0:00:02 > 0:00:06All countries come with a history attached and ours centres on
0:00:06 > 0:00:10one of the oldest and grandest monarchies of all.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13And the opinion polls show with remarkable consistency
0:00:13 > 0:00:16that the British like this idea.
0:00:16 > 0:00:22And in our lifetimes, the reason for this liking has been Queen Elizabeth II.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29As a young girl, she didn't expect to become Queen.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Until the age of ten she could have hoped for a quiet country life.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35But a crisis in the British monarchy made her father King
0:00:35 > 0:00:41and 60 years ago, when he suddenly died, she became Queen.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47In her Diamond Jubilee year, she reigns over a different country,
0:00:47 > 0:00:52and indeed 135 million people around the world.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57You know, she was 25. You think about how young that is for somebody
0:00:57 > 0:01:00to take on this incredible responsibility.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06But what does that mean? What does she actually do?
0:01:06 > 0:01:08It's very interesting.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11It's been a life of turning up
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and reading official papers by our most familiar...enigma.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19The Queen has provided a huge stability
0:01:19 > 0:01:23and a huge wealth of experience for those that want to tap into it.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Oh, did you?
0:01:24 > 0:01:26- You've had such a year, ma'am. - Quite busy, you know.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31This series follows the Queen's working life over a year and a half.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33We'll hear from some of those closest to her.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36As all mothers, she's put up with a lot and we're still
0:01:36 > 0:01:39on speaking terms, so I think that's no mean achievement!
0:01:39 > 0:01:43We explore her own history and look at just how much,
0:01:43 > 0:01:49behind the pageantry, she has changed the British monarchy.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Garter and Black Rod, pray summon the Knights Companions-Elect.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58She's a proper professional at her trade. You've got some young upstart like me trying to do it his way.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01It's always important to look at how it's really done.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07For 60 years she's been looking back at the rest of us,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11understated, sometimes hard to read.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13And over 60 years,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17many of us have become so used to her, we've stopped asking
0:02:17 > 0:02:21quite what she does or why she does it.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24We've taken her rather for granted
0:02:24 > 0:02:28and after 60 years, perhaps it's time we stopped.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02It's spring 2010.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04"Hello, Queen."
0:03:04 > 0:03:07She's making a regional visit to Wales.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11This is what she does, a symbol of the country on legs.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15She's been on parade for six decades, seen it all,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20but watching as closely as ever, remembering names, comparing.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Her role includes jobs done in other countries by presidents,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26but also native traditions presidents know nothing about.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29She never stops, rarely pauses.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Every day - almost every hour - is carefully planned.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38We talk about veteran politicians out on the campaign trail.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43This is the real endless, perpetual campaign, year in, year out,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and in terms of pressing the flesh and meeting people,
0:03:47 > 0:03:48this is the real veteran.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57She's here one week after her 84th birthday, but retirement - never mind abdication -
0:03:57 > 0:04:00seem to be words never mentioned in her presence.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04This is a typically busy schedule on a two-day visit to North Wales.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07She's getting about. The Queen has a private motto.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10"I have to be seen to be believed."
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And this, of course, is a family trade.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18She's professional in her ability
0:04:18 > 0:04:21to know how to move around,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24who to speak to and how to also engage with people
0:04:24 > 0:04:26within a few split seconds of meeting them.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And the way she carries herself forward,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33smiles constantly, able to go into a room and bring the room to life.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36These are the things that at her age, she shouldn't be doing.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Yet she's carrying on and doing them -
0:04:38 > 0:04:40not only in this country but all around the world.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43To some extent, that's in the genes, I think.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46There is an understanding of getting out and about.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50- Yes.- You actually have to go and meet people to find out what's really going on
0:04:50 > 0:04:55and to give people a sense of your understanding of what is happening.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Whenever Granny walks into a room, everyone stands up,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01stops and just kind of... watches her,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04cos obviously it's huge when she walks into a room,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and I find that incredible. I kind of go...
0:05:10 > 0:05:15Now of course, she's not ordinary. She's very rich, privileged,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17protected and cherished.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Different in so many ways, big and small.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24She doesn't need a passport or a driving licence, though her husband does.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28But more important, she's only the fourth in what is effectively
0:05:28 > 0:05:33a new royal dynasty, stamped with her personal style
0:05:33 > 0:05:38but built by her grandfather in years of mayhem and war.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51The First World War toppled the monarchies of Russia, Germany and Austria.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55George V faced criticism that his family, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58were somehow pro-German,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02and he knew there were anti-royal murmurings at home.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07When the writer HG Wells spoke of an "uninspiring" and "alien" court,
0:06:07 > 0:06:13King George retorted, "I may be uninspiring, but I'm damned if I'm an alien."
0:06:13 > 0:06:16In 1917, he changed all the German-sounding family names
0:06:16 > 0:06:21and, not knowing what his own surname might really be,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24he chose Windsor for its thoroughly British ring.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29He insisted the royals criss-cross the country,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32visiting hospitals, towns and barracks.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36And a lot about today's monarchy comes from him.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40For the Queen, this was not something that she had to read about in books.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48The Queen remembers very well the man she played with when she was a small girl.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50She called him "Grandpa England"
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and George V really was the man who made the Windsors.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Her father was George V's second son, Prince Albert of York,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05who'd married a cheerful, young Scottish aristocrat,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She turned him down twice,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13but it turned out to be a very happy marriage,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16so that Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary
0:07:16 > 0:07:21spent her early years in a private world of quiet security.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Though when she was born, it was a time of turbulence.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34April 21st, 1926, and there is a really uneasy air in the country.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37The general strike is just about to start.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40A lot of people predict a revolution.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44And a princess is born, third in line to the throne,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49here in Bruton Street, a fairly posh part of central London
0:07:49 > 0:07:55but in a relatively normal house owned by her aristocratic grandparents.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00Later, the German bombs would remove it and it's now possibly
0:08:00 > 0:08:03one of the dullest buildings in central London.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12At eight months, her parents left her to take a six-month sea voyage
0:08:12 > 0:08:14to Australia and New Zealand.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20Her mother was very upset to leave the baby, but the Empire called.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Duty first, family feelings second.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Her parents were following the rule book
0:08:26 > 0:08:31set out by her grandfather George V, "Get out there, be seen, work hard."
