0:00:04 > 0:00:07In May 1935, Britain celebrated the Silver Jubilee
0:00:07 > 0:00:10of King George V and his Consort, Queen Mary.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Despite the tribulations of George's reign,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17the Royal family had never been more popular.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21George had steered the monarchy through
0:00:21 > 0:00:25the catastrophe of the First World War and its chaotic aftermath.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32While the crowned heads of Europe were falling,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35he had preserved and strengthened his own dynasty.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41But the King hadn't done it alone.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Throughout his reign, he had relied upon
0:00:43 > 0:00:46the support of his wife, Queen Mary -
0:00:46 > 0:00:49the present Queen's formidable grandmother.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Queen Mary was tremendously important.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57She was there as the one pillar of the monarchy.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01She became a sort of rock around which the royal family focused.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Like her husband,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Mary was a deeply conservative product of the Victorian era.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12She was also a ruthless survivor,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15who was prepared to sacrifice anything - including her own son -
0:01:15 > 0:01:18to protect the monarchy.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24Control and restraint and responsibility and duty -
0:01:24 > 0:01:28these were all the things that she had to stand for,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30and she felt her son had let her down.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34And when her husband King George died,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37it was Queen Mary's steely resolve that helped
0:01:37 > 0:01:41to rescue a troubled dynasty, reinvent it for the modern age,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45and shape the character of our own Queen Elizabeth.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01In December 1948, the Royal family came together at Buckingham Palace
0:02:01 > 0:02:06to celebrate the christening of the newest member of their dynasty.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12As he squinted out at the cameras, the newborn Prince Charles
0:02:12 > 0:02:14couldn't have been in a safer pair of hands.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Ramrod straight and tough as nails,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Queen Mary had been a symbol of strength and continuity
0:02:21 > 0:02:24across four generations of monarchy -
0:02:24 > 0:02:26as grandmother to a queen...
0:02:27 > 0:02:29..mother to two kings...
0:02:30 > 0:02:33..and a Queen Empress in her own right.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38And yet, for a matriarch who became the acme of regal decorum
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Queen Mary didn't start life as very royal at all.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Born Princess Victoria Mary of Teck in 1867,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52she was given the nickname May because of the month of her birth,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54a name that stuck.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57But although Princess May's mother could boast that she was
0:02:57 > 0:03:00directly descended from King George III,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03her grandfather - a German Royal Duke -
0:03:03 > 0:03:06had done the unthinkable and married for love.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13Princess May suffered from the fact that her grandfather had married below his level.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Her grandfather married only a countess, so a commoner,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and that had meant
0:03:18 > 0:03:20they were taken from the rank of Royal Highness
0:03:20 > 0:03:23down to Serene Highness, so she was only a Serene Highness
0:03:23 > 0:03:26which really mattered in royal circles.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And other members of the royal families rather thought
0:03:29 > 0:03:32she was always a little bit below the quality line.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Princess May's position was very invidious, actually,
0:03:36 > 0:03:42because she was sort of royal - a very difficult position to be in.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Certainly, as the Princess grew older,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49various German royal families made it quite clear
0:03:49 > 0:03:53that they did not consider her an equal or appropriate match,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56but certainly one thing she did take from that
0:03:56 > 0:04:00was the importance of position.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06If her inferior blood seemed to make May unsaleable on the marriage market,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09there was further humiliation to be endured
0:04:09 > 0:04:13in the form of May's fun-loving mother the Duchess of Teck -
0:04:13 > 0:04:17better known to smart London society as Fat Mary.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25Mary's mother was enormous. I mean, she was absolutely vast as a structure,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29not only as a human being, but also in her character.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Mary Adelaide was extremely loud, and liked nothing more
0:04:35 > 0:04:40than making a public spectacle of herself. She loved crowds,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and she'd go out in her carriage and wave,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44which was, I think, regarded as rather vulgar
0:04:44 > 0:04:46by the rest of the royal family.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51She wanted to be this great social figure
0:04:51 > 0:04:57and entertain all the politicians and the great leading lights and stars of society.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01I mean, they became a couple that most visiting royals
0:05:01 > 0:05:05would pop in and say hello, you know, they were pretty central,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08but always in this sort of slightly anarchic way.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Entertaining grandly, spending madly,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17she lived the high life, she ordered satin ball gowns,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20she went to the opera, she went to balls, she went shopping -
0:05:20 > 0:05:23didn't do very much for the bank balance at all.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29In 1883, the bank manager came calling.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Up to their ears in debt, the Teck family were forced
0:05:35 > 0:05:39to sell off the silver in a mortifying public auction.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43"Public notice of sale by auction at Knightsbridge,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45"by command of the Duke and Duchess of Teck.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50"Valuable ornamental furniture, lights, bronzes, clocks,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54"paintings and other effects may be viewed at Kensington palace.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56"Catalogue - one shilling."
0:05:58 > 0:06:01It was humiliating to the last degree.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03To a 16-year-old girl -
0:06:03 > 0:06:07it's an age at which you feel terribly embarrassed anyway -
0:06:07 > 0:06:11to see her all her family's possessions being publicly sold,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and bills in the Pall Mall Gazette saying this.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18And of course, London society gossiped about this the whole time.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The chaotic world of May's parents
0:06:21 > 0:06:25carried the unmistakeable whiff of Hanoverian excess,
0:06:25 > 0:06:31and it gave May a lesson in Victorian decorum that she would never forget.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Princess May had to witness her parents
0:06:34 > 0:06:37being sort of dunned for debts,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42and tradesmen lounging downstairs waiting for payment,
0:06:42 > 0:06:47and the sort of humiliation of it all,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and in her I think it created a desire to retreat
0:06:52 > 0:06:56to a sense of order, where everyone knew what was what.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Mary responded to this terrible parental embarrassment
0:07:01 > 0:07:06by becoming completely the opposite of her incredibly embarrassing parents.
