The Windsors: A Family In Crisis | The Queen's Final Year | Real Royalty

it has turned out to be an anus horribilis nearly 30 years ago the queen had what she thought was her worst ever year the separation of Charles and Diana the scandal of Sarah Ferguson and her toes sucking friend and the fire at her beloved Windsor Castle the blows just kept on coming there would never be another Royal year like it or would there tonight Royal insiders and experts reveal why the last 12 months may have been even worse for the Queen the queen has had one of her toughest years ever in her very very long Reign from the Scandal caused by Prince Andrew's friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his disastrous TV interview he came over as aloof and cold and arrogant and smug to the rift between her grandsons we're certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him and as I know he'll always be there for me and the shock announcement that Harry and Megan were effectively leaving the royal family she had about 10 minutes warning before the susex has dropped that bombshell they wanted to control the story themselves but actually it was worse than we could possibly have done and as well as her husband's poor health there was the car crash which brought a whole heap of unwanted headlines the queen had to have put her foot down and said that's it you can't drive anymore as if all that wasn't enough the last year has seen the queen now well into her '90s embroiled in political controversy around brexit this is probably I would say the low point of of the Queen's Reign having her people so divided over this issue with even her impartiality being called into question the 9/10 of the egg was I think on bis Johnson's face but maybe there was a bit of splatter on the palace's face as well very clearly she would have been very displeased with Johnson as a result throughout it all the queen has remained steadfast and stoic as each Scandal and controversy has battered her baged clan but at huge personal cost the past year has absolutely taken its toll on her it has been her second Anis [Music] herbis May 2018 the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan marle captivated the whole country and an audience of billions around the world the weather was stunning it was the most glorious beautiful English day we saw young couple who were so happy Harry at last had found someone who he loved and loved him everything was beautiful about it to be at har and Megan's wedding was absolutely amazing the energy was electric and everybody was so excited everybody was in a party mood a real party mood it was a day of joy around the country and for the royal family it seemed as though everything was happy and glorious it was a moment of national C celebration the royal family were more popular than ever I think there was so much excitement about this um you know young beautiful talented American actress marrying into the royal family it felt very much like a real leap for the Monarch for the queen she's just so happy to be surrounded by her family so proud everything's going really well the queen looked resplendant it was the biggest Royal wedding since William and Kate's I think there was a huge amount of Goodwill towards the couple Harry's decision to marry American divorce Megan was a sign the monarchy was finally changing with the times Harry and Megan's wedding was so Multicultural so diverse and I just felt like wow something's changed and I think actually the entire British public felt like this too suddenly there were a lot more people who felt connected to the royal family it looked as if it was finally putting to bed any question that they were too pale male and stale there was a great sense of optimism and hope and positivity and a feeling that the monarchy particularly was progressing it was moving forwards so there was a lot riding on the sussexes and this Unity because it was a good thing for the country it was a good thing for the royal family 2018 brought more good news for the queen and the royal family and another wedding at Windsor when Prince Andrew's daughter Eugene tied the knot and William and Kate had their third child Louie Williams happily married Megan and Harry are happily married Eugene it's all looking so good the socalled Fab Four of Harry and Megan William and Kate seem to be a team which might just take the monarchy into a bright and trouble-free future we we're we're stuck together for the rest of our lives so this is true togetherness at together yeah yeah the Queen's whole outlook is all about securing the future of the monarchy and of course that means getting the younger members of the royal family married off married successfully having babies so she must have been incredibly satisfied at the end of that year very happy year for her in 2018 it did all look so good it looked as if the royal family had absolutely finally come through to a clear path ahead and at The Changing Times were really only seeing them growing in strength I think the queen she kind of thinking okay I've got these young Royals in place who can start taking on more responsibility I can just kind of take it all in and enjoy the rest of my life calmly so we thought 2018 had been a Triumph for the royal family but they couldn't have foren that just a few days into the following year things would start to go badly wrong it All Began on this road in Norfolk and a car crash involving the then 97-year-old Prince Prince Phillip Prince philli was driving out from the sanding estate crossing a very busy Main Road and the sun was very low and he didn't see a car coming and he pulled out and the car hit him on the side and it turned over his heavy Range Rover and it landed up on the other side of the road up upside down he was taken out of the car and he he didn't know where he was I was told and that he was very very very shocked as indeed he would be it was a very scary event Prince philli emerged unscathed a 9-month-old baby in the other car was also un hurt although the driver and passenger needed treatment he'd been across that road many many times the queen would have been very annoyed with her husband but to seemingly add insult to injury just 48 hours later there was more controversy the Duke of Edinburgh was photographed driving once again this time not wearing a seat belt the images of Prince Phillip not only back behind the wheel days after the crash but without a seat belt and know the queen her advisors they will absolutely have known that that was going to send out all the wrong messages yet even that wasn't the end of the story one of the crash victims claimed she hadn't received an apology you know we heard things that the woman who was injured in it you know no one reached out to her no one asked if she was okay um if you're going to be involved um in a car crash um and you're a member of the royal family I think the first thing you need to do is to make sure you get your PR right about that and clearly that was a bit of of a disaster for the royal family of course he's the queen husband and we hold members of the royal family to a higher standard than what we would maybe you know our peers so for him to not have apologizes a bad call on his part the palace said that private contact had been made and days later there was a letter of apology but the barrage of bad headlines meant the queen and her advisers were under huge pressure to act 3 weeks after the crash Prince Philip announced he was giving up his driving license it was absolutely essential that despite his famously cantankerous temperament at times that it was made clear to the Duke that it was not a good idea that he continued to drive and the queen undoubtedly was the obvious person to make this point and make it firmly the queen had to have put her foot done and said that's it I think she's quite serious and strict when it comes to negative press about her family what's the quickest way I can get you out of the headline oh okay I'm going to tell you you can't drive anymore discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and AdFree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on the- go with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from the wonders of ancient Pompei and the Mystery of the princes in the tower to the life of an Lyn and D-Day sign up via the link in the description for the Duke and the queen it was a difficult start to the year Prince Philip is a very proud man and has had to endure playing second fiddle to his wife for the last nearly 70 years and I think being told by the palace that the time had come for him to admit defeat and to stop driving and in effect stop being an independent person I think was very very difficult for him emotionally and difficult for the Queen the Queen's decision to encourage Prince philli to give up driving came less than 18 months after he retired from official duties leaving her to Soldier on in public alone I think it was a real changing moment when Prince Phillip stepped back from doing Royal duties it's completely understandable to all of us because he was in his late '90s but for the queen he was her Rock and he was very beautiful for her it must have been quite a transition for the queen to have to carry out engagements on her own we were always so used to seeing the Duke of Edinburgh you know not by her side always one step behind her but very much in that role of a consort in that supportive role and he had done many many years of great service for her for the country and she felt that more than anyone else he had earned his retirement to add to the Queen's worries the Duke's Health was increasingly fragile Prince Philip has had a series of Health scares when we read about him going in and out of hospital by the end of 2019 Prince philli was spending his days at Sandringham away from the queen this was a huge ch which did leave the queen on her own both physically but also taking all those very very important decisions particularly about internal family issues pretty much on her own 2019 would be an extraordinary year of family turmoil it's interesting for historians of the future the Anais is always seen as 1992 but I think that 2019 will be seen as a bigger Ana cibis and one big reason for that is prince Andrew the Queen's third eldest child was about to be caught up in the scandal of Royal scandals due to his long-standing links to American financier Jeffrey Epstein a convicted pedophile and alleged sex trafficer to have a prince of the realm the Queen's Second Son Associated so closely with someone convicted of Epstein's crimes to have the words Prince and pedophile mentioned in the same sentence is appalling and this is something the royal family have not had to face before the prince's association with Epstein began over 20 years ago when he was introduced to the multi-millionaire hedge fund manager through gain Maxwell he was rather bowled over by this sort of this man who seemed to know everyone he didn't see that he was being used by this very seedy man um who wanted to have prince Andrew on his arm for parties and and a friendship prince Andrew was alleged to have had sex with one of Epstein's teenage trafficking victims senior Royal favorite son of the Queens involved with an American pedophile the story couldn't have been worse sourcers close to prince Andrew claimed the photo was fake and he strenuously claims to have no recollection of meeting the victim some Royal insiders believe he also assured the queen there was no truth in the rumors Andrew had spoken with the queen about the story he had assured her that he was innocent of of any of the allegations against him and as far as the queen is concerned this is her son she believes him did you recover from this sir but this was one Scandal that wouldn't go away