0:08:32 > 0:08:36His wife, Queen Mary, once retorted to an exhausted princess
0:08:36 > 0:08:40who complained she was tired of traipsing round hospitals,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43"We are the Royal Family, and we love hospitals."
0:08:43 > 0:08:47If you're looking for a motto for this Queen's 60-year reign,
0:08:47 > 0:08:48it's not a bad place to start.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54She loathes being late, still criss-crosses Britain
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and hardly ever cancels.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59On the second stage of her North Wales visit,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02she's about to do it all over again.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Well, here in Llandudno, she's not due for another hour.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07There hasn't been much advance publicity
0:09:07 > 0:09:12and already there is a pretty substantial crowd hoping to see her.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18Now, I ask you, how many politicians could draw a crowd in advance,
0:09:18 > 0:09:24not only hoping to see them, but hoping to be PLEASED to see them?
0:09:24 > 0:09:26SCREAMING AND CHEERING
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Celebrities court the camera. They open up.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40The Queen is not a celebrity. Cameras court her, and she doesn't.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Is this instinctive or something she's learned? Well, it's shrewd.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Celebrities flare and then they burn out. It's pretty remarkable that in her 80s,
0:09:49 > 0:09:55she still generates the same warmth and excitement as ever.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59The Queen has developed this into an absolute art form.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02How to get round the maximum number of people,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07make as many people as possible feel they've made some kind of contact,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10some small human connection with her.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The thing is, when you're in the presence of the Queen
0:10:15 > 0:10:18you are keyed up and you want to be your best.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20You want the occasion to be
0:10:20 > 0:10:23something you can talk to everybody about afterwards.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26That, of course, is the magic of what she is, wherever she goes.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31The real human exchange that happens there is not a facsimile
0:10:31 > 0:10:33and is not drummed up by the press.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35It's something about the best of us.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39If we've come to take this for granted,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43it's worth remembering that she would never have become Queen
0:10:43 > 0:10:46if her uncle hadn't been a failed, unsuccessful monarch.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49- REPORTER:- On a cold, sunny January day,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52the body of His late Majesty King George V
0:10:52 > 0:10:56starts on its last journey from Sandringham.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Behind the coffin walks His Majesty the King,
0:10:58 > 0:11:04their Royal Highnesses the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Lord Harewood.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09She was nine years old when her grandfather George V died.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11As he was lying in state,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15part of the Imperial State Crown fell from the top of his coffin.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20His heir, Uncle David as she called him, the Prince of Wales, saw this
0:11:20 > 0:11:22and wondered if it was a bad omen.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28It was. 1936 would become The Year Of The Three Kings.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32- REPORTER:- Already loved and respected as Prince,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36he set out to do his duty as King in the industrial areas of Britain.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41CHEERING
0:11:44 > 0:11:48But behind the scenes, the constitutional crisis grew.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51A crisis which concerned not only politicians of Westminster
0:11:51 > 0:11:55but the Church of England, and which was to prevent his coronation.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Edward VIII reigned for just 325 days,
0:12:02 > 0:12:03surrendering the throne
0:12:03 > 0:12:06to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11He was the bad King, the Windsor who got it wrong.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Vain and self-indulgent, he demonstrated that charisma,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17while useful in politics or entertainment,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21is a dangerous confection for a constitutional monarch.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26These are the unreleased stamps, designed by him,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30looking like an Emperor, to mark the Coronation that never was.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35He was bored by duty,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40left official papers lying around with whisky stains on them.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Could the Queen's moral seriousness have been an instinctive reaction
0:12:44 > 0:12:48to her uncle's short and disastrous reign?
0:12:49 > 0:12:53It must have been a terribly cruel betrayal for her,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57because he was such an enjoyable, relaxed member of the family
0:12:57 > 0:12:59in this very stiff sort of environment.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04And then suddenly she discovers - it must have been revealed to her at the time of the abdication -
0:13:04 > 0:13:07that he's blotted his copybook in this terrible way,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09in a way that they probably didn't want.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Her mother and father couldn't talk to her about Mrs Simpson,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16divorced women, all this sort of thing.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The very silence about it,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22people going quiet when she came into the room.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24This must have made it all the more awful
0:13:24 > 0:13:26and all the more of a betrayal.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Carefully stored away in Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster
0:13:37 > 0:13:40are archives which record these dark days of the monarchy.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47These are the papers on the abdication of Edward VIII
0:13:47 > 0:13:51and they reek of misery and crisis.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55This is his address to the House of Lords in which he says,
0:13:55 > 0:14:00"I will not enter now into my private feelings, but I would beg that it should be remembered
0:14:00 > 0:14:02"that the burden which constantly rests
0:14:02 > 0:14:06"upon the shoulders of a sovereign is so heavy it can only be borne in circumstances
0:14:06 > 0:14:09"different from those in which I now find myself."
0:14:09 > 0:14:16You then get the Act Of Abdication, which went through both Houses of Parliament -
0:14:16 > 0:14:20all of its stages - in a single day. That's a sense of crisis for you.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25And then here is the Royal Assent to that and it finishes with
0:14:25 > 0:14:31the great red seal. "By the King himself, signed with his own hand."
0:14:31 > 0:14:34And his own hand is on the front of the document,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Edward RI, Edward Rex Imperator, "King Emperor".
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And by writing that signature on this document,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47he ceases to be King. So it's the only example I've ever seen -
0:14:47 > 0:14:53and may exist - of a signature which destroys itself. Amazing.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00With barely time for the country to take it all in,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03the Queen's father was crowned King George VI.
0:15:03 > 0:15:0611-year-old Princess Elizabeth was a little shocked
0:15:06 > 0:15:11to realise she would have to move into the draughty Buckingham Palace.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14But she caught the sense of magic, writing of the Coronation,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17"I thought it all very, very wonderful
0:15:17 > 0:15:20"and I expect the Abbey did, too.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22"The arches and beams at the top were covered with
0:15:22 > 0:15:26"a sort of haze of wonder as Papa was crowned.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28"At least, I thought so."