0:07:06 > 0:07:12She devoted herself to being the absolute epitome of duty and control,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15and absolutely sort of willed herself
0:07:15 > 0:07:20to be this very correct person who never did anything out of place.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31With angry creditors snapping at their heels,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35in 1883 May's family exchanged the splendours of Kensington Palace
0:07:35 > 0:07:40for exile - and social death - in Florence.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45But life in the wilderness brought unexpected rewards.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51For Princess May herself, going to Florence was the best thing
0:07:51 > 0:07:53that could have happened to her.
0:07:53 > 0:08:00At 16, Florence was, in a sense, her Damascus moment.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Her eyes were opened to the magnificence of this city -
0:08:10 > 0:08:14the galleries, the cathedrals, the churches and so on -
0:08:14 > 0:08:19and she developed a knowledge of history and modern history.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24So that, by the time she returned to London at the age of 18,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27she operated on a completely different level
0:08:27 > 0:08:30to other members of the royal family.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39May emerged from her exile an unusually cultured and practical princess.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43And although not out of the top drawer of royalty,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47her attributes didn't go unnoticed by the one person who mattered -
0:08:47 > 0:08:50the matchmaker in chief.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56In 1891, Queen Victoria needed a solution
0:08:56 > 0:09:00to a tricky family problem - her grandson, Prince Eddy.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The scandal-prone prince was everything that May was not.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Dissolute and dim, he lived the life of a wastrel,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11gambling and womanising.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Finding a match for Eddy on the marriage market
0:09:15 > 0:09:17wasn't going to be an easy matter.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Queen Victoria went through all the princesses in Europe one by one,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27and she dismissed them all as, variously,
0:09:27 > 0:09:33Catholic, idiotic, thick, ghastly and ugly,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38and the person she came up with in the end was May,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41because she thought that May had backbone.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Here she is, she's good-looking,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49she believes in the monarchy to the Nth degree
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and she's very strong and very dutiful.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56I think all of that wraps up to being a pretty good idea for Prince Eddy.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03In December 1891, the betrothal was announced.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10The Princess had salvaged her own prospects and the honour of her family.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Fat Mary was in seventh heaven.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17After all those years of humiliation, of being put down,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21snubbed on the fringes of royalty, here she is, she's got the plum.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25The plum was rotten.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34In January 1892, the Teck family arrived at Sandringham
0:10:34 > 0:10:37to celebrate the forthcoming union with their future in-laws.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45But during the visit, the ever-unreliable Eddy contracted pneumonia and died.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51The wedding party had turned into a funeral.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56For May and her mother Mary it was like
0:10:56 > 0:11:00having victory snatched away from you at the absolute last minute,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03I mean, it must have been just devastating.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10But Queen Victoria was quite unsentimental about the whole thing,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and very, very quickly reckons that her good work
0:11:13 > 0:11:16in finding May should not go to waste.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25All was not yet lost - Eddy had a younger brother.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29A straight-talking naval officer with an obsession for order and routine,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Prince George now stood to inherit the throne.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36And if May was good enough for Eddy,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39she was good enough for his understudy.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41To our generation,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44the idea of marrying the brother of your dead fiance
0:11:44 > 0:11:47seems rather bizarre, not to say a little macabre,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51but the general assumption was that the engagement to Prince Eddy
0:11:51 > 0:11:54had been motivated by duty rather than passion.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57She saw a job that she could do well,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and I don't think she had any self-doubt about that.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05After a suitable period of mourning, the courtship rituals resumed
0:12:05 > 0:12:09and May transferred her affections from the wild Prince Eddy
0:12:09 > 0:12:11to his dutiful brother George.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17"Dear George, I am very sorry I am so shy with you.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21"It is stupid to be so stiff.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23"Really there is nothing I would not tell you,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26"except that I love you more than anybody.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31"And this I cannot tell you myself, so I write it to relieve my feelings."
0:12:37 > 0:12:41In the spring of 1893, May and George were married,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45and May took her place among the very highest ranks of British royalty...
0:12:47 > 0:12:51..in all likelihood a future Queen of Great Britain,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and Empress of the largest empire the world had ever seen.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07But the marital home, a mere cottage on the Sandringham Estate
0:13:07 > 0:13:10was hardly the palace she might have imagined.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14People made disparagingly sneering remarks about it
0:13:14 > 0:13:16and described it as a glum little villa.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The drawing room was very small,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21you couldn't get more than about two or three people in it.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24And, of course, George loved this because he hated entertaining,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29and it was a wonderful excuse not to have lots of people to stay and to dinner.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35And he had the whole thing furnished by Maples,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38which was the sort of John Lewis of the day.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41And this was terrible for May, because it meant that
0:13:41 > 0:13:45the one thing she really enjoyed doing - decorating - she wasn't allowed to do.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51She hoped to make a real show,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and when you consider that they possessed
0:13:55 > 0:13:58vast amounts of fantastic furniture
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and all these marvellous things that had come down to them,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03it was extraordinary.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05George wanted to be
0:14:05 > 0:14:09in a simple squire's house with the mottos on the wall,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12like, "A stitch in times saves nine,"
0:14:12 > 0:14:15and living a simple kind of life.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18But it was a pretty odd kind of existence.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28George's idea of fun was blasting game birds from the skies over Sandringham.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Her husband's passions left his cultivated wife decidedly cold.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43After one particularly dull shooting party, she confided...