after Epstein committed suicide in the summer of 2019 Prince Andrew's name was dragged back into the controversy they always say never explain never complain and that has held them in good stead when a lot of stories have been swirling around because you think that'll just die down Andrew clearly didn't think it was going to die down and it didn't die down with growing pressure from the media the public and questions around his own behavior prince Andrew decided something had to be done he's still not being convicted of any crime so we can't say he is a criminal he maintains he's innocent this is ruining his life this is clouding everything he does so he decides with remark coule stupidity to give an interview to newsight and put his case forward Andrew sat down to give one of the most extraordinary interviews of all time to a BBC TV audience of millions he hoped it would turn public opinion and he even chose to do it in Buckingham Palace itself there were so many toe curling moments of that interview he said some crazy things he said well I I I never met this girl in question he came over as aloof and cold and arrogant and smug to say that he couldn't regret meeting the deceased convicted pedopile Epstein was almost unbelievable the whole thing was utterly grotesque but what made made it even more bizarre was that Andrew thought it had gone well it had not gone well the Fallout from the broadcast was huge the queen who had reportedly only been told about the interview after it was set up was reeling if he didn't think that what he was doing was damaging to the queen it's simply obvious that he's an idiot it is so patently painfully obvious that it must be causing great grief and distress to his mother once again the queen had to take a difficult personal decision for the good of the monarchy and her country the queen and her advisers will be very aware that the Andrew situation needed to be dealt with swiftly and it was we saw very decisive leadership on the Queen's part there really was no option but for Andrew to step down as a mother that must have been very difficult for the queen you know Andrew has long been regarded as her favorite son um but for her to have to tell him this is it you're going to have to step down from public life essentially take an early retirement must have been difficult but Duty has always come before self Duty has always been more important than anything else to the queen [Music] things still aren't over for prince Andrew the FBI investigation will go on for some time yet I just don't think it's a story that's going to die and there may be a court case and there may be a court case in which they might suggest that he should give evidence the idea that prince Andrew might appear in court if he does end up speaking to the authorities is the worst possible scenario for the Royal Family I think the queen is quite worried about the impact 2019 will have had on her Legacy as the longest reigning monarch in British history and head of the Commonwealth the queen has had to endure some difficult moments but one year had stood out Above the Rest as herself self-proclaimed most horrible it has turned out to be an Anis orilis I suspect that I'm not alone in thinking it's so anasis means literally in Latin a horrible year A bad year and the queen coined it in a speech that she gave about 1992 which had been a very hard year for her 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure of course she was talking about her personal year she was talking about her family like 2019 19 1992 was a year in which the queen was confronted by both public scandals and personal crises she also forged her reputation for showing great stoicism in the face of adversity it was extraordinary because the blows just kept on coming it was almost one crisis a month three of her children in one year decided to end their marriages and I think the queen was very very shaken by that the first one was the Princess Royal who divorced her husband Captain Mark Philips he hardly knew what was happening it all happened so quickly by the end of the year she'd remarried and then the dukee and Duchess of York obviously they were then go through difficult times and then of course uh there was the separation of the prince and princess of Worlds which was by far the worst thing at the time I think you think what an eff the queen make of this because it was her eldest son and technically the future king and queen separating I mean talk about constitutional crisises I mean that really was a crisis there and then but these personal family problems were suddenly being laid bare for all the world to see when the whole of 1992 was tabloid Central because it was the war of the Wales it was Danna doing something Charles doing something with the situation spiraling the queen had to intervene for the good of the reputation of the monarchy she took the unusual step of publicly urging the Waring couple who had until now only separated to officially [Music] divorce there's only one Prince of Wales and I think you know he's the future king and you don't expect this to happen but it wasn't just Charles and Diana in the summer of 92 as in 2019 the queen had to deal with a scandal in the house of [Music] York one of the most grotesquely gruesome images in the history of the royal family was in 1992 when Sarah Ferguson was having her toes sucked by her financial advisor socalled John bran the queen was [Music] Furious the queen had spent the Year watching her children and their Partners splashed across the front pages for all the wrong reasons but then towards the end of her horrible year disaster struck Her Majesty right on her doorstep you know you have all this happening to your immediate family not just your grandchildren just to your immediate family three out of four of your children and all of a sudden you know winter castle and the great [Music] fire it was close to her heart it was her home and also it's history it's you know she's responsible living in winter castle for hundreds of years of history and to see some of that go up in smoke would be heart-wrenching for anybody and in particular the Queen the cost of repairing the damage came to over £36 million the queen once again put Duty first agreeing to open up her home Buckingham Palace to the public in order to help cover the [Music] cost 2019 and the queen was once again facing an Anis heras as well as being forced to intervene in the prince Andrew Scandal the queen was having to deal with trouble amongst the younger Royals after making a triumphant debut when Megan joined the fold Whispers had begun to spread that not all was right with the so-called Fab fall you know they would go to events together and smiling and happy and joking [Applause] around Katherine Harry and I are delighted to be here this morning and we're particularly happy uh to be our first raw Foundation event with Megan um today and then there was a bit of a turning point sort of rumors dripping out that um behind the scenes things hadn't actually been as picture perfect as they'd been presented there was a serious Rift developing between the princes and people started to ask questions What's Happening Here what's happening with the Fab 4 they're not as fabulous as we thought they were and and there's a riff between the brothers and all of a sudden shock they're stepping away from you know Kensington Royal they're going to move to Windsor and they're going to start their lives there and they're separating [Music] themselves the whole idea of the Fab Four was completely impractical because if you marry into a family and you live next door to your in-laws and you inhabit the same offices and you use the same charity there's not very much left for Independence you ever have disagreements about things oh yes I think one of the problems with William and Kate and Harry and Megan is that not only their future is totally different but also as personalities they as couples are very very different and Harry has certainly changed and I think that the queen will have found this something that is very difficult for her to appreciate we're talking about a breakup um of that unanimity um and of that being one family pulling in the same direction and that will be damaging for the stability and for the future of the monarchy I'm sure as far as the queen sees it and does put the family in a precarious position in October of that year whilst on a tour of southern Africa Harry gave a rare TV interview he finally opened up about his relationship with [Laughter] William there's been a lot of talk in the Press about riffs with your brother how much of that is true um part of the part of this role and part of this job and this family being under the pressure that it's under inevitably you know stuff uh um stuff happens but look we're we're brothers we we'll always be brothers and we're certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him and I I know he'll always be there for me the brothers who everyone had assumed would be United forever were drifting further and further apart this public Rift between William and Harry I think the public feel it quite deeply because we were all quite invested in both both the princes I think one crucial aspect of the Harry and William situation is that the country over romanticized them they saw those two little boys walking behind their mother's coffin in 1997 and everyone's heart broke as a consequence really I think to make up for the fact of how painful we thought perhaps what we'd done to them was we wanted them two best friends forever and ever how much interservice rivalry is there between you two not at all no not at all really everyone everyone knows I'm Rec Bo anyway so it's it's fine good B between Army pilots and Pilots obviously as well NE Pilots just you in the background they didn't do anything then in December came the announcement that Harry would be spending Christmas in Canada with Megan and Archie instead of Sandringham the only other time Harry had missed Christmas with the queen was when he served in Afghanistan I think probably the queen is very saddened by Bad Blood between William and Harry the queen she doesn't get too involved with this kind of family r or she'd be sort of involved the whole time wouldn't [Music] she the queen describes the last year in her Christmas speech as bumpy and without a doubt it has been tumultuous it's been turbulent I think in many ways it has been her second Anis herbis most people took it to mean that it was an acknowledgement of the royal difficulties that year I think she was uh understating how bad last year was it does seem an extraordinarily bad luck for a woman in her '90s but any hopes of a quiet easier 2020 were not to be just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse Harry and Megan dropped a devastating bombshell the couple posted a statement online announcing their intention to step back as senior Royals and seek a progressive new role within the family they put the statement out and it shocks everybody of the queen was definitely blindsided by this statement it was unprecedented these were two of the most popular members of the royal family Harry and Megan said they wanted to become financially independent but retain many of their other Royal trappings we're going to have our cake and eat it too we're going to stay being duti to the queen we're going to have a progressive new role within the royal family but we're going to become financially independent the queen knew that at some point the couple were hoping to go it alone but before their new role had been agreed with the palace the sussex's decision to go public seemed to come as a huge shock to her what she didn't know was the actual statement they would release nobody was told that just came out nothing had actually been said signed off nothing had been agreed the queen would have been caught off guard she had about 10 minutes warning before the Sussex is dropped that bombshell rumors had been swirling that the couple were considering a move abroad now they feared that someone at the palace was leaking stories to the press a newspaper got a hold of the information and they were going to break the story first so we've heard that Harry and Megan put that statement out before the newspapers could get a hold of it they wanted to control the story themselves and um that was their way of doing so but actually it was the worst thing they could possibly have done the news was all the more shocking because Harry had always enjoyed a close relationship with the queen she's always had a soft spot for Harry whatever controversies Harry has landed himself in from you know exposing himself in Vegas to you know wearing a Nazi costume in his youth she's always stood by him Harry is a sort of favorite grandchild or he hasn't been up to now things might have changed a bit I was told by very very good sources um that the relationship between Harry and his grandmother had had come under pressure just 18 months after that day of national celebration the fairy tale seemed to be over Megan had clearly found Royal Life The Palace culture and the Tabloid press intensely difficult Harry said he was determined to do all he could to prevent what happened to his mother being repeated the couple finally opened up in this revealing documentary when I first met my now husband my friends were really happy cuz I was so happy but my British friends said to me I'm sure he's great but you shouldn't do it cuz the British teids will destroy your life and I very naively I'm American we don't have that there what are you talking about that doesn't make any sense I'm not in tabloids I didn't get it for me and and for my wife you know there's a there's a of course there's a lot of stuff that hurts um especially when the majority of it is untrue I will not be bullied into into into playing a game that that killed my mom what Harry starts to feel is that he is fighting on his wife's behalf and no one is helping him so can you put up with this yeah well I guess and also thank you for asking cuz not many people have asked if I'm okay I've said for a long time to H that's what I call them yeah um um it's not enough to just survive something right like that's not the point of life you've got to thrive for Megan and Harry to be so open is quite extraordinary and actually quite unroyal I mean it's very American don't get me wrong but it's very unroyal you know the queen mother's motto was always never complain never explain and now all of a sudden we see Harry and Megan ripping that up throwing it by the wayside and saying no actually we are going to tell you exactly how we feel and we're not happy there was a a feeling that the queen had done everything she could to accom accomodate the couple but that they hadn't been entirely respectful of her during that process by the time Christmas came around both Harry and Megan were notably absent we saw that at the Queen's Christmas broadcast with the very careful positioning of those photographs on her desk Prince Harry is not there I think what we're seeing is the palace project the image of the future of the House of winds we do know that it was before Christmas that um Harry had voiced some concerns but he was told to go away come back with a solid plan solid suggestions of what they wanted and how they thought things could work and that's not what they did barely days into 20120 Harry and Megan released that statement revealing their intentions they saw a future of a sort of half in half out where they would continue some Royal duties but they would be be abroad and they would be independent hours later the palace released its own statement which said that negotiations with the couple were ongoing the palace really made it very clear that um it wasn't quite as cleancut as the sussexes had outlined on their sparkling new website some insiders saw it as a chance for the family to reach a much needed compromise for one brief Shining Moment I thought this could just could be the best of all possible worlds for everybody they'd get some relief from their obvious unhappiness the royal family would get a little bit more towards the slimmed down kind of monarchy that Prince Charles wanted instead it's turned toxic toxic really I think for everyone involved for the queen it would also have presented a painful choice between her duty to the nation and her love of family to treat the queen in that way was Ill judged and extremely insensitive the queen would find Harry's decision to cut ties with the royal family something she probably just simply can't relate to that idea of abandoning duty of just giving up um is just something that would never cross her mind the queen heard the news absorbed the news and then called a summit at sounding him it all happened incredibly quickly 2 days after the announcement as Megan flew back to Canada Harry went to the emergency meeting at Sandringham it was down to the queen to try and keep her family together the queen has two hats to wear and that's one of Monarch and one of Grandmother well who turns up at the meeting is it the queen or as a granny at the meeting Harry and the queen discussed the couple's desire for partial Independence the queen said okay fine I understand let's try and do something about it but don't push me too hard just you know just relax a little bit but of course that their you know their machine goes at 1,000 miles an hour and the Machine of the monchy goes slowly but it did go quickly in this case after the meeting the queen made clear she supported Harry and Megan's wishes but stressed that their future role hadn't been resolved beautiful Monarch caring grandmother this was far more complicated