0:15:32 > 0:15:35"Papa" was only 41 and the prospect of her own reign
0:15:35 > 0:15:39must have seemed unimaginably distant.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42But that quiet little family, her mother's sense of fun,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46her sister Princess Margaret's mischief, what they called "we four"
0:15:46 > 0:15:49would now be changed for ever.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- REPORTER:- That's our Royal Family, and it's a family
0:15:52 > 0:15:55whose joys and sorrows are much like yours and mine, I suspect.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04The new King George VI moved his family
0:16:04 > 0:16:08out of the comfortable and familiar house in Piccadilly
0:16:08 > 0:16:10and into the grandeur of Buckingham Palace.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Imagine what it must have felt like for the young girls,
0:16:14 > 0:16:19and the shift certainly pushed the father and his older,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21rather serious ten-year-old daughter,
0:16:21 > 0:16:27who he now knew was going to be Queen, much more closely together.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32- It was a pretty intimidating, draughty, old barn of a place. - Yes, and pretty austere
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and some fairly strange working practices as well.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Mind you, the working practices have been going on a long, long time.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42I think even in Queen Victoria's day, she or Prince Albert complained
0:16:42 > 0:16:45that there were three different departments
0:16:45 > 0:16:48that were responsible for a fireplace, so there was...
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Actually, it may have been four. One was responsible for cleaning it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Another was responsible for laying it,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57because the Forestry Department had to produce the logs.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Somebody else had to light it and another department had to look after it.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05It was absolutely ridiculous. It's got a lot better since then!
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Her childhood was comfortable, but not exactly crowded.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16No random friendships. City streets for looking down at, not for walking on.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Remarkably, even then, security issues,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23including Irish Republican threats, loomed over the girls.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Elizabeth and Margaret lived in a world dominated by family jokes
0:17:27 > 0:17:31and private games, often played in a kind of ante-palace
0:17:31 > 0:17:34hidden away in the grounds of Royal Lodge, Windsor.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38The people of Wales gave Y Bwthyn Bach, "The Little House",
0:17:38 > 0:17:41to her on her sixth birthday. Here she'd play and read books,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45beginning a tradition that now includes her granddaughter, Princess Beatrice.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Granny and her sister played here growing up and we've been
0:17:49 > 0:17:54lucky enough to play here, and cousins and second cousins
0:17:54 > 0:17:56and it's a big family treat.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00It's the most glamorous Wendy house ever but it's really beautiful
0:18:00 > 0:18:03and what you're seeing now
0:18:03 > 0:18:06is after a year renovation process.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11- Which you've been in charge of? - Yeah. Well, I'm one of the people,
0:18:11 > 0:18:16but it's been completely re-thatched and new curtains,
0:18:16 > 0:18:21- new wiring, new...- Mm. - A bit of a spruce-up, really.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Because it's such a wonderful little place that...
0:18:24 > 0:18:26If you want to have a look inside.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Can we see inside?
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Have a little look.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34Wow!
0:18:38 > 0:18:41- So, as you see...- Yeah.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45As you see, all the little china and glass
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and everything was created specially for the house.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53- It's got a very 1930s feel to it, hasn't it?- Yes, it does.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58- The kitchen is very 1930s. - Actually, the fridge in there is not supposed to be in here.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01It was the fridge from the nursery, but, when all the boxes came back,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03it suddenly reappeared!
0:19:03 > 0:19:08So we now have the original 1930s fridge in the house.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And Granny was very clear that all the fabrics,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15she wanted very little designs because it was such a little house
0:19:15 > 0:19:19that she... So we've gone for very little flowers and little rosebuds.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22We have some quite new, modern friends that've...
0:19:22 > 0:19:24- Have arrived as well. - ..Made their appearance as well.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29But she spent many, many happy hours and days here as a girl.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Yeah, she did. And still now, she likes to come back and visit
0:19:33 > 0:19:36and it's wonderful that we can have...
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Granny's a great-grandmother now,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41so we can have Savannah come and play in here, as well.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45- That's fantastic.- And more great-grandchildren in the future.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53As a child, "Granny" never went to school.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56When her mother was urged to get her more books,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59they all turned out to be comedies by PG Wodehouse.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02But she learned French and she was taught about the constitution
0:20:02 > 0:20:04by an eccentric history teacher from Eton.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09More important, the new King was passing on his own advice
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and despite his stammer and lack of readiness for the role,
0:20:12 > 0:20:14was growing in confidence himself.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:20:23 > 0:20:27He refused to leave London during World War II's Blitz.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32The Queen Mother took up pistol practice in the palace grounds
0:20:32 > 0:20:35in case she had to make a last stand against German paratroopers,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38and they visited the battered East End.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42- REPORTER:- Upon hearing yet another London hospital had been bombed,
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Their Majesties visit the scene
0:20:43 > 0:20:47to bring comfort and cheer to all those who have suffered
0:20:47 > 0:20:51from this all-too-frequent form of Nazi frightfulness.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54On September 13th 1940,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
0:20:56 > 0:21:00were very nearly killed when a German bomb landed right here
0:21:00 > 0:21:02in the quadrangle at Buckingham Palace.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05If the window in the room where they were standing
0:21:05 > 0:21:07had been closed rather than open,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11they would have been hideously mutilated by flying glass.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13A workman nearby was killed.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Showing fine British phlegm, one of the policemen there
0:21:17 > 0:21:19turned to the Queen Mother and said,
0:21:19 > 0:21:24"A magnificent piece of bombing, if I may say so, ma'am."
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Yards from where the King and Queen sheltered, the Royal Chapel was struck.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32Tearing through the roof, the bomb completely wrecked the altar,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37and hurled 20 tonnes of debris into the basement. We thank God that Their Majesties were unhurt.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41During World War II, the whereabouts of the princesses was a national secret.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43In fact, they were at Windsor Castle,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46from where they made a radio broadcast to the children of Britain.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52'Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes
0:21:52 > 0:21:56'and be separated from your fathers and mothers.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01'My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05'as we know from experience what it means
0:22:05 > 0:22:10'to be away from those we love most of all.'
0:22:10 > 0:22:14You only have to look at pictures of the Queen's father before
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and after the war to see the toll it took on him.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19A dramatic ageing,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23but this was also the time when the ties were more tightly bound.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26I think that was the time
0:22:26 > 0:22:29when the Queen got closest of all to her father,
0:22:29 > 0:22:34and to see him wasting away in front of her...
0:22:34 > 0:22:38And you wonder, was she aware,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41even as she's losing her father,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45and can see his mortality, what that means for her,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and how that's going to limit her own personal life?
