0:00:02 > 0:00:061,000 years of history under one roof,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10the National Archives, a treasure house of secrets.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The records of extraordinary times and people.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20These files are this nation's story, our shared past.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Documents housed here were highly classified,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28intended for the eyes of only the privileged few,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31protected from your sight for decades.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33But not now.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44I've been granted special access to files once kept hush-hush.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48I'll unearth amazing tales from our hidden history.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54Forget what you've been told, these documents tell the truth.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07'Coming up in this programme...
0:01:07 > 0:01:09'Royalty and riches.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'The secrets of one king's fabulous wealth.'
0:01:12 > 0:01:14£33,000 -
0:01:14 > 0:01:19more than the income to the Exchequer in a single year.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22'Royalty under fire.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25'A century before this assault on Prince Charles,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29'how would-be assassins were braved by Queen Victoria.'
0:01:29 > 0:01:33She was really stubborn and tough about it and she did say,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36"It's worth being shot at to see how much one is loved."
0:01:36 > 0:01:39'Royalty and Armageddon.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43'The Queen's secret speech on the outbreak of World War III.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48As we strive together to fight off the new evil,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50let us pray for our country.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52God bless you all.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04In time of war, the monarch plays an important role.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10Our soldiers, sailors and airmen are Her Majesty's armed forces.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12They fight for Queen and country,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15as indeed have Prince Andrew and Prince Harry.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19At the commencement of hostilities, it falls to the sovereign
0:02:19 > 0:02:24to make that broadcast establishing national unity,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26steadying our morale
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and setting out the values for which we fight.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36'When you hear the air attack warning,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38'you and your family must take cover.'
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Thankfully, this queen, unlike her father and grandfather,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48has not been called upon to lead us in world war.
0:02:48 > 0:02:49But there was a time
0:02:49 > 0:02:54when all-out conflict between the superpowers was a real possibility.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58The Soviet Union and the United States
0:02:58 > 0:03:00had huge quantities of nuclear weapons
0:03:00 > 0:03:02trained on each other,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05which would guarantee mutual destruction.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Also involved in this standoff was America's closest ally,
0:03:11 > 0:03:12the United Kingdom.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16But what if the Cold War had turned into real war?
0:03:18 > 0:03:21This top-secret document reveals the very words
0:03:21 > 0:03:24that might be offered to Her Majesty to address the nation.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Quick! Put on the television!
0:03:30 > 0:03:32It's the Queen's message!
0:03:34 > 0:03:36When I spoke to you less than three months ago,
0:03:36 > 0:03:41we were all enjoying the warmth and fellowship of a family Christmas.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45The horrors of war could not have seemed more remote.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Now the madness of war is once more spreading through the world
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and our brave country must again prepare
0:03:52 > 0:03:55to survive against the odds.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59That is the text of a Queen's message,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03drafted by civil servants in 1983,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05envisaging the possibility of war.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10And everything is set out in meticulous detail and great realism.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13The Queen's draft speech, for instance, continues...
0:04:13 > 0:04:16"I've never forgotten the sorrow and pride I felt
0:04:16 > 0:04:20"as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set
0:04:20 > 0:04:26"listening to my father's inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939."
0:04:26 > 0:04:29GEORGE VI: 'In this grave hour,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34'perhaps the most fateful in our history,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36'we shall prevail.'
0:04:37 > 0:04:40"Not for a single moment did I imagine
0:04:40 > 0:04:43"that this solemn and awful duty
0:04:43 > 0:04:45"would one day fall to me."
0:04:47 > 0:04:49At that time of tension,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52people were really worried about what might happen.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Just to help put you in mind of what the situation was like...
0:04:59 > 0:05:02As we strive together to fight off the new evil,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04let us pray for our country.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06God bless you all.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Although my impersonation of the Queen is intended to be comical,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19the officials who drafted that speech
0:05:19 > 0:05:22were engaged in a serious exercise.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29At what was once a top-secret location in the Essex countryside,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32stands this inconspicuous cottage.