needed a lot more time um and that all pointed to all was not well behind the scenes sussexes clearly had one idea of what was going on and the queen had another and uh the next day Harry left for Canada a week later the queen released a second statement this one far more definitive than the last she said Harry Megan and Archie would always be much loved but she supported their wish for more Independence the queen very much wanted to help them but as they wouldn't bend and they had wanted everything their way and they couldn't see any way out she decided that it would be a hard mixit the queen had to put her role as a grandmother to one side and put the monarchy first Harry and Megan will no longer receive money from The Sovereign Grant and won't be using their hrh titles or the Sussex Royal brand name you are either in the royal family or you are out and this idea of being financially independent was simply not workable the negotiations are done the queen drew a hard line they're gone many Royal observers believe that not for the first time the queen has put country before family like Andrew Harry was effectively fired from The Firm I think Queen Elizabeth II and in many ways this is what we all respect about her is someone who when push comes to shove will put the welfare as she sees it of the monarchy above that of anyone else herself or her beloved grandson included the palace also announced that the royal family would review the new Arrangements in one year's time putting that 12-month review in place I mean goes to show you that the queen will be watching them like a hawk she will want to see everything that they're doing what they're making money from and how it's affecting the royal family so there must be some concern from the queen about what their intentions are with Megan and Harry preparing for a future on the other side of the Atlantic the queen well into her '90s will have to adjust to life without Harry and her youngest great grandson I think the queen probably hopes that she will um get to see her grandson that she will continue to have a close relationship with Harry it has always been a close friendship with Harry it's probably a time of great sadness for her that she knows she will see less of them I think it's absolutely why she's made sure that they've got Frogmore cottage which is in her back Garden um so that when they are home she won't be too far away the Queen's gone through so much in her Reign that this is just another thing that she will keep calm and carry on [Music] through 2019 was devastating for royal family unit but it was also the year the queen got drawn into a full-blown constitutional [Music] crisis brexit one of the biggest political issues the queen has encountered in more than 65 years on the throne stop it threatened to dominate her year the queen has pretty remarkably um always managed to stay above and out of politics it must have been awkward difficult and very unwelcome to have been dragged unwittingly into brexit the lack of agreement over a deal to leave the European Union meant the anger and protests grew and grew the queen found herself presiding over a divided Kingdom this went on and on and on and the country and families and communities were deeply divided right down the middle the Monarch was the unifying force throughout her Reign the queen has always kept out of politics and she would have been determined to do the same with brexit but as far back as 2016 before the actual vote itself there were claims the queen had given her view on the referendum it's vital to her that she is a political that she's politically neutral she has been dragged into the brexit argument she was on the front page of the Sun not long before the actual referendum date it was said that she was antie headlines like that are an absolute no no in the roal household the story was supposedly leaked by two inside sources who claimed the queen had been critical of the EU at private Royal functions the headline was later found by the Press standards organization to be un supported after the palace filed a complaint the first ever by a reigning monarch to the British press a thing that probably makes the queen or advisor more anxious than anything else is any hint that she the Constitutional Monarch might be drawn into a political controversy a party political controversy especially if it's a very Fierce One 3 years on and the queen would find herself at the center of the brexit debate once again shortly after Boris Johnson became the 14th prime minister of her Reign we saw a new government in 2019 determined to push things through determined to take no prisoners determined to as the quote went get brexit done the British people have had enough of waiting the time has come to ACT to take decisions they did that by announcing that they were going to progue Parliament close Parliament down for longer than expected they needed the Queen's permission to do that now within our constitution if the government of the day asked the queen to do something within reason the queen is expected to follow those orders the prime minister's shutdown of parliament was hugely controversial the trouble is with this particular request there was so much controversy surrounding it legal and constitutional that an awful lot of people including the opposition leaders criticized directly the Queen's role in this if she' refused him that would been political Dynamite the queen accepted Boris Johnson's request for a 5we break in Parliament but within days the Supreme Court ruled the prorogation of parliament had been illegal the decision to advise her majesty to progue Parliament was unlawful this means that the order in council to which it led was also unlawful void and of no effect and should be qu the prorogation was also void and of no effect it was a terrible moment really for the queen not only to be dragged into that argument but also