0:22:50 > 0:22:52He was really the only person
0:22:52 > 0:22:56from whom Princess Elizabeth could learn about how to reign -
0:22:56 > 0:22:59how far to go with the politicians, how to do the paperwork.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02He'd become a revered symbol of the British -
0:23:02 > 0:23:06reliable, constant, still in his mid-50s.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08For her, an anchor.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11And then the cable snapped.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17King George VI's death came on the 6th February 1952,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20here at Sandringham, the private estate he loved so much.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23His daughter was then 25, she had two children of her own,
0:23:23 > 0:23:29but this sudden death pitched her straight into the public and private world
0:23:29 > 0:23:32of remorseless meetings and duties, which she's always taken
0:23:32 > 0:23:35with the same kind of dead-straight seriousness
0:23:35 > 0:23:37that she learned from him.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42She was considerably younger than you are now when she became Queen.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Do you ever reflect on what an extraordinary jump that must have been,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50from a relatively private life, suddenly thrust into that role at her age?
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Definitely, and one of the things that's also really struck me
0:23:54 > 0:23:55when I look back at it now,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58was also, in a very, probably, male-dominated age,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01where it must have been extremely daunting to be put in that position.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06And that age... You know, I still have trouble trying to be serious about certain things,
0:24:06 > 0:24:12so for her at that age, it must have been incredible having that burden, that responsibility, placed on you.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16She's shouldered the responsibility since then.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20One day, after his father, it will land on Prince William's shoulders.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26But what is the essence of that responsibility? What's the point of a constitutional monarch?
0:24:26 > 0:24:28What, really, is the job for?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Well, first, the Queen is head of state,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33and the state is a political creation.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36One of the most important of the monarch's duties
0:24:36 > 0:24:39is something the Queen has done thousands of times -
0:24:39 > 0:24:42her weekly audiences with the Prime Minister.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44These meetings mostly happen here in the deep privacy
0:24:44 > 0:24:48of the Queen's apartments at Buckingham Palace.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56The Queen's first Prime Minster was Winston Churchill,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00a titanic figure she found a great speaker.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02The Queen can do no wrong.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07He saw things in a very romantic and literary way.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10But perhaps a less good listener.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Since then, she's had 11 British Prime Ministers alone,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and at the heart of the relationship are those totally confidential conversations,
0:25:18 > 0:25:23compared by one official to a weekly meeting with a therapist.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Certainly here, one can't take it in,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28but there it must be even more traumatic, mustn't it?
0:25:28 > 0:25:32It's simply two people sitting down talking
0:25:32 > 0:25:35in an entirely relaxed and informal way.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37But they cover everything.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40I mean, the Queen, as head of state, has a right to know what is happening,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44has a right to know what her Prime Minister has in mind to do.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47I certainly found I could discuss anything with her,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49in total confidence, and that included, by the way,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52all sorts of Cabinet ructions and difficulties.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Early on in her reign, the Queen had to cope with Prime Ministers
0:25:59 > 0:26:03who were older, wilier, and often ruthless.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Anthony Eden came close to entangling her in his deception
0:26:07 > 0:26:10of the House of Commons and the wider world
0:26:10 > 0:26:13during the Suez invasion of Egypt in 1956,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18a disastrous adventure that divided the Queen's advisers and family.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23She was said to have been upset by the dishonesty involved,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and so was Prince Philip's uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Lord Louis Mountbatten,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32very close to the Royal Family, was First Sea Lord,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and he tried to resign as that crisis deepened,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38and was ordered by the First Lord, Quintin Hailsham,
0:26:38 > 0:26:40to stay in his post, and he did.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43The resignation, the attempted resignation letter all declassified.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46So the Queen was deeply, deeply concerned.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Eden's successor, Harold Macmillan, entangled her in politics
0:26:49 > 0:26:55by forcing the pace when he resigned, so that his favoured successor,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Alec Douglas-Home, got the job.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59Order, please. Order.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02The Queen had visited Macmillan in hospital to hear his views,
0:27:02 > 0:27:07and many thought that the Conservative leader was using her for his own ends.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Oddly, perhaps, she seems to have established a very warm relationship
0:27:15 > 0:27:21with her first Northern, Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25I think it was said that Harold Wilson once remarked that at particular times of crisis -
0:27:25 > 0:27:28late '60s, when he was in deep trouble
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and there were plots, as he thought, against him -
0:27:31 > 0:27:35he used to say that he looked forward to the meeting with the Sovereign,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39then on a Tuesday evening, because it was the only meeting he attended in the week which didn't leak,
0:27:39 > 0:27:45and it was the only time he met somebody for a serious conversation who wasn't after his job.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52As the Queen has grown ever more experienced and grown older,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and her Prime Ministers have grown younger, the balance has changed.
0:27:55 > 0:28:01Perhaps the most pivotal, important premiership of all was that of Margaret Thatcher.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07- Good evening, Your Majesty. - You've had a very long day.- Yes, it ran over just a little bit today.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12In 1986, the Sunday Times suggested
0:28:12 > 0:28:15the Queen thought Mrs Thatcher was uncaring and confrontational -
0:28:15 > 0:28:18that the Queen was a political in-fighter
0:28:18 > 0:28:20prepared to take on her Prime Minister.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24This was over-briefing
0:28:24 > 0:28:27by an enthusiastic Buckingham Palace press officer.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31The Queen was fascinated, and sometimes amused,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33by Margaret Thatcher.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35And the Royal Family isn't comfortable
0:28:35 > 0:28:37with too-polarised politics.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38As the people at the top,
0:28:38 > 0:28:43they like the idea of the country holding together.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47However, the Queen always saw the point of Margaret Thatcher.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49She admired her guts,
0:28:49 > 0:28:54and she was intrigued by this self-made female leader.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58The evidence is generally that actually, on a personal level, they got on very well.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01I think they did.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04I think they each thought the other was slightly strange...
0:29:04 > 0:29:07- THEY LAUGH - Which, indeed, was true.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11I am the tenth Prime Minister of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
0:29:11 > 0:29:12- The Prime Minister.- Ah.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Tony Blair's New Labour presented a different problem -
0:29:16 > 0:29:19a vigorous government of self-proclaimed modernisers,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22which, Whitehall insiders said,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25had little instinctive feel for monarchy.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Being in power changed that.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32You know, the fact is, any Prime Minister ends up
0:29:32 > 0:29:35with unexpected events and happenings and crises,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38and you need to be able to come through those and handle them,
0:29:38 > 0:29:40and actually handle them psychologically,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42as well as politically.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45And I often used to talk to her about the past,
0:29:45 > 0:29:47about previous Prime Ministers, what it was like,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50how they handled things, and she was, you know...
0:29:50 > 0:29:53She was prepared, within the context of the audience,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56to be very frank and open and informative, in fact.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I think they want to do a deal if they possibly can.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02- The question is whether we can get everyone through it...- Yes.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05..at the end of this week, really, but it's...
0:30:05 > 0:30:08For the new countries, particularly, they want one,
0:30:08 > 0:30:10and that's the best chance we've got of getting one.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12I can imagine.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17We now have an older, grandmotherly Queen,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21who remembers so many forgotten scandals
0:30:21 > 0:30:23and "got past that one" crises.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27The Queen has, according to the great Victorian journalist Walter Bagehot,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30the right to be consulted, to advise and to warn.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35And the more experience she has, the more, perhaps, that means.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And today, it's David Cameron's turn.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45We're recording this, as it happens, on Budget Day,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49and at a time when British pilots are flying over Libya,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51so there will be a great deal
0:30:51 > 0:30:54for the Prime Minister and the Queen to talk about
0:30:54 > 0:30:58once they get down to the meat of their conversation.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00What will she say to him?
0:31:00 > 0:31:03What will he reply? We will never know.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05And that is the point.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09But here's a rare glimpse,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12though David Cameron is probably keeping his dynamite news
0:31:12 > 0:31:17or his best gossip for when the camera has gone.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I hope what you heard last night and what you heard at the House of Commons was broadly the same.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I think it was broadly the same, yes.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27It went well. In essence, I think it went well. It was an hour long,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31- but it was lively. Out of all the muddle beforehand with Question Time...- Oh, yes.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Then on Monday, we had the great Libyan...
0:31:33 > 0:31:37- I hear you had the Libyan thing. - That was, it was an amazingly...
0:31:37 > 0:31:39'It's probably the only meeting...'
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Apart from seeing Mrs Cameron at the end of the day,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47it's about the only meeting where there's no-one else in the room.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50And I feel the responsibility as Prime Minister
0:31:50 > 0:31:53to try and explain my perspective
0:31:53 > 0:31:56on the big issues going on in the world and the country that week.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00- Does it make YOU think more clearly? - So it makes me think, absolutely,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03because there's no-one else in the room, there are no minutes taken -
0:32:03 > 0:32:10I think you reveal, both to her, but also to yourself,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13your deepest thinking and deepest worries about these issues,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17and sometimes that can really help you to reach the answers.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20- That sounds...quite sensible. - Good, good.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Full of warnings - mainly for me.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26It was a very good... Very good. And I sat in the Chamber listening.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28But does all this really matter?
0:32:28 > 0:32:33What's it for? Has it, in any way, changed the lives of the British?
0:32:33 > 0:32:36The Prime Minister is the executive arm of the Government,
0:32:36 > 0:32:42and the monarch has this extraordinarily important set of ceremonial duties,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46that means that the country - whatever it thinks of its politicians -
0:32:46 > 0:32:49can feel a great sense of ownership and unity
0:32:49 > 0:32:52around the institution of the Royal Family,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54and in particular Her Majesty the Queen.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I think gives us, not only all the advantages
0:32:57 > 0:33:01in terms of people wanting to come to Britain and engage with Britain,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03but gives us a huge advantage of stability.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14The Queen stays on top of things.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17She reads the newspapers - not just the Racing Post, the lot.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19She really does.
0:33:19 > 0:33:20- Good morning.- Good morning.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23She listens to the radio and the evening news on television,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25and every day, wherever she may be,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29those fat, heavy, red Cabinet boxes arrive,
0:33:29 > 0:33:32brimming with closely typed paperwork, carried to her
0:33:32 > 0:33:35through the corridors of the Palace.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41In these boxes have been some of the deepest secrets of the British state
0:33:41 > 0:33:45over the last 60 years - what they really thought in Whitehall
0:33:45 > 0:33:48during the most dangerous parts of the Cold War,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50when the world was on the edge of nuclear annihilation,
0:33:50 > 0:33:55what they really felt about some of the big domestic stories,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59those great confrontations when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Or the true story of Tony Blair
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and taking the country to war in Iraq and Afghanistan,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07the fight between Blair and Brown.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11The Queen really has had an absolute ringside seat
0:34:11 > 0:34:13for everything that's most important.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18They call her, in Number Ten, Reader Number One.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23She uses a desk glossy with royal history.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Modern Britain's business is dispatched on furniture
0:34:26 > 0:34:30which once belonged to the Bourbons of Paris,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32brought down by the bloody French Revolution.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36Here is British democracy's Reader Number One,
0:34:36 > 0:34:41always ready for when the next box of documents arrives.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43Why does she read those papers?
0:34:43 > 0:34:47Is it important that she sees the secrets of the state,
0:34:47 > 0:34:48and knows what's going on?
0:34:48 > 0:34:50If she's to fulfil that function
0:34:50 > 0:34:53of keeping Prime Ministers and Secretaries of State on their toes
0:34:53 > 0:34:55in her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58or the bilateral she regularly has with the big ministers,
0:34:58 > 0:35:00she's got to be well primed.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02And she has this enormous accumulated compost
0:35:02 > 0:35:06of memory and knowledge, but you have to keep it up to speed.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10I suspect it's her equivalent of athletic training - it's her workout.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15I've heard it said that there are only three people in government
0:35:15 > 0:35:18who really, truly understand what's going on.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20The Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22the Prime Minister, and the Queen.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29One of her former private secretaries, way back in the '70s,
0:35:29 > 0:35:34said that if she wasn't on top of all of this stuff,
0:35:34 > 0:35:36very quickly, people would notice.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42Prime Ministers, ministers, ambassadors would realise that she didn't know what was going on,
0:35:42 > 0:35:46and something soggy and soft would happen at the apex of the state.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50I think that's probably true, although, to be honest,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53quite a lot of the Queen's functions
0:35:53 > 0:35:56are almost rubber-stamping.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01I think, on a more personal level, if the Queen didn't keep up
0:36:01 > 0:36:06this great discipline of having to read every single day and keep on top of things,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10she might never be able to catch up again,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13or she would feel under pressure,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16and she has an iron discipline to read.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Iron discipline is, of course, a military quality,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28and the Queen grew up often surrounded by men
0:36:28 > 0:36:32with regimental instincts for timekeeping, order,
0:36:32 > 0:36:33dress code and duty.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Responsibility was drummed into her.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40Her South African speech, aged 21, is the speech of a true believer
0:36:40 > 0:36:45in monarchy, nationhood, God and destiny.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53a noble motto - "I serve."
0:36:53 > 0:36:57I declare before you all that my whole life,
0:36:57 > 0:37:02whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06and to the service of our great imperial family,
0:37:06 > 0:37:08to which we all belong.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13So this is the woman who became Queen.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17We've seen the way her reading and her private meetings with politicians mesh
0:37:17 > 0:37:19at the heart of the British state.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22But what about the grand public occasions,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25such as the opening of Parliament?
0:37:25 > 0:37:29Britain, unlike other countries, has no written constitution,
0:37:29 > 0:37:31no founding document.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34Her authority is more like an ancient echo -
0:37:34 > 0:37:37a half-hidden mystery.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42And this is the room that you never see.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44This is the Robing Room.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49And the Queen will come in here, and the Imperial State Crown,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53which, with the other jewellery, has arrived in its own coach
0:37:53 > 0:37:56from the Tower of London, and then she gets robed.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01This is not the House of Lords, and it's not the House of Commons.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04This is the Queen's bit of the Palace of Westminster.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09And it's really important symbolically, because the monarchy,
0:38:09 > 0:38:14the state, the unending United Kingdom,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17meets the day-to-day world of politicians,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20arguing about the things that politicians argue about.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24And when the Queen leaves this room with that great crown on,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28and all the regalia, she is going to speak the words
0:38:28 > 0:38:31of a "here today, gone tomorrow" politician,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35the Prime Minister of the day, but she is still the Queen.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37She is not the Government.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40It's her Government, but she is not THE Government,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43and this is a crucial distinction.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45FANFARE
0:38:53 > 0:38:58We don't live in a Tory country or a coalition nation.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02There was never any such thing as New Labour Britain.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06These are just the labels of governments,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09who aren't quite squatters - that would be unfair -
0:39:09 > 0:39:12but are merely lodgers.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16The state is meant to represent all of us,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20whatever we think of the people running things at the moment.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23The state should have an acute memory
0:39:23 > 0:39:26of what happened in the old days and how things used to work,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29and a lively interest in the longer-term future.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Other countries represent the state with a constitution,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37a book, a bit of paper, some kind of symbol -
0:39:37 > 0:39:39France has Marianne -
0:39:39 > 0:39:42or a clapped-out politician called a president.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45We have a lady who, every year,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48reads out what her Government is up to,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52and - quite rightly - never lets us know what she really thinks of it.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55My Lords, pray be seated.
0:39:58 > 0:39:59In modern times,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03the State Opening of Parliament can look like a gaudy pantomime,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06or convocation of playing cards,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09but its political significance is real enough.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13My Lords and members of the House of Commons...
0:40:14 > 0:40:16My Government's legislative programme
0:40:16 > 0:40:20will be based upon the principles of freedom,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22fairness and responsibility.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29And yet, all the work at home is only part of what she does.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32A lot of the Queen's life has been about travelling abroad.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Again, why?
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Why is she the most well-travelled monarch in history?
0:40:38 > 0:40:43Why has she made more than 325 overseas visits
0:40:43 > 0:40:44to more than 130 countries,
0:40:44 > 0:40:46going far beyond the states she reigns over,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48or even the Commonwealth?
0:40:48 > 0:40:50They included Russia -
0:40:50 > 0:40:54where revolutionaries killed her relative, Tsar Nicholas II, and his family -
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and Communist China. All of this costs money.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Does it really bring Britain much in return?
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Does her presence make a real difference
0:41:05 > 0:41:08to the way we sell ourselves abroad?
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Well, yes, it does.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11It undoubtedly adds great weight,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15and it draws attention to us, selling ourselves abroad.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17The Queen doesn't do trade deals -
0:41:17 > 0:41:20the Queen isn't actually herself
0:41:20 > 0:41:22soliciting business for the country -
0:41:22 > 0:41:26but the presence of the Queen draws enormous attention.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31And her travels take her deep into Republican territory, too.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36If there's one place on the planet
0:41:36 > 0:41:39which challenges the idea of monarchy more than any other,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42it's the United States of America -
0:41:42 > 0:41:45the most successful democracy of all time.
0:41:45 > 0:41:51They didn't just reject monarchy, they rejected OUR monarchy,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55and built a system with an elected leader
0:41:55 > 0:42:00whose powers are far greater than any king or queen has ever had.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11On the other hand, what they lost was continuity -
0:42:11 > 0:42:15they're always remaking themselves.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18The Queen remembers Eisenhower,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20JF Kennedy,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Nixon, Reagan, Carter,
0:42:22 > 0:42:28and there's nobody at the apex of the United States
0:42:28 > 0:42:29you could say that about.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Here in the United States,
0:42:33 > 0:42:35you might think that nobody thinks much about that.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38You might think that in hard-boiled New York,
0:42:38 > 0:42:43people don't miss continuity or a sense of history,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45but you'd be wrong.
0:42:45 > 0:42:46She's like an icon in the community.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Erm... Like, here in America,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53you don't really see as much females of her stature.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56So I think she has a great influence.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59I like that she's a remnant of the past. I like that, though.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03You don't see too many other monarchs still around, so I don't mind the Queen.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07- We love the Queen.- Fantastic. I didn't know she was going to be here.- Yeah!
0:43:07 > 0:43:12- High-five!- That's really cool she's coming here though.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20She's here to make a speech at the United Nations,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22the organisation set up to promote world peace.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26It's a speech she's worked hard on.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30The four largest current providers of peacekeeping troops in the world
0:43:30 > 0:43:32are Commonwealth countries.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35She's head of state of 16 United Nations members,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37so this matters to her.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42The Queen makes speeches all the time, but she's not one of those people
0:43:42 > 0:43:44who like the sound of their own voice.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47She is pleased when the speeches are over.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52Public speaking is a routine, familiar, well-oiled ordeal.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58In less than two hours' time, the Queen will be standing there addressing the United Nations.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02First time she's done it since 1957.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07This assembly was born of the endeavours
0:44:07 > 0:44:09of countless men and women...
0:44:09 > 0:44:12Back then, she was upbeat and optimistic,
0:44:12 > 0:44:14and so she will be today.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18You might say, mostly her story has been
0:44:18 > 0:44:23the triumph of optimism and hope over bitter experience.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27But, after all, that is the story of monarchy,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30and it's the story of the United Nations, too.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33It has perhaps always been the case
0:44:33 > 0:44:37that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42That was a really important speech, and she was able to go there
0:44:42 > 0:44:46and talk a lot about foreign policy aspects,
0:44:46 > 0:44:48talk about the successes that the UN has had,
0:44:48 > 0:44:51and the issues that are still troubling it, about failed states,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54so, you know, she can do an enormous amount.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56..Grown and prospered by responding...
0:44:56 > 0:44:58The Queen is not controversial,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02and therefore, everybody feels included in...
0:45:02 > 0:45:04when she goes abroad.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07And there's a completely different atmosphere
0:45:07 > 0:45:09when the Queen comes down the stairs, as it were.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14It's different from anybody else doing it. It just is different.
0:45:14 > 0:45:20In tomorrow's world, we must all work together as hard as ever,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23if we are truly to be united nations.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24APPLAUSE
0:45:27 > 0:45:31Rousing speeches aren't really her thing.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36In truth, the way the Queen connects best is with a personal touch.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41She may not be a natural performer - she's never provocative -
0:45:41 > 0:45:45but she has found the right words for times of grief and crisis,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49and she moves people just by turning up, as she's about to do here
0:45:49 > 0:45:51in the last part of her New York visit,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54at the site of the Twin Towers.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Ground Zero, a decade on,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05and it's messy and dirty and busy and hot.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07And still very sad.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Part of the job of a monarch
0:46:10 > 0:46:14is to articulate what people feel when tragedy strikes,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16when things go wrong.
0:46:16 > 0:46:2267 British people died here among the nearly 3,000 who perished,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26and in the days afterwards, the Queen spoke very well.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30She spoke through the British ambassador, just along the road,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33at a church, as the rain streaked down,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36and she said these were dark and harrowing times,
0:46:36 > 0:46:41and she finished by saying something which is simple and true -
0:46:41 > 0:46:46which is that grief is the price we pay for love.
0:46:46 > 0:46:53Now, so long afterwards, she's back. She's going to be laying a wreath.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Prince Charles and Camilla have been here before,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58but she's never been here, and it's going to be...
0:46:58 > 0:47:01It'll be a poignant moment actually.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Among those waiting for her is firefighter John Morabito,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11who survived the collapse of the South Tower.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15411 emergency workers lost their lives
0:47:15 > 0:47:17as a result of the terrorist attacks.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21Just to be able to meet the Queen and see her human side,
0:47:21 > 0:47:27that she would come down here and grace us with her presence at the World Trade Center site,
0:47:27 > 0:47:32I think it lifts the spirits of Americans, especially New Yorkers.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35There are times, especially in the Fire Department,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39we feel like the world kinda forgot about us and what we went through,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42so to have someone like the Queen of England,
0:47:42 > 0:47:47which is, you know, a sister country to us - we feel very closely
0:47:47 > 0:47:50a close bond to England - to come down here and to pay her respects,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54it means a lot to New Yorkers especially, and, I think, to Americans.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58It shows a human side of her, as well.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18Watching the Queen operate abroad, even outside the Commonwealth,
0:48:18 > 0:48:20you do see her differently.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22People I've talked to here in New York
0:48:22 > 0:48:26were genuinely thrilled and moved that she'd come,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29in a way I don't think they'd feel
0:48:29 > 0:48:32about a British Prime Minister or politician.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36It would be absurd, however, to say
0:48:36 > 0:48:40that the Queen helps to project British power.
0:48:40 > 0:48:47Power seems the very last thing that she's about - or glory, or pomp.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49At least here.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53It's as if we have a Foreign Office, a Ministry of Defence,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56a Department of Trade,
0:48:56 > 0:49:03and she is our slightly mysterious Department of Friendliness.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07It is a rum business.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09But in a good way.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20It's November 2010 in Abu Dhabi,
0:49:20 > 0:49:22and the Queen is in the Gulf.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Once, the Windsors were king-emperors.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Now they travel as would-be wealth creators, promoters,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31first onto the beaches with the politicians
0:49:31 > 0:49:34and the businessmen at their backs.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38The colour of the carpet waiting for her never changes,
0:49:38 > 0:49:40but the world certainly does.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43When she became Queen, this place was in British hands.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46It was mostly dust and camels and old forts.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49When she was last here, more than 30 years ago,
0:49:49 > 0:49:53this was an independent country on its way,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57and now it's one of the great mushrooming
0:49:57 > 0:50:02"Jack And The Beanstalk" economies - enormously powerful.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Do they need us still?
0:50:05 > 0:50:06Do we need them?
0:50:06 > 0:50:08We certainly do.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13It strikes me that this has become a place which matters an awful lot to...
0:50:13 > 0:50:16I mean, Manchester City fans, but also to a lot of workers.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19It's not just, er...
0:50:19 > 0:50:23- It's not just the UAE - it's the whole region.- Yes.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Hugely important from the business opportunities, the business case.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29- There's an awful lot going on.- Yeah.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33- I've been coming to this region now for - whatever it is - nearly 12 years.- Yes.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36And developing the relationships in this part of the world
0:50:36 > 0:50:40needs a continuous hand in touch.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43- And personal contacts matter a lot. - Oh, hugely. Hugely.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48And the fact that Her Majesty's coming now is really, really important,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51especially after the new government has given...
0:50:51 > 0:50:54reinvigorated the relationship with the whole of the region.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- But, as you can see, the aeroplane is rolling up now.- Yes.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03- Back to work.- I mustn't keep you from the Queen.- Thanks very much! - Thank you.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Monarchies are a minority in today's world, but they're hardly unusual.
0:51:07 > 0:51:1040-odd countries have monarchs, depending on how you count them,
0:51:10 > 0:51:15and there's no doubt that monarchs have a natural curiosity about one another,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17which can oil the wheels of trade -
0:51:17 > 0:51:20the Kings' and Queens' Club.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25Tonight this Queen is greeted by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28So, straight from the airport,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31her first stop is the exuberant Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33one of the world's largest,
0:51:33 > 0:51:36and partly the work of British companies.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Shoeless, the Queen - whose range of hats is famous -
0:51:39 > 0:51:42now wears her tribute to local fashion,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45including her version of the traditional Abaya gown.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50She meets children learning the Koran rather late at night.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54One of the things that's changed in the Queen's reign,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57and she is now very conscious of,
0:51:57 > 0:52:03is that she is also Queen of 1.6 million British Muslims.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10Ambassador, what does it actually mean in concrete terms for Britain
0:52:10 > 0:52:12that the Queen comes all the way out here?
0:52:12 > 0:52:15It's tremendously important for the relationship.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18This is a country that counts for the UK.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22It counts because 100-120,000 British people live here.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24It counts because of their security.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28So the defence and security relationship between the UK and the UAE,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31with our troops serving alongside each other in Afghanistan,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33with our law enforcement agencies
0:52:33 > 0:52:37intercepting bombs on the way to the UK. It's very important.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40I suppose Yemen's just round one corner and Iran's over the water,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42so it's a pretty important place.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44If there was no Royal Family - if we were a republic -
0:52:44 > 0:52:46what would be the difference, do you think?
0:52:46 > 0:52:49It would be shallow, shallow, shallow.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51How big a deal is it?
0:52:51 > 0:52:53This is probably the most important bilateral contact
0:52:53 > 0:52:56between the UK and the UAE of the decade.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59MEN SING
0:52:59 > 0:53:02The official welcome is a traditional Bedouin one,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05but again, this is really about corporate Britain.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08A European-influenced museum, designed by a Briton,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11backed by the British Museum.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16A British architect, Lord Foster, produced it, so lots of money involved.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21But the bigger picture is that in the Gulf, the Chinese are moving in,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23and this dance of royal diplomacy
0:53:23 > 0:53:27is one of the ways the British Government is trying to fight back.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32The role the Queen can play
0:53:32 > 0:53:34as Britain tries to find its place
0:53:34 > 0:53:37with the other great powers - the great powers of the world -
0:53:37 > 0:53:38is a very big one.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41The fact that they have such esteem and affection for her
0:53:41 > 0:53:44actually, I think, gives Britain an enormous advantage.
0:53:44 > 0:53:45And, I... You know,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49she is seriously interested in the project,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52and in architecture, which is...
0:53:52 > 0:53:55- She's done her homework. - Which is really impressive.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59- TONY BLAIR:- One thing you have to realise when you're abroad
0:53:59 > 0:54:02is that people absolutely adore the notion of the British monarchy.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05They're fascinated by it, they want to know about it.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07I mean, whatever part of the world I'm in,
0:54:07 > 0:54:09they will always ask me about the Queen,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12about what it's like, about the monarchy.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16And so for us as a country, it's a no-brainer, actually,
0:54:16 > 0:54:17- in terms of what they bring...- Yes.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Cos they bring something no-one else can.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24The pinnacle, of course, is the Queen's visit,
0:54:24 > 0:54:26but it's what's going on beforehand -
0:54:26 > 0:54:28where the political context is,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32what's going on with the relationship -
0:54:32 > 0:54:36and then you've then got to look at what happens afterwards.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40And it's the gathering of those strands that you pull together,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43and then, as it were, the Queen is the person who, sort of,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47cinches them at that one particular moment.
0:54:47 > 0:54:53And so these are special, and they add shine, varnish,
0:54:53 > 0:54:58and, to some extent, paint to the canvas
0:54:58 > 0:55:01that is the relationship between us and another country.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10The Queen's visit continues to the Kingdom of Oman,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13ruled by an old friend of hers, Sultan Qaboos.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16At times, it feels more like Narnia -
0:55:16 > 0:55:22bagpipe-playing, camel-mounted soldiers, glittering forts -
0:55:22 > 0:55:23but Oman counts,
0:55:23 > 0:55:27an oasis of relative peace in an increasingly angry region.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Often ignored by her people at home,
0:55:30 > 0:55:36the Queen has been helping keep Britain quietly plugged in around the world for 60 years.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39She seems to enjoy it - that IS the job -
0:55:39 > 0:55:40but for a woman of her age,
0:55:40 > 0:55:44the politicians keep on pushing her hard.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Is there any sense that sometimes it's a bit much
0:55:48 > 0:55:52to ask a lady of her age to undertake some of these huge trips?
0:55:52 > 0:55:53Well, not really.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57Of course, one naturally thinks, "Would it be a bit much?"
0:55:57 > 0:56:00But very clearly, it isn't a bit much.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04- HRH THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: - She's extremely well rehearsed
0:56:04 > 0:56:06at these sorts of things now, but having done that
0:56:06 > 0:56:09for so many years, it must be incredibly tiring,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11and is extremely emotionally draining.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15But she's led the way in doing walkabouts and with engagements,
0:56:15 > 0:56:17and long may that continue.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21At a level of head of state, with the Queen as our monarch,
0:56:21 > 0:56:23with the institution of the Royal Family,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27even if you come at it with a, sort of, cold heart and a clear head,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30it is a brilliant organisation for Britain.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46The experience of following the Queen, even for a short time,
0:56:46 > 0:56:48takes you to some strange places,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53and involves a great deal of exotic transportation.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56It's sometimes like ordinary life
0:56:56 > 0:57:01with the colour balance turned up so high it's almost shrieking.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06But it's hot, hard work, and underneath the clatter and glitter,
0:57:06 > 0:57:11rather more hard-headed and down-to-earth than it looks.
0:57:11 > 0:57:17For 60 years, the Queen has been, many people would say, an adornment.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20What she ISN'T is an ornament.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24It could have been done differently.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Running this monarchy in modern times,
0:57:27 > 0:57:33juggling old authority and noisy democracy hasn't just happened -
0:57:33 > 0:57:37it's been carefully thought through by the Queen, her father,
0:57:37 > 0:57:41her grandfather, and their advisers.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46They had an idea, a plan, and by and large, they've stuck to it.
0:57:46 > 0:57:53In episode two of The Diamond Queen, we explore that plan further.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56We look at how the Queen has been a quiet, but restless, moderniser.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00She did close a circle of history.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03We ask how the family have learnt from her.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07She very much leaves the family to go off and find their own way.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11If you get it wrong, stand by, and you'll be put back in your place.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15And we hear the inside story of her grandson's wedding.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19I rang my grandmother up for some clarification on the issue,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22and duly got told that it was ridiculous.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24She was right, as she always is!
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd