but she's one of those people who understands the pages of history elizabeth's story is our story it's broad and complex but its recurring theme is london which is appropriate because this great city is very much like the monarchy where so much has changed but so much has stayed the same [Music] london in 1952 was dull and drab though the government had sponsored the festival of britain and the south bank of the thames the summer before the festival director gerald barry called it a tonic to the nation this was a city which showed all the evidence of five long years of war i think in a way the queen was very lucky in the timing of her accession but she inherited a london which was very nearly as grim and gray and battered as it had been at the end of the war the heating was still inadequate the lighting was inadequate the rationing was stern there was a great oppressed battered area over the whole city and things could only get better the queen inherited in 1952 a nation which was still impoverished by war um a country which was rapidly about to lose its empire was about to become just you know not no longer the sort of leading country of of of the west a country which was really on its back um having almost bankrupted itself in the war against hitler this glamorous couple the queen and prince philip both of them wonderful looking young hopeful they were something that people could identify with the queen was a beacon of hope the mere fact that a new young queen had taken over on the throne gave a sense of zest and hope so it was both a moment of hope and a moment of despair 1952 was certainly the culmination of a period of incredible turmoil and change for the british nation but also particularly for the monarchy the reign of george vi you know had encompassed he'd begun in the the time of the abdication crisis when this was really the major 20th century crisis of the monarchy and he had managed to pull it back to become a successful king in spite of all the sort of bad things written about him he managed to ride it down and then of course very shortly afterwards the second world war all the sort of social turmoil upheaval and and all the sort of trauma of the second world war he'd lived through that as well and this was really the end of an incredibly difficult era in war the symbols of monarchy became the symbols of the free world though it was damaged in the blitz westminster abbey coronation and burial place of kings and queens down the ages survived saint paul's was often shrouded in the smoke of countless fires around it but was never lost and buckingham palace assumed the new significance not only in the minds of londoners princess elizabeth and her younger sister margaret spent most of the war in windsor castle but the king and the queen were determined to stay in central london i think the fact that the king and queen stayed in buckingham palace during the war and still more that buckingham palace was bombed while they were actually in the building and they were in actual quite serious danger did more to cement their relationship but particularly with the east end population but also in britain in general than any other signal king george and queen elizabeth become the royal symbols of british resistance going among the people inspecting relief work the bombing of london a new and dread phenomenon in the terror of war when carried on the east end has realized that even though obviously their privations were far greater and their danger was far greater that king and queen not merely made gracious visits and said dear me how sad and was sympathetic which mattered a lot but they themselves were sharing those dangers and the nation was in it as a whole together that i think made a terrific difference to national morale one might say that like for german's greatest single contribution to british national morale was the day they chose to bomb buckingham palace buckingham palace became the center of national celebrations it has remained so ever since those who took up stations outside the palace gates on victory europe day 8 may 1945 wanted one thing they wanted to see the royal family they wanted to see the king [Applause] at the end of the war there was this marvelous moment when the royal family were on the balcony and she was on the balcony to start with acknowledging the cheers and then her father gave her and princess margaret permission to go and slip down into the crowds and for the first and last time in her life there she was as one of the crowds looking up at the balcony crying out we want the king and when the king said yes out of the escort of two or three well-chosen young guards officers you can go out you can mingle with the crowd you can stand in front of backing your palace to watch me come out on the balcony you can chair and jump up and down and i think they had a high old time it was the first time they'd met the british people really and on the whole they decided pretty quickly they liked them london is at the heart of the monarchy and the queen is at the heart of london there is a solidity about buckingham palace anchored at the end of the mall it can be said to represent the continuity of the monarchy the place from where the family firm is run with military precision it is the fount of royal patronage and protocol and headquarters of a dynasty that has always thrived on tradition in many respects they could be said to have invented their traditions and their traditions are not that old really the monarchy that we know now uh the way that the queen moves around the relationship she has with the people the ceremony the ritual the idea of the royal family as a sort of um very respectable close-knit family really only dates back to queen victoria until the end of the 19th century the english royal family were very famous for being incredibly bad at public pageantry you really had to go back to elizabeth the first to get an idea or a sense of the great royal procession tradition has always been the cornerstone of elizabeth ii's style for all the outward marks of fairyland right at the beginning of her reign the queen felt that tradition would be impinged if television were allowed in the heart of the abbey to show the sacred moments of the the coronation so she said no television and there was a popular outcry and for the first but not the last time in her reign the queen gave way and realized that tradition would have to be modified but it's dignity maintained much of the traditions surrounding the monarchy is based upon the military one of the queen's first appointments was as colonel in chief of the grenadier guards and the fact that her sons and grandsons have been and are serving officers has given her a special empathy with those who serve their country let's not forget that the queen's most formative years were during the second world war when the military saved britain this means so much to her because she came to see in world war ii how men and women fought and died on the basis of personal loyalty and that they felt that loyalty more to the crown which is above politics than to a politician even a great politician like winston churchill the moment the war was over the country threw him out but they maintained the crown many of those who come to london considered the best place to see royal tradition in action are surprised to learn that soldiers who have been at the front line also protect the queen at wellington barracks f company of the scots guards is rehearsing the ceremony of changing the guard it's nine o'clock in the morning in two and a half hours these soldiers will take over the duty of guarding the queen at bucknam palace by that time they must be in full dress uniform and any who are new to this drill must know exactly what they're doing there can be no mistakes in front of the queen though she's unlikely to be looking or the hundreds of tourists who will line the railings to watch it's a great privilege to be guarding the queen um every time we do queensguard absolutely and she's recently returned from balmoral she's in residence at the moment so yeah it's a tree privilege it's also a privilege to be commanding you know a hundred odd uh scots guardsmen and knowing full well that they've joined the army will be deploying on operations and the ceremonial side aside whilst they're down in london we do we do sort of continuation training but then we just come back from a three or four day exercise in purb right we're off um firing their weapons uh on the ranges um on ash ranges in january and again we're up to brecken for two weeks in march so you know we keep the guys taking over on their on their basic skills as well so that when they get to the battalion you know they're in they're in good shape um to start their start their deployment training in the 21st century changing the guard is the direct link with history it's been taking place day in and day out since the 17th century it may be ceremonial but it's considered an honor by those who do it many of whom have just returned from fighting in modern wars and who may go back at any time at the age of 25 lance corporal chris marshall has already completed one tour in afghanistan what people say why did it you know even my mum says can't believe you're actually doing it and she doesn't obviously want me to go back but it's just uh it's what i do you know i can't imagine myself in any other job right now oh god she likes it when i'm based down in london like you know but due to go out next year again so yeah that'll be the final tour that we do at 21 guardsman ellen sharp has yet to see action but he knows it will come soon to be honest when i first signed up i didn't know that the scots guard's done this and so it was a bit of a shock when i passed out and i realized that that's what i was coming to do but it's like you can imagine it's one of the proudest things you could possibly do you're standing there protecting the queen aren't you and soldiers on ceremonial duties don't consider them odd or irrelevant not only i mean it's the thousands of people that flock to see things like changing the guard but not only that but you are doing your duty for the queen and at the end of the day she's the boss so these soldiers feel an intimate connection with the monarch as do the lifeguards and the blues and royals who make up the household cavalry and whose base is it horse guards at the other end of the mall this is the home of the mounted guard there's history at every turn charles the first established horse guards in 1641. seven years later he was brought through the arch on the way to the scaffold in whitehall and the clock above the arch has a black mark at two o'clock the time he was beheaded all these soldiers who guard the queen's palaces come under the general officer commanding london six months ago major general george norton the grenadier was deputy regional commander in helmand now he goes to work every day at horse guards and sits at the desk once used by the duke of wellington for those uh those of us involved in ceremonial duties uh the the essence of of our being is that we're operational soldiers first so uh i think that's that has to be the given from from which or the point from which you start and i so i suppose when you when you step out on the parade ground today you do so first and foremost as an operational soldier who's either just been on an operation or is about to return to what is it easy to move between the front line and the ceremonial i think for somebody who's grown up in the foot cards it's it it's something that you've very much taken for granted because it's it's so much part of our life and i mean my in my case uh my first tour of afghanistan in 2004 followed immediately behind commanding the birthday parade out here on horse guards and uh since then i've been back to afghanistan one more time i've just spent a year there now and now i'm back in this office so i suppose you get used to it and i can't get over the fact that you sit at the duke of wellington's desk it is it is extraordinary to think that i mean this desk was was built as we understand it for the duke of york when he was commander-in-chief then the duke of wellington sat here for ten years as the commander him chief himself and now i albeit only as as the major general but nevertheless have that privilege [Music] on the mao they're flying the flag for turkey abdullah gold president of turkey is making a state visit and the queen will accord him a welcome involving all the pomp and ceremony london can provide horse guards just below major general norton's office window is the setting for the first part the president and mrs school have been in the country for two days they were collected from their hotel this morning by the prince of wales his father the duke of edinburgh at 90 escorts the president as he inspects the honor guard this is the first time for president ghoul but the queen has seen it all before since 1952 she has hosted 101 state visits this is the 102nd there is a feeling that the queen is on home territory this is her city all that goes into a state visit just yards from her front door must seem extremely familiar after the welcome london echoes to the sound of two gun salutes one in hyde park the other at the tower of london president of turkey and mrs gull will be the principal guests at the dinner thrown by the queen tonight tomorrow they go home and they will have been welcomed in a way which is unique in a city whose great ceremonies and traditions tell a royal family story minister macmillan and cabinet members head the welcoming party de gaulle wears the uniform of a brigadier general recalling his first arrival in london 20 years ago as a general of a shattered army and a vanquished nation in the dark hours of world war ii with the queen royal london for 60 years this great city has been not only the home of the queen and center of the royal family's life but also the setting for visits by leaders of the world it is pure theater [Music] looking at photographs or films of previous state visits what is striking to observe is how very little has changed presidents wives may no longer wear white gloves to their elbows and there may be fewer hats in evidence but the ceremony is unaltered and what in a broader context may look like a little piece of lauretania actually works outside the palace the biggest such gathering since the celebration of the e day to cheer the queen on de gaulle and enjoy a spectacular those around her say the queen is a stickler for protocol she sets the standard and expects others to meet it in a world where fashion in clothes speech and the way of doing things have changed that aspect of the british monarchy has remained constant but in other ways it has moved with the times and a good example is the queen's attitude to politics london may be at the very heart of royal life and at the center of british politics but elizabeth ii recognized the need to separate the monarchy and democracy she's what's known as a constitutional monarch a constitutional monarchy is a monarchy that works according to rules to public rules rather than discretion and these rules determine what the monarch can do in london there is acted out again the dramatic tableau that symbolizes britain's successful fusion of all the trappings and splendor of an ancient monarchy with a democratic government the opening of parliament by the queen the basic rule of our constitutional monarchy is that queen almost always acts and speaks only on advice now as head of the nation she has to represent everyone but if she represent everyone she can't be taking decisions which are controversial and which some may think unwise or wrong and therefore the role of head of state has to become purely symbolic as i think it has done in recent years and the role of head of the nation has become more and more important the queen as it were represents the nation to itself she represents us to ourselves she's the soul of the country and formerly attired members of commons in joint session here the throne speech of the queen today for the first time this ceremony is being watched not only by those who are present in this chamber but by many millions of my subjects she's one of those people who knows what's important she's i think one of those people who understands the pages of history and how to contribute to that and how to leave something behind that was better than it was before you know the commonwealth's britain is better because of the queen than either would have been without her and that's because of the way she has committed herself