Elizabeth at 90 - A Family Tribute

MUSIC: Dreaming by Edward Elgar

PRINCE CHARLES: When my mama was five years old,

Britain's leading composer, Sir Edward Elgar,

wrote some music in her honour.

He called this piece Dreaming -

but, at that point, he couldn't have dreamt

that one day she would be queen.

MUSIC CONTINUES

Now, as we celebrate her 90th birthday,

she, like all of us, can reflect on a life

that has inspired and encouraged millions of people

in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth

and around the world.

In many ways, it's a life that has defined our age.

Four years ago, at the time of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee,

I looked back through some of her own cine films,

to pay her a personal tribute.

Now, she has allowed us

to delve deeper into this remarkable collection,

and other members of the family have joined me in watching it -

often for the very first time.

It's footage shot by the Queen herself and my father

and, occasionally, by my aunt, Princess Margaret.

Like my grandparents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth,

they often had a cine camera at the ready.

The whole collection provides a wonderful insight

into my mama's long life.

So, this must be Balmoral. In the '50s.

That's Granny pushing Margot!

So... That trailer - I remember being on that trailer.

That trailer's still there.

I don't think it looks like that any more! No.

It certainly isn't red.

It's exactly what we used to do. Yeah.

I think you and I ended up upside down outside the cart a few times.

Yeah, yeah - way more... WILLIAM CHUCKLES

Grandpa's doing quite a reliable job, there.

Oh...is Anne going to go down that hill on that?

Please say she does!

THEY CHUCKLE Oh...!

THEY LAUGH

Ooh! Oh, great! That was very nearly quite embarrassing, Grandpa.

I think Grandpa's having more fun than everyone else is!

Yeah, much more fun!

He's got the technique nailed.

There's something about banks

that small children want to go and do the whole time. I know.

Roll down them. George is the same. More rolling. Yeah.

Family tradition.

That and planting trees.

Grandpa trying to teach her...

If she won't roll by herself, I'll roll her for her.

Teaching her how to roll.

That was the first summer that my mother was Queen.

Ooh! Hit that lamppost.

That's good driving. Well done. Out you get!

That little blue car's still there, as well. I've seen that around.

THAT we haven't seen. No.

That's fantastic - is that electric?!

Or is his... Yeah, his legs are furiously going!

It's like one of those Flintstone cars.

Yeah.

Good to see... Pa trying to run down his sister, look.

He's got a little L on, as well! Sweet.

And he's got his cushion, which he still has now!

Yes, that's the cushion. That's ridiculous.

From the age of... What is he there - four? Yeah.

Five, maybe. THEY CHUCKLE

Some debate over who's going to drive. Look at the numberplate -

PC 1953. Yeah, look at that. Nice.

Health and safety not an issue, then, which is also good.

It's quite sweet.

That's such a cool car.

The ability to play outdoors

and just entertain yourselves was endless -

and even if that was climbing trees, or just going off on your own,

whether it would be on a bicycle or a pony.

So, that was... There was a lot of that.

A lot of it was done together.

It must be in the genes.

It was exactly the same for my mother and Princess Margaret

growing up in the 1930s.

Of course, life was so much simpler for children then,

because we didn't have telly, so we had to invent things,

and one of them was Catching Happy Days,

which involved a lot of exercise,

because one had to run about the lawn like crazy,

catching leaves, as they fell off the trees,

and that kept us going for quite a long time.

I'm not a very horsey person,

but I can remember spending hours in a field near Birkhall,

when we trotted and walked and cantered and jumped.

The Queen would organise us,

and we were all horses doing different things.

SHOUTING AND CHEERING

I saw her last December.

Astonishing,

the way she seems completely untouched by age.

I mean, I know she's older than I am,

but I don't really feel she's much older -

but, of course, a good deal more experienced than I am.

..just run up the stairs... LAUGHTER

The Queen's Trust has... I came up in the lift.

You were lucky!

LAUGHTER

She is remarkable. I don't know how

she's managed to achieve or keep going

at the speed and the pace that she has over the years.

If you have to do an expedition,

it's usually the wettest or the coldest or something...

She walks every day, and she still rides.

I'm sure exercise and

a sort of moderate diet contributes to her length of life.

How many languages did you say?

There are students who speak 60 different languages.

60 different languages!

She was always an active person and I think she's remained active,

but she's also remained curious, and mentally curious.

It was last September that the Queen's reign

became the longest in British history -

a moment other people were more excited about than she was.

Don't forget, it's a very double-edged sword, this -

people tend to forget,

when she passed the longest-reigning monarch,

that was only because her father died so young.

You know, it's a record

that she would much rather not have been able to pass.

'From the Great Hall in the Palace of Westminster,

'they bear George VI...' BELL TOLLS

'..as the hour sounds for his last journey.

'Now Britain buries her King

'and the nations come to pay their homage.

'Tragic in sombre black, the ladies of his house follow -

'the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret

'together in their grief.

'Behind the Queen's coach walk the four Royal Dukes.'

Prince Philip on the left

and the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen's uncle,

the Duke of Windsor, also her uncle, and then me.

'..and the 16-year-old Duke of Kent.'

The first time I'd met the Duke of Windsor, who was my uncle,

and he was also my godfather.

Hardly anybody knew him, you know?

He'd been out of the country for the last 15 years -

since the abdication -

and I was very conscious all the time

that I had to keep up with my uncles and cousins.

'Past Tyburn and along the Edgware Road...'

We went all the way from Westminster Hall

eventually to Paddington Station -

it was certainly quite a long way.

And then a bit more, of course, when we got down to Windsor.

'As the Queens and Princess watch,

'the Royal coffin is brought to the train,

'and the King leaves London, no more to return.'

My grandmother was still in mourning that spring of 1952

when my mama, now the young Queen, filmed my sister and me

in the gardens of Royal Lodge at Windsor.

So, this must be just before the coronation.

Typical line-up.

Grandpa's always there on hand - good to see.

Granny looking stunning. Yeah.

She's beautiful.

Look at those jewels sparkling - wow! Yeah.

She was a very... Well, glamour is the wrong word for her,

but she was also a glamorous person

as a very young Queen in those days...

..but she also has great warmth,

and the two together makes her something very, very special.

At the time of the coronation, in 1953,

my parents commissioned a private film

to capture the scene at Buckingham Palace

as everyone in their finery lined up to travel in procession

to Westminster Abbey.

Wonderful.

Winston...looks wonderful with his tricorn hat on.

There's Lady Churchill.

Wonderful.

It's marvellous. I've not seen this before.

Hah!

I'm trying to...

I think that's the Princess Royal in the...

Lord Mountbatten, I can see.

Probably giving orders to somebody.

And that's my mother, Princess Marina,

and sister.

Carrying a coronet, my sister is!

That's me. That's...

That's my mother sitting in the carriage.

And my brother Michael.

And...

my sister Alexandra.

We're having some trouble with the window, apparently.

There's no apparent nerves, at all.

Wonderful sight.

PRINCE HARRY: Very smart.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Grandpa looking very smart.

Looking slightly nervous, as well.

Do you not think? Mm.

Yes, very nervous, look!

One way of travelling, isn't it?! Yeah.

The carriage is amazing, isn't it?

CHOIR SINGS

Prince Philip doing his homage...

'I, Philip, do become your liege man of life and limb

'and of earthly worship,

'and faith and truth I will bear unto you,

'to live and die, against all manner of folks,'

'so help me God.'

I think that's me...

right beside the Archbishop - or Bishop, as he was then -

holding up the words,

which I had methodically learned for weeks beforehand,

tried to memorise them for a long time before,

and I thought I'd got it all absolutely by heart, you know?

And then, I saw him holding the card, so I needn't have worried.

There's Prince Charles, a very small Prince Charles,

and his sister.

I assume that's on the return.

I don't imagine that either of us

were a great deal of help at that stage.

No.

That's quite an impressive sight, isn't it?

Everyone is just sparkling. Yeah, that's a lot of jewellery.

That's unbelievable.

Grandpa trying to do some ushering.

"Will you get in here? Everyone, come on."

You can see why he got fed up of doing family photos after this.

Can you imagine how hot, and how long this must have gone on for?

Look at those dresses - they're incredible.

The light on them looks amazing. So young, as well. Yeah.

That's helpful, isn't it(?)

Yeah, just what every photographer wants to see(!) Yeah, exactly.

Just prolong the situation even more.

Yes, that was Senior Nanny Lightbody.

She was Senior Nanny, and she had a slightly different way

of treating senior child to junior child.

I don't think we'll go any further.

You were conscious of the fact that she had become the sovereign.

And you accorded her the sort of respect that was her due.

My mother had very firm ideas about the relationship

with the sovereign and how important it was that we bowed correctly

and curtsied and kissed her hand, that kind of thing.

She wanted to make sure we did that properly.

NEWSREEL NARRATOR: To arrive in India for the first time

is an unforgettable experience for anyone in any age.

How much more so for the Queen,

for whom the magic of air travel in a few hours translated

the January gloom of London into the tropical brilliance of New Delhi?

It wasn't very long after independence.

And my mama had never been there before.

So that tour was, I think, a very important one.

If I venture any of the names, my mama will tell me

I've got them wrong, of course.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, Mr Nehru is still there - hooray!

Half a century had passed since a reigning monarch last visited India.

Her grandfather, King George V,

may have, you know, told her a few things.

Because remember, they went out for the Delhi Durbar in 1911,

I think it was.

Because, of course, when you go to Sandringham,

the wonderful thing there is it's full of all the things

that King Edward VII,

my great-great-grandfather, brought back from his tour

of India in 1870, when he was Prince of Wales - extraordinary.

So, on the walls are all these amazing bits of weaponry

and shields and swords...

This was an India evoking memories

of the historic Delhi Durbar,

held in honour of the King-Emperor George V,

the Queen's grandfather.

This is Jaipur, which I've been to. I haven't ever been on an elephant.

It must have been an amusing experience, certainly...

I remember Grandma told me about all this,

cos it swayed about - can you imagine?

You're very high up. Frankly alarming.

In the Fortress Stadium of the Lahore Cantonment was held

Pakistan's National Horse and Cattle Show.

Do look at these splendid things.

Pictures of the show and much else of the Royal Tour

will provide home movies for the Queen's children.

Mama, whenever she could, she took some photos.

A few still pictures this time.

Or my father did. There, you see.

Dancing stallion.

What a contrast was the Northwest Frontier

and the world-famous Khyber Pass.

You see, they were so lucky, because they managed to get to these places.

Along a motor road built in the 1920s now came the Queen

and Prince Philip,

nearing the border between Pakistan

and her rugged neighbour Afghanistan.,

We never got to the Khyber Pass, sadly - we were due to go -

because it all got too... Tragically,

it's all got too dangerous and too difficult.

Awaiting the Queen were men whose forebears

were among the historic enemies of Britain.

Many a warrior who came to meet the Queen remembered

the stirring times when a few crack shots,

well hidden in this wild country,

could take toll on the finest troops.

HE CHUCKLES

They've always been heavily armed, haven't they?

Ideal place for an ambush.

Don't you love the moustache?

The largest crowds of the tour, however, were in Calcutta.

It's estimated that more than two million people

in the Commonwealth's second-largest city lined their streets.

All this open-car stuff.

Slightly alarming it must have been, left standing up on your own.

Never before have the Queen and Duke

been welcomed by such large numbers of people.

But, you see, I remember so well trying to ring my parents...

from the school I was in.

I remember being taken into a little room -

probably the headmaster's study or something, I suppose -

and I sat there, you see, with the telephone,

and all you could hear was endless connections going on,

you know, between one place, one operator and another.

Then finally there was a click, and then there was a...

Again, a distant, distant voice...

in amongst what sounded like a raging storm,

the sea and the wind and everything else.

So I managed to get two words out, whereupon it went "click" - gone.

So we went through the whole process all over again.

Finally had a few words at the end of it all. Even in 1961,

it was a major exercise to talk to anybody at that distance.

She's been to every country that there is in the world,

pretty much, and it's hard to go

somewhere that she hasn't been. I think it's actually impossible.

There are, in fact, quite a few places

that she hasn't managed to visit.

Not so long ago, my parents kindly supported my son Harry

by meeting some of the people

about to walk to the South Pole for charity.

Ah. Ah. That was her at Buckingham Palace.

South Pole Challenge.

Actually, Granny and Grandpa were very sweet to say,

"Bring them along and get them to come in and say hello."

Which was very kind. This is your Walking with the Wounded, isn't it?

Yeah, exactly. Grandpa probably wondering why on earth

we're walking to the South Pole.

Yeah. I think he thought that a lot of the time.

And this is Dominic West. There's an Englishman... I'm the clown.

LAUGHTER

The only non-military - I'm in real trouble.

Granny, these are the teams that slowed the Commonwealth team down.

LAUGHTER

We call him our anchor. Oh, really?

I think Granny's trying to work out why Dominic West is in the line-up.

And why he hasn't brushed his hair.

Everyone else looks relatively smart apart from him.

It is a sort of bug, isn't it, people get?

They like going to the coldest places.

Freeze down there. Lose bits and pieces.

Mind your fingers. Have you been? No, of course not!

See, that's a classic example of someone slightly panicking,

not really knowing what to say to the Queen.

And crumbling under the pressure.

No, I don't think anything would really make me go down there.

WILLIAM: 'Worst question he's ever asked.'

HARRY: 'Poor Dominic. Stick to acting!'

..the guide for the US team and took myself

and Prince Harry to the North Pole.

Oh, did you? That was brave. I shared a tent with him, Granny.

That's incredibly brave, on my part.

'When you go on official tours to'

the Bahamas, Belize, all those places...

My first proper tour representing her, I was bricking myself.

I was incredibly nervous. I was wondering what...

"People are going to be disappointed it's me

"and not her. Will I get it all right? Will I make any mistakes?"

So there is a huge amount of pressure

and a huge weight on our shoulders, but she's led the way,

and I think she's more than happy to let you crack on.

If you get it wrong, she'll tell you.

And, likewise, if we get it wrong, then we'll go up and apologise.

We've all had to learn the ropes.

My sister and I did our first Royal tour with my parents

all over Canada in 1970. It was...memorable.

Two of the longest days of our lives.

We arrived in Inuvik and went to Tuktoyaktuk, which is

somewhere in the Arctic Circle.

It was a military exercise in the middle of nowhere.

This helicopter really wasn't very far away and it started to rain.

Oh, this was very funny. You see, the helicopter hovered...

They were doing a demonstration.

HE LAUGHS

Of course, it was raining anyway, and blowing,

and everybody's umbrellas were all sucked inside out in the stands.

It went on for hours.

I have to say, you had to keep your sense of humour,

cos it was... We were all very inappropriately dressed

for that kind of treatment!

REPORTER: At the tiny township of Fort Providence,

the royal family found more than the usual

airport reception waiting for them.

CHARLES LAUGHS

The horror of the black flies and the mosquitoes -

you cannot believe what it was like.

No respecters of persons royal or otherwise...

They always said that the black flies were really bad,

and they didn't give us any nets.

That's why I think Mama is in a trouser suit, because,

sensibly advised, these people are trying to get away from the insects!

THE QUEEN: This I don't remember, of course. This at Glamis?

No, cos you see, how old do you think you were then?

About a year. Just tottering. Mm. Mm.

Marvellous. Look. "Go away."

THEY LAUGH

Can you remember what that one was called? Glen, or somebody.

Ah.

I was very busy. Yep.

Emptying and then putting everything back in again. Hopefully...

Some of it doesn't go back in again.

Where is this again? That's not Glamis, is it? Well...

I think that's London. Must be, mustn't it?

Oops. CHARLES LAUGHS

Extremely painful. Yes.

And then do it again!

Do you think that pram is somewhere, still? I've never seen it again.

CHARLES LAUGHS

Now I've got into it.

Yes, it's the garden at 145 Piccadilly.

Oh.

These pictures were taken when my grandmother was Duchess of York.

She used to take my mother up from London to Glamis Castle,

the Scottish home of her parents,

the Earl and Countess of Strathmore.

My mother was one of the eldest daughters of the Strathmores.

And the Queen Mother was positively the youngest.

I think there were ten children in all.

Anyway, they were sisters -

my mother and the Queen's mother were sisters.

And thus, makes me a first cousin to the Queen.

But my grandparents, Claude, the...14th Earl or something,

he was a wonderful man.

He smoked cigarettes and he had an enormous bushy moustache.

So, as children, one was always waiting

in eager anticipation for his moustache to catch fire.

Which would have been very enlivening and enjoyable.

But I don't think it ever did.

When my mama was five, there was a big family gathering at Glamis.

There was a lot of leeway for a lot of grandchildren.

Mountains of them, weren't there?

That's my grandparents' golden wedding.

David, get out of the way. David.

Isn't that amazing, the whole line of them?

Well, there were a lot of grandchildren. How splendid!

We ended up at the bottom of the line, practically. And there's...

That's Margaret. ..Margaret.

That's my grandmother.

Who I always wish I'd met.

THEY CHUCKLE

Who's that, holding on to you?

Tidda, I think. Is it? Cousin Tidda.

We were going quite fast.

But this must have been taken by... By your papa.

I think so, probably. Yes.

You know, that family was a...

A surprise to the King,

and I think he enjoyed going back there.

Seeing this footage for the first time helps us to understand

where my grandmother got her sense of fun from,

and how she passed that on to her own family.

My great uncle, David Bowes-Lyon, at the back.

CHARLES CHUCKLES

It was a revelation to the King

to see what a big...family was like in its home, you know.

Being brought up by King George V and Queen Mary,

they were very...

I don't know, I may be wrong,

but it felt as if they were rather unloving, you know -

un-showing of love.

And he saw this ebullient, wonderful Bowes-Lyon family of huge numbers,

and they all got on frightfully well.

There's my grandmother, again.

She was always dreaming up something wonderfully dotty to do,

my grandmother...

CHARLES CHUCKLES

Congas around the house and things like that.

This is frightfully unkind.

Oh, he was such a dear man.

He was permanently...

I don't think the corgi is enjoying it very much.

No, the corgi certainly isn't.

Arthur Penn was, by then...

Oh, he was just a great friend, I think.

I know, but he wasn't... He became her private secretary...

He did, didn't he? ..and treasurer.

And then...

CHARLES LAUGHS

Got her!

All the dogs, joining in.

Really rough stuff, isn't it? Yes.

Extraordinary. Yes.

It's always such fun, having somebody like that to hit... Yes.

..with pillows and cushions. Well, we had Dick Molyneux. Dick...

Who put up with everything. Everything.

Until one day, he...

He got fed up, and he was teased so much,

that he upset the ink pot over Uncle Algie's head.

Did he? Yes, which shook me -

I mean, you know, I'd never seen anybody behave like that.

Quite funny, wasn't it?

Must've taken a long time to get the ink out.

It did, because he had a very crinkly nose and...

It got into it. Ah... SHE LAUGHS

Not much fun, with a pumice stone on the nose. No. No, exactly.

So, I was shocked, I must say.

I didn't know that people behaved like that.

Ah...

What, he got driven to distraction by being teased mercilessly? Yes.

I mean, one day, he got so teased that he jumped fully clothed

into the swimming pool at the Royal Lodge.

Did he? Yes. In Ascot week.

HE CHUCKLES

Oh, this is Andrew and Edward.

Do you think that's at... Frogmore, was it? Or...?

No, I think it's in the garden in London. London, London.

Because we were...

That's rather good, that. Isn't it?

We were allowed to rake the leaves and... Yes.

Put them in the...

CHARLES LAUGHS

That's Edward, isn't it? Yes. Busily sucking his thumb.

Is that...?

CHARLES LAUGHS

And if that was left to the siblings,

they would have been buried completely, I daresay.

We certainly spent more time outside,

probably, than the modern generations do.

Holkham Beach was always a great expedition,

and still is, really.

Good way of wearing out children, then, that was.

Still is, actually.

Do you remember doing this? Yes, absolutely - vividly.

I always remember how far one had to walk to get to the sea,

very often, because of the tide. Yes, miles.

I remember finding a dead whale out there once.

HE CHUCKLES

Endless hours of being...

Look at the size of the beach.

Astonishing, isn't it?

Holkham was a bit off the beaten track.

It does look...almost completely empty,

which you wouldn't find now.

Um...it would be... Have many more people on it.

But it was a public beach even then, so...

But it's a big beach.

Always such fun, playing hide and seek

in those dunes. In the dunes.

I remember that so well. Isn't it funny?

Vividly.

And in those days, you didn't mind the prickly grass. No.

It WAS quite prickly, too, wasn't it?

Obviously, Papa joins him.

CHARLES LAUGHS

That, I remember.

Feeling you were never going to get out.

It's such a good photograph, that one, isn't it?

He doesn't think that's funny, at all.

The sand starts to move. Revolting...

Old jokes are the best, aren't they, really?

I wonder if you'd get away with burying your children nowadays.

SHE LAUGHS

I think this is Holkham Beach.

If my notations are right, this is 1967.

Ah...

So, um...

The Queen and Princess Margaret,

as well as my father, the Duke of Edinburgh,

and I think that was Princess Margaret's

King Charles spaniel which she had, so that must be...

Yes, David Linley. And this would be Andrew.

Not brilliant, these photographs, are they? But there you go.

I did it as a hobby at school.

Who nicked my camera?

SHE LAUGHS

INTERVIEWER: Can we see that? Must you?

LAUGHING: Yes.

No, I think we'll do without that.

SHE CHUCKLES

Still climbing sand dunes, you notice.

Her Majesty, her experience would have been very similar,

but there is less evidence of her growing up at these sort of places.

But I think, even for her, it's probably not changed very much.

You tend to assume that the next generation

isn't going to like what the previous generation did,

but all of that kind of outdoor life has always been hugely popular,

and I think that is something that she probably enjoys recognising,

is that that generational enjoyment is still there.

How well I remember the bond

between my mother and her sister Princess Margaret.

And you can see from these films it was there from the very start.

It's very revealing, actually,

how that closeness started

with how young they were, and that never...

That never got weaker as they got older.

If anything, it probably just got stronger and stronger.

SILENT FOOTAGE

They're singing.

And these are the...

Well, some songs my grandmother taught us when we were younger.

I think my aunt knows more than my mother.

But I don't remember what this song was.

It's the sweetest thing, isn't it?

But singing must've been a huge part of their lives, I think.

It was something that they both shared, very much.

Now, what are you doing there?

Well, we...must be singing. Under the Spreading Chestnut...no?

Not quite, but we're singing something.

SHE LAUGHS

Taught by Granny.

Well, I suppose so, yes.

I remember hearing them singing together.

It was very moving.

It's something that you don't forget.

He's dressed in overalls.

Gardening. Yes.

HE LAUGHS

Now, you see, interestingly enough,

I've had it done, so Margaret has to have it done.

Has to have it done, exactly.

Certainly when they were small,

it was very much Lilibet, being the elder sister,

who would teach her younger sister how to behave.

She's tiny.

Oh!

SHE LAUGHS

Well, my aunt is trying to be a horse,

whereas I can't quite see the expression on my mother's face,

whether she's enjoying being pretend spanked or not.

I love my mother being the horse - no, the pony, I would say - in this.

I love the reverse role, here.

It was your turn to be...driven. SHE LAUGHS

Well, it was always very fair. Yes.

Now, that...is what?

The V and A. The old Victoria and Albert yacht.

But she lasted till when? Oh, until the beginning of the war.

The beginning of the war. This was 19...

SHE SIGHS

'37. '37.

So, the older sister is teaching the younger sister, isn't she?

Oh, gosh...

And that's Granny teaching them. That is so sweet.

I wonder who that was in the background,

who lurched out of the way.

Was that a Western Isles...? Where were you?

No, we were going from Portsmouth, Portsmouth to...Aberdeen.

Oh! Out of the way.

This is the Palais Glide, I think. The Palais Glide.

So, who was the other person there? That is Miss Crawford.

Miss Crawford - oh, who was the governess...

Our governess.

Those were the days.

I've never seen this before. This is really charming.

Gosh, I remember those chairs, too.

Well, they did spend a lot of time outside.

Even when it was very cold, my grandmother would love

to have a cup of tea outside. Or lunch, if it was sunny.

In the old days, I think my mother would probably...enjoy it less.

This is a picnic in the Sunken Garden. Yes.

With my father reading the newspaper,

for some mysterious reason.

That's Miss Crawford. Yeah.

In the rose garden. Mm. Yeah.

HE LAUGHS

Typical. Marvellous, isn't it? Absolutely typical.

That must have been interesting, riding in that outfit.

Well, it was ridiculous. Look at how she's dressed, too.

With sunshade... Yes... And very smart...clothes.

Funny, isn't it?

It's so nice to see the same cups being used... Yes!

Nothing's changed.

Margaret was always a sort of...slightly

devilishly naughty little girl. But always, always got away with it

because she could make her mother or her father laugh.

Which was very useful for her.

Sitting on the wall, as we all used to do...

..and my mother is singing a song or she's...

..mimicking something. Must be a song, I think.

At big dinner parties at Balmoral, Margaret would fix her eye

on the pages, who are the people like butlers in royal households,

as they served other people. She would look - beadily look at them -

and follow them all the way around the table

and then say something absolutely outrageous and watch them trying to

not laugh. She was naughty for that sort of thing.

That looked like the Gelder, to me.

I remember my mother always saying - you know, quietly, when they

were not able to hear - this one, Elizabeth,

was the important one

because she was one day going to be the Queen.

That looks like Eddie Kent, doesn't it? It does.

We always were struck by...

..a certain seriousness in her demeanour, you know.

There was obviously a very strong character there.

People, including me and the Queen, would come back from a day's

stalking with long details about how we crawled up

a burn on our tummies doing this, that and the other.

And that drove Margaret absolutely mad with boredom.

She didn't want to know anything about it at all.

They ended up being quite different characters,

but the sisterhood remained. Very strongly.

Ah...

Oh, look... Margaret Rhodes again.

And...

CHARLES LAUGHS

Who was taking it? This I think...

Oh, I do love this. Oh, do look.

Doesn't it make people look different?

Frightfully funny!

I can't remember what the reason was. It's quite fun trying to guess.

You would never believe that was Grandpa.

Who's that in yellow, then? That's Betty Salisbury.

It is Betty Salisbury.

And who's the bald man, then?

Well, that's the moderator. Oh, the moderator.

And then beside him is Jack Elton.

And that's Bobbity, on the right, isn't it?

Recreating those... I think it was recreating those photographs.

..those dotty photographs.

SHE CHUCKLES

PRINCE HARRY: Ah... my christening...1984.

Do you remember your little brother being born?

So... Not really. I must have only been two.

It's like a mini George running around.

Windsor hasn't changed at all, has it? No.

Everything's still there - in one piece, luckily!

It's hard to tell if you're a boy or a girl in that dress.

Thank you for that. I think that normally happens at this stage

of your life. You don't really have much of a decision what

you're wearing. Yeah. There's Granny. Gan-Gan!

My godmother Sarah... Sarah Chatto.

Margo...who's going, "I'm keeping away from the children." Exactly!

Zara. Peter, with bright blond hair.

It's called Dash. Dash. Dash.

And you know the word you use when you're cross - "dash!"

It comes out frightfully well as a dog's name, see.

Does it bite? No, not yet. But it might, after it's finished with you.

CHILD BARKS

She loves the idea of having her big family around her

and keeping an eye on them and making sure they're OK.

You met the puppy, didn't you, William?

And it's a very sort of subtle affection that she has,

so she... She keeps an eye without necessarily...

You know it, but she knows exactly what you're up to

and what's going on.

Zara. Get Zara. Zara!

Mummy looks great in blue. Yeah. I'm still not convinced about

the dress that I'm in.

Zara trying her best... "Get off my fingers, Zara. Take the hint."

I think he's even going to smile, isn't he?

Touch your finger.

'Frequently, your relationship with your mother is a different one -

'quite often until you get married, I suspect, and have children,'

when that relationship with your mother changes a bit.

And it can become much closer because of...

That's the first time you really...understand what mothers

have been doing.

'Look how excited you are you've got a younger brother -

'that's fantastic.

'I don't think it's that. It didn't last long, did it?'

This could be literally Christmas last year

with you and Zara. Exactly.

Christmas is always such an important family occasion.

For most of my life, the Queen has hosted it at Sandringham in Norfolk.

But some years, the whole family gathered at Windsor Castle.

It can be a bit of a nightmare when you have everybody under one roof,

but also it's fantastic,

cos you just never know what's going to happen.

And it was particular fun at Windsor because of the huge space.

That long green corridor, which, incidentally,

is full, of course, of the most marvellous furniture and pictures.

The children used to ride their bicycles up and down there.

I don't think there were skateboards,

but, you know, they were hurling themselves about.

Miraculously, I don't think any of the pictures

or furniture was ever damaged.

WILLIAM: There's a huge blue giraffe

that's been there for years and years and years

and she sort of bounces around

and her legs wobble all over the place,

and she's got a big dandelion in her nose.

I remember that every year since I was small, it's been there.

And George and Charlotte now play with it, and it's...

I'd say that becomes more of a centrepiece for the family,

cos it's just an old friend who's turned up every year.

Do you think that will be strong enough?

One of the drawing rooms was turned into...

the room where the Christmas tree was,

which was completely magical.

Can we see if this is strong enough to...?

Get off, get off! I wanted this...

'Christmas Eve, at the end of tea,

'the Queen would open the big doors.'

And first of all, there were no lights on,

except on the Christmas tree, so that was very impressive.

Cos as the room's quite tall, it just filled...

It was from floor to ceiling. It was amazing.

And then, headed by a flock of children

in a state of great excitement,

we would all go in and find our present.

THEY LAUGH

I always say to both my grandparents,

"Why do you keep doing it?

"At this age, why do you have your whole family under one roof?

"It must just exhaust you?"

But they love it, they absolutely love it.

At least, that's what they say.

On Christmas morning, they had early Communion,

breakfast, and then a big service on in the chapel.

And then Christmas lunch, you know,

you can imagine all the nonsense of Christmas lunch,

which everybody has with paper hats

and things just coming out of crackers.

There was a long table, which was divided, and then we had...

You know, with our names.

We knew, because of the order, where we were going to be.

I remember once changing the name of the person next to me,

which was an awful thing to do, and it caused rather a lot of upset.

I won't say who the person was!

But I never forgot that. I didn't do it again!

There's a look that everybody knows.

If you know the Queen well enough,

there's a look, and you know you've either overstepped the mark

or you've said something really daft.

In my case, I usually say something pretty daft.

And you get the sort of... the glazed look,

sort of thinking to yourself, "Who is this absolute idiot?"

Splendid garden.

A-ha.

Oh, look!

It could be anybody, couldn't it? Yes!

William, or it could be George. Couldn't it?

My sister.

Bonk.

Susan. Susan, exactly. Yeah. The dog. Mm.

Oh, look, it's Aunt Tiny. Yes.

My father's youngest sister.

I absolutely adored her.

HE LAUGHS

That is... That's Karl. Karl. My first cousin.

THEY LAUGH

Obviously, this is where his gardening interests started.

Where it started.

Look at those prams. They're amazing.

I reckon that pram is still going.

Look how good-looking Grandpa is there. He's an absolute stud.

Right? Yeah.

Those glasses, slicked-back hair.

Presumably, he was in the Navy then, still?

I think he might have left by then. Yeah.

Same games. What is it with this family and rolling?

Another fashion statement by Pa.

LAUGHTER

He walks like George. He does. Or George walks like him.

There's a purpose to the walk. Yeah.

They'll probably chase each other round that garden a few times as well.

Yeah, but not for a while.

In the early days, when Gan-Gan was around.

Look at that little head poking out the side. Yeah.

See what's going on.

I think you're a bit big for that. Yeah, exactly.

THEY LAUGH

Oh, sweet! Oh, look! They are very sweet little pups.

That's a corgi cross of some sort, I think.

Yeah, those can't be straight corgis.

Oh! Oh, sweet!

You think how many corgis Granny must have had over her life.

And the fact that none of us have ever really been attacked,

bitten or been allergic to dogs.

Otherwise it could have been quite awkward.

Very cute. Yeah.

These are different sort of puppies. Mm.

And do you think that's going to be the one that became your dog?

What, Flame? Mm.

I don't know. It might be.

One puppy's taking the camera. Yes.

Have you still got that camera somewhere? No.

Well, don't think so. It's the old Rolleiflex.

Yes. Yes. Perhaps I have...

I remember it was so hard trying to get to see the image in it.

Nice, charming, friendly dogs.

HE LAUGHS

Endlessly trying to bite.

Yeah.

You're very good at training these dogs. Yes, I think I was quite good.

Yep.

She's not a bad horsewoman, either.

She'd soon graduated from playing with ponies on the nursery floor

to the real thing.

There is always an inherent risk with an animal,

that it'll do something untoward or different.

And that's partly your own skill

and partly your own ability to take risks.

My mama first took the salute at Trooping the Colour in 1949,

when my grandfather was unable to be there,

riding solo along The Mall at the head of the Birthday Parade.

Every year, it's impeccably organised.

But in 1981, when I was riding behind her

with my father and the Duke of Kent,

the sound of shots came from the crowd.

COMMENTATOR: Her Majesty The Queen,

in the uniform of the colonel in chief, the Welsh Guards.

Field Marshal His Royal Highness The Prince Philip...

GUNSHOTS

Oh.

Behind her... Hello, some little disturbance in the approach road.

You'll notice the Queen's horse does canter a little bit.

And I'm on the grey horse there,

which we almost stopped, for some reason.

And others were going... Policemen rushing.

The Queen, of course, kept going perfectly.

This chap, as it turned out, fired blanks, but, um...

..we didn't know at the time.

I've had enough...

You know, it's one of those things you often think about,

riding down The Mall, at any minute, who might do something...

crazy, because you know,

there's all sorts of people about.

You must continue.

That's the great thing, my mama certainly did.

You're not going to suddenly rush off in panic, you know.

Yes, I noticed the Queen was looking round,

presumably out of curiosity to know what had happened.

She seems quite unperturbed at that point.

It's extraordinary to see that again, I must say,

because, you know, it's such a long time ago.

NEWSREEL VOICEOVER: Burmese, receiving a reassuring pat

from Her Majesty the Queen.

But he's a very experienced, wise old fellow.

And she is a marvellous rider, so...

You know, she's got a marvellous way with horses.

Made of strong stuff, you know.

Hmm.

'The Queen's long experience of the military goes back to the war years,

'when she herself served in the ATS

'and she often saw her father in uniform.

'She spent at least part of the war based at Windsor,

'where other members of the family were given shelter.'

The late King was very generous to my mother, because she was a widow.

My father was killed in the war and we used to go

and stay at Windsor because of the bombing.

At the time, I think we just thought it was a change of scene,

you know, but I now realise that it was almost certainly to move us

out of the line of the Blitz.

Um... I don't know how effective it was,

because it's a huge landmark

and pretty well unmissable, I would have thought.

NEWSREEL: As a reminder that

we're still bringing down the raiders,

here's one that came to stay near Windsor Castle.

There were those black curtains on all the big windows, you know,

which made the place look

horribly gloomy.

The exciting thing to us was that

when we went out into the garden or the park,

we saw an anti-aircraft gun sitting, I mean,

not more than probably 100 yards from the castle.

The butler would come in and bow very low and say,

"Purple warning, Your Majesty."

Purple warning was obviously, "the enemy is on the way"

or, I don't know, something like that.

NEWSREEL: Water is a munition of war.

Don't waste it.

You have seen this,

and this,

and this.

In the bathrooms of the nursery floor that we were on, there was

a very severe black line about four inches from the bottom of the bath.

There was a line around the inside of the bath to show

the depth of water you were allowed.

It was only about, I think, four or five inches or something.

It wasn't a great deal.

One of the things I do remember

were the hand-me-downs, which were invaluable

because we had clothing coupons, so they were very kind to me,

my cousins, and I think it was Princess Elizabeth mainly.

They let me have one or two of their dresses.

There was one blue one with seagulls all over it

that's always stayed in my mind.

Windsor has always occupied a special place in my mother's heart,

with plenty of memories going back to those years in the war.

On one occasion, the talent for improvisation my grandmother

had learnt up at Glamis Castle came to the rescue.

Tea was on a little sort of terrace which came out

from sort of rather halfway up the castle in some funny way,

and there was the King and Queen

and Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret,

Elizabeth Longman and me.

And...in the middle of sitting down to tea,

we suddenly heard loud American voices.

And there was one awful moment

and the King said, "Oh, my God, I forgot.

"It's General Eisenhower coming here and taking a look round the castle."

And, I mean, they were in a hopeless position,

because they couldn't get out of their little balcony place

they were on to go down and greet him,

and they couldn't shout at him.

They couldn't do anything, so the Queen Mother

and the King, looking at each other

but without a word spoken,

got up and got under the tablecloth, hotly followed by Elizabeth...

all four children behind them and we sat under this tablecloth,

quivering with laughter,

while the American voices managed to go by and eventually disappear.

One of the things that I admired very much

was the opening of the Olympic Games in 2012 in London,

when we saw James Bond and the first thing I thought was,

"That looks jolly much like Buckingham Palace.

"My God, it IS Buckingham Palace."

And then a couple of corgis appear

and I thought, have they even found corgis to look like that!

Mr Bond, Your Majesty.

And then one came into the room

and there was the Queen, sitting with her back to the camera

and I thought, "Is that somebody being very clever, impersonating her?"

Good evening, Mr Bond. And she got up, and it was her.

Your Majesty.

I was sat next to Lord Coe at the time and I remember

certain expletives coming out of my mouth

when I realised what was going on.

Then we saw her leave the palace and some time later,

something dropped out of a helicopter.

When she seemed to jump out of that helicopter...

She did jump. She jumped.

Everyone thinks it was a joke. She jumped.

APPLAUSE

She appeared at the stadium.

People went absolutely wild.

And what a good sport to take part in something like that.

And that shows that she has a wonderful sense of humour

and a sense of occasion as well.

I told her how much I admired that she'd taken part in it

and I told her that we all thought it was absolutely wonderful.

I think she enjoyed the surprise,

because apparently, she hadn't even told her children.

It was actually a very well-kept secret.

Problem more a state secret

than most of the intelligence documents that she receives,

but it was one of those ones where, um,

nothing was told to any of us and clearly they knew

that certain grandchildren would probably

go round telling everybody too much.

'In fact, the only member of my family who

'was in on the secret was my father.

'Buckingham Palace has witnessed many extraordinary events

'in its 200-year history.

'One of them was my parents' wedding day in November 1947...

'..which I think lifted the spirits of a nation

'caught up in post-war austerity.

'They have their own filmed memento of the scenes backstage.

'Believe it or not, more than 68 years ago.'

This is a scene before lunch.

And that's in the...ball supper room.

Ball supper room. Exactly. There are rather a lot of cakes.

Much more difficult to be able to fulfil that kind of role without

the level of support that you have from, um, a husband like my father.

I'm sure that has made an enormous difference to her ability to cope.

Margaret. Margaret. Still smoking a cigarette.

All these were taken by Granny and Freddie, the Queen of Greece.

Yes.

Queen Mary, my great-grandmother.

Pammy. Margaret. Margaret Rose.

Pammy. Mountbatten.

Marina. There's Aunt Marina, the Duchess of Kent.

And Alexandra with her. Alexandra, yes.

And Annie Lightbody, just going to curtsey.

The page boys, and that's Richard as a small boy.

The Gloucesters, yes. That's right.

How splendid.

Is that that Russian tiara? No, that was my mama's tiara.

It fell to pieces. Did it? Just before our wedding.

And that's getting into the carriage.

They don't show Jane the dog. Was the dog with you?

Yes, we left it behind in my room.

Oh, no!

So she was underneath the rug.

This is quite funny. Look.

Whoo-argh! SHE LAUGHS

The horse didn't think that was at all funny. "Ooh!"

The Household Cavalry are not used to this sort of thing.

SHE LAUGHS

They all... everybody rushed out after us.

Full of confetti. Yes, and poor Jane

fell out of the carriage at the station in a shower of confetti.

No!

Both my parents have remained inherently curious about life

and things, although there is a pattern to the year.

Everything is different and the things they do during the year

and the challenges that the country faces and that they face

as individuals changes each year, and that, I'm sure,

has made a difference, because they've always had to adjust

and move on and adjust again.

Ah, so this must be the diamond wedding photo shoot.

Everyone's looking quite dressed up. Yeah.

Look how young everybody is! There we are, the whole family.

Ed hasn't changed a bit!

Oh! Late! Latecomers. Strolling in.

We made it before Granny and Grandpa, so that's fine.

SOFT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

I mean, this is when you think to yourself,

how many photo things like this have they had to sit for? Yes.

I would love to know their secrets.

I think it's absolutely fantastic

and I have regularly asked them both how on earth they've managed it

because they are, you know, the most lovely couple

and I hope Catherine and I have the same sort of future ahead of us,

where we can be as happily married as they are for 68 years.

Watch the birdie! CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Cheese!

If you're the photographer, you are already... Yes.

..bricking yourself, because you know you've got, like,

three shots before Grandpa turns round and goes, "Right, that's it,"

and then just gets up and walks off.

I think there's obviously a closeness

and they have lots of jokes together,

you know, it's quite a close family and they tease each other.

It's... Probably it's not rude, but they just tease each other.

There's a lot of laughter.

There used to be an awful lot of banter.

I now think that my grandmother has got tired of a lot of the banter,

because she never really won, and my grandfather still loves

the banter, but he's now turned that on his grandchildren

and probably the great-grandchildren, eventually.

I still view her more as the Queen than my grandmother.

It gets hammered in... Not hammered into you, but you have

this huge amount of respect for your boss,

and I always view her as my boss,

but occasionally as a grandmother, and the more grandmother bits,

the more I can get advice and suck all that information out of her,

all that experience that she's had for so long.

Thank you very much.

'One of the most colourful events each year is the gathering

'of the Knights of the Garter, the oldest order of chivalry.

'It's one of the things that gives each year its rhythm,

'like the changing of the seasons or the arrival of swallows

'and house martins in summer.

'And the honour is in the sovereign's personal gift.'

She came here for dinner with some friends and after dinner,

to my astonishment, she said she'd given me

the Garter, or was going to give me the Garter, and I remember thinking,

"Good gracious! Could I think about it?" And she said,

"Alexandra, I'm terribly sorry, you cannot, because it's already

"been Gazetted and it's going to be announced tomorrow morning."

The Garter ceremony is very beautiful

and really unforgettable and I felt very much honoured to have

been made a Knight of the Garter.

It's very colourful.

Those strange, plumed hats - and if there's a wind,

you're always a little bit worried that something might just take off.

'At the Coronation, it was Queen Salote of Tonga

'who captured the hearts of the crowd

'when she rode in an open carriage in pouring rain.'

'So it was perhaps rather appropriate

'that on my parents' four-month world tour later that year,

'one of the first stops was to see her in the Pacific.'

Tonga. Yes.

That marvellous Queen Salote. Yes. Look at the size of her!

Amazing. She was taller than Papa. CHARLES CHUCKLES

She was the one who drove in an open carriage

to the Coronation, wasn't she? Yes.

This was taken by an equerry who didn't know how to...

How to do it. ..use a cine camera.

And this was the house we lived in.

That was... What was it?

Suckling pigs and fruit and all sorts of things.

And sitting on the floor, which is always all right

for a bit. Up to a point, yes.

And incredibly hot.

Oh, amazingly hot.

But you always manage to look so incredibly cool!

That was the Australian equerry.

Who got in, covered in garlands.

This is New Zealand. This is down in the South Island, I think.

I'm not very good at driving, I don't think.

Papa hadn't taken it up by then, had he?

Presumably a sheep station. Yes.

Who's that with you? He's the owner of the station, I think.

At least you're sitting down by now.

You're getting rather good at it now!

Driving the sheep. Look.

Splendid coat. They're Merinos. Yes, exactly. For miles.

So, did you spend a few days on the...?

Well, it was just, I think, a weekend off. Yeah.

Oh!

Ooh! An awful long way up, that one.

But in those days, it didn't seem so difficult.

Now, where can this be? I think this is South Australia.

We just borrowed some police horses. Yep.

Oh, like we did, do you remember, in Canada? In Canada, yes.

Rode on the trail.

On the prairie. And that horse ran away with me, do you remember?

And for some reason, he didn't come with us. Didn't want to ride.

'While they were making their way home,

'my sister and I set off in the Royal Yacht Britannia

'to meet them in the Mediterranean.

'It was her maiden voyage,

'and a great excitement for both of us.'

NEWSREEL: This is the first time any of the Royal visitors

have seen the splendid new yacht,

which was named by the Queen herself.

It has been nearly five months since the Queen was with her children,

though she has kept close contact with them throughout her tour

by radio telephone.

The people that were around us most,

which was Nanny Lightbody and Miss Peebles,

were still there, so...

Because we moved around establishments and houses,

we got quite used to moving.

Same people, new environment - you know, done that before.

We had two sailors who used to look after us.

Stop us falling over the side.

They were absolutely wonderful, as only Royal Yachtsmen can be,

at guarding us, you know.

Taking us off...

We did endless sort of things with them, you know, swabbing the decks

and learning to cheese ropes

and tie knots and all that stuff.

Then we got involved in everything.

Must have been a frightful nuisance to them all.

Poor drummer!

'Once we were reunited, my mama had her camera out again,

'as she so often did in Britannia.'

Never-ending source of things to do, playing with those.

Never a dull moment.

That wouldn't have been a very good idea, that was the fire hydrant.

It provided, er, not only a haven, so to speak,

but you could be stable on board,

because you didn't have to move things,

you didn't have to pack and unpack,

and it was a wonderfully secure place to have holidays.

And I imagine, from my mother's perspective,

that was particularly important.

And the crew were...part of that,

and you always knew nothing went any further.

So, it was a time when people could genuinely enjoy time off.

I just feel very lucky to have had her as an aunt.

She included my brother and I in holidays and...

and her life, really. You felt very lucky.

INAUDIBLE

With Britannia, it just felt,

because you were so far away from everything,

it was a really magical time.

It looks very hot.

If you think they're on the west coast of Scotland...

about tea-time.

Prince of Wales looking really young.

God, they all looked so glamorous, didn't they, in those days?

I've never seen any of this footage before.

That must be Andrew and Ed.

That's so much fun.

I wonder who that is. Ooh! That was me!

HE LAUGHS

That's Sarah! Yep.

That can't be me.

Oh! Things HAVE changed.

But the slide, I do remember really well.

It was the best fun, that, I must say.

HE LAUGHS

You could get quite a long way, couldn't you, sometimes, on there?

Yes, you see, I got quite a long way.

Well, I think you were big enough

and heavy enough to get further than anybody else! I know, exactly.

Well, Papa could get quite a long way.

That slide was very popular.

It was always better with the water coming down, wasn't it? Yes.

NEWSREADER: Piped aboard for the final time,

the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came to say goodbye

to a yacht whose Royal duties spanned nearly half a century.

'In the course of 90 years,

'there are bound to be sadnesses within the family

'as well as joys.

'And the decommissioning of Britannia, nearly 20 years ago now,

'was a particularly poignant moment.'

BAND PLAYS

INTERVIEWER: Was it emotional?

Um...

I think when we left, it was quite emotional.

CROWD SINGING HYMN

They were really saying goodbye to a home, I think.

And...and everything that was associated with it,

you were saying goodbye to. That was pretty sad.

She's got a...what I call a compartmentalised brain,

which is that she can shut the door on a worry,

about either the children, or something else...

Um, and can... She can shut it and contain it,

and manage to be her own self.

INTERVIEWER: Is the Queen an optimist?

SHE CHUCKLES

Um...

I wouldn't have said so, no. Not really.

A pessimist?

No, that's why I hesitated, I don't think she's inherently a pessimist.

I think I am, but I don't think she is, funnily enough.

Erm...

But, no, I don't get the feeling

that she's wildly optimistic about, er...

about life.

A genuine realist and a pragmatist, I think.

Now, where...? Oh, is this going to South Africa? Yes.

In Vanguard, this was Vanguard. Vanguard.

Which was that fantastic battleship.

Yes. The last one.

Playing with the midshipmen.

CHARLES LAUGHS

And that's in the Drakensberg.

Yep. In South Africa.

Marvellous.

Whose house was that? It wasn't, it was a hotel. It was a hotel? Mm.

'In many ways, it was my mama's coming-of-age in South Africa

'that set the tone for the Age of Elizabeth.

'The message she sent to the entire Empire and Commonwealth

'on her 21st birthday

'was perhaps slightly different from any of her predecessors

'as heir to the throne.'

Through the inventions of science,

I can do what was not possible for any of them.

I can make my solemn act of dedication

with the whole Empire listening.