to be dragged into the court decision that it was illegal because the whole principle of constitutional monarchy is that the queen takes her prime minister's advice Boris Johnson and Jacob Reese MOG the leader of the House of Commons were accused of misleading the queen did you lie to the queen when you advised her to perogue to suspend Parliament absolutely not we need a queen speech we need to get on and do all sorts of things so they would know what they were talking about it's a normal functioning of our constitution since the prorogation was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court very clearly she would have been very displeased with Johnson as a [Music] result the decision was reversed and Parliament reopened after just 15 days 3 weeks shy of Boris Johnson's Original request my lords and members of the House of Commons my government's priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union on the 31st of October there was some embarrassment around the monarchy in that it had accepted this advice from the Prime Minister that it was fine to progue so the 9/10 of the egg was I think on bis Johnson's face but maybe there was a bit of splatter on the palace's face as well away from Britain's most politically charged debate in decades the queen was also having to face controversy involving a former prime minister in September David Cameron released a tell all autobiography detailing what happened in one of his private conversations with the Queen the Queen's weekly meetings with her prime ministers have always been completely private I mean even Prince Phillip is is not not present one of the book's Revelations referred to a conversation regarding the Scottish referendum in 2014 it was grossly irresponsible of the then prime minister at the time David camaron to reveal afterwards to s's Memoirs apparently that he had requested that the queen as he put it raise an eyebrow to help the vote to remain part of the United [Applause] Kingdom this wasn't David Cameron's first breach of the Queen's confidence he even said to the ex mayor of New York Bloomberg that the queen had purred down the line to him after she'd heard of the result of the referendum David Cameron did later apologize for his indiscretion certainly my understanding is that the queen que was very very unimpressed when he did leak some of the details of those conversations 2019 will go down as one of the most difficult years of all for the Queen full of political crises and family Scandal listen the queen has had one of her toughest years ever in her very very long Reign but even if it means putting country before family the queen seems determined to restore the monarchy's reputation I definitely think that the queen has gone through such a battering over the years she's 93 she's a granny the queen I'm sure would want to end her Reign feeling that she had left the monarchy secure she had played her part in steering it onto a safe Future Path and at the moment that road ahead is looking a lot rockier than it has done I think this is now the time for the monarchy to look deeply at itself a and to think in a fundamental way which maybe it hasn't for hundred years what is the monarchy style that is appropriate for uh Britain and indeed the Commonwealth in the 21st century it's a difficult situation because a lot of young people can't see the point of the monarchy older people think that it's a great institution and highly respect it so I think it's a little wobbly but the royal family has been going for hundreds and hundreds of years I think we often say this will be the end of the royal family but so far it looks as if it can overcome with time and and sensible ruling from whoever is king or queen in the public guy we are starting to see much more of William and Kate and really much more of Charles and Camila so I think that right there is the new Fab 4 the Queen's program is balanced so she is able to perform her duties with the necessary adjustments the way this is being handled has been very successful the way the Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have handled their engagements and the way also William and of Kate have handled theirs shows that the inner core of the future monarchy is in safe hands throughout all the problems her family and her country have faced the queen has remained dedicated and devoted the queen is still firmly in control and I think for somebody of her age to still be in control particularly now that she no longer has her husband by her side helping her with these decisions doing the Summits taking the decisions telling Harry what he could and couldn't have I think is a sign of great strength for the queen and the royal family the last year has been one to forget from Prince Philip's ailing health and his car crash the Scandal engulfing prince Andrew the rift between Harry and William plus of course mexit and the controversy over brexit it has been one of the most challenging periods of her Reign but the queen remains as popular now as [Music] ever I think in 20120 you see a nation you see a world who have so much respect love and affection for Queen Elizabeth II she will make sure that the house of Windsor its succession is safe and that there is much to look forward [Music] to [Music]

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 542,323

Keywords: British crown debate, British throne drama, Buckingham Palace, Crown affairs unravelled, Crown upheaval history, Fergie scandal, History of monarchies, Jeffrey Epstein friendship, Palace secrets revealed, Queen's monarchy struggles., Real Royalty, Regal controversies, Royal controversies, Royal family conflicts, Royal family division, Royal family rift, Royal scandals uncovered, Royalty revelations, Royalty scandals, Windsor Castle fire, Windsors documentary

Id: NorpfAo-HzA

Length: 52min 53sec (3173 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024