to both roles outwardly they will see the pageantry and the symbols of authority and state but in their hearts they will surely respond to the spirit of hope and purpose which inspires our parliamentary traditions [Music] it's 11 30. they're changing the guard at buckingham palace f company's scots guards is on its way from wellington balance complete with this regimental cover 300 years ago the color was a rallying point for troops on the battlefield today it's a symbol of honour and both guards will parade their colours during the ceremony changing of the centuries of buckingham palace is strictly choreographed very conscious of of the privilege we're very conscious of the responsibility we're very conscious of the need to get things absolutely right every time that we step out in front of the people but i think when we do step out it helps to know that you're doing so as an operational soldier who has either just returned from being on operation somewhere or is more than likely about to head back in that direction for chris marshall this is very different from the front line it's quite a proud moment you know not not everyone in the army gets the opportunity to stand in the buckingham palace four court and protect the queen you still need to listen out for all those in that you know and you still need to work as a team to accomplish what you want to do and to the queen this is more than just ceremony i've spoken to guards officers who really feel that when they're outside buckingham palace or windsor that they really are guarding the queen uh that there's some threat and they're so proud that that is their job to to to guard the head of state once a friend of mine who was on duty at windsor castle suddenly right it's the queen's birthday dashed down to wh smith got a card everybody signed it presented it personally to her majesty and she was delighted and of course so were they today britain knows that the monarchy is one of its greatest marketing tools but when the queen exceeded daily ceremonies like these may have seemed irrelevant britain and the united states had won the war but britain was exhausted by the long years of conflict and was almost bankrupt like the rest of europe it was forced to rely on massive financial assistance from the united states to rebuild its bombed out cities and to repair its shattered economy the balance of power had shifted we were virtually blessed although someone agrees when he was foreign secretary thought that was all temporary and that within a matter of months years anyway we would bounce back into being something like top dog he never really accepted and he wasn't alone in that he never really accepted the that it was inevitable that we should uh our place in the world should actually diminish in certain respects we were keeping our end up and in other respects we yielded reasonably gracefully to a greater power which was the united states in washington queen and consort arrive on the presidential plane and receive one of the most elaborate receptions ever the united states was the new superpower but the british had something the americans did not a royal family the comings and goings of their head of state every four years in washington stood in stark contrast to the continuity seen in london the white house is elizabeth and phillips home during their four-day state visit and they receive an informal front porch hello from the first lady of course for some observers continuity was a euphemism for stuffy so what sort of royal household did the new queen inherit what was it like behind the closed doors of buckingham palace well i think the court that elizabeth inherited in 1952 was a court that really hadn't changed a great deal since the days of her grandfather george v i mean it was it was surrounded still by the sort of old guard of courtiers who'd been there for several decades or even longer who were still conforming to traditions that have been established at the beginning of the century it's certainly true to say that when the queen came to the throne in 52 there was a court and there were torches and there was a court uniform with with pumps and and and satin breaches that men wore and it's bizarre to think that that was how people dressed for ceremonial occasions in the reign of the present queen old etonians grouse shooters um pretty stuffy bunch really who didn't have much time for the press um and it has to be said that um there were people with whom the queen felt comfortable the palace of the queen has lived through many historic events and it's our privilege today to witness one of the most earth-shaking the audience outside buckingham may give you an inkling of what's going on who's been getting in the ulster's hair the past few years why the boys who invented hair the beatles fresh from them it was only really as the rain progressed you get the angry young men you get the satire of the 1960s that the queen comes to see that cosy though this circle is it's got to be changed it's got to be expanded quietly that's more than you can say for the fans who stormed the palace gates when i was writing my biography of anthony blunt who was the surveyor of the queen's pictures and also turned out rather unfortunately to have been a soviet spy i stumbled upon some stories that he had told his his brothers and members of his close family about the court the culture's idea of fun was playing golf with a piece of coal on the orbison rugs and he had a deputy an art historian called ben nicholson who hated going so much that he deliberately would chain smoke and make cigarette holes in the rugs at windsor just so that they wouldn't invite him again mother dad and little sister come to school for sports day and meet the friends of their eight-year-old son and brother it's rather special when mother is queen of england and dad is prince philip prince charles handles the influence we have to remember that prince philip was a great modernizer and fed up with all the sort of old stuffy routines and certainly sometimes felt that he wasn't treated altogether fairly um by the old members of the suffix court so i'm sure that there's a sense that um it's time for a change but it takes a little bit of time for these changes to kick in when elizabeth was born london was not only the nation's capital but also the capital of a british empire on which it was said the sun never set so miles thomas chairman of boac greeted the queen in the duke of edinburgh in the 1950s and 60s britain would change from a great industrial power the country which cradled the industrial revolution to a service economy it would become known for innovation the world's first jet airliner british right through was designed built and flown before elizabeth was crowned and the story of her reign would be the story of the modern world from supersonic flight to a man on the moon is london a comfort to the queen almost certainly she grew up here moved into buckingham palace in 1937 when her father unexpectedly became king and has lived there for 75 years it's very striking that while the country has changed the key buildings and places in the royal story have remained the same saint james's palace where the garter king of arms proclaimed the accession of the queen and where they will proclaim the accession of her successor legends cenotaph in whitehall where the queen has honored the fallen every november of her reign something she considers one of her most important roles bucknell palace home to a less stuffy court now than when she moved in but still at the heart of the monarchy and westminster abbey the setting for the great ceremonial moments of monarchical life from the funerals of kings to the marriages of a new generation of the royal family probably three quarters of the queen's life has been spent in london of course she's toured the world most extensively because she spends weekends at windsor of course she loves the holidays of balmoral but basically buckingham palace has been the center of her life and it must have been something which is both extremely always boring and familiar and yet at the same time slightly so strange and frightening because bikini palace is a nobody would call it a charming or attractive building but there is a splendor about it a majesty about it and even the queen i think must from time to time feel a tiny bit intimidated as she engaged with that monstrous facade and finds herself in the office which is at the very heart of the nation's business [Music] so london has always been the focus as the casket is born on the first stage of its trip to westminster only sobs break the complete silence of the trip in 1952 a million people came here to mourn the death of george vi whose body lane stayed in westminster hall before his funeral at windsor on the 15th of february in a broadcast to the nation the prime minister winston churchill said the king's death struck a deep and solemn note in our lives which as it resounded far and wide stilled the clatter and traffic of 20th century life in many lands and made countless millions of human beings pause and look around them i he said whose youth was passed in the august unchallenged and tranquil glories of the victorian era may well feel a thrill in invoking once more the prayer and the anthem god save the queen he of course look back to his youth in the victorian age he could see also as others did this parallel with queen victoria the possibility of a new victorian age beginning with shafts of light coming through the great windows westminster becomes for the moment a shrine of empire and the crown jewels a symbol of the commonwealth these were wonderful symbolic indications of how the problems of the past could be swept away and a new age could begin 30 subjects the world over mourn the man who may well become known in history books as george the good i think that the national reaction to the king's death surprised not mad at the royal family but surprised the nation and only at that moment they realized to what extent during those war-time years he had become a symbol of what the country was all about and the values we were fighting for it was a deeply moving experience which i think anyone who was there at the time will always remember for elizabeth the daughter the city is full of memories in her diamond jubilee year elizabeth the queen remembers her father and she remembers 1952 the year that changed her life [Music] looking back over 60 years it's striking how little of herself the queen has given away she's never interviewed with few exceptions those who have worked for her have remained silent and it's a convention that if you meet the queen you do not divulge the contents of your conversation and of course the queen's speeches concern official matters and reveal little of her true feelings and perhaps that is as it should be the victorian commentator walter badgett said the mystery of monarchy is its life and the queen would seem to agree so it's remarkable to discover on the shelves of the national archives in washington dc rare film of a rainy day here in london in october 1955. [Music] the queen came to carlton gardens near the mall to unveil a statue of her late father [Music] and apart from the address to the nation after princess diana's death in 1997 this may be one of the few occasions on which she said what she really felt about someone who was close to her and did it in areas that had been bombed gave to those who had suffered and had lost relatives friends and worldly possessions he was the living symbol of our steadfastness he never wavered in his face that with god's help the cause of freedom would prevail he inspired great affection by his understanding of young people which led him soon after the first world war to start the camps for boys from all walks of life at which he took so much joy in sharing in the simple and strenuous pleasures of open air life he showed no task however difficult and to the end he never faltered in his duty to his people she was so incredibly close to her father as he was to her when he became king unexpectedly in 1936 there were those close to him and the queen mother who said we know this you know you're not too old to try for another child a boy perhaps you know that was the conventional thing and he said no this young woman was already 10 11 years old and he said i think it was oz but sit well i look at her i can see so much of queen victoria about her and who knows what that means now he said this before the abdication he had some inkling that things might go wrong and that she was the woman to step into the breach and so of course she has proved given all that sentiment it's highly unlikely that london is the seat of monarchy will change during the life of the present queen but what then the prince of wales has talked about the possibility of moving his court to windsor when he becomes king it would be a remarkable break in the continuity of the modern royal family i think any idea of moving the court to windsor would be insanity the monarch must remain in london i to do so would in a way weaken a whole structure of institution it would not destroy the point of the monarchy but it would underline the irrelevance of the monarchy and whatever happens a monarch must not become irrelevant as the queen looks out on the city of london she must recall that day 10 years ago when a 27 year old princess rode in the gilded coach of state to westminster abbey i think the visibility of the monarchy is terribly important and i think the monarchy needs to have its finger on the pulse and to be near the the buzz of london and i think retreating to windsor might be a bad idea when you think back to all that has gone before from henry viii being born at greenwich palace to george the sixth thing put during the blitz to the marriage of william and kate in westminster abbey you realize that london is integral to the life of the monarchy there is no other queen in history not even victoria whose life has been so inextricably linked with london since the queen never gives interviews we can only guess at her affection for london but in her jubilee year royal observers detected a clue as elizabeth ii dedicated herself a new to her people she chose to release an official photograph on the 60th anniversary of her accession which shows her not at windsor or sandringham or balmoral but in the very center of buckingham palace with the mall and the queen victoria memorial visible through the window behind her and you must look at this picture it's the work of veteran photographer john swanell i was very lucky with the weather actually very lucky but it's wonderful being in that room looking out on london instead of the other way around because they're always on the on the balcony outside that rom but um she was wearing a white dress and i wanted to make it look a bit different not just one light on her like we always do i lit it from the side you might notice it's kind of slightly ghost like i was afraid that they might not um might not like it but but she did i was lucky and the thrill for you and for the palace would be that you captured that wonderfully iconic image yes that's in a way because we always see it the other way around the public do we always say on the balcony or the family on the balcony and the palace we've never seen the other way around we've never nobody's ever had a glimpse inside that room looking out so i've had the privilege of being in this room and then showing london outside instead of the other way round so london is the queen and the queen is london it's a truism understood by millions of tourists who line the railings of bucknam palace for a queen and her country it's difficult to imagine it any other way liverpool the 30th of november 2011 members of britain's biggest trade unions are protesting over plans to alter their pension schemes the city has been badly affected government offices are shut the tunnels under the mercy have been closed even the famous mersey ferries have stopped operating better today than tomorrow when the queen is expected to open the city's new museum a royal visit is a is a real kind of accolade and a rel honor it's something that people really look forward to everybody wants a photo of the queen we all feel that we almost sort of know the queen provincial tours are very important to the queen she feels and i think rightly that she's getting closer to the grassroots people 10 years 20 years later will say i saw the queen better cell i shook hands with the queen and it is something which is never forgotten we were late and the queen was going fast i could see the lips move of three or four french ladies in in in somber sober black but their eyes lit up and one said another say hi and say [Music] there have always been royal visits elizabeth the first used them as a way to avoid paying bills members of the aristocracy were known to burn down part of a house rather than have her majesty come to stay for three months but the royal visit as we know it is a modern invention at the end of the first world war george v and his advisors began to think very focusedly about how they could really sell the monarchy to the british people they had to try and connect with with the british people and particularly working people this was an incredible turnaround it was really the first time the british monarchy and indeed any european monarchy had really thought about actually having to connect directly with the people going and visiting miners and industrial areas sitting down in working men's cottages and drinking tea with them this was completely new there's a very uh simple straightforward line between the monarchy as as george reinvented it and the way that the queen presents herself and the way that she runs her affairs and meets and greets today something she inherited from her grandfather george v and which she took very seriously was this idea that the the british crown had a direct link with the people um and that it would bypass the old social pyramid of um middle class and particularly upper class and aristocracy and of course that was the achilles heel that was the failing of the european monarchies that they saw themselves as the top of a social pyramid and therefore when the aristocracy came under fire for all sorts of reasons both in germany and austria and russia when the aristocracy went the monarchy went by definition and her grandfather had astutely seen that the king and the common man had something that bound them in common the queen took all of that on board and has learned how to communicate directly with the man and woman in the street and people feel this is a two-way process [Music] there is a familiar pattern to a royal visit the gathering crowds the waiting dignitaries the police outriders that signal her majesties just around the corner and the hope that the queen might meet not only the dignitaries but also you people dream of the queen they dream that the queen is coming to tea with them that she's going to call them on on you know call on their house and they're going to not have any clothes on or whatever um we all feel that we know the queen we see the queen all the time we have this very strong image of the queen and the queen also is always sort of wearing the same type of clothes although they're wonderfully different and wonderfully made but i mean you know there is an iconography of the queen so we all feel that we know the queen but at the same time we don't know the queen the queen is obviously the best known person in the british isles her image has been projected more often on newspapers and television screens than any other single individual over the last 60 years we all feel that we have a certain familiarity with her we all know that we have no familiarity with her at all of course we know her much better than we knew any of her predecessors and i think that on the whole now we know as much about the queen as we as we need to of course she has her own private life of course she has her own private feelings um and she has to deal with her own private crises or the crisis in her family um but we don't need to know all the details of that now she's everybody's um favorite grandmother and we find this yes hugely comforting and and comforting too perhaps that she is very much a family person and that her family has difficulties like every family and yet somehow she is always there and gets over them and it with to scotland queen elizabeth and on deals prince philip visit the ancient kingdom of fife whole rich for over seven centuries a royal visit is a real kind of accolade and a rel honor it's the first time the queen has ever gone down into a mine it's something that people really look forward to everybody wants a photo of the queen somebody calculated that the queen every day of her adult life has met literally met shook the hands of or talked to an average of 150 people and if you do the sums that means that the queen has personally met something like four million people during the course of her adult life so there's this and this kind of sort of ripple effect because everybody who meets the queen tells everybody they all have their story about what happened when they met the queen so that we all feel that we almost sort of know the queen in an extraordinary way as evidence that we all want a piece of the queen the woman we know yet don't know you only have to look at the trade in royal art at christie's in london a little piece of royal memorabilia is up for sale it's a sketch by the artist sir alfred munnings a one-time president of the royal academy which shows the queen of the epsom derby in the summer of 1953 the estimate 60 to 80 thousand pounds it's come to auction in a week when christie's are selling rather more modern pieces but to their surprise it's exciting almost as much interest that's because coincidentally the queen's horse carlton house again has a chance of winning the derby just as a horse oriole had in 1953 mannings would always do several sketches plein air in front of his subject and he'd work those up and then back in the studio he'd then construct the the larger finish picture and this is a this is a working drawing if you like a working oil sketch um for the finished picture which is in the royal collection and i think what's so good about it is it it shows him painting very freely very spontaneously and it also shows the queen indulging in one of her greatest passions which is horse racing it's her just after her coronation the accident of timing and the interest in all things royal means that manning's sketch is knocked down for 181 000 pounds over three times the estimate [Applause] but there's an added significance money's captured in oil a special moment in time one of the first official engagements of the newly crowned queen one of the first royal visits [Applause] it seemed the whole of britain wanted to see their new queen and most of those who went to the derby wanted her horse to win it didn't but the memory of her first royal visitor's queen lives on the 1953 derby was not only captured on canvas but also on film cameraman arthur wooster and producer bob angel recorded the events of the queen's first summer then their films were forgotten about for almost 60 years in the first summer of her reign elizabeth ii and her consul were the couple everyone wanted to see no wonder it was standing room only at the epsom darling we know it because this royal location was captured on film by two young cameramen they were experimenting with a new technique 3d for 60 years those films have laid on shells in the british film institute the bfi official guardian of the nation's moving images in jubilee year they're moving into a new state-of-the-art store in the warwickshire countryside it's two days before the building will be sealed and chilled in order to better preserve millions of moments in time it's been an eight week move period you know we got some sorting out to do yet we have the storage environment we want which is -5 celsius and 35 relative humidity so basically cold and dry which means you can keep the film for a very long time old news reels or famous feature film great expectations red shoes and the like it's great to have the very best versions of what really matters it's quite extraordinary the bfi has a record of life on the move dating back to the end of the 19th century it even has the diamond jubilee of another queen victoria in 1897. the 1897 film is one of the first films of a royal occasion that's what makes it very special for us and the astonishing fact that some of these early films were shot in 3d i find that extraordinary the 3d from the 50s yes and the bfi was uh very uh instrumental in that happening because for the formation of the festival of britain the bfi was on the committee and that was a time of great innovation and it was felt that a really important thing to do would be to develop aspects of stereoscopic filming and the bfi commissioned a short series of films to be shown on the south bank in a new theater that was built for the event called telekinema so people could go and put their glasses on and experience 3d for the first time beneath the solemn walls of edinburgh castle another ceremony was to be enacted the royal command that the gates be opened the keys duly presented cameraman arthur wooster and producer bob angel used two pre-war newsreel cameras in a homemade rig to produce remarkable 3d footage of the young queen in that first summer after the coronation they had youth on their side and a great deal of luck we were extremely lucky at the time because at westminster bridge we were the only camera there well the coronation itself of course there were hundreds and hundreds of newsreel cameras and after had to fight for position whereas at westminster we stationed ourselves by westminster bridge and barge came along and arthur i think you reckon that the queen actually caught sight of us yeah i'm sure she did yeah and she actually came towards us and she came towards us which is very rare to get close-ups i don't think you could have wanted better if you'd rehearsed it and the young queen has already mastered the art of chatting to people around isn't it the art of small talk oh yes and not looking at the camera yes and she's very good because she actually feels the camera yes [Music] the events of 1953 so poignantly captured by arthur wooster and bob angel took a huge amount of planning and over the past 60 years that aspect of a royal visit hasn't changed the queen's visits are planned a year in advance they have to fit into her calendar like her parents and grandparents before she's a creature of habit and still follows the yearly pattern set by queen victoria over 150 years ago there is something archaic even a little eccentric about the court of queen elizabeth or as we should probably call it the court of sin james it follows the pattern elizabeth the first with the recognized yet even allowing for her moving between buckingham palace windsor sandringham hollywood and her annual holidays at balmoral queen elizabeth schedule is truly remarkable wherever she is in the world every official engagement is published in the court secular if you can be bothered to check the court circular every day you can build up a picture of the work of the royal household and there's one man who can tim o'donovan is a retired insurance broker who lives near windsor he's one of the few people in the country who understands just what it takes to be a modern monarch since i started doing this quite a lot of authors and people get in touch with me want to know what's how much work they're doing and i think it's actually quite a useful exercise they could be going to liverpool or anywhere really in the country they would do i suppose probably six engagements during that trip he might go off and do some things that are that he's more interested in and they're more interested to see him while the queen is doing something then they'll meet up for lunch and then they'll do one or two other visits and then of course there is the time spent in preparation of this visit and the staff will have gone and done a recce and made certain that everything everybody knows what they're doing and that's why everything always seems to go so beautifully smoothly it would be an exaggeration to say that the queen enjoys all her visits but there is one that she genuinely appears to like she must she's been there 70 times and it takes place in scotland the queen has a particular affection for scotland she goes there every june for what her staff called scotland week and lives at hollywood palace house at the end of edinburgh's royal mile then she returns to scotland for her summer holiday at balmoral and on the first weekend in september the queen breaks a holiday to drive 10 miles to the highland games or as they call it now the bremar gathering legend has it that there have been highland games since the 11th century but the modern bremar games date from 1832 since 1906 they've taken place on land donated by the earl of fife and they are a charming mix of heavyweight field sports this is the inter-service tug of war [Music] and i stepford there's even a children's sack race for one day always the first saturday in september bremar is besieged by spectators and supporters they come to see the sports and the queen who's usually accompanied by other members of the royal family she comes back year after year as her mother the queen mother was a tremendous attender and the really the royal family have been the making of the bremar gathering the crowds are entertained by the massed bands of the pipes and drums a signal to the royal party is about to arrive although the organizers try to give the impression that her majesty is just dropping in as a neighbor might they live just nine miles down the road it's a royal estate people are used to seeing them they there's no ostentation about the royal family whatsoever and they're very dearly loved in these sides i think she's an example to everybody she's been in the throne for that long she has never ever put a foot wrong in any way she's a tremendous example on this occasion the queen and the duke of edinburgh have brought along the prime minister david cameron and mrs cameron who are guests at balmoral for the weekend it's a world away from the hurley burley of westminster politics the official party will sit in a wooden pavilion with lace curtains and look out in a scene which would have been familiar to queen victoria the monarch who started the royal love affair with scotland the queen once famously said when she was quite young that if she weren't destined to be queen she'd like to be a lady living in the country with lots of horses and dogs and that is what she can do above all in scotland it's something to do with the scottish character i think that doesn't treat her with excessive deference but always of course with respect those months she spends up in balmoral in the summer are so precious to her you see at the bremar games the slight artifice of the tartans and all these sort of things which of course are are modern invented traditions but the monarchy is an invented tradition but it expresses a very fundamental truth it's somewhere the queen can relax she feels at home i think you see it in her features and her entire department and it is so important to her for her recharging of the batteries from their hilltop the queen and the duke of edinburgh command a view of one of the most charming fixtures in the royal calendar to observers it may seem odd even eccentric but to the royal family it's reassuringly familiar [Music] when they came to the 1952 games over 30 000 people turned out to see the new young queen and her consort today the audience is half that number but the bremar gathering with its royal patronage unlike any other is expected to go on forever [Music] the queen stays for just over an hour before she leaves their prizes to be presented to tug-of-wars shot-putters athletes dancers and pipers this is a royal visit in a league of its own though apart from the prize winners the locals don't get to see the queen at close quarters there is no walkabout no one seems disappointed perhaps they feel they know her well because she is after all a local herself the bremar gathering is close to the queen's heart and it shows royal observers say that though she may one day decide to cut back on royal visits like her mother before her she'll keep coming back to scotland the big overseas visits by the queen are the ones to generate the most publicity and there's always endless fascination among the press about how she'll be received but if you look very closely at the royal diary you'll see the great effort the queen puts into the hundreds of visits she makes every year in britain and though a visit to liverpool may not make it onto the front pages it's always appreciated by those she meets liverpool it's the great edwardian city which fell on hard times yet the evidence of its prosperity survives in its buildings here three great structures speak of early 20th century hope the royal lifer building the cunard building and the headquarters of the mersey docks and harbour board they've come to be known as the three graces and they symbolize a city which is very different from the rest of the country it's a city that's never been very english since it really cranked up the action in the early 18th centuries had lots of people coming here from elsewhere particularly irish welsh and scots and it would probably be fair to say that in the dna of the average scouse that person will be much more celtic than english and it's been a very interesting mix and it's led to all sorts of characteristics in this city that would be unfamiliar to people from cities even elsewhere in the north of england 20 years ago i don't think anyone would have invested a penny peace in liverpool sadly and so liverpool is a very different place and there's a long way to go there's a sense in which liverpool wants to go along and regenerate itself and become the great city which it once was when with with a long and very important maritime history when she comes it is a great stamp of approval on the city we have the the joy of her visit but also the nervousness that we will pass muster but of course we will it will be dame lorna's job to meet the queen and the duke of edinburgh when they arrive on the royal train and escort them for the five hours they'll spend on merseyside first stop is the new museum it's been designed by dutch architects cost 72 million pounds and sits right on the waterfront alongside the three graces it's been open for six months but the queen will perform the official opening in the presence of the city's great and good and museum staff love liverpudlian's show of any kind and when royalty come to liverpool you realize how much people love the pageantry the idea that somebody from london's come to take a look at her city in the case of her majesty it's not necessarily being royalists although i imagine lots of people here are royalists but they they just love the pageantry in the show it's a very liverpool thing to be into your entertainment and we regard a royal visit at least partly is entertainment no one is impolite enough to mention the strike which brought liverpool to a halt the day before the sun is shining the mood is relaxed and this is a moment for celebrating a new addition to an up and coming city [Music] the mayor makes the introductions though you were never introduced to her majesty you're always presented and television producer phil redmond now a trustee of liverpool museums is given the job of chief guide for david fleming it's a good way to start the life of a new museum it is a great privilege i mean we're very delighted that her majesty's decided to come she has so many responsibilities that having her come to this brand new museum it helps us mark its importance to local people as well as nationally the queen and the duke stay for an hour they get individual tours of the newest galleries on which work continued through the night the museum gets a plaque and the best signatures you can hope for in a visitors book my father in the second world war was was in the air force and without going into detail he ended up being put on a troop ship to africa where did he catch that troop ship in liverpool when he came back after several years how did he know he was back because he saw the liver building and to be able to build a new building right in the middle of the pier heck that will be here in 500 years time feels fantastic i have to say it has changed the shape of the pier but it has shown that there's life in this city not just looking back at faded glories that the city is still capable of producing fabulous architecture and places that are really really important to local people the queen pops into the royal liver building for 20 minutes on her way to lunch on the other side of the mersey the tunnel was reopened a few hours before the royal bentley a present from the car maker for her golden jubilee is taking her to new brighton it's a shadow of its former self a mixture of hamburger joints candy floss stalls and amusement arcades there are plans to regenerate new brighton it will take time but the queen has come to see the first phase the completion of the floral pavilion and the local chef claire lara has been chosen to prepare lunch for her majesty the duke the queen's lady in waiting and other guests i'm so honored to cook for our queen and we've made doctorine with foie gras slow cooked leg and breast with a fig and pear chutney and some brioche we went through the night to make the dough and then we have turbit on a bed of spinach with pomanna and braised winter vegetables and then for dessert we have the milfoy of white chocolate mousse raspberry elderflower and lemon thyme jelly [Music] for the lord lieutenant the day is going well you're never too old to need someone to look up to and the queen is that inspirational person you're not ambivalent about the queen when you're with her she is energy she is history she is stability she has steadfastness constancy and all the things that are the bedrock of life which is so transient and quick changing and all she's all those things rolled into one outside several hundred people are prepared to wait for an hour and a half while the royal party has lunch they're hoping that when the queen emerges from the floral pavilion she'll stop and chat provincial tours are very important to the queen she is so aware that her business only begins in london i mean that's where the tourists come that's buckingham palace and so it will always be but london's not the whole of great britain and the wonderful thing about the tours that she takes to the provincial cities and the countryside and so on is that she can get in touch with ordinary people in a way that actually doesn't happen in london [Music] she feels and i think rightly that she's getting closer to the grassroots and obviously people feel the same from the way in which they turn out and respond to her gesture in coming to them the queen arrived at lime street station at ten and is leaving at three she'll be back in london by five [Music] it's a typical regional visit which has involved the lord lieutenant the mayor leaders of the council local celebrities and many of the workers who were on strike the day before and the fascination with the queen extends across the world as any foreign secretary knows i remember um crossroads in france one of those french crossroads which are absolutely at right angles and a few trees and uh we were late and the queen was going fast uh the front car was going fast and i was in the next car and i passed and i could hear i could see the lips move of three or four uh french ladies in in in somber sober black but their eyes lit up and one said another say hi and say the royal visits to provincial britain are a world away sometimes literally from the queen's overseas tours we've seen how she entertains visiting heads of state in london they have been 102 state visits during her reign but some of the most intriguing pictures of the past 60 years have come not from the formal receptions in britain but from countries where the welcome is rather less formal queen elizabeth begins her first state visit to america in 1957 the queen visited the united states it was a tour filled with emotion starting as it did in jamestown mr governor 350 years ago the great american nation was born at this historic place i cannot think of a more appropriate point for us to start our visit to the united states in washington queen and consort arrive on the presidential plane and receive one of the most elaborate receptions ever accorded the head of another state many of those who greeted the queen at washington's national airport remembered the visit by george vi the world's fair in new york in 1939 and the president who met her had more reason than most to recall the five years of war that followed we've eagerly looked forward to your visit we hope that you will find it agreeable and enjoyable just as we will take great pleasure in it but even more than the pleasure that your visit brings us we're conscious of its importance because of its effect on strengthening the ties of friendship that bind our two countries together it might be said that americans are among the most dedicated followers of the british royal family in 2011 the marriage of prince william to catherine middleton dominated the networks for my years as a correspondent in the united states i know that the americans are fascinated by the idea of a royal dynasty reaching back into time something a republic will never have and like the british they're amazed at the length of elizabeth ii's reign [Music] [Applause] [Music] the queen's visits in britain appear to be as popular as ever those who remember her father and the war are natural supporters those who have grown up with her usually turn out and the new generation takes time off work to get a good vantage point and all of them marvel at the fact that her majesty has been doing this every year since 1952 when something happens when there is a royal wedding or when for example the queen mother dies people think clever people think well you know this time there won't be the cards this time there won't be the interest this time there won't be the emotion and they're always wrong always wrong people in in huge numbers turn out whether it's to walk around a coffin lying state in westminster hall or whether it's actually to cheer up a bride and groom like last year here english people surprise even those who comment knowledgeably about our affairs by the persistence of that of that feeling it's this longevity which everyone comments on when they talk about elizabeth ii after 60 years she's the second longest reigning monarch in history she's old enough to have had a connection with the victorian age and young enough to know the computer generation [Music] that longevity which people find so comforting has its expression in the thousands of royal visits the queen has made over the years but there is one story which i think is a brilliant reminder of the continuity of the queen's reign and it starts appropriately in liverpool [Music] one of the three graces is the cunard building a hymn of praise to samuel cunard who linked liverpool with halifax in nova scotia in 1840 he saw off all his competitors because his service was regular and safe sam cunard dreamt of a weekly shuttle going in both directions between the old world and the new by the 1920s buoyed by immense profits the cunard line which he had founded was looking to build two great transatlantic liners to make that dream come true the queen mary was launched by her in 1934 two years later a young princess elizabeth accompanied her grandparents to clydebank to see the great ship in 1938 she was back to see her mother launch her sister ship the queen elizabeth and she went on the sea trials when her mother took the wheel in 1967 cunard launched the qe2 this time it was the queen herself who performed the ceremony in john brown shipyard as her grandmother and mother had done before the qe2 was the pride of britain's merchant fleet for 40 years until cunard decided to update its fleet with three liners which would be almost as big as the old queens the last of these were built in 2010 not in a british yard but in italy a sign of the times southampton october 2010 under the command of captain chris wells the queen elizabeth has sailed from the shipyard near venice where she was built in two days time she will be named by the queen we're extremely proud to bear the name queen elizabeth of course we're the third ship to bear that name but we feel extremely british and extremely proud to carry that great name we are extremely fortunate to have had that strong link with royalty over a huge number of years right the way through we have had a very close relationship with the royal family we have to follow the very traditional and formal procedures of requesting from the chancellor's office lord chancellor's office to use the name and we had that uh positive nod which was encouraging and then we followed up by asking the palace whether her majesty would grace us with her presence for the naming and we received that as well and then the icing on the cake for us was when she agreed also to sit for a portrait which is here in the grand lobby on board queen elizabeth and to have that association uh in her first year about 70 000 guests will have traveled with us and i can tell you the most popular place on the ship is standing in front of the portrait of her majesty the queen the queen has flown down from balmoral it's a cloudless autumn day but there's a strong north wind she has a slight cold but as we have heard she's not one to let people down cunard is now owned by an american company but it falls to the british managing director peter shanks to remind the invited guests and the queen of an important fact has owned three ships bearing the name queen elizabeth the first was launched in 1938 the second in 1967 and the third is being named today in 2010 and there is only one person here who can claim presence at all three elizabeth namings and that person is her majesty the queen [Applause] i name this ship queen elizabeth may god bless her and all who sail in her [Music] so the queen has had an association with britain's greatest ships for nearly 80 years like her royal visits it's an astonishing record but the question in many people's minds is how much longer can she go on philip a few years ago said that the idea of a bunch of octogenarians knocking around the royal palaces perhaps wasn't terribly good for the brand it is a very good question what is going to happen are we just going to have a succession of very elderly monarchs will the nation want that in some ways the last 20 years of the queen's reign have been the most the ones that have seen most change most transformation the monarchy has become much more in touch with the people than it was 20 years before and the queen has presided over this she's enabled it she's encouraged it it's been an extraordinary transformation and i think it's a real argument against any compulsory retirement age i think we can see the answer to the future in the way this jubilee is being handled the queen is not going off on a great tour around the world as she did after her coronation but members of the family william harry um her princess andrew prince edward all the family are going to different parts of the commonwealth to represent her and that is the way it it's going to be although of course in her 80s she certainly intends to soldier on and i'm quite sure that she wants there to be another jubilee in 10 years time tim mcdonovan has just done the sums for 2011 and sent them off to the editors of the times and the daily telegraph they showed that the queen completed 325 engagements in britain and 45 overseas i did meet her once at a retirement party and for want of something better to say i said oh your majesty of course you will never be able to retire and she looked at me and smiled and said shook her shoulders and that was it so i didn't there was any question of her giving up the word abdication i think does not enter into her language valuable though tim mcdonovan's work is it's only numbers behind every line of the court circular is a story and when you read the queen and the duke of edinburgh visited braemar today or liverpool you know that there's more to it than meets the eye the court secular hasn't changed nor has the pattern of a royal visit and even after 60 years everyone from the very young to the very old wants to meet the queen [Music] in the shadow of the great norman castle at windsor on the banks of the thames tourists show only a passing interest in an ancient ceremony which takes place every july the queen's swan marker is counting her majesty's swans it's one of the very oldest royal traditions there is and yes naturally it's very important to us and we're very proud to be honored to do this this job most of the swans on the thames belong to the queen they are some of her more unusual possessions which range from the royal collection to a clutch of historic royal palaces the white tower begun by william the conqueror pretty much a thousand years ago and just think what's happened in this country over the course of a thousand years history abounds from every stone and from every corner of this ancient place her majesty also has some peculiars of the crown including the channel islands who fiercely defend their unique relationship with the queen who are celebrating that relationship with an unusual portrait of the woman they call the duke of normandy it looks it looks so wonderful in in in this setting it is larger than life isn't it once i've managed to left the room i lay on the floor it was like hallelujah we've done it [Music] it's early morning at the tower of london one hour from now the fortress that william the conqueror built in the year of the norman conquest of england 1066 will open its doors to visitors but first chris skafe must wake up the tower's best known residents the ravens there's a legend says should the ravens leave the tower of london it would crumble into dust and the great harm would before the country this came about in 1660 and king charles ii was placed on the throne of england uh there was a telescope on top of the white tower and the wall astronomer at the time started to complain about the amount of ravens that were flying around the town of london and as a consequence of that he asked the king at the time if he could get rid of some of them the king said you can get rid of them all and then someone said squire if you get rid of the ravens the tavlan will crumble into dust and a great harm would be for yourself so he decided he was quite superstitious to keep six ravens at the tower of london forevermore we've had them ever since so to make sure they don't get away and that no evil befalls the tower you actually keep them here yes i keep them in here number one trap here this is where we keep hogan and i'm just going to let her out good come on in hogan there's a good gal in our age of science and reason it's easy to dismiss the legend of the tower as total nonsense would the british monarchy rarely fall if the ravens left the tower the raven master isn't prepared to take that chance we keep them here by by cutting some of their primary flight feathers which just keeps them on the ground they are wild and they do manage to hop around the tower of london but they like it here so much they decided to stay here what is it like to be part of what is a long long tradition it's fabulous i have a team of three that help me out i can't do it all myself uh but it's it's a remarkable job and the birds are very very intelligent as well and they they all have their own individual characters they're all named and they do a great job for the tourists that come visit the tower of london [Music] the tower of london is one of the nation's royal palaces that are as it were surplus to requirements along with hampton court palace the home of henry viii kensington palace the palace of whitehall and queue it belongs to the queen in a manner of speaking she doesn't own them like a person might own a house she owns these palaces in right of crown as the monarch at various times in the past kings and queens have decided that the palaces they inherited from their fathers or mothers weren't what they wanted so they moved into other palaces and these over time were handed to the government to be looked after and open to the public of course the government decided in time that it wasn't the best organization to run these palaces so we historic road palaces were set up as the specialist organisation to do that job the queen is enormously supportive of all our work here and visits from time to time to to see what's happening and also uses the palaces from time to time for official purposes for example she did her christmas broadcast of 2010 here at hampton court in the chapel royal we have a wonderful array of royal heritage in london particularly and throughout the country buildings that are still being used by the queen and the royal household and those like ours which are now historic and able to be visited by people throughout the year and from all over the world hampton court and the other royal palaces are established tourist attractions but the tower of london which dates way back to the 11th century is in a league of its own it's the most visited site in the united kingdom two and a half million people from all over the world come here every year to see william the conquerors castle overlooking the thames [Music] i have a special affection for the tower because a few years ago buckingham palace asked me to become a trustee of historic royal palaces but what fascinates me most about them is their sense of continuity it was here that the constable of the tower extracted tolls from visiting ships guarded london and held prisons everyone from elizabeth the first to hitler's deputy rudolf hess the constable of the town of london was the third most important person in the land after the sovereign and the chancellor it was then the constable and if you think about it that's quite sensible given that the tar was built on tower hill on the high ground overlooking the thames so hiku controlled the tower controlled the thames controlled access to the capital so quite rightly the council of the town of london was a pretty important person [Music] richard dannett once the chief of the general staff will hold the honorary post of constable of the tower of london for five years the constable is no longer the third most important person in the land but lord danette feels a direct connection with the queen it's a tremendous honour and one is another one he's very conscious of and particularly as it's a personal appointment by her majesty the council of the town of london is homages representative within the tower so one's very much conscious of a sense of history but also a sense of privilege of being the sovereign's representative here within this fantastic fortress palace the tower of london the tower opens at nine o'clock in the morning and really from then until closing time the tower gets on with its daily routine there's a ceremony of unlocking it first thing in the morning at the ceremony of the word the password being exchanged at three in the afternoon and then of course late in the evening is the famous ceremony of the keys and all this goes on with the general public around and of course the centuries that stand outside the jewel house and outside the queen's house uh they change very regularly and and all this goes on amongst the public and it's it's a great joy to have the public here and to share the history with constables dues are something that we observe on a regular basis when a warship comes into the pool of london then they are required to come and pay the constables dues and this involves the captain marching into the tower the head of his ship's company and uh in a little ceremony on tyre green presenting me with a barrel of rum it is about the only remaining perk of the job i'm standing looking at the white tower begun by william the conqueror pretty much a thousand years ago and just think what's happened in this country over the course of a thousand years history abounds from every stone and from every corner of this ancient place it is that history which has attracted soldiers to give up a career in the military and apply to join the sovereign's bodyguard the public knows them as beef eaters but they are properly called human waters 35 of them live here john kahan joined 20 years ago became chief human water in 2004 and wears the uniform with pride many years ago the yeoman body had to pay to become here and to become a yeoman border and by tradition if you died whilst in service then the constable received the payment whereas if you managed to retire then that became your retirement fund but after 1826 of course when the great duke of wellington came here to the tower he changed it he bought all the positions and returned the right back to being a reward for notorious service all yoma warders of course who serve here today myself included have to have completed a minimum of 22 years service in one of the four branches either the army the air force raw marines or royal navy they have to have been awarded during their service career the long service and good conduct medal ideally they should have reached the rank of sergeant major and finally of course they should be aged between 40 and 55 years of age which if you take 22 years from the age of 18 the minimum age you're going to be when you arrive here is 40 years of age this particular uniform was given to us after the battle of bosworth field when the bodyguard were formed here at the tower of london the original tudor uniform not to be confused of course with the blue undress uniform that we wear on normal working days and most of my yoma borders and the visitors when they come here will often see us in this but this uniform really makes one proud to be a yoma boarder and living and working here at the tower of london as part of her majesty's bodyguard at the tower of london times are changing after 20 years john kahan is retiring in her diamond jubilee year the queen's ancient fortress on the thames will have a new custodian but this is not the queen's only possession on the river thames as summer approaches the men who call themselves the royal swan uppers are about to count the queen's swans [Music] at the tower of london one of the queen's possessions seen by two and a half million visitors every year the sovereign's bodyguard has a new chief human water allen kingshot becomes the most senior member of the sovereign's bodyguard after a career in the armed forces he's about to serve the queen in a different way you must feel very privileged to take over in a job like this oh indeed i do i mean my army career and through to being a yeoman warder very passionate about the job and i'm seriously looking forward to spending the next five or six years here as the chief young order the white tower was built to the end of 1066 the year of the norman conquest of britain it was a royal residence but also a symbol of oppression erected by the conquering heroes richard the lionheart henry iii and edward the first all had a hand in altering it over the centuries it has been the home of the royal mint a prison a palace and of course a safe home for the crown jewels they're still here the crown jewels the crown the scepter and the orb used for the queen's coronation in 1953 they are considered sacred instruments rarely exposed to light or camels but seen by millions 500 years ago every coronation started with a procession from the tower of london not anymore but this royal residence continues to play its part in the life of the nation in other ways it's the prince of wales's birthday lord danette will preside over a 62-gun salute performed by the honorable artillery company the tower does this in its own special way in accordance with the regulations of the fortress there is the traditional 21-gun salute followed by a further 20 because of the tower's status as a royal palace and then a final 21 is a mark of respect for the sovereign from the city of london who have been getting in on the act since 1828. even with military precision it's going to take some time it was a conscious decision to build the tower of london on the thames william the conqueror recognized the importance of the river to londoners and the passing of many centuries has not changed that winston churchill famously told the present queen that the river is a silver thread running through the city and so it is it's also a thread running through the story of the monarchy [Music] for centuries the thames was the principal route for kings and queens as they journeyed between their palaces even in 1953 one of the first engagements of the newly crowned queen was a meeting with the royal riverboat men at westminster pair their tunics suitably altered to carry the cipher e.r elizabeth regina instead of gr george rex [Music] for centuries to much of the land through which the thames flows was owned by the crown today the picture is very different but the queen retains some rights and possessions including these her swans it's july further up the river at windsor the queen's swan marker david barber is on day two of the annual swan census it takes five days to cover the river between sunbury and abingdon identifying new families and counting the swans checking for disease and preparing a report which mr baba will present to her majesty as his predecessors have done since the 14th century i've been small marker to her majesty the queen for 19 years and before that i was a queen swan upper i went to interview at buckingham palace but along with 20 other people the comptroller of the the lord chamberlain's office appointed me and i was extremely proud to get the job [Music] it's one of the very oldest royal traditions there is [Music] people gather all alongside the locks they want to see the boats go through and of course they want to see the swan uppers but they're most interested in seeing a swan catch actually when we catch the swans the queen is not the only person who owns swans on the river two of london's livery companies the ancient organizations representing trades and professions have swans too the dyers and the vintners companies are here to count their swans with all the queen's men the swan uppers form a flotilla which would have been familiar to the first queen elizabeth but the swans are not her majesty's most compliant subjects they're almost as unpredictable as the weather this year we've had a virus duck virus enteritis and it has caused a lot of problems on the river and we lost over 180 swans 180 to 200 swans in between kaversham and windsor and of course the result of that we've lost some of the breeding pairs and therefore we we're going to have less signals this year in better weather david barber explains swan upping to a new generation before carrying on up the thames i'm very proud of this tradition of swan up in and so are all the swannappas the royal swannappers we take this job very very seriously and i'm sure her majesty is interested in it because she did come sworn up in two years ago and she followed the swan uppers up the river and i'm sure she was very very interested in it the swan census is nearly over for another year [Music] the royal swans would once have ended up on the royal dinner table but not now they are among the monarch's oddest possessions but not necessarily the oldest it may be that the claim for the longest association with the sovereign goes to a group of islands a hundred miles south of england closer in fact to france than to britain the channel islands jersey guernsey aldeny sark are part of the british isles but not of the united kingdom it's a distinction which is important to those who live here because it means that in theory at least the british government at westminster cannot meddle in the island's affairs the channel islands are very peculiar and to say that is not to be rude about them they are what's known as peculiars of the crown and to explain why you have to go all the way back to 1066. when william the conqueror invaded england he was duke of normandy in the northwest corner of france and normandy included the channel islands so the islanders like to say that at the battle of hastings they were on the winning side william and his successors enjoyed the dual title of king of england and duke of normandy but in 1204 king john lost normandy to philip of france suddenly the people of the channel islands faced a difficult question should they stay part of normandy in which case they'd be french or go with john they chose john it was a smart move the english king rewarded their loyalty with a charter giving them freedom to create their own parliament make their own laws and to set their own taxes in other words to enjoy the king's favor but to run their own affairs [Music] fast forward 800 years and the largest of the islands jersey is enjoying king john's legacy it's a low tax offshore banking centre which handles money from investors around the world the island is in monetary union with the uk but otherwise fiercely independent and jealous of its unique relationship with the monarch who is still known here as the duke of normandy today jersey's loyalty to the english crown is expressed through its affection for the queen and through royal treasures given by ancestors nearly 400 years ago and the greatest gift of all came from charles ii a gift on which no one can put a price the channel islands are peculiars of the crown they owe their allegiance not the westminster but to the queen herself the queen and the duke of edinburgh who always contributes enormously wherever he goes and there have been some very very special times with them here they seem to relax when they come here i think they're aware of the warmth of the welcome that they get here and that we are royalists here and maybe the old person who isn't but overall i think you know the majority of the population are certainly royalists and we're delighted when they come and we all turn out in force and wave our flags and uh no wonderful there are lots of reminders i think of the link with the ground in 1204 the channel island stayed loyal to england when king john lost normandy in france 400 years later during the english civil war jersey again stayed loyal when charles the first was beheaded its sister island of guernsey sided with cromwell but jersey held fast to the monarchy and even sheltered charles ii in exile thanks to the efforts of one man sir george carteret carteret who lived in the island's leading manor house entertained the future king and his descendant has the evidence when he was here he was obviously dining out with the nibs and knobs of the time certainly he came here because adjoining this hall there was supposed to be a room adjoining the hall which was kept for his own use and after each meal reputedly he he gave gloves to his hosts because i hadn't realized until recently that the gift of the glove was a much sought after present particularly from royalty which went on until the end of the of the 18th century i believe the man came here and and it certainly would have been here so there's no reason why we shouldn't keep his gloves when he regained the throne charles rewarded george carteret with all the land between the hudson and delaware rivers in america which carteret proceeded to colonize and call new jersey and he gave the island of jersey a silver gilt mace with a charter to match so this is the charles ii royal charter which grants the mace to the island of jersey so we can see we have charles illuminated there the document is all in latin and at the bottom of the document we have the royal seal so this really is one of our most treasured possessions at jersey archive that we look after on behalf of the island it's a fantastic document with beautiful illuminations and incredible importance to the island and the island's history along with the mace it's probably one of the island's treasures and we're certainly very happy to be looking after it and making sure that we pass it on to future generations of islanders [Music] but the mace on which no one can put a price is the island's greatest treasure equal to anything in the royal collection it sits outside my office in a wonderful cupboard where people can see it but then it comes out for every city of the states which is our parliament and also for ceremonial settings of the royal courts it carries the initials of the king cr it also has the wonderful imperial crown at the top most mesas are symbols of royal authority and therefore when the sovereign herself is present the mace has either to be carried upside down or laid on its side but certainly not carried upright because the sovereign herself is present when prince philip came over he raised the question of whether as to why our mace was still being carried upright in the presence of her majesty but we were able to assure him that armies was different because ours was a gift for services by a loyal subject to the babies of the day to be carried before them and therefore what is carried upright at all times even in the presence of the sovereignty charles ii mace is a visible symbol of jersey's ancient links with a crown but there is a very modern connection because the sovereign is represented here by a governor [Music] in london general sir john mccall is trying on his ceremonial hat three weeks before being sworn in as jersey's 76th lieutenant governor the line which includes sir walter raleigh so john rang us and told us he had a clutch of swans feathers and he was being sworn into public office and could be supplying with a hat to match the feathers the feathers were very very sad luck when he brought them in so we restored the feathers to the former glory made them the hat in the traditional manner and both hat and feathers fitted perfectly and he's very very pleased it's a formal ceremonial hat it's a bicorn in other words it's a two if you think napoleon and the duke of wellington bike horns and tricorns prevailed in the 18th 19th centuries and that's a throwback to a bygone era but the traditions goes back these lengths of time we do about half a dozen a year [Music] born in the year the queen acceded to the throne sir john has had a distinguished military career northern ireland sierra leone kosovo bosnia iraq and afghanistan until six months ago he was the deputy supreme commander of forces in europe [Music] in jersey sir john will be notionally the commander-in-chief though there are no regular forces he and lady mccall will be given the use of government house an edicor a car and chauffeur and a five-year term of officers [Music] that is swearing in ceremony conducted in french he promises to assist and defend the island and its privileges guard its castles against surprise attacks by the enemy and oppose traitors murderers thebes mutineers and rebels it is authorized [Music] but the real task here is to keep an eye on this peculiar of the crown for his boss the queen it will be very different from afghanistan when you're over the horizon or deployed operation you deal with her majesties her majesty's government from afar um so you deal with various elements of it um in the same way that jersey does jersey deals from with her majesty's government from over the horizon and whilst the the view of whitehall is sometimes it's very joined up and very cohesive and that may not necessarily be the experience of those that are dealing with it from afar or over the horizon and therefore to understand how a white hole works how you might must deal with it to get the best from it and to develop the understanding necessary um of whitehall to and that i think is one of the roles of the lieutenant governor to help that dialogue between jersey and the uk government and that's exactly the kind of role that i played in a couple of places and kabul is one um baghdad was another so there's a there's a direct relationship there over the past 60 years successive lieutenant governors have discovered that the queen knows a lot about jersey she doesn't miss much there is a genuine affection and of course from the lieutenant governor's point of view it's a huge advantage to be able as the queen's representative to actually say i've met the queen and i've talked about jersey with her god there is a fierce loyalty uh i think jersey with its closeness to the french coast the norman connection has always had to adapt and shape its future and it's been very agile in moving from one from shipbuilding from fishing to piracy in the old days against the french coast so i think a combination of an independence of spirit and a specific need to be light on its feet has been an enormously helpful thing for for for the island situation really so here is evidence of queen and country in action a parliament working in the 21st century presided over by a bailiff appointed directly by the queen monitored by her lieutenant governor and linked by the presence of the mace to her ancestors in an age when much tradition has been swept away it's an unbroken line across 800 years and all because the people of jersey stayed loyal to king john in 1204. [Music] there was one problem with that smart move in 1204 it meant that france just 14 miles away a place with which jersey enjoyed the daily trade and from which nearly all its residents descended became enemy territory which explains why this place is so littered with fortifications a british garrison was stationed here to repel all borders but the french finally came ashore in 1781. the island appeared lost until a 24 year old british major francis pearson rallied his men and counter-attacked the battle of jersey which took place right here on the 6th of january 1781 lasted just 15 minutes pearson was killed in the act of reclaiming the island for the crown the scene was captured on canvas by the bostonian john singleton copely his huge work the death of major pearson hangs today in tate britain the french never came a show again after 1781 except of course as visitors and the loyalty of the islanders to the british crown has never wavered which may be why the queen agreed to sit for a rather unusual portrait marking the sovereign's long connection with the channel islands perhaps intrigued by the idea that it had never been done before her majesty is being recorded not in oil or watercolor but as a hologram the technology is new and no one is quite sure if it will work marking a long association between queen and country and to celebrate 800 years of being a peculiar of the crown the channel island of jersey persuaded the queen to sit for a portrait not a normal portrait but a hologram it would require more of her time than a normal sitting and it would be made using a process that was new and relatively untested [Music] losing years of my life at the moment because it's a very very complex piece of technology and there's an awful lot that can go wrong unfortunately the artist chris levine and holographer rob monday were commissioned to create the first ever likeness of elizabeth ii indeed probably of any sovereign in 3d i imagine that there'd be circles and layers of bureaucracy around it but if it involves her it goes on to her majesty's desk she has to vet it so the word that came back eventually there was a period of suspense about six months waiting whether this was going to actually happen after the submission had been made to the panel so that she was tickled by the idea [Music] how much did you have to explain to her about what the idea entailed and what it would mean well normally she would enter into the yellow drawing room where she has most of portraits done and there'd be an easel in the corner whereas with here that was like the tardis i had a lot of technology involved they had a production team in there so i had to talk through what i was going to need her to do as a subject in the next hour and a half and jenna she was extremely accommodating actually what we'll do first man with some just some still images of reference the queen is wearing the diamond diadem made in 1820 the coronation of george iv she wore it on her procession to westminster abbey for her coronation in 1953 and she uses it for the state opening of parliament chris levine is hoping that it's 1333 diamonds and 116 pearls will shimmer in the hologram even though you must have been well prepared for for meeting the queen on on the set here you must have been rather nervous about it all i was i think know i've been quite blase about it up until about two or three weeks prior to the shoot and then the kind of pressure did kind of mount you know there's a lot of expectations and because it was left up to me with what i was going to do with the image well how i was going to compose it where i was going to take it from an artistic point of view it went right that'd be great if i had messed it up it had kind of a whole country to be responsible for let alone her majesty so i was very nervous on the day here's the wrong way i mean i'm bending that way it's a nerve-wracking 90 minutes for rob monday and chris levine not only because the 3d technology is so new but also because they need so many hundreds of images to build up the portrait though unlike a portrait in oils her majesty does get to see the working purpose it looks like an old woman you know someone there must have been an overwhelming sense of relief when she had actually done it it was and you know once i've managed to left a room i lay on the floor it was like hallelujah we've done it the first attempt to create a holograph of the queen was not entirely successful when they got back to their studio rob monday and chris levine discovered that the 3d camera hadn't performed quite as they expected they had to explain to buckingham palace that they would need the queen to sit again there was no certainty that she could or would luckily she did [Music] the second sitting produced what the artists were looking for the images were sent to the united states to be assembled and back came the queen in 3d chris levine called the portrait equanimity jersey put its copy on permanent display in the great hall of mount urger the 12th century castle which appropriately turns its back on the french coast [Music] and chris here it is in its in its place looking very commanding and majestic yes well i haven't seen it for a while and it's amazing just to see it in the actual hologram in in this kind of dimension i couldn't get over that just that point i mean i couldn't get over the side the size of it it really looks it it looks it looks so wonderful in in in this setting it is larger than life isn't it i mean literally it is and and i can't resist doing this thing about you can see the eyes sort of move and i suppose that's what that's the effect of of the hologram isn't it it is that there's you know when we originally shot it you know that the camera along a moving track and it has an enormous sense of parallax to it that you really need to experience you can't photograph this you have to experience it now chris do we know what she she thought of it well it's policy for her actually not to comment on portraits but i think you know that she's given permission for it to be used on bank notes and currency i think that says a lot i think that's the royal seat of approval isn't it i hope so a few years later chris levine returned to the thousands of digital images of her majesty stored on his laptop and spotted one which he felt should also be released the queen agreed it shows her resting between takes and it's called likeness of being and in diamond jubilee year the two holograms were chosen to open and close a touring exhibition of royal portraiture organized by the national portrait gallery the royal love affair with the channel islands appears to be a mutual one in the second world war the islands were the only part of the british isles to be occupied by germany the king was devastated by this loss but the islanders never wavered in their loyalty to the crown the king and queen showed their gratitude by visiting jersey and guernsey less than a month after their liberation four years later princess elizabeth came and as queen she's been many times over the past 60 years in jersey the sun sets on the southernmost part of the british isles and in london at the tower the visitors have all gone home at this possession of the queen the day ends as always with the ceremony of the keys and when i say always i mean always the only time this record came close to being broken was during the blitz just as the waters were locking up the king's castle the german bomb blew them off their feet but being british they picked themselves up dusted themselves down and bravely carried on [Music] tonight the tower's new chief human water alan kingshot is the man with the keys and the responsibility for one of the greatest castles in the world [Music] the ceremony of the keys is a tradition that's been going on for well over 700 years we lock and secure the town of london every single night and it's one of the very special ceremonies that we have here at the town it symbolizes the days when we held the prisoners at the tower when the crown jewels have been kept safely started there's very important reasons why we maintain the security of the tower of london and it still goes on to this day history is being acted out in william the conqueror's castle oh who comes here okay who's keys wayne elizabeth pass queen elizabeth's keys all's well let's go to the keys by so the queen's possessions are alive and well including the swans nurtured by the present queen who runs a modern monarchy but knows better than most that the future is nothing without the past she is the most traveled monarch the world has ever known queen elizabeth ii has made 325 overseas visits to 150 countries covered millions of miles dodged wars terrorist attacks and diplomatic incidents and seen presidents and popes come and go you are living in some remote part of the commonwealth expectation builds up of a kind quite different from any other visitor and the queen is the queen is special the queen has seen more places met more people and learnt more than any of her predecessors it has made her a citizen of the world she has visited every commonwealth country during her reign and that is remarkable dedication to the commonwealth and along the way the traveler queen has assumed the status of a rock star [Music] london heathrow 31st of january 2012. on this day 60 years ago princess elizabeth came here at the start of a tour of the commonwealth which was to end in australia and new zealand king george vi was not fit enough to make the arduous journey the king and queen was supposed to go but the king wasn't well enough though he came to say goodbye this was the first stage of the 30 000 mile tour a tour that so soon it was bitterly cold just as it is today it's astonishing to think that we're here 60 years later exactly to the day the queen was well wrapped up the king wore only a great coat no hat those who were there remarked how ill he looked and if you look closely at the newsreel pictures taking of the time you can see that the king appears agitated even slightly distressed it was the last time princess elizabeth saw her father george vi didn't know how ill he was nor of course did the country but princess elizabeth and her husband did know and in their luggage as they got onto that plane they had a draft warrant of accession and proclamation because the queen knew the princess she then was and her husband and her private secretary that it wasn't likely that um george the sick would survive [Music] the princess waved the last farewell to her parents before she entered the specially converted boac argonaut that was to speed her and the duke to the commonwealth beyond the sea i think there's something wonderful the way in which the camera lingers on george vi i mean nowadays everything gets briefed ahead of time but somehow people sensed that this was a very historic moment worn down by the terrible years of war and wrecked by cancer the king died in his sleep on the night of the 5th of february princess elizabeth was in kenya it fell to the duke of edinburgh to break the news to her and then the scramble to get the new queen back to england boac agreed to deliver queen elizabeth ii as she would be styled to the very spot that london airport from which he had departed a week before and to do it at exactly 4 p.m on the 7th of february that flight into history is one of the great stories of the queen's reign and it's all here in these box files at the british airways heritage center it begins with a vast amount of information and the vast amount of planning that went into the outward bound flight and it also has things like the menu what they had for dinner they had grilled english lamb cutlets and there were details too about just how the crew should address the royal party and then came the shock of the king's death and all the messages to telegrams that went to and fro between london and the boac captains in east africa the king was dead london stand into silence lowered her flags in tribute to the dead king but the most poignant message is from the woman we came to know as the queen mother as the new queen's aircraft hurried home its radio operator copied down this signal urgent her majesty the queen all my thoughts and prayers are with you signed mummy buckingham palace the radio operator transcribed the message onto a card and handed it to the queen and here it is this small note illustrates the continuity of the british monarchy all over the world flags are at half-mast for a man of quiet dignity who kept firm the bonds of empire the king may have died but the sovereign was very much alive it's a perfect example of the ancient saying the king is dead long live the king or in 1952 long live the queen how extraordinary to find this buried in the boac archives dinah archibald then diana lester palmer was the 27 year old stiordes who accompanied the princess to nairobi and returned with a queen i remember this well we were all on the beach swimming and somebody came along and said get dressed quickly the king has died to begin with one thought it was a joke and and then it sort of sunk in it was late at night and i remember um duke edinburgh said to me oh so we meet again and they retired um it was midnight i think by the time they got on board and the next day we gave them breakfast ready for the next crew to take over in this jubilee year i mean there must be so many memories that come flooding back to you being a small part of one episode in this yes well i suppose we were really when you think about it amongst the first people to see her as queen diana the thing that brings these memories so much back to life is things like this wonderful picture yes well this was when we arrived in nairobi um and we were lined up and queen princess elizabeth then shook hands with each of us in turn i'm in front of and that is dear captain valentine who who is captain of the aircraft the captain of the aircraft who'd flown for many many years yes princess elizabeth looked absolutely radiant in this dress pale pink with polka dots and i remembered great pride bobo macdonald who was acting as her dresser i suppose you say and she looked through the airport window and turned to me and said doesn't she look lovely and she didn't in far off kenya his daughter learned that she was now the queen at london airport the great of our land gathered to welcome her home and devour legions to her as they had done so loyally to her father it was sad grey figure confronting the nation confronting the world for the first time she knew that she would never have another almost another moment's freedom [Music] for the first but not for the last time the appearance of this woman created a sense of reassurance that now all would be well this sort of image of incredible youth and hope and yet huge sadness it's a sort of end and a beginning there were comparisons with elizabeth the first but they were swiftly dismissed by the palace indeed it would be different elizabeth the first travelled around england elizabeth ii would travel around the world for many of her travels over 60 years the queen used the royal yacht britannia commissioned in 1954 retired in 1997. her majesty she developed a style of arrival and departure that could not be equal it was guaranteed to impress greeted by the governor general we've seen britannia playing that very significant role throughout wherever it may be at home or abroad with the commonwealth with foreign countries all over um that part that she has played with the queen and prince philip has been a remarkable chapter in the monarchy's life and and the national life and i think we can all be rightly proud of the part that she played in that because it was superb throughout it had a real edge to it that everybody knew how to play that role and they did it i was very proud to be appointed as her last commanding officer as a commodore i'd served in her as a young sub lieutenant and indeed later on as the as the cipher officer so in my earlier years in the navy although this was slightly unusual in my case i was able to enjoy those commonwealth years where we were going across the pacific many times around the world so it was it was a great challenge and huge pride for me of course you had the great occasions the state banquets on board um but um there was always the feeling that the time would come late at night when the day's events were over and when the queen could change into an ordinary frock and and come down and kick her shoes off under the table and have a scotch and talk about the day did you see this did you notice that such a d to do a sort of post-mortem which everybody sensible does at the end of a of a working day but to do it with excitement with with with laughter britannia was pensioned off in 1997 she had become too costly to maintain too costly to run though prince philip didn't think so and britannia was sent to edinburgh to become a floating tourist attraction today it's as if the queen has just stepped ashore and will be back in the moment those who've taken on britannia the trust that look after her now felt there was such a great soul that was there from britannia that they were taking over something that was indeed very special so they've gone to great lengths to ensure that she's been restored well presented so well and has become a very popular attraction for people to come and see from all over the world and it's wonderful that that part of her life is indeed continuing but she's in such superb condition and being maintained in that condition i think it does give that feeling [Music] to serve in britannia was considered an honor the yachties as they were known wore soft shoes so as not to disturb the queen the ship ran like clockwork and the engines looked like new always it was a lovely uh story of general schwarzkopf when he came on board and was shown around many years ago and of course he was very much the leading night from from the united states at that stage and he was taken down to the engine room and he turned around to the admiral at the time and said my god admiral this is amazing i could eat my dinner off this floor and the admiral turned to him and he said quietly i'd rather you didn't it would make it rather messy [Music] britannia was a spectacle which many thought projected a positive image of britain overseas when the queen wasn't on board the ship was used for trade missions the queen was not the only one to shed a tear when the ship was retired it was a huge national asset and not only when the queen was on it but when other members of our family all just when it was around uh and this i think was not understood it it was an asset because it was the queen at home on the sea it wasn't it isn't it wasn't a pompous great building it wasn't a compass grade boat it wasn't like an ocean liner it was it was furnished um looked after as one of the queen's homes and it had the peculiarity she's the queen of a maritime nation and she had a home on the sea and i think getting rid of that national asset and not replacing it was a was it was a major mistake and a great sadness britannia covered over a million miles for here was a queen who was determined to make her mark on the world but over the next 60 years that world and britain's place in it was to change almost beyond recognition the queen marks her jubilee not only as head of the british nation but also as head of state of 16 realms and head of 54 countries in the commonwealth the organization that would follow the dismantling of the british empire whose colonies were famously colored pink in every child's atlas if you looked at a map of the world in the year the present queen was born most of it would have been colored pink so vast was the international spread of britain's colonial possessions it was said the sun never set on the british empire the late 1940s ushered in the age of decolonization india was first to strike back at the old empire it gained its independence in 1947 that was quickly followed by colonies in africa and the caribbean only the old dominions canada australia and new zealand remain the same [Music] british airways are preparing to fly the queen and the duke of edinburgh to australia for the commonwealth heads of government meeting in perth it takes place every two years and the queen likes to be there to open it she will travel in a boeing 777 very different from the piston-engined argonaut in which she left this airport in 1952 the queen has decided to combine her opening of the commonwealth meeting with a seven-day tour of australia basing herself at government house in canberra it's a long way to go for seven days she is 85 prince philip 90. and the british and australian press are speculating that this may be their last trip down under there is an added poignancy because australia was princess elizabeth's destination on that ill-fated journey in 1952. after the king's death and the queen's coronation plans were made to resume the trip that she'd been forced to cut short so in november 1953 the royal couple set off on a five-month tour the longest of her reign in the great white ship riding at anchor royal as a swan is the queen we have never seen standing at last on australian soil on this spot that 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 in the mining town of kalgoorlie rowan koppen whose father had been killed in the war before she was born was chosen to present a bouquet the queen was wearing a beautiful big hat and i think someone called out and said take it off because they wanted to see her she looked beautiful she was young ravishingly beautiful actually but it was such an honour and the remember the memorial the plaque that was given to me something i've always treasured and will pass on to my children and their children she's a figurehead that people can emulate that she stands firmly in our minds as somebody who is her duty has always been to her people to her country to the commonwealth and i admire that i think people do in perth june price was a cadet reporter with the west australian and was thrilled that her editor chose her story of the queen's attendance at a ball to appear on the front page of the paper well it was very very much conscious of our position as the western edge of the country and the queen had set her royal foot on the eastern edge which was the most enormous occasion to have a rain reigning monarch here it'd been various other royal tours before but when she came here it was to be farewell and we were to do the waving goodbye helen edison was a teacher in western australia an outbreak of polio made life difficult for meters and greeters no one could check the queen's hand but even that couldn't lessen the excitement of seeing the solvent the children were taken down with their teachers to stand along the highway and wave to the queen as she went by and you know they all loved it it was a bit of time off from school work anyway but it was such a great excitement it would be all been so sorry for her in a way when she was thrown into this job unexpectedly and we admired her for the way she was she dedicated herself then and there and we still admire her because she's kept to that do you remember george gamble the local copper yeah i'm just wondering whether that's george or not no well i know where he is over 100 000 people turned out in perth three school boys alan miller ray woods and david morrison climbed onto a bus shelter for a better view and were pictured in the west australian ray woods died a few years ago but alan miller and david morrison have come back to their old school to reminisce they haven't seen each other for 50 years we're a little short guys and um you know you're gonna you gotta find a little spot to get over the heads of the the streets were packed as you can see where they photographed that one's got over some george's terrace and uh and of course we wanted a bit of notoriety too i'd say you know it's probably the greater offender and the socks down but tie around my neck the wrong way and hat in my hand we wanted a better vantage point couldn't get a better one than the bus stop right on the road so we climbed up onto the roof and unfortunately the west australian newspapers snapped us allen and david's story is typical it seems that everyone over a certain age in perth has an anecdote about the queen's visit in 1954. the city is very different today in the way it looks and feels and it's much more cosmopolitan and perth in 2011 is about to witness one of the most significant changes in the way the royal family works the leaders of the commonwealth are being asked to modify the rules of succession if they agree it will be one of the biggest changes to the monarchy for 300 years [Music] in australia the queen is opening a meeting of the heads of government of the commonwealth it's a task she relishes because the commonwealth has grown up with her and vice versa she feels an intimate connection with but not everyone feels that a country like australia should have a head of state whose home is 10 000 miles away i believe australia should become a republic but then we would all welcome the queen here as head of the commonwealth and would hope that she would continue to come as head of the commonwealth and she would be loved and respected and draw the crowds um you know just as she does as monique um but i don't think any australian really wants to become a republic in the queen's lifetime and that's a sign of the respect that they have for the queen doesn't like to face up to speeches it seems but she carries on her royal duties elizabeth presents a radiant picture in a gown of white satin and a tiara of diamonds and emeralds she tells the assembled legislators that australia is destined for great things among the nations of the world a comparatively young country that is a keystone of the british commonwealth uh look australia had a referendum in 2000 to be a republic that was defeated i have no doubt the issue will come up again my own view is that having uh dealt with the issue it should not reappear in the australian political landscape for perhaps another 25 years i think it's perhaps not so much the monarchy i think it is the queen herself is so highly regarded and respected in australia it's a big boost for perth and colin barnett's premiership that his city has been chosen to host the commonwealth heads of government meeting which takes place every two years they've laid on a week-long cultural festival with music and drama from all over the commonwealth [Music] the newspapers can't resist the headline g'day your majesty and even the nation's chat show hosts have been swept up with the excitement of a royal vision there had been a kind of a energy around that said oh the queen's coming and you know god here we go again but when it actually happens the queen is embraced instantly and the masses turn out all the time regardless what the opinions may be for or against you know people just love the lady and they love what she stands for the last referendum on whether to divorce the monarchy and become a republic was 12 years ago 55 of the nation voted for the status quo the prime minister julia gillard is unlikely to raise the subject any time soon the queen says she'll do whatever the people of australia want but buckingham palace can't help but be delighted by the crowds which turn out on her day trips from canberra by the time she and the duke of edinburgh arrive in perth they've been greeted by 45 000 people in brisbane and tens of thousands in melbourne i've reported on several commonwealth heads of government meetings over the years and they've always faced the same kind of criticism that they're too expensive cost of the one in perth 24 million australian dollars that they're talking shops all talk and no action and then they've been the constant allegations of corruption and human rights abuses in several commonwealth countries but despite all of that the queen is always firmly believed that the commonwealth which now involves 54 countries is a force for good the commonwealth is a remarkable institution it comprises 54 countries and almost all of them all but two were once part of the british empire and what the commonwealth is is a transformation of a relationship that was once based on domination to a relationship now based on equality because britain although the imperial country has no special role or position in the commonwealth it used to be called the british commonwealth it isn't anymore australia's parliament building in canberra is brilliantly lit for a visit by queen elizabeth and prince philip as they begin a five-week tour of their down under dominion accompanied by prime minister and named patty menzies the royal couple are taking part in canberra's jubilee cell far more than most of our ministers the queen has believed passionately in the importance of the commonwealth i mean she knew the empire could not last she knew the empire had to go but she believed that something really important could be saved and this very disparate group of nations provides a forum in which people can exchange ideas knowing that they view things differently but with a certain confidence that comes from being having values in common and even element of background in common and the queen as head of the commonwealth is more than just a symbol i mean she really does represent something held in common by all these disparate nations there i always love to tell my american audiences when i lecture there you know well you know you get terribly excited when the queen comes to you for a third time in her reign she's been told canada 23 times or more because she is queen of canada and that matters to her and um again i think that goes back to the war the way in which the commonwealth the empire then was rallied round they weren't threatened by hitler but for reasons of sentiment and tradition and loyalty and all the intangible values at the monarchy enshrines they came to the help of britain and saved britain and the queen remembers that and she's also realized that through the 50s and the 60s with the independence of african countries in particular but india as well before that that a new relationship had to be developed between the mother country and the old countries of the empire and she has done that this is an association not only of governments but also of peoples that is what makes it so relevant in this age of global information and communication there is a new coherence i think and i think we're seeing that at chocum now based around being a remarkable network and this is a network world that we live in now the commonwealth actually has the chance to come into its own in this network world we're about to agree how small countries can be better represented at the g20 meetings of the biggest world economies through those members of the commonwealth that are members using the commonwealth network for that reason so actually it is i think a more relevant organization for the next 20 years than people have seen it as being in the last 20 years the queen obviously enjoys being head of the commonwealth she's very sensitive i think particularly to african concerns and indeed it's a paradox in a way that she's welcomed just as much if not more in the african republics she is in countries of the old commonwealth like australia and canada and i think that is a legacy she would hope to leave to future generations a multi-racial commonwealth it's worth remembering however that the role of head of the commonwealth unlike british monarch is not a hereditary position and it's up to the commonwealth when she dies to consider who the next head of the commonwealth is led by their chiefs ten thousand maoris have masked to greet their queen and brought with them the high culture of their islands part of their tradition is the haka a ceremonial war dance you are living in in some remote part of the commonwealth and the queen is coming to see you the expectation builds up of a kind quite different from any other visitor mrs thatcher comes to you mrs thatcher's prime minister mrs sanchez are a well-known lady but the impact is different and um it may be politically more interesting but ceremonially psychologically it's different and uh i've seen that over and over again but going to places with both those ladies that you see the difference and the queen is the queen is special if down the years these meetings have appeared rather ineffective there's one aspect of the summit in perth which sets it apart it'll be remembered as the moment they made one of the biggest changes to the british monarchy in 300 years for all that time the crown has been passed to a son even if that meant bypassing a daughter the present situation is that males succeed before females that is the the prince of wales is next in line to the throne and then his sons and then uh the duke of york and the princess royal comes a long way behind and that in the modern world is simply not acceptable and it's a good time to make the change because it wouldn't actually affect anyone near to the line of succession but it would make a difference if the duke and duchess of cambridge had his prince william and his wife if their first child was a daughter that child would be first in the line of succession and would not be trumped as it were by a later son and that obviously fits in with the modern ethos of course to happen they have to be agreed by all of the queen's realms 16 realms in total but i think such changes demonstrate that the monarchy can be kept up to date that its rules can be modified according to the changing circumstances and changing opinions of the time and that is a very important factor in its success over many centuries alongside all the other issues of the day the heads of commonwealth discuss changing the rules of succession on day two the australian prime minister julia gillard calls a press conference to announce that all six australian states have agreed to the change other members of the queen's realm follow suit [Music] there is one more engagement for the queen and the duke of edinburgh before they leave perth the big aussie barbecue in langley park 120 000 people have come to enjoy hot dogs no alcohol allowed and an opportunity to see the queen in person if they're not at the back of the crowd [Music] this is a unique event i think not only for perth i think it's a unique event for the queen and buckingham palace had a big say in how this would happen so to see thousands tens of thousands of west australians particularly young families at a great aussie bbq for their chance to see the queen in person many people may have a perception that the state of western australia is only about mining and petroleum our legacy we hope will be that perth will be established in people's minds as australia's west coast capital and as australia's indian ocean city in 2011 the queen flies home from perth in the hands of the same crew which took her out to canberra a week earlier she slips into england virtually unnoticed we live in a different world you'd be unlikely to call a friend to say let's go out and see the queen come home but in 1954 tens of thousands of people turned out to see her arrival back in london after five months abroad an exciting adventure begins for britain's prince charles and princess anne escorted by the queen mother and princess margaret they journey to portsmouth at the dock the royal yacht britannia awaits in readiness for the party it's the first time the young prince and princess have embarked on a real ship they'll voyage all the way to north africa to meet their pets on the homeward leg of their commonwealth tour she and the duke of edinburgh have boarded the newly commissioned royal yacht britannia at taboo and off the isle of wight the prime minister winston churchill have bought them on their way and on the 15th of may they sailed into the pool of london under tower bridge right there and to a rapturous reception the queen's return was captured on film by the newsreels but also in paint by the artist edward siegel one of those who had recorded the coronation a year before and his painting is today in the care of the gallery owner tom hewlett it's an atmospheric painting he was an expert in creating an atmosphere and he's done that here and i think you can really feel yourself as part of the celebrations of the queen arriving back on the royal yacht you know the river traffic the flags the whole atmosphere of that day and it does record in a sort of brilliantly artistic way what was in fact quite an occasion yes yeah it was a huge occasion and i think what's nice is the various aspects of the painting you know there's it's a very royalist type of painting the royalist flags uh everywhere the royal standard on the yacht the flags of the different nations here and of course the tower bridge in the background yeah 2012 we're back where we began this royal story in london [Music] despite all the doubters the doom doomsayers the critics the nation loves the royal occasion if ever there was a demonstration of the relationship between queen and country it is in these moments she is still doing what she was doing in 1952 and so are we why else would the planners of the diamond jubilee have reckoned on a million people coming to london to help the queen mark 60 years on the throne but what happens now what will the next 10 years bring for the queen and her country i feel confident that the queen has no intention whatsoever of abdication it's a job for life and she took it on and she made it yeah it took the oath and she's stuck with it inevitably she will be able to do less and other members of our family would have to sort to take over to some extent but i think basically the things will go on she will still until she has to be carried in on a stretcher she will still contrive to perform the most important functions of the monarchy she will still be there receiving a prime minister uh discussing the state of a nation taking a keen interest in things until until she drops dead health is health and ill health is ill health and you can't actually avoid ill health as as the years pass but um you can have a damn good shot and i think that that's what they they will have is clearly what philip is doing already and what the queen is is is coming to i think if we're to judge from the way in which the queen has succeeded in her reign and if we look at the you know opinion polls about the popularity of the monarchy now and what it was at the beginning of her reign it's much the same the support for her i think england needs a monarchy i suppose i have to say i'm a monarchist but i think the reason for that is that in a way the queen is kind of the ultimate guarantee of english rights and liberties and things i think the continuity the fact that we have the queen in the background the fact that we never hear about the queen and what she does in politics is a sign of how well she does it but she's always there and it's a sort of it's a sort of underpinning um there's this sense that the queen is not just you know her um constitutional position but she is also um the sovereign of the nation that somehow she reflects the english nation as a whole the british nation um rather than just her her legal constitutional position and i think that that is very deep so i think that the future of the monarchy um is is is looking very good the queen over these 60 years has provided a not only a unifying factor but a still point at the center which holds but whatever may happen to the country however one political party may differ from another however angry spirits may be over one piece of legislation or another always has been a confidence that in buckingham palace there is this quiet uninterfering presence which gives a strange kind of reassurance knowledge that prime ministers come prime ministers go parties change policies change the monarch is still there benevolent no longer powerful it's highly influential and a force for stabilization and for kind of thought for consideration which otherwise would be sadly lacking you know history hangs by such a narrow thread very often um it's not part of it but we all owe a great deal of thanks to mr simpson the queen's father and her mother became the king and queen of britain helped to cement britain at a most difficult time in british history and the monarchy really given his life and shortened his life in service of britain and the commonwealth so he was this young year old 24 nobody knew all that much about her [Music] but she just stepped into the role so well with so much grace and dignity she just captured people's hats [Music] the british monarchy works by its own clock change comes slowly as tennyson put it everything happens very quietly from precedent to precedent sixty years is the blink of an eye for an institution that records its history over many centuries why it works in a frantic modern world remains something of a mystery when the queen was safely back in buckingham palace after that 1954 tour in which he covered some fifty thousand miles the times published what it called a pictorial record of her journey its special correspondent who heard hundreds of speeches and loyal addresses wrote this explicitly and implicitly in pulpit and parliament hall and village square in myriads of flags and flowers and bright gay lights that have blazed the route they have rippled round the world with a new message and no one can tell all the reason why so the mystery of the british monarchy endures elizabeth ii is the queen we know and the queen we don't know but maintaining that mystery has done her no harm her approval ratings are the same now as they were in 1952. few other figures in modern history can claim that few other monarchies have survived so well no other king or queen has traveled so far seen so much met so many she has done her duty by being there and over 60 years has defined a new relationship between queen and country

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 181,183

Keywords: real royalty, real royalty channel, british royalty, royalty around the world, royal history, queens jubilee, queens diamond jubilee, queens diamond jubilee concert, queens diamond jubilee river pageant, queens platinum jubilee, trevor mcdonald, trevor mcdonald documentary, queen elizabeth ii, the queen, royal family, prince philip, british royal family, royal news, queen elizabeth ii coronation, queen elizabeth, diamond jubilee fireworks, british royals

Id: kahh0vreBHY

Length: 173min 2sec (10382 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2022