0:14:43 > 0:14:48"It was so stiff I could have turned cartwheels for sixpence."
0:14:49 > 0:14:54For 17 years, the Princess endured the tedium of the Norfolk shooting parties.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59It was all a long way from the galleries and churches of Florence.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Princess May, the future Queen Mary,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04was intellectually and up to a point
0:15:04 > 0:15:07emotionally starved in her marriage.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10She was far more intelligent than the King,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12she had a far wider range of interests.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Left to herself, she would have travelled around.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Instead, if she did want to go and look at a cathedral or museum or something,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23she was regarded as being a slightly absurd eccentric.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26She's much better educated than George is,
0:15:26 > 0:15:31she's much more interested in things like books, and she knows about art...
0:15:31 > 0:15:35She's pretty much the closest the royal family gets to an intellectual.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38George has no interest in that at all,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41all he wants to do is shoot and put in his stamps.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44She couldn't bear going out on the grouse moors
0:15:44 > 0:15:48for days and days at a time looking like she was having a nice time, but she did it.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58May also did her duty in the marriage bed.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01In little over ten years she produced six children
0:16:01 > 0:16:04including a male heir and four spares.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10But in the claustrophobic confines of York Cottage
0:16:10 > 0:16:12she always deferred to her husband,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17and there was little room for a loving mother to express her feelings.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20"We used to have a most lovely time with her alone,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22"always laughing and joking.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26"She was a different human being away from him."
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The children lived this very, very strange existence.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33It's almost like a ship, with their father as captain
0:16:33 > 0:16:36marching up and down the quarter deck,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39who frightened his children, intimidated them,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and when they got things wrong he punished them.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45And it was difficult for May to intercede,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47because she had an extraordinary -
0:16:47 > 0:16:51almost unimaginable to ordinary people's minds -
0:16:51 > 0:16:55an extraordinary reverence for the monarchy.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00I think Queen Mary loved her children.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03It's just that there was no question of her
0:17:03 > 0:17:06taking their part against her husband,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09that was absolutely never going to happen.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13And when he was dressing them down or when he was disappointed in them,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15I think they were sort of stuck.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26In 1910, May traded in the Norfolk cottage for a real palace.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44With the death of Edward VII, May's husband became King.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50In keeping with the dignity of her new position as Consort,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52at her coronation in Westminster
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Princess May took the name Queen Mary.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Mary wasn't now just a queen married to a king.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13She was also an empress, wife of the greatest emperor in the world.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17In 1911, shortly after the coronation,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19she and her husband travelled to India
0:18:19 > 0:18:24to receive the homage of their distant subjects at a ceremonial court.
0:18:24 > 0:18:31Suddenly, this relatively self-effacing woman is centre stage
0:18:31 > 0:18:35of this massive crowd all the way round,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37with enormous numbers of cavalry going one way
0:18:37 > 0:18:42and princes going the other, all of them falling on their knees in front of her.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46There they are in their purple velvet cloaks,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50the crowns on their heads, they seat themselves on two gold thrones,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53the have these jewelled princes coming and paying homage.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58And after they had left, the crowds rushed on to the ground where they'd been
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and kissed the very earth on which they'd walked.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05I think that had the most tremendous effect on her.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11On the plains of India, Mary had found her true calling.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17The one-time social untouchable had been reincarnated as a living deity,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22and Mary was determined to put her new role to good use.
0:19:27 > 0:19:34In 1914, Britain was plunged into the most catastrophic war in its history.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38The slaughter on the battlefields touched the lives
0:19:38 > 0:19:40of every British family.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49With a world war on their doorstep and the nation facing disaster,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53these were testing times for the monarchy.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Queen Mary's response was both patriotic and practical.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Mary very much does see her position as Queen as being
0:20:02 > 0:20:05an opportunity to identify the monarchy with charity,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08she plunges into all sorts of charitable activities.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11And she doesn't just do it,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13she organises everybody else to do it on a huge scale.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16She was an incredibly successful and impressive organizer.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26There was Queen Mary's Needlework Guild,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29there was the Relief Clothing Guild,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33there was the National Relief Fund.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37In many ways, during the First World War, Queen Mary came into her own.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42"I appeal to all women who are in a position to do so
0:20:42 > 0:20:46"to organise a collection of garments for soldiers and sailors
0:20:46 > 0:20:48"who will suffer on account of the war.
0:20:48 > 0:20:55"All parcels should be addressed to Friary Court, St James's Palace, London."
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Prodded by Mary, the nation's women took up their knitting needles.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06A mountain of clothing for the troops descended on the palace.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Mary's Needlework Guild continues the tradition to this day.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21She has certainly left her mark on us.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23The object of the guild
0:21:23 > 0:21:26remains the same today as it did in Queen Mary's time.
0:21:26 > 0:21:33It's to collect new clothing and linen that goes only to UK charities.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Today, all the clothing that has been collected during the past year
0:21:42 > 0:21:47we start to pack up, so from 12.30 there will be complete chaos in here.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06During the First World War, Queen Mary had an army of people working for her.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10She was incredibly hands-on, and people were on shifts, I think,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14when it got really busy and the packages were going out all the time.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19This is a book produced covering the work Queen Mary did
0:22:19 > 0:22:21during the war years.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23On this page it show articles
0:22:23 > 0:22:27received at St James's Palace since August 1914.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Blankets, rugs and quilts - 25,565.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Caps - 10,252.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Shirts - 224,686.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Operation shirts - 61,000.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Pyjamas - 113,000.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Shoes and slippers - 40,460.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47Bed socks and operating stockings - 72,715.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53So, in all a total of over 15 million articles went out in that package.
0:22:55 > 0:23:01She recognised that she was in an immensely powerful position
0:23:01 > 0:23:03to actually look after her subjects.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06She felt that she really could make a difference.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15The Queen's charitable work not only helped to cement the ties
0:23:15 > 0:23:18between the monarchy and the millions of women
0:23:18 > 0:23:21who were mobilised to help the war effort.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26It also helped to reinvent the royal family in the national consciousness as a force for good.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34But with victory overseas secured, Mary and George faced a new crisis.
0:23:37 > 0:23:44The First World War had been catastrophic for the old system of European monarchies.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Across Russia and Europe, royal houses were falling
0:23:50 > 0:23:56and the spread of communism threatened a complete rupture with the past.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01There was this fear that communism would have an impact on British society,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04it would manifest itself particularly in the trade union movement
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and periodically, of course, the Labour Party sang The Red Flag.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13They were very worried that what this presaged was the revolution,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16the guillotine set up in Trafalgar Square - that was the nightmare.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23The war was followed by recession in the industries that had built the weapons of victory.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31Many men returned from the trenches to a bleak world of unemployment and poverty.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38With industrial unrest and militant socialism on the rise,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43the King and Queen took action to strengthen their links with their people,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46not as individuals, but as a team.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52For a Queen Consort, this was a daring new departure.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56One of the most important things they do is to go together,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59both of them playing a part, to mining districts
0:24:59 > 0:25:04in the North of England or Wales, trying to see for themselves, trying to talk to the people.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08And what's interesting is this is a new take on the monarchy.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Monarchs had gone on sort of visits to Lancashire or whatever,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16but basically it was a question of driving through crowds of people in a big car.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19George and Mary - particularly Mary - are actually trying
0:25:19 > 0:25:23to sort of talk to people and visit communities, and much more engaged.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31This was nothing less than a new formula for a modernised monarchy -
0:25:31 > 0:25:36a combination of public relations, meeting and greeting the people,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40and at the same time preserving the ancient mystique of royalty.
0:25:40 > 0:25:46For Mary, it was a balancing act that required all the skills of a first-class actress.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52One of the things about Queen Mary
0:25:52 > 0:25:55is that she had a very strong performance instinct.
0:25:55 > 0:26:03She saw the roles of King and Queen as roles that needed to be played correctly.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05She never made the mistake of thinking,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07"Because I'm Queen, that's enough."
0:26:07 > 0:26:12She was always asking absolutely top level of performance from herself.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22Like every good actress, Queen Mary was meticulous in her costume
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and honed her stage look to perfection.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Queen Mary, of course, looked the part.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35She wore tiaras...
0:26:35 > 0:26:37earrings...
0:26:38 > 0:26:42..necklaces, chokers, ropes of pearls.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45There would be brooches.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49There would be the riband of the Order of the Garter,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52the Diamond Star of the Order of Garter,
0:26:52 > 0:26:53the family orders.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Her evening gown was reinforced with buckram
0:26:59 > 0:27:02so that it could take the weight of the jewels.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06You know, she was...
0:27:06 > 0:27:11like a magnificent walking Christmas tree, really.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18She used her jewels almost like a uniform,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21they were absolutely marvellous, and they were a kind of armour.
0:27:21 > 0:27:22She presented
0:27:22 > 0:27:24an image of magnificence that fitted -
0:27:24 > 0:27:28she was, after all, a Queen Empress, and she played up to that.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34The once-shy Princess grew into a formidable figure.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Officials responsible for organising the Queen Empress's royal visits
0:27:38 > 0:27:40needed to be quick on their toes.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Queen Mary was invited to open a ward and plant a tree in one of the South London hospitals.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50They rolled out the red carpet for her,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53she walked along it, she came to the end of the red carpet.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58But, alas, there was six feet of raw earth between herself and the spade.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02She wouldn't budge.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05And the quick-witted hospital administrator
0:28:05 > 0:28:09shot to the other end of the carpet, cut six feet off and put it at her feet,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and she duly walked upon this red carpet and planted the tree.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22ANNOUNCER: 'A golden day for the Silver Jubilee,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25'and the spectacle of a nation exalted.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:32In 1935, Britain celebrated King George and Queen Mary's Silver Jubilee -
0:28:32 > 0:28:3525 years on the throne.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Few could have thought that this conservative couple
0:28:42 > 0:28:46would successfully steer the monarchy through a period of such turbulent change.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53But George and Mary's instincts for combining duty and subtle modernisation
0:28:53 > 0:28:56had hit precisely the right note.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04The awkward young couple brought together
0:29:04 > 0:29:09by a piece of dynastic business had grown into a loving partnership.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11I don't think they were sort of madly in love,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14I don't think it was that.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17But I think a sense of common purpose
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and a real belief in what they were doing.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26I think the fact that they had such joint belief
0:29:26 > 0:29:30in the value of their role did bring them very close together.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39"I can never sufficiently express my deep gratitude to you,
0:29:39 > 0:29:44"darling May, for the way you have helped and stood by me.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49"This is not sentimental rubbish, but what I really feel."
0:29:49 > 0:29:53The King and Queen's reign had been an undoubted public triumph.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58But there was one area of royal life in which they had failed spectacularly.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04George and Mary had neglected to provide a loving family life
0:30:04 > 0:30:06in which their children could thrive.
0:30:17 > 0:30:18The heir to the throne
0:30:18 > 0:30:23was this handsome, charming, glamorous young man.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27He was a pin-up boy around the world.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32And the public, all they knew was this smiling wonderful face.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36But the other side to this was that
0:30:36 > 0:30:38David displayed a sort of petulance,
0:30:38 > 0:30:43that if he wanted it, he could have it - it was his by right.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46And that went contrary to all notions of service
0:30:46 > 0:30:48that the monarchy stood for.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54George and Mary's eldest son, David, Prince of Wales,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57had been alienated by his bullying father,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01and for emotional support felt unable to turn to his mother.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Instead of imbuing him with their sense of duty and tradition,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07they had produced a Prince more like George's brother,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10the late Prince Eddy, than George himself.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17King George V believed that being King was a full-time job,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21a 100% job, and everything was second to it.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25But the Prince of Wales was convinced that he had every right
0:31:25 > 0:31:29to do what he wanted to do with his private life, to indulge himself when he wanted to.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32And this meant that, more and more,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36King George V sort of lost faith in his son.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47In January 1936, worn down by years of service,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50and desperately anxious about the succession,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53George V took to his bed at Sandringham.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56As the end of the King's life approached,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00his wife and sons gathered at his beloved Norfolk estate.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03For over 40 years,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Mary had been unflinching in her support of her husband.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10As she contemplated an uncertain future,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Mary summoned up her iron composure.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17When the King dies,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21it must have been a hammer blow to Mary,
0:32:21 > 0:32:26but that sense of duty boards up again in her back.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29And she stands away from the body
0:32:29 > 0:32:31and goes over to her eldest son
0:32:31 > 0:32:33and does obeisance to him as her new King.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36And he can't cope with it.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38David pretty much fell apart.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43Here was the new King distraught at the death of his father,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46whilst he'd been yearning for the day when he was free of him.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00On 21st January 1936,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03David was proclaimed King Edward VIII.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06The high and mighty Prince,
0:33:06 > 0:33:12Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David,
0:33:12 > 0:33:13is now...
0:33:13 > 0:33:17As he watched the proclamation from a side window at St James's Palace,
0:33:17 > 0:33:22a pale figure in the window beside him was a portent of trouble ahead.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25As the Prince of Wales,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Queen Mary's eldest son had had numerous mistresses -
0:33:29 > 0:33:31none of whom he seriously considered marrying.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35But the King's latest lover
0:33:35 > 0:33:37represented a threat of a different order.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42Chic, shamelessly modern and exuding sexual power,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Wallis Simpson couldn't have been more alarming.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50They thought that she was common and brash and gold-digging.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54The rumours abounded that when she went out to visit David,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56she started doing wild belly dances
0:33:56 > 0:34:00and that she antagonised the staff and did outrageous things.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Well, all of that is conjecture.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04But what they really didn't like
0:34:04 > 0:34:07was that she already had two husbands.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09In the eyes of Queen Mary,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13she was somebody who should ideally be kept out of England altogether.
0:34:13 > 0:34:14If she got into England,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18on no account should be received in the smarter drawing rooms.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Even if she penetrated into smarter drawing rooms,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23she certainly shouldn't be allowed at court.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27And the remote idea that she could conceivably be considered
0:34:27 > 0:34:29as a wife for the future King of England
0:34:29 > 0:34:32was, to her, something so inconceivably shocking
0:34:32 > 0:34:36as to be not merely unmentionable but unthinkable.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43On 3rd December 1936,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47news of the crisis appeared for the first time in the London press.
0:34:49 > 0:34:54Isolated from her son, who had kept her at arm's length throughout,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Queen Mary was aghast.
0:34:57 > 0:35:03"Darling David, this news in the papers is very upsetting.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07"I would much like to see you. Won't you look in some time today?
0:35:07 > 0:35:09"I shall only be out from 3 to 5."
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Determined to make a public display of business-as-usual,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18Queen Mary drove to survey the smoking ruins
0:35:18 > 0:35:21of a famous London landmark destroyed by fire.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32It wasn't only the Crystal Palace built by her forbears
0:35:32 > 0:35:36Queen Victoria and Prince Albert that was collapsing around her.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45Later that afternoon, Mary drove to Marlborough House and met the King.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53When King Edward VIII finally made it clear to his mother
0:35:53 > 0:35:56he was going to marry Mrs Simpson,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00I think it must have been, for her, the most painful
0:36:00 > 0:36:04and the most terrible blow that can be imagined,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08because it set at naught everything which she held most sacred.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13Because of her upbringing, because of the immense honour
0:36:13 > 0:36:15which she felt had been done her
0:36:15 > 0:36:18when she married the future King of England,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21it seemed to her inconceivable
0:36:21 > 0:36:25that her elder son should put his own private gratification,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28his marriage to this impossible woman,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30ahead of his duty.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38On 10th December 1936, the King turned his back on his birthright.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42- EDWARD VIII:- 'A few hours ago,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45'I discharged my last duty
0:36:45 > 0:36:48'as King and Emperor.'
0:36:50 > 0:36:54On the Windsor Estate, Queen Mary listened in horror.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57'I have found it impossible
0:36:57 > 0:37:00'to carry the heavy burden of responsibility
0:37:00 > 0:37:04'and to discharge my duties as King
0:37:04 > 0:37:08'as I would wish to do
0:37:08 > 0:37:11'without the help and support
0:37:11 > 0:37:14'of the woman I love.'
0:37:15 > 0:37:19'His Former Majesty, King Edward VIII
0:37:19 > 0:37:24'did declare his irrevocable determination
0:37:24 > 0:37:27'to renounce the throne
0:37:27 > 0:37:30'for himself and his descendents.'