0:05:32 > 0:05:38It hides the entrance to an enormous labyrinth of subterranean shelters.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45More than 100 feet below ground,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49it is one of the centres from which the country would have been run
0:05:49 > 0:05:52in the event of nuclear Armageddon.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02In this bunker, deep beneath the ground,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05below thicknesses of concrete and steel,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08the civil servants would gather to administer Britain
0:06:08 > 0:06:10during its last days of peace
0:06:10 > 0:06:15and to run what would be, probably, a short conventional war.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18And then, as nuclear war became inevitable
0:06:18 > 0:06:23and as the bombs were about to fall on London and Londoners,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26they would isolate themselves against the blast
0:06:26 > 0:06:29by closing the steel door.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34JEREMY PAXMAN: 'Surviving this depends upon information
0:06:34 > 0:06:36'and, currently, Britain's population
0:06:36 > 0:06:39'is among the most ill-informed in Europe.'
0:06:39 > 0:06:42As a young Jeremy Paxman explained,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44whilst the Westminster elite
0:06:44 > 0:06:48was busy making arrangements for the post-apocalypse,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50the public was woefully unprepared.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54'The Russians estimate they can limit their civilian casualties
0:06:54 > 0:06:56'to only 5%.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00'Britain's precautions are somewhat further behind.'
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Like most people, Jeremy Paxman was in the dark
0:07:04 > 0:07:08about this place and about the draft of the Queen's message.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Dr Mike Goodman is an historian of the Cold War.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22In 1983, when this speech is drafted for the Queen,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25is this a time when the Cold War is hotting up?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27I think it absolutely was.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Lots of people talk about the 1980s being the Cold War II.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Following a series of detente in the 1960s and 1970s,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Reagan coming into power, Andropov in power,
0:07:37 > 0:07:38the militarisation of the Cold War
0:07:38 > 0:07:41meant that it was a whole new era of fear, I think, going up.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47What was the basis of the allied position for preventing nuclear war?
0:07:47 > 0:07:49What did it rest on?
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Preventing nuclear war rested on deterrence.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It was having enough of a credible threat, I think,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57to stop the other side ever launching war in the first place.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59So, mutually assured destruction and the idea that,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02even if you were attacked first, you could still retaliate,
0:08:02 > 0:08:03was very much seen in that way.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10With global nuclear catastrophe a possibility,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Britain maintained its preparations for doomsday.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20JEREMY PAXMAN: 'At the Home Defence College at Easingwold, near York,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'a briefing for the men who'll run Britain after the bomb.'
0:08:23 > 0:08:27'Some three to four weeks is allowed for local authorities
0:08:27 > 0:08:30'to implement the war emergency plans.'
0:08:30 > 0:08:32To put those plans into effect,
0:08:32 > 0:08:37the officials would need reinforced, secure bases like this one.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42They came equipped with everything that they would need,
0:08:42 > 0:08:43including coffins,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47to dispose of anyone killed by radiation poisoning.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Just before an attack,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57the government would order a series of films to be broadcast.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03They contained advice on what people should do come the blast,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06advice that was intended to promote survival.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'If the fallout warning sounds are heard,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12'they will be like these...'
0:09:12 > 0:09:14THUMP
0:09:14 > 0:09:15THUMP
0:09:15 > 0:09:17THUMP
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Arrangements were made to spirit away from London
0:09:22 > 0:09:26the monarchy, the Prime Minister, ministers, civil servants
0:09:26 > 0:09:28to a place of safety,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31if not exactly of comfort,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35so that, in the aftermath of the nuclear Armageddon,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38the British state could rise again
0:09:38 > 0:09:42and run whatever was left of Britain.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53It's hard to imagine life down here
0:09:53 > 0:09:57after the devastation of Britain's cities.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Visualising the destruction and carnage outside
0:10:01 > 0:10:03is indescribably harrowing.
0:10:06 > 0:10:07- RADIO:- Warning red.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Attack warning? Is it for real?
0:10:08 > 0:10:12- Attack warning's for bloody real! - Is it? Right, get to your stations!
0:10:14 > 0:10:17In 1984, just a year after the drafting
0:10:17 > 0:10:20of the Queen's secret speech,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23the BBC screened the drama Threads,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27showing the likely effects of a nuclear strike on Britain.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28SCREAMING
0:10:30 > 0:10:31Come on, hurry up!
0:10:31 > 0:10:32Give us a hand.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33No! That's wrong!
0:10:33 > 0:10:34Get all that stuff off!
0:10:34 > 0:10:35Come on, get it off!
0:10:35 > 0:10:39We've got to get the mattress to the bottom. That's right.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Journalist Duncan Campbell was involved in making that film.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50So, trying to imagine what it would have been like,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54should we start by thinking about Hiroshima in 1945?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Hiroshima is a clue,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00because what Hiroshima meant,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02beyond the large-scale devastation,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05was the long-term and short-term effects of radiation.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10'The most widespread danger from nuclear explosions is fallout.'
0:11:12 > 0:11:15This is the big X, the killer.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17If a bomb goes off on the ground,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20tens of thousands of tonnes of soil will be made radioactive
0:11:20 > 0:11:23and deposited in a great plume
0:11:23 > 0:11:26down whichever direction the wind is blowing at the time.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29JEREMY PAXMAN: 'In a small, overcrowded island like ours,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33'is there any point in trying to protect ourselves?
0:11:33 > 0:11:36'How many of the missiles might be targeted on Britain?'
0:11:36 > 0:11:38This place here... I mean, I'm looking at signs on the wall...
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Ministry of Social Security, Home Office,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
0:11:43 > 0:11:44For heaven's sake, what does
0:11:44 > 0:11:47the Ministry of Social Security do after a nuclear holocaust?
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Well, worry about how you're going to get resources to pensioners.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52That's clearly important.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Each one of these headquarters across Britain
0:11:56 > 0:12:00would be sending really rather pointless messages to each other,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03back and forth, until their own water and food supplies ran out
0:12:03 > 0:12:08or an aggressive mob got together and stormed the place,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11trying to exercise some governance
0:12:11 > 0:12:14over that which was intrinsically ungovernable
0:12:14 > 0:12:16after a nuclear attack.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18JEREMY PAXMAN: 'We asked a Yorkshire family
0:12:18 > 0:12:19'to build a fallout shelter,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'following the government's recommended design.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25'They found that it required 100 plastic bags
0:12:25 > 0:12:26'or similar containers,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30'the strength to dig and carry over a tonne of earth
0:12:30 > 0:12:33'and floor joists strong enough to bear that sort of weight.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37'This is to be home at least for days and possibly weeks.'
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Come on, Paddy, inside.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Where was the Queen to go?
0:12:41 > 0:12:46The selected location for the Queen was her royal yacht, the Britannia.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49And that she was to board the Britannia with Philip
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and sail for Scotland.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And having sailed for Scotland,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57dive into a deep fjord, a Scottish loch,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00where Soviet aircraft flying over
0:13:00 > 0:13:03would find it very difficult to locate them,
0:13:03 > 0:13:04wash off any radiation
0:13:04 > 0:13:07that came up from the Central Belt of Scotland
0:13:07 > 0:13:11and preside over what was left of her country from there.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17In the event, the dreaded nuclear disaster of the 1980s
0:13:17 > 0:13:18never came about.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And when the Berlin Wall came down, at the end of the decade,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24the fears were lifted.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28So the Queen did not have to make the kind of speech
0:13:28 > 0:13:31that now lies buried in the archives.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Let's hope it stays there.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47We all have family secrets.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52However, the Royal Family's secrets are state secrets.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55But pass through the doors of the National Archives
0:13:55 > 0:14:01and you may glimpse what's gone on behind Britain's most gilded gates.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Royalty has always been associated with riches,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11but a monarch might want to be discrete about them.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12How he had acquired them.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Whether he had enough wealth to wage war.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Here I have a document that shows how one king
0:14:19 > 0:14:23chose to itemise all his worldly possessions.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31If you had to list everything you had,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33how much space might it take up?
0:14:33 > 0:14:35An A4 sheet?
0:14:35 > 0:14:37A notebook?
0:14:37 > 0:14:38A megabyte?
0:14:38 > 0:14:40In the case of King Richard II,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44when he came to make an inventory of all his possessions,
0:14:44 > 0:14:49it turned out to be a roll 28 metres long.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53And in it, he listed every jewel,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55every crown,
0:14:55 > 0:14:56every possession.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59It's written in courtly French,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02but we can make out here a description of a "couronne".
0:15:02 > 0:15:05That is a crown.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07It's got pearls.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10It's got "diamants".
0:15:10 > 0:15:11Diamonds.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15And in the margin, he records the price of everything.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17It's written in Roman numerals,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19but here we can decipher
0:15:19 > 0:15:23thirty-three thousand,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26five hundred and
0:15:26 > 0:15:29eighty four pounds. £33,000.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34More than the income to the Exchequer in a single year.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43In today's terms, Richard II was a billionaire.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50But he reigned in the 14th century,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52a time of warring aristocrats.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Richard wanted to make sure that his vast wealth
0:15:59 > 0:16:01stayed in the right hands.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05So, in his will, he set out in minute detail
0:16:05 > 0:16:08not only his grand funeral plans
0:16:08 > 0:16:11but also who should inherit his fortune
0:16:11 > 0:16:13on the strictest of conditions.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22He makes certain bequests
0:16:22 > 0:16:24which will only come into effect
0:16:24 > 0:16:30if his successors support each and every statute,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34declaration and judgment of parliament.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Here are the seals of office
0:16:37 > 0:16:40that guarantee the authenticity of the document
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and here he's signed it "Le Roi", "The King".
0:16:45 > 0:16:49This was signed on 16th April, 1399.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Of course a year later King Richard II was dead.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Wherein thou liest in reputation sick.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00In Shakespeare's play Richard II
0:17:00 > 0:17:04we learn that the King was deposed by Henry IV,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07imprisoned and stripped of his great wealth.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10So, his will was never enacted.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Still, six centuries after his death,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18it provides us with a wonderfully detailed picture of his riches.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23It seems very likely
0:17:23 > 0:17:26that it was drawn up in 1398,
0:17:26 > 0:17:32a year after Richard had seized a great many valuables
0:17:32 > 0:17:34from some of the greatest magnates
0:17:34 > 0:17:40and a year and a half after his treasure had been greatly enriched
0:17:40 > 0:17:45by his second marriage to the Little Princess, Isabelle of France.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Suddenly, the treasure had been swollen.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Such documents were drawn up from time to time,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56but the wonderful thing is that this one survives.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59What else do you take from the will?
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I think it's a really fascinating document.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Whoever drew it up,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07it's in Latin and a clerk will have written it for him,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Richard's voice comes through.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14And I think he was even visualising an absolutely sumptuous funeral
0:18:14 > 0:18:20and himself to be buried either in white velvet or white satin
0:18:20 > 0:18:22in Westminster Abbey.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25As the Shakespeare play reveals,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29Richard didn't get the sumptuous funeral he'd wished.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32After being dethroned and thrown into jail,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36he's believed to have met a grisly end.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38I have been studying...
0:18:39 > 0:18:43..how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46He was usurped by Henry IV.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50After a short period of imprisonment in the Tower of London,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53moved to Pontefract Castle.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Some of the chroniclers of the day believe he was starved to death,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59others that he starved himself.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01And Shakespeare that he was murdered.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05And starving him, of course, if that were true, would amount to murder.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10When we write a will,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13we hope that our wishes will be carried out to the letter.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17But medieval monarchs couldn't be sure of that.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Let's give the last word on Richard to William Shakespeare...
0:19:23 > 0:19:27"For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
0:19:27 > 0:19:30"and tell sad stories of the death of kings."
0:19:41 > 0:19:44The bravery of our Royal Protection Officers,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47seen here in Sidney in 1994,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49is, thankfully, not often called upon.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56In 2014, the Metropolitan Police arrested a number of men,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59who had allegedly plotted an attack on the Queen
0:19:59 > 0:20:04while she performed her duties at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Demonstrating, perhaps, that royal policing has improved
0:20:08 > 0:20:10since the days of another monarch.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18Queen Victoria lived a long and relatively healthy life.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21But that was despite numerous would-be assassins,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23who made repeated attempts to kill her.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30This is an official report from one police officer,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33who was present at one of those failed attacks.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38In 1842, a man called John Francis
0:20:38 > 0:20:41tried to shoot her in Constitution Hill.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Actually, he'd been spotted with a gun the previous day,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46not least by Prince Albert.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50And yet, the Queen was brave enough to go out in her carriage again.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55A policeman called William Trounce in this document takes up the story.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59"I saw the Queen's carriage coming down Constitution Hill.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01"I'd just passed the prisoner.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02"I was about one yard from him,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05"when the Queen's carriage was opposite him.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07"I was facing to the carriage,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10"nearer to the Archway gate at the top of the hill.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12"I heard a report of a pistol.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15"The prisoner was a little in the rear of me.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17"I turned round, saw a pistol in his hand.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20"I took hold of him by the collar with my right hand.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22"I took the pistol with my left."
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Well, that sounds like model police work.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30But why, exactly, was William Trounce facing forward
0:21:30 > 0:21:31with the prisoner,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34a man that he was keeping under observation,
0:21:34 > 0:21:35behind him?
0:21:35 > 0:21:37The explanation is here.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42"I'd just taken my hand down from saluting as I heard the report."
0:21:42 > 0:21:44He thought it more important to salute the Queen
0:21:44 > 0:21:46than to keep an eye on the suspect.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Constable Trounce had only nine months' police service
0:21:53 > 0:21:56and only a month with the London Police.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58A mere rookie.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01So, why was the protection surrounding Queen Victoria so poor?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06I've come to the scene of the crime...
0:22:09 > 0:22:11..Constitution Hill,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14just a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19When I saw the documents about John Francis' attempts
0:22:19 > 0:22:22to shoot her right here in Constitution Hill,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27I was shocked by the shoddiness of the policing.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28I mean, was there no attempt
0:22:28 > 0:22:30to improve the policing around the Queen?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Well, it was all rather new.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Police was rather new at the time
0:22:36 > 0:22:38and the whole idea of the monarch needing protecting
0:22:38 > 0:22:39was completely new.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42No-one would even think that there was a possibility
0:22:42 > 0:22:44that someone like you or I might stand there with a gun
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and just wave it at Victoria.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49So, they really were pretty much rushing to catch up
0:22:49 > 0:22:50with what was really going on.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52And, as you say, the policing was very shoddy.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And, overall, the protection about Victoria,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58it was all about curtsying to her at the right time,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00rather than actually protecting her life.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02So, you have this ridiculous position
0:23:02 > 0:23:05in which the policeman can't decide whether to protect her
0:23:05 > 0:23:07or to honour her and it's just insane.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11The concept that the Queen should have
0:23:11 > 0:23:16dedicated armed police officers to protect her was just evolving.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20She frequently went out with a few royal officers
0:23:20 > 0:23:23riding alongside her open-topped carriage.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30It was fortunate that Queen Victoria survived so many attacks,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33a number of which occurred on these avenues.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Did not the advisors say, "Ma'am, you must change your routine"?
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Oh, every day. The advisers, the courtiers, everyone.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42But she was determined.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44The Queen was a very stubborn woman.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46She was brave, she was strong, she said, you know,
0:23:46 > 0:23:47"If I don't do it,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50"then I'll just look like I'm giving in to these people
0:23:50 > 0:23:53"who are trying to intimidate me and I won't be intimidated."
0:23:53 > 0:23:55They even made her a special bulletproof parasol
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and it would protect her against these guns.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02And she even refused to carry that because it would be showing fear.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04So, she was genuinely a courageous monarch?
0:24:04 > 0:24:05She was really courageous.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07I mean, there was one attempt, the second attempt,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10where they knew it was going to happen and they said to her,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13"Don't go out there. Please, don't go out there, we've seen this man.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14"We think he's going to try again."
0:24:14 > 0:24:16And she said, "I'm going to go.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18"What I'm not going to do is take my lady-in-waiting.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21"So, she stays. So, I'm protecting her.
0:24:21 > 0:24:22"But I'm going to expose myself."
0:24:22 > 0:24:23So, incredibly brave.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Queen Victoria's would-be assassins
0:24:30 > 0:24:34ranged from political fanatics to the drunk and the deranged.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40One botched attempt was the work of a man called...Mr Bean.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Most of those who took pot shots were tried for treason.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Four were transported to Australia.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Two were detained for lengthy periods
0:24:52 > 0:24:55at what was known as "Her Majesty's pleasure".
0:24:58 > 0:25:03During Queen Victoria's reign, Irish nationalism became stronger.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05She was a target for those who believed
0:25:05 > 0:25:08the British rule was a yoke to be thrown off.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Arthur O'Connor had her in his sights in 1871.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16What he wants is Irish independence.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19So, what he does is he goes there to Buckingham Palace
0:25:19 > 0:25:20and he climbs over the wall,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22he clambers over the wall
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and he finds the Queen at the end of one of her carriage rides
0:25:25 > 0:25:27and he, basically, jumped into the carriage
0:25:27 > 0:25:29and holds the gun right in her face.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31So, unbelievably close.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33And it's only thanks to John Brown,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37the Queen's beloved John Brown, who wrestles Arthur off her
0:25:37 > 0:25:39and gets a medal for it, that really he protects her.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Because otherwise that really is so close to the Queen.
0:25:43 > 0:25:44Completely different to these oddballs
0:25:44 > 0:25:46shooting at her vaguely over here.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Britain's police did improve their royal protection.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04In 1887, they uncovered another plot by Irish nationalists
0:26:04 > 0:26:05directed at the Queen.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10This is not a lone assassin, somebody of unsound mind.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13This is a political conspiracy aiming to...
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Christy Campbell has studied the assassination attempt.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19What, exactly, is the plot?
0:26:19 > 0:26:23It is to put a large charge of explosive
0:26:23 > 0:26:25in or around Westminster Abbey
0:26:25 > 0:26:28on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33What a blow to the prestige and power of the British Empire
0:26:33 > 0:26:36to explode the whole thing with a great charge of dynamite.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39LOUD EXPLOSION
0:26:39 > 0:26:41How far does the plot get?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43It gets pretty close.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Two dynamiters do actually arrive in Liverpool
0:26:46 > 0:26:47with a quantity of dynamite.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Not as much as they thought,
0:26:49 > 0:26:51but the Queen actually is in jeopardy.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54How do the British authorities know anything about it?
0:26:54 > 0:26:57- Because they penetrated it from the very beginning.- Ah...
0:26:57 > 0:26:59It's like a CIA thriller.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02They knew where the bombers were. They knew where the dynamite was.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04And, when the moment came, they were arrested.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12In all, there were nine attempts on Queen Victoria's life.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15She would die of old age.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Many thousands then lined the streets of London
0:27:20 > 0:27:21to pay their respects.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36King Richard II's treasure roll
0:27:36 > 0:27:40is one of the most impressive documents that I've ever seen.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46But he couldn't take his wealth with him when he died, aged just 33.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51By contrast, Queen Victoria lived to a ripe old age,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54but only because her would-be assassins failed.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00Now, even her longevity has been exceeded by Queen Elizabeth II,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03who's old enough to remember that fateful broadcast
0:28:03 > 0:28:06by her father at the start of World War II.
0:28:07 > 0:28:13We simply cannot imagine the horror that would have ensued
0:28:13 > 0:28:18had she been required to address us at the start of World War III.