0:37:31 > 0:37:33As far as she was concerned,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37you know, they lived lives of great privilege and importance,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40but the price was that you couldn't do as you liked.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43It was a simple deal.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48I think that is why the whole abdication crisis
0:37:48 > 0:37:51was so profoundly painful,
0:37:51 > 0:37:56that she, this exemplar of moral probity and uprightness and order,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01should have the child who takes this twice-divorced, you know, whatever.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07I think it really went like a sword through her.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16In a letter to her son, now Duke of Windsor,
0:38:16 > 0:38:21Mary offered a rare glimpse of her innermost feelings.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23"It seemed inconceivable to those who had made
0:38:23 > 0:38:28"such sacrifices during the war that you, as their King,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31"refused a lesser sacrifice.
0:38:31 > 0:38:32"After all, all my life,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35"I have put my country before anything else.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38"And I simply cannot change now."
0:38:39 > 0:38:44I'm sure that we are all...
0:38:47 > 0:38:52..happy to feel that the generosity...
0:38:52 > 0:38:55It was a supreme irony that just as King George, a second son,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58had reluctantly taken up the burden of kingship
0:38:58 > 0:39:00from a dissolute elder brother,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04so now the stammering Bertie should be forced into the role he dreaded
0:39:04 > 0:39:06by his older brother.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Can you imagine what it was like for Bertie?
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Not being given any guidance or clarity, no structure of support.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15He's alone.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17But he has got his mother,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and when the time comes for the abdication,
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Bertie collapses into the arms of his mother.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27Queen Mary later confided
0:39:27 > 0:39:31that the new King sobbed on her shoulder for a whole hour.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37In the weeks leading up to the coronation,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Mary acted to bolster the resolve of the new King.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47In May 1937, she staged a dramatic break with royal protocol
0:39:47 > 0:39:50in a public show of support for her second son.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03By tradition, Dowager Queens don't attend the coronation.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06But nevertheless, Queen Mary felt that her duty
0:40:06 > 0:40:08was to support the King.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11And she did that rare thing of breaking with precedent
0:40:11 > 0:40:14by asking permission to attend the coronation.
0:40:14 > 0:40:15And so the fact that
0:40:15 > 0:40:18the mother figure is there at the time of the coronation
0:40:18 > 0:40:20blessing her son and granddaughters,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23the fact that he takes the name George VI -
0:40:23 > 0:40:25following on from his father -
0:40:25 > 0:40:28it gives great feeling of continuity and stability,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and I think that's what she saw was her mission at that point.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41When you look at those coronation balcony scenes,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44Queen Mary is clearly there, incredibly important.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48She was there as the one pillar of the monarchy.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52She became a sort of rock around which the royal family focused.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54So, when people looked up there,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57they thought, "Well, it's all right, then."
0:40:57 > 0:40:59She was one symbol of the old days.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11On 3rd June 1937,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15the Duke of Windsor married his twice-divorced American
0:41:15 > 0:41:17at a rented chateau in France.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Queen Mary chose to spend the day quietly at her residence in London.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Not a single member of her family
0:41:26 > 0:41:30was permitted to share her son's happy day.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33When you realise how much she loved her eldest son
0:41:33 > 0:41:37and all the hopes and aspirations that she must have pinned on him
0:41:37 > 0:41:41for the first 40 years of his life,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45suddenly to change all of that and freeze him out of her life,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48tells you that she must have been a very steely character.
0:41:48 > 0:41:54But that was how she was bought up. Control and restraint
0:41:54 > 0:41:56and responsibility and duty.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00These were all the things that she had to stand for
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and she felt that her son had let her down,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05so why on Earth should she bend?
0:42:09 > 0:42:12With her eldest son out of the country,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16Mary moved to bolster the position of her second son, the new King.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22There was real fear when Duke of Windsor went abroad
0:42:22 > 0:42:26that he would, in some way, steal the new King's thunder.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29I mean, after all, he was an immensely charismatic figure.
0:42:29 > 0:42:30He looked the part.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35He was articulate, as compared to poor stammering George VI.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39And so they had to keep the Duke of Windsor at bay.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Forming an alliance with the new Queen Elizabeth,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46the two women chose as their battleground
0:42:46 > 0:42:50the question of Wallis Simpson's royal status.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55David - the Duke of Windsor, as he now is -
0:42:55 > 0:43:00really believed that Wallis was entitled to the letters HRH,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04which would have given her a royal title as Duchess,
0:43:04 > 0:43:06and people would have curtseyed to her.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09And that meant everything - it meant the whole world.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Queen Mary, a woman who had once been shunned by royalty
0:43:17 > 0:43:19on account of her own inferior status,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22now seized upon protocol as her weapon,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24and acted to ensure that
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Wallis was denied her rightful royal title.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33She knew that the Duke of Windsor would not come back to England
0:43:33 > 0:43:37if his wife is going to be treated as non-Royalty.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39He's not going to allow his wife to be offended.
0:43:39 > 0:43:45So, as long as she is not HRH, effectively they are exiles.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54I think it's quite clear that Mary wanted to keep Wallis and David
0:43:54 > 0:43:58out of the country to protect her second son and his wife.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12The Duke and the Duchess' exile lasted for the rest of their lives
0:44:12 > 0:44:15and created a bitterness between mother and son
0:44:15 > 0:44:17that never fully cleared.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Years later, the Duke wrote to his wife that
0:44:20 > 0:44:24"the fluid in his mother's veins was as cold as ice".
0:44:33 > 0:44:37In 1939, for the second time in Queen Mary's life,
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Britain went to war with Germany.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44With Hitler's bombers threatening London,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47thousands of schoolchildren headed for the countryside.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49But they weren't the only ones to be evacuated.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59Wartime London was no place for the 72-year-old Dowager Queen.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01For the next five years,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05her home was to be Badminton House in Gloucestershire,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08the home of her niece, the Duchess of Beaufort.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14Together, with 63 members
0:45:14 > 0:45:17of her household and their families,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Queen Mary formed a caravan to Badminton.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28I think the Duchess of Beaufort, her niece, was absolutely horrified
0:45:28 > 0:45:31when she saw all the furniture vans arriving, as Queen Mary
0:45:31 > 0:45:34lumbered up the drive at the beginning for the war
0:45:34 > 0:45:36for this very long stay.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38It must have been a daunting prospect.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43For the first time since her marriage to her domineering husband,
0:45:43 > 0:45:45Mary was free to be herself.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48And from the chrysalis of royal decorum
0:45:48 > 0:45:52emerged an eccentric butterfly.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56While war was raging outside,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Mary started her own battle...against a wall-creeper.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07She decided that the ivy growing up the house
0:46:07 > 0:46:08was something to be deplored
0:46:08 > 0:46:10and she waged a personal campaign against it.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Worse still, she recruited all her ladies in waiting,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16anyone who came to the house practically found themselves
0:46:16 > 0:46:18helping to chop or tear down ivy.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21But the Duke of Beaufort rather liked his ivy.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26What he felt when he saw Queen Mary leading these raging operations
0:46:26 > 0:46:30to completely eliminate the stuff, I don't know.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33With the Duke's ivy under control,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37Mary now set her sights on the Duchess' favourite garden feature.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Queen Mary took against - seriously took against -
0:46:43 > 0:46:46the cedar tree that was outside her sitting room.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49And she was being bothered by the insects
0:46:49 > 0:46:52that she maintained infested this tree.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55And she wanted it taken down.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59The Duchess of Beaufort did not want this tree taken down.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01She liked it.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05And it reached the point where she just had enough,
0:47:05 > 0:47:10and she said, "That tree comes down over my dead body."
0:47:10 > 0:47:13And Queen Mary didn't mention another word about it.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22The Queen also made a lasting impression in the village.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27My dad found a job with Queen Mary as one of her chauffeurs,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29which was lovely.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33He would tell me that when he picked the Queen up,
0:47:33 > 0:47:37wherever they were going, if they met a serviceman
0:47:37 > 0:47:42she would say, "Bartholomew, pull up and pick him up."
0:47:42 > 0:47:44And he'd come and sit in.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47And he probably had the shock of his life
0:47:47 > 0:47:50when he saw Queen Mary was in there.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53If it was an American, he'd say,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"You're a royal?! You're a Queen?"
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Couldn't believe it, you know.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08I think you can see an element in her widowhood
0:48:08 > 0:48:12of a certain loosening of the stays.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14She'd done her job, she'd handed the baton on,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17the institution was strong and so on.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22And you do sense that not having the King there all the time
0:48:22 > 0:48:25allowed her to entertain herself a bit more.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28She used to go to the theatre far more.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33And I think you do see her having a little bit more fun.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Without her husband, Mary was also able to throw herself
0:48:38 > 0:48:41into her abiding passion for art and antiques.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45She set about improving and documenting
0:48:45 > 0:48:49the royal family's vast, somewhat chaotic collection.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54She built up the most fantastic collection.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57Her priority was family history.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01She would have preferred a bad portrait of George II
0:49:01 > 0:49:03to a Tintoretto.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07It was always this re-enforcement of her royalness.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10She didn't have to get interested in the royal family
0:49:10 > 0:49:12when she married into it. She WAS interested in it
0:49:12 > 0:49:15and its history and its institutions and everything.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18And I think the collecting was an offshoot of that.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23Queen Mary's enthusiasm
0:49:23 > 0:49:27for collecting antiques and curios was boundless,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31as unwitting hostesses discovered to their cost.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33The sensible hostess,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36if she had some particularly desirable objects in a cabinet,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38would hide them before the Queen came
0:49:38 > 0:49:41because the Queen would look at them
0:49:41 > 0:49:44and she might easily say,
0:49:44 > 0:49:45"I've got a pair of that at home
0:49:45 > 0:49:50"and I've always thought how terribly lonely it looks by itself."
0:49:50 > 0:49:52And the reluctant hostess would have to say,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55"Oh, Your Majesty, I do hope you will accept this from me."
0:49:55 > 0:50:00And she did acquire quite a number of objects like that.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Those who received Queen Mary
0:50:02 > 0:50:07could be alarmed at the prospect of a visit from a haughty kleptomaniac.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09But her reserved public manner
0:50:09 > 0:50:12concealed a much more relaxed personality.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Queen Mary telephoned my father and said she wanted to come to tea.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19And, I mean, she was hugely dignified
0:50:19 > 0:50:25and I think that everyone was quite alarmed by her in a way.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Certainly deferred to her.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31But she came in and they were getting a bit worried as to how
0:50:31 > 0:50:33they were going to entertain her,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37so they had a music box which they put on the table beside her
0:50:37 > 0:50:41and it played Yes, We Have No Bananas.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44And she was immediately delighted.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46And my father used to say that
0:50:46 > 0:50:49she spoke with quite a strong German accent
0:50:49 > 0:50:54and she sat there, drumming her fingers on the table and singing.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59"Yah, ve have no bananas, ve have no bananas today."
0:51:01 > 0:51:04But as far as the music box goes, she didn't attempt to remove it,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07so perhaps she didn't think it was that pretty.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11# Yes, we have no bananas
0:51:11 > 0:51:15# We have no bananas today. #
0:51:24 > 0:51:28There was one crucial royal mission still to be accomplished.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31From the very beginning, Mary was determined
0:51:31 > 0:51:34to pass on her sense of duty and reverence for the monarchy
0:51:34 > 0:51:39to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42When you read the newspapers and diaries
0:51:42 > 0:51:44of the little Princess Elizabeth growing up,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47it is extraordinary the amount of time
0:51:47 > 0:51:49that she spent with Queen Mary.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53She spent more time with Queen Mary in her first year
0:51:53 > 0:51:56than she did with her own mother.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
0:52:01 > 0:52:08were excellent, conscientious, caring, affectionate parents.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12They didn't attach very much importance to education.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15Queen Mary did take it seriously.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18I mean, she discovered with horror one year
0:52:18 > 0:52:21that the little princesses' summer reading list,
0:52:21 > 0:52:26which had been drawn up by the Queen Mother, consisted of 17 novels -
0:52:26 > 0:52:28all of them by PG Wodehouse.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33Queen Mary would quietly arrange tours of Windsor Castle
0:52:33 > 0:52:35and then make sure that, as they went round,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38they received lessons about everything.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40And just before the crucial coronation of '37
0:52:40 > 0:52:45after the abdication, she got out this enormous tableau
0:52:45 > 0:52:48of, I think, one of the Georgian coronations,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50and explained every single detail.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53The symbolism of the orb and the sceptre
0:52:53 > 0:52:55and King Edward's throne and all that sort of thing,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59so that these very receptive little girls,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02and the future Queen in particular, absorbed it all.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Mary didn't only instil the princesses
0:53:10 > 0:53:12with a sense of their heritage.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15She also taught Elizabeth how to be a queen.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19There's a very telling story of
0:53:19 > 0:53:24how the little princess was with her grandmother at the theatre,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27and said, "Well, Granny, we'd better stay afterwards
0:53:27 > 0:53:30"because everybody will want to see us and wave to us."
0:53:30 > 0:53:32And Queen Mary took her straight home
0:53:32 > 0:53:35because she thought she was getting too big for her boots
0:53:35 > 0:53:37and that was the wrong way to look at being royal.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40That being royal, at the end of the day,
0:53:40 > 0:53:42is about being shy, it's about being modest,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and you won't survive unless you understand that
0:53:45 > 0:53:47and put that into practice.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01In 1952, Mary's second son, King George VI, died
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and the granddaughter she cherished became Queen.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Mary,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13her daughter-in-law Elizabeth,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15and her granddaughter -
0:54:15 > 0:54:18three Queens united in grief.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24And at the age of 84, Mary faced one last battle
0:54:24 > 0:54:27to protect the dynasty she had helped to create.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33Queen Elizabeth II had married Prince Philip
0:54:33 > 0:54:36whose family name was Mountbatten.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Philip's uncle, the ambitious Earl Mountbatten,
0:54:39 > 0:54:44considered that the Windsor dynasty was now at an end.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51We're told just 12 days after the death of King George VI,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54Lord Mountbatten had been crowing and boasting
0:54:54 > 0:54:57about, "The House of Mountbatten now reigned."
0:54:58 > 0:55:00The Queen, who had spent a lifetime
0:55:00 > 0:55:03fighting to build and protect the House of Windsor
0:55:03 > 0:55:06now rose in its defence.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11Windsor was a perfect name as far as Queen Mary herself was concerned. She felt it was English as apple pie,
0:55:11 > 0:55:15so when she heard it was now going to be called Mountbatten,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18she was absolutely incandescent with rage.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20She immediately protested
0:55:20 > 0:55:24to Churchill's private secretary, John Colville,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28and the whole thing came up in front of Churchill and he said no.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31"Windsor is the name and that is how it will stay."
0:55:39 > 0:55:41Queen Mary had ensured that the name of Windsor
0:55:41 > 0:55:44would be carried forward by her descendents.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47But Mary didn't live to see her granddaughter crowned.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59In March 1953, just 10 weeks before the coronation,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01Queen Mary died.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06With duty and tradition uppermost in her mind as ever,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Queen Mary left instructions that no period of mourning
0:56:09 > 0:56:12should be permitted to interfere with her granddaughter's coronation.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Queen Mary helped to raise the British monarchy to a new level
0:56:36 > 0:56:38of affection and respect
0:56:38 > 0:56:42during a prolonged period of conflict and crisis.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45From a shy Victorian princess,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49she became the matriarch of a dynasty whose survival she ensured.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52And the values of duty and service that she embodied
0:56:52 > 0:56:56became the guiding lights of our own Queen Elizabeth.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02One of the miracles of the British monarchy
0:57:02 > 0:57:04is that it's thriving
0:57:04 > 0:57:06in the 21st century.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10And is so much in the style of King George and Queen Mary
0:57:10 > 0:57:14and what they created nearly 100 years ago now,
0:57:14 > 0:57:19what they salvaged from the catastrophe of the First World War.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Mary's career was incredibly fulfilled, yes.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26I mean, she began as a poor relation of royalty,
0:57:26 > 0:57:27on the fringes of royalty,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30and she ended up as a grand dame,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33but she played a huge part as Queen
0:57:33 > 0:57:35in transforming the monarchy.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41The present Queen Elizabeth II was enormously influenced by her.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44The importance of duty.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47The Queen's withering look that she can give
0:57:47 > 0:57:49when she is not amused.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54But much more important, the respect that our Queen has
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and understanding for the symbolism of monarchy
0:57:57 > 0:57:58and the duty of monarchy.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01And the fact that the crown is a bigger thing than she is.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05All of this goes right back to King George and Queen Mary
0:58:05 > 0:58:09who said that the monarchy has no meaning
0:58:09 > 0:58:12unless it reflects its nation and its people
0:58:12 > 0:58:14and it gives its people what they want.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:39 > 0:58:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk