0:00:02 > 0:00:04A Queen has reached 60 years on the throne
0:00:04 > 0:00:07for the first time in modern history.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Queen Elizabeth II is part of the background of every British life,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13but what matters to her?
0:00:13 > 0:00:15No matter where she is, who she's with or when,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17she always has this ability
0:00:17 > 0:00:21to bring what I could describe as energy and fun to the occasion.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24In this final episode of The Diamond Queen,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27we look at the defining moments of her reign.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And so sanctify thy servant Elizabeth...
0:00:30 > 0:00:32We examine how she's coped
0:00:32 > 0:00:36with decades of changing and sometimes tense relations
0:00:36 > 0:00:38between the monarchy and the media.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40What I say to you now, as your Queen
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It was a very difficult...thing for her to balance.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49From silver and gold to diamond,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54we look at those unusual celebrations, Royal Jubilees.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59In the run-up to every Jubilee, there's institutionalised pessimism,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03as if it could never be the same as last time, but so far it always is.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07And for the first time ever, all of the Queen's adult grandchildren
0:01:07 > 0:01:11have their say about the Diamond Queen.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13The nation's grandmother.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16We all have massive respect for her and love her to bits.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19She's led the way, and long may that continue.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48RADIO: 'This is London.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52'It is with the greatest sorrow that we make the following announcement.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57'It was announced from Sandringham at 10:45 today
0:01:57 > 0:02:01'that the King, who retired to rest last night in his usual health,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05'passed peacefully away in his sleep earlier this morning.'
0:02:05 > 0:02:08BIRDSONG
0:02:08 > 0:02:1260 years ago, February 6th 1952,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15the Queen's father, King George VI,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18died here at Sandringham.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The previous day, he'd been out shooting rabbits,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23a favourite occupation,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and he went to bed with his usual cup of cocoa.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30He wasn't a well man, he'd survived some very serious operations,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33but he was all of 56 years old,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36and his death came as a terrible shock.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40When this defining moment,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43the start of the Queen's reign, happened,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45she knew nothing.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48She was thousands of miles away in Kenya
0:02:48 > 0:02:50on the first leg of a Commonwealth tour.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Prince Philip was told first.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54"When he heard," said an aide,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57"he looked as if the whole world had dropped on him."
0:02:57 > 0:02:59He broke the news to his wife.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Delayed by thunderstorms, it took her 24 hours
0:03:02 > 0:03:04to get back to British soil.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08She was seen sitting alone, tearful and white-faced,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11staring out of the aircraft window.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15But by the time she landed, she was poised, already ready.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20Met by Winston Churchill and Britain's political grandees,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23this 25-year-old mother of two young children
0:03:23 > 0:03:25began a life sentence,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29even if it was a gilded cage and a fate she accepted.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I think one of the most interesting things is,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38as I'm sort of approaching the age that she was when she became Queen,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42that you think about, you know, she was 25 when she became Queen.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46- Yes.- And you think about how young that is for somebody
0:03:46 > 0:03:48to take on this incredible responsibility
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and give up her life in service.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55She took the helm from the man
0:03:55 > 0:03:58who had saved the monarchy after the abdication crisis,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01and on the day of King George VI's funeral,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05the Queen, with her grandmother and mother, looked shell-shocked.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09A vast weight of expectation now sat on her shoulders.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17It took 16 months to plan,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20but on Tuesday June 2nd, 1953,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24the Queen was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27'Through the grey dawn came people from all over the world,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30'making for the route of the Royal procession.'
0:04:30 > 0:04:32The day had started cold and wet,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35with some 30,000 people estimated to have slept out overnight
0:04:35 > 0:04:41on the pavements and stones of the processional route
0:04:41 > 0:04:44and another 20,000 trying and failing to find a good spot.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48It was less than ten years since the end of World War II's Blitz.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50A tough people,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54but people, too, who were reaching forward for better times.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58The Coronation was a genuine national carnival,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01but also a hoped-for moment of patriotic rebirth.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04We had Coronation mugs at school.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09And I bought a Dinky Toy version of the golden coach.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11And it seemed to me, as a young boy,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13that this was zenith, really.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I was only six, and as a young six-year-old,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20going on the trolleybus from Finchley Central to Barnet,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24to Auntie Gwen's to watch it on this tiny little screen, wonderful!
0:05:25 > 0:05:30People poured into London, a shabby, post-war capital
0:05:30 > 0:05:32now decorated at last.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Around Britain, there was dancing and parties
0:05:36 > 0:05:38and a bit of silliness.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Plenty to eat - a new dish, coronation chicken,
0:05:41 > 0:05:47was specially invented and has become a kind of British classic.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50The Coronation
0:05:50 > 0:05:53was the most important moment in the Queen's life,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55certainly the most important official moment.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59As a 27-year-old, she'd thought long and hard about what was ahead,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and she practised in the Buckingham Palace ballroom,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08using sheets pinned together as her 21-foot-long train.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11She also walked around wearing the crown on her head
0:06:11 > 0:06:15so that her neck could get used to its very considerable weight.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27As the Queen left for Westminster in the Gold State Coach,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29there were two small figures watching
0:06:29 > 0:06:32from one of the windows at the front of Buckingham Palace.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36One was young Prince Charles, dressed in a silk suit,
0:06:36 > 0:06:41and the other was Princess Anne, and one of them would soon leave
0:06:41 > 0:06:45to become the first British child to see his mother crowned monarch.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Princess Anne wasn't quite three, and she was told she was too young.
0:06:49 > 0:06:55The only thing that I...remember, if that's the right expression,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58is feeling just a touch grumpy that I wasn't allowed to go.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01And after that, nothing! So I'm not very...
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I should have been aware of being on the balcony,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07but I'm not entirely sure whether I was aware of that,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11or whether you see photographs and think, "I must have remembered it."
0:07:11 > 0:07:13- Yes.- I'm not sure that I do.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21A novel aspect of the Coronation was that it was televised.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Both Churchill and Buckingham Palace courtiers
0:07:23 > 0:07:27had been against letting such a vulgar new medium inside the Abbey
0:07:27 > 0:07:30but the Queen herself wanted the cameras in.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Back then BBC presenters could almost have been mistaken for...
0:07:34 > 0:07:35somebody else.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38We take you first to Buckingham Palace.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43There we shall see the departure of the Queen's procession to the Abbey.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48So she goes on her way towards Westminster.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51More than half the adult population,
0:07:51 > 0:07:5420 million people, managed to watch.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56I was ten at the time,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and I remember my family scraping together their savings
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and buying a small black-and-white television to watch it.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07But it was hugely exciting, everybody was really uplifted.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10For most of the adults, it was the first great event
0:08:10 > 0:08:14since the dreary days of the war and the tough days that followed.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16It was symbolic of a new life, people thought.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22And the Queen looked terrific.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26She was beautiful, and she had this dashing consort,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29and it was one of those moments in a country
0:08:29 > 0:08:32where we tend to be ill at ease with ourselves, a bit nitpicky,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35that it was gilded, and it was going to get better.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44O God, the Crown of the faithful,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48bless, we beseech thee, this crown
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and so sanctify thy servant Elizabeth,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54upon whose head this day thou dost place it
0:08:54 > 0:08:57for a sign of Royal Majesty.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The things which I have here before promised
0:09:03 > 0:09:08I will perform and keep, so help me God.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12As a historian put it at the time,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15no monarch was ever crowned
0:09:15 > 0:09:18more fully in the presence of the people.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24And yet there was one moment in the ceremony
0:09:24 > 0:09:26where the cameras were kept away,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30which was veiled and never seen then or since,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and it happened here,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36when the Queen was anointed with the holy oil.
0:09:36 > 0:09:43Because, for the Queen, being called by God was not a metaphor.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45It was absolutely serious.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50ALL: God save the Queen. God save the Queen.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53God save the Queen.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58What do you think that meant to her in a direct, spiritual way?
0:09:58 > 0:10:04I think it meant a profound sense of vocation about all this.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Not simply stepping into a role, exercising a function, but actually
0:10:08 > 0:10:13becoming a certain kind of person, which is what a vocation is about.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15I know it mattered a great deal to her
0:10:15 > 0:10:17that in the months leading up to the coronation,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20the then Archbishop of Canterbury provided her with a little book
0:10:20 > 0:10:24of private prayers to use, which she still has.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27And clearly, she took that entirely seriously,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30as a matter of spiritual formation.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33At times of difficulty,
0:10:33 > 0:10:38and certainly in the midst of a hugely demanding and busy life,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41she comes across as somebody who is at ease,
0:10:41 > 0:10:49serene, confident, and that gives me the impression
0:10:49 > 0:10:51that her faith is something that she really can draw upon
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and makes a great difference to her life.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01So, quite a day.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Exciting, but exhausting, all those hours and hours
0:11:04 > 0:11:09of standing and remembering and concentrating and greeting.
0:11:09 > 0:11:15And the waving of hands and the noise of the crowds. A long day.
0:11:15 > 0:11:22And ahead of her, a long life of much the same thing.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30For the Queen, the 1950s would be the most glamorous years,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33when she was a young and glittering international icon,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37buoyed by the barely critical enthusiasm of the patriotic
0:11:37 > 0:11:41post-war press and broadcasters.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46She could have been viewed as some sort of global celebrity,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49but she represents something rather more enduring than that.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53She doesn't care for celebrity and I think it's very important
0:11:53 > 0:11:58to be able to retreat inside and be able to collect one's thoughts
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and collect your ideas and the way things are going
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and then to sort of move forwards
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and to be able to project those ideas and those thoughts to other people
0:12:07 > 0:12:10and I think she does that extremely well.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14In order to project those ideas, the Queen began an annual tradition,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16which has carried on to this day,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20one which allows her to be heard and seen.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Happy Christmas.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31It's Christmas 1957, and sitting here in the library at Sandringham
0:12:31 > 0:12:33at this desk, which had been used
0:12:33 > 0:12:38by her father and her grandfather before her, the Queen did something
0:12:38 > 0:12:41that no British monarch had ever done before.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44She made a television broadcast.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47King George V and then King George VI
0:12:47 > 0:12:49had made radio broadcasts at Christmas.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52During the Second World War, they'd been very important.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55But this was something different.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59The Queen was having to deal with the new medium of television.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03And furthermore, she was having to broadcast completely live,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05which is quite an ordeal.
0:13:05 > 0:13:1025 years ago, my grandfather broadcast the first
0:13:10 > 0:13:12of these Christmas messages.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Today, is another landmark
0:13:15 > 0:13:18because television has made it possible for many of you
0:13:18 > 0:13:21to see me in your homes on Christmas Day.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23There's something wonderful
0:13:23 > 0:13:26in the way these old, familiar, warm-hearted words
0:13:26 > 0:13:30of the traditional Christmas message never seem to grow stale.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35No longer live, but recorded, she's now done 54 of these
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and she's known in the trade as One-Take Windsor.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43Clothes-wise, does it look all right on the background?
0:13:43 > 0:13:45A pro who knows about lighting
0:13:45 > 0:13:47or the sound mic picking up a flight overhead.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Aeroplane?
0:13:49 > 0:13:52And she's relaxed into this.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55..something else... LAUGHTER
0:13:55 > 0:14:00As to content, it's serious and sincere, rather than surprising.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03This is the real Queen on what matters most to her -
0:14:03 > 0:14:08faith, family, the Commonwealth and the military.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11This year, I'm speaking to you from the Household Cavalry barracks
0:14:11 > 0:14:16in Windsor, because I want to draw attention to the many servicemen
0:14:16 > 0:14:20and women who are stationed far from home this Christmas.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Her support for the British forces has always been fantastic.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Second to none.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29I personally, being her grandson, as well as her employee,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31it's a huge honour.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33It's fantastic for me.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38The guys that I spend time with at work, undoubtedly have huge
0:14:38 > 0:14:42amounts of pride, the fact that they work for such a fantastic woman.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44I mean it really is that simple for us.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48I certainly recognise that much has been achieved in my lifetime.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Like the rest of her life, the Christmas message
0:14:50 > 0:14:53is about just that.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55The message, not the personal image.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00The Queen is no doubt proud of many things, especially her family.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03What she doesn't seem to be is vain.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Even though her image is inescapable.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10When she was born in 1926, the BBC had barely started.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Films were still silent.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15And we now live in a world where there's 24-hour news,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18we live in a world of IT, of Facebook, of Twitter,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21all of which means that she is
0:15:21 > 0:15:23the most remorselessly represented figure
0:15:23 > 0:15:26probably ever to have lived in human history.
0:15:26 > 0:15:27It is an amazing thought.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Even when we're barely aware of her,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35the Queen's image is stamped on our imaginations.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Get paid, the Queen is with you.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Go and buy a drink, the Queen's there too.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47For though she may lack vanity, the Queen's been very protective
0:15:47 > 0:15:48of her image as monarch.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50When Tony Benn tried to remove her head
0:15:50 > 0:15:54from British stamps in the 1960s, he was thwarted.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58This rebellious decade also brought a tougher media atmosphere
0:15:58 > 0:16:00and satirical mockery.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Journalists were more questioning
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and less deferential than in the first years of her reign.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The media is a professional intruder.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11It wouldn't work if it didn't.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14That's what it's doing all the time.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16So you can't complain about it.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21The monarchy's response to the anti-establishment 1960s
0:16:21 > 0:16:25and a greater media curiosity was to agree to let some light in
0:16:25 > 0:16:29with an observational documentary called Royal Family.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33- What are you doing here? Good morning.- I want ice cream.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36- Ice cream? - This is what he really would like.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39- He always goes straight for ice cream.- Yes.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41The driving force was a member of the royal family,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45or by marriage, John Brabourne, who was a filmmaker
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and thought if only people could see what the royal family is like,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52they'd feel much, much better disposed towards them.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57It's disgusting. It's just a gooey mess that's going to be in the car.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02For 75 days, the crew filmed some of the ritual and pomp
0:17:02 > 0:17:04of the ceremonial year,
0:17:04 > 0:17:09but were also allowed to capture the Royals at home.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15We didn't invite them into the bathroom,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18I mean, people have judgement!
0:17:18 > 0:17:21We don't belong to a secret society!
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I don't see why people shouldn't know what's going on.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Much better to know than speculate.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30He did have some very strange habits, your father.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33I remember when I used to come up to Royal Lodge, I asked when I arrived,
0:17:33 > 0:17:38I said, "Where is the King?" They said, "Oh, he's in the garden."
0:17:38 > 0:17:41And I went out and there was nothing to be seen except a lot
0:17:41 > 0:17:45of terribly rude words and language coming out of a rhododendron bush.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47So I eventually found him there hacking away,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50wearing a bearskin cap, which was... You know, he was getting...
0:17:50 > 0:17:51LAUGHTER
0:17:51 > 0:17:54When it was first shown in 1969,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56it became the most watched documentary
0:17:56 > 0:17:58in British television history
0:17:58 > 0:18:01with two thirds of the population watching.
0:18:01 > 0:18:07A triumph, except that almost at once there were second thoughts.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09- Why did that fall?- I'm sorry!
0:18:09 > 0:18:14Were parts of it a little embarrassing? Too much?
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Since the year of its release,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20the full version has never been broadcast again.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23There was a feeling that this has done all that was hoped of it.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28It's restored a sort of respect and affection for the royal family
0:18:28 > 0:18:31that, at least within the press and the media,
0:18:31 > 0:18:32didn't seem to be there.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35That's it. We've done it, it went very well.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Put it back in the box, and let's not look at it again.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Very little happening to them.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Once you're there at the Royal barbecue
0:18:43 > 0:18:47and you see the sausages sizzling, there's an extra layer
0:18:47 > 0:18:50of penetration and expectation that's created for the future.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52And the problem with all these things
0:18:52 > 0:18:56is not the film that gets made with careful supervision,
0:18:56 > 0:18:57but what happens next?
0:18:57 > 0:19:00And we were all greedy in the media.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02We wanted to take it a stage further.
0:19:02 > 0:19:03The film, Royal Family,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06that I don't remember a great deal about.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09It was done when I was only eight, nine.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14That was the moment when the veil was lifted, to a certain extent,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18and the interactivity...
0:19:18 > 0:19:21And it's just got greater and greater and greater.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24- No, Andrew!- Come around this side.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28The 1970s was a relatively easy decade for the Queen's family,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33with Prince Charles as a bachelor in his naval uniform,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35or careering around on polo ponies.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Princess Anne taking part in the 1976 Olympics,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41relatively innocent times.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44But for the country, they were hard times.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Industrial strife, inflation, angst about national decline.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52So when the Queen's Silver Jubilee arrived in 1977,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55there was a certain amount of uneasiness.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Many socialists argued that the celebrations would be
0:19:58 > 0:20:00a waste of public money.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Some handed out Roll On The Red Republic badges
0:20:04 > 0:20:09and punk rockers sang God Save The Queen, but not in a good way.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13CHEERING
0:20:13 > 0:20:16A Royal salute to Her Majesty the Queen.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20In the event, the Silver Jubilee was a great success.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27I remember the national celebration day.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And just the staggering size of the crowds.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33And the noise,
0:20:33 > 0:20:34the cheering.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37It was the most infectious atmosphere,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and then going out onto the balcony.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42I hadn't really registered
0:20:42 > 0:20:44particularly how important the year was.
0:20:44 > 0:20:50Looking back, you can see how it just caught everybody's imagination,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52and it just became a bigger and bigger event.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55But the Silver Jubilee turned out to be a prelude
0:20:55 > 0:20:59to the most melodramatic story of the Queen's reign.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06From 1980 onwards, a more aggressive media had a fresh target to hunt.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09PHOTOGRAPHERS: Lady Diana! Lady Diana! Lady Diana!
0:21:09 > 0:21:11What do you think, above all,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14caused the change to the world that we live in now?
0:21:14 > 0:21:19In two words, Rupert Murdoch. He bought the Sun newspaper.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22I was there on day one
0:21:22 > 0:21:25and became involved in Royal stories quite early on.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27And it's quite clear
0:21:27 > 0:21:31that he didn't want to belong to that old school at all.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34He wanted to treat them like ordinary people.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36And most of all, with which I agreed,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38he wanted them treated as news stories.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42His newspapers all fell in love with Diana,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45because of course, she was a kind of superstar,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48which of course, the Queen is not.
0:21:48 > 0:21:49My editors once said to me,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"The trouble is, with the Queen and Prince Philip,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54"they're not good box office."
0:21:54 > 0:21:59Now, Murdoch was only interested in good box office.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01As Lady Diana entered the hall for the concert,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05there were audible admiring gasps from those present.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09His lady had well and truly arrived in a manner few of those present
0:22:09 > 0:22:12were likely to forget in a hurry.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14The Queen, in many ways, and Prince Charles,
0:22:14 > 0:22:15were very much ignored.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17She was the number one attraction.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22This woman was just a gift for the newspapers, a gift for television.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26And she was not just a great member of the royal family,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28but she was a megastar.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34A staggering 750 million people around the world tuned in to watch
0:22:34 > 0:22:39the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42But the Queen was soon becoming uneasy about the pressure
0:22:42 > 0:22:45journalists were piling on her daughter-in-law.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Fleet Street editors were called to Buckingham Palace
0:22:48 > 0:22:51by Michael Shea, the Queen's then press secretary.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55When they turned up, the doors opened, and in walked the Queen
0:22:55 > 0:22:59who then proceeded to give them a severe dressing down
0:22:59 > 0:23:03over what she thought was harassment of Princess Diana.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06In particular, there had been an incident
0:23:06 > 0:23:09where Diana had gone into a sweet shop in Tetbury,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12the village where Highgrove is situated,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and had been pursued by photographers.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19And a lone voice piped up, that of the then editor
0:23:19 > 0:23:23of the News Of The World, Barry Askew, who said,
0:23:23 > 0:23:27"Well, Ma'am, couldn't she have sent one of her servants for the chocolates?"
0:23:27 > 0:23:29And the Queen said, "Mr Askew, that is
0:23:29 > 0:23:33"one of the most pompous remarks I've ever heard in my life."
0:23:33 > 0:23:36The editor left his post weeks later.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40And as their marriage broke down,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42both Princess Diana
0:23:42 > 0:23:43and Prince Charles
0:23:43 > 0:23:47turned to journalists to tell their side of the story.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Diana, who was a child of this media culture,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55who takes it for granted that she should pose for the cameras
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and that she should know the first names of the cameramen
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and the reporters, and then actually confide in them.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04And then, even as her marriage starts breaking down,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07sits in cars in Kensington Gardens,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10pouring her heart out to sympathetic journalists.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15This is the absolute opposite of the Queen's attitude.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19She's from the reticent, buttoned-up wartime generation.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22She doesn't give interviews.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26The only time she's spoken about her life came in 1992
0:24:26 > 0:24:31for a BBC documentary, Elizabeth R, to mark the 40th year of her reign.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32This was the period
0:24:32 > 0:24:36of the young Diana,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39the young Sarah Ferguson.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43In the family, they were attracting the attention.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48You tended not to get very much coverage of the Queen.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52I think there was a feeling that perhaps it would not be a bad idea
0:24:52 > 0:24:55to remind people of the Queen's role.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And the words we heard were about her duties.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02They were about other people, not herself.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06- THE QUEEN:- I'm always absolutely fascinated by the people who come here.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11All the things that they've done.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13I think that's very important.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18The system does discover people who do unsung things, you know?
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And I think that's very satisfactory.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24I think people need pats on the back sometimes.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27It's a very dingy world, otherwise.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37But it was the absence of words
0:25:37 > 0:25:42which created the biggest media storm of the Queen's reign
0:25:42 > 0:25:47when in 1997, on the sudden death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51the Queen stayed at Balmoral for another four days.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55For the Queen,
0:25:55 > 0:26:00I think it was a very difficult thing for her to balance.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Her first priority was to look after her grandchildren
0:26:03 > 0:26:07and make sure that they were properly cared for
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and helped through this period of grieving,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13when there was all this huge furore going on around.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17But, at the same time, obviously, for the country,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19because Diana was revered and adored,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22there was a need for her to be there with the country.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25I remember being in my room in Buckingham Palace
0:26:25 > 0:26:30and the crowd lining Birdcage Walk,
0:26:30 > 0:26:32waiting for her car to come back down.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35And there was a very quiet and quite threatening atmosphere.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39- Almost a mutinous feeling? - Almost a mutinous feeling.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42The moment the car appeared, people started to clap.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45And the whole atmosphere changed.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The very fact of just responding and returning to the Palace,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52and becoming the public figure again,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56not the private, grieving family, sort of did it.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00She took this one step further,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03using the media herself to talk to the nation.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11What I say to you now, as your Queen and as a grandmother,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I say from my heart.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21She was an exceptional and gifted human being.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23In good times and bad,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh,
0:27:26 > 0:27:31nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34What she was saying to the country was, "Look, you have to understand,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37"this is my family and I am approaching this as a grandmother.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40"But I acknowledge my duty to you as Queen."
0:27:40 > 0:27:42And it was interesting.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45When she realised that that's what she had to do, she did it.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48By the way, those words in that speech were her own.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51They weren't written by New Labour?
0:27:51 > 0:27:54They were absolutely not written by New Labour.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58And the very personal touch was actually hers.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04It was a terrible time for the Queen,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06as for the rest of the royal family.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10And, as the media has kept changing, so has the Monarchy.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13These days, the British Monarchy has a Facebook page,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17a Royal Channel on YouTube and a Twitter page -
0:28:17 > 0:28:20though no tweets from the Queen herself.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23That doesn't seem quite right or likely.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Is she in touch with what's going on in your generation?
0:28:26 > 0:28:27She's on Facebook.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31Certainly Buckingham Palace is using some of the social networking sites.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33That's the nature of the world today.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36You have to be in touch, to a certain extent.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40I think the wonderful thing about the Queen is that she's timeless.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43She's in touch with every generation, just instinctively,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47because she is this matriarch of society now.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Reading and responding to the British public mood is a daily art.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57But the mood in the Queen's other realms is crucial, too.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Jamaica now wants to end the Royal connection,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02while there are republican movements in countries
0:29:02 > 0:29:05such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08As with the changing media at home, the Queen has had to cope
0:29:08 > 0:29:11with some tricky challenges.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18'Gliding through Sydney Heads, the sleek white liner Gothic
0:29:18 > 0:29:23'brings Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to the threshold of Australia.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25'Thousands line...'
0:29:25 > 0:29:27In 1954, she arrived, newly crowned,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31in Australia, where she was an unknown quantity.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34This was the first visit of a reigning monarch.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37She hadn't faced a tour on this scale before.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40So how would she cope and how would they react?
0:29:40 > 0:29:44It's reckoned that three-quarters of the adult population
0:29:44 > 0:29:46turned out to cheer.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50About half of the three million people who cheered the Royal couple
0:29:50 > 0:29:54slept on the pavements all night for a glimpse of this historic scene.
0:29:54 > 0:30:00The Queen is Queen of Australia only because in 1770 a bold explorer,
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Captain Cook, was bouncing along the coast and, obeying orders,
0:30:06 > 0:30:11planted a flag and said, "On behalf of George III, we'll have this!"
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Australia has long been
0:30:13 > 0:30:16an independent and very powerful country,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19full of people from all around the world,
0:30:19 > 0:30:24many of whom have absolutely no connection to Britain.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29Even in modern planes, it's an 18-hour flight from London to here.
0:30:29 > 0:30:36Put like that, it seems bizarre that the Queen reigns here.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40In 1986, the Australia Act formally severed
0:30:40 > 0:30:44any rights of the United Kingdom to interfere in Australian politics
0:30:44 > 0:30:46and references to the Queen
0:30:46 > 0:30:49were removed from the country's Oath of Allegiance.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Independence for Australia! No Queen!
0:30:52 > 0:30:55In 1999, however,
0:30:55 > 0:30:59a hard-fought referendum came down narrowly in favour of monarchy.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Today, members of the Australian Republican Movement
0:31:01 > 0:31:04are still calling for radical change.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07We think that we've outlived the role
0:31:07 > 0:31:10that a British Queen can play in Australia.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14In the time of Empire and then in more traditional days of monarchy,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17to have a British monarch as our head of state
0:31:17 > 0:31:21and to have her representative, the governor general,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24as the de facto head of state
0:31:24 > 0:31:27was probably a system that's worked well enough in the past,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29but the time to move on has come.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35So, in October 2011, how might the Queen be received
0:31:35 > 0:31:37on her 16th visit to Australia?
0:31:37 > 0:31:40The press is full of questions,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45asking whether this is the last time she'll visit.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49She certainly puts in the legwork, taking in Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54Wherever she goes, the mood on the streets is sunny.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56- Three cheers for the Queen! Hip-hip!- Hooray!
0:31:56 > 0:31:59- Hip-hip!- Hooray! - Hip-hip!- Hooray!
0:31:59 > 0:32:02She finds plenty of the old British spirit
0:32:02 > 0:32:06at events such as this garden party.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11You've got some nice music, you've got the canapes and little cakes.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13It's a little bit like Buckingham Palace.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Well, only a little bit.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20At Buckingham Palace, they offer you a very nice cup of tea.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Here, we are in Australia and you get something more interesting...
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Unless you're working.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32There's no doubt that the visit of a traditionalist octogenarian monarch
0:32:32 > 0:32:36to this sun-baked continent will have its odd moments.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40The Queen has kept her dignity travelling in many Royal vehicles.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46A golf-buggy complete with equerry and Royal Crest is something else.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49In the past, the Queen has explained away her dourer expressions
0:32:49 > 0:32:55by saying that often she's just trying not to giggle.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Well, this may be one of those moments.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04In Australia's national capital, Canberra,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07the Prime Minister Julia Gillard holds a reception for the Queen.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10She's said to be republican-minded,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13but there's little evidence of that today.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18Many heads of state and government are welcomed within these walls.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22But in this, the home of Australian democracy,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26you are a vital constitutional part, not a guest.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Just as in this nation you can only ever be welcomed
0:33:30 > 0:33:33as a beloved and respected friend.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39And she's not the only welcome member of the royal family.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42The Queen's grandson has made several visits,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46the last in March 2011, in the wake of the floods and the cyclones
0:33:46 > 0:33:49which hit Queensland and Victoria.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Prince William really touched the hearts of Australians,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55including talking to those who had lost family members,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59who had lost their mother, and was able to talk to them
0:33:59 > 0:34:02about his own feelings about what that was like
0:34:02 > 0:34:04in his own experience.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09So it was a very emotional, intense engagement.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15His visit and his wedding has boosted enthusiasm for the monarchy.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18People stood for hours to catch a glimpse of him,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22there, as he was, to represent his grandmother.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26When I came back, I had a letter from her saying congratulations,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28well done, it was a very good trip.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32Words like that, there is a lot of gravitas behind them.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35You feel you've done a good thing.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39It's words like that that mean an awful lot.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42The Queen ends her journey in the remote city of Perth,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48held once every two years.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52As Head of the Commonwealth, the Queen tries to open every meeting.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54She considers this organisation
0:34:54 > 0:34:57one of the greatest achievements of her reign.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00You're in the way! You're in the way!
0:35:04 > 0:35:06By the end of her father's reign, the Empire had been wound up.
0:35:06 > 0:35:12Now, newly-independent states could reject the British Monarchy
0:35:12 > 0:35:15and choose republicanism, and yet stay inside the grouping
0:35:15 > 0:35:18as part of the Commonwealth.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Of the 54 members today, only 16 have the Queen as Head of State.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27The Commonwealth is not one of the world's essential organisations.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30But it's a very popular club,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33even for countries that were never part of the British Empire
0:35:33 > 0:35:34and don't speak English.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38It is perhaps the only political passion
0:35:38 > 0:35:41that the Queen is allowed to express.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44She's called it the original World Wide Web.
0:35:45 > 0:35:51But, essential or not, it's popular with members big and small.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53I think, as a Head of the Commonwealth,
0:35:53 > 0:35:58she has given inspiration, she has given encouragement.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01And, indeed, by her very presence on every CHOGM,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05she came to my country, Port of Spain, when we hosted CHOGM in 2009.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07She was in Port of Spain there.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10She's gone to every part of the Commonwealth.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12She's been referred to as the glue
0:36:12 > 0:36:15that binds the Commonwealth together.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19And I think the stability and certainty of her role
0:36:19 > 0:36:21and her pursuit of Commonwealth values,
0:36:21 > 0:36:25of democratic values, has helped bind the Commonwealth together.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28These Commonwealth visits,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30a lot of people, particularly in Britain, I suspect,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33scratch their heads and wonder what they're really for.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35"Does it matter any more?"
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Well, the Commonwealth is an amazing network.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40It has more than a quarter of the world's population,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42more than a quarter of the world's countries.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47It actually has an increasing share of the world's economic output.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51And so, a remarkable network is something actually more relevant,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53as the 21st-century goes on,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56than perhaps it was at the end of the 20th century,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59because we live in a networked world now.
0:36:59 > 0:37:00From the start, she saw the value
0:37:00 > 0:37:03and the benefits of the Commonwealth.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06And I think she's really tried to explore and expand it
0:37:06 > 0:37:09and make it more of a global institution.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12There's two billion people in the Commonwealth and growing.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15More people want to join all the time, don't they?
0:37:15 > 0:37:17That is testament to her, it really is.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19Her leadership, her guidance,
0:37:19 > 0:37:21is what's really seen the Commonwealth through.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27The Queen made a promise to uphold the Commonwealth
0:37:27 > 0:37:29and she takes it very seriously.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33In 2009, the actor and writer Kwame Kwei-Armah set out
0:37:33 > 0:37:36to replicate the Queen's first-ever Commonwealth tour
0:37:36 > 0:37:42for a Channel 4 series to try to discover what its impact had been.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46What was very interesting for me about making this documentary about the Queen is I went in
0:37:46 > 0:37:52slightly fascinated by power and by how power presents itself,
0:37:52 > 0:37:57and came out actually an admirer of the Queen's work ethic.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Actually, I don't feel ashamed to say that, being a spirited republican.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06Actually, my understanding is that she really does understand
0:38:06 > 0:38:09the world of high politic.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14Really understands and cares for her position and her job,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17and her work ethic seems to be absolutely magnificent.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22But what of the future of the Commonwealth without her?
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Her heir will not automatically become head.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29It will be up to the Commonwealth leaders to decide.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Do you think the Commonwealth will survive in its form after the Queen?
0:38:33 > 0:38:38Absolutely, because it's almost impossible to disentangle,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41because there are this myriad of connections.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44It's not just about heads of government.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46It's not just about sport.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49There are so many other different connections
0:38:49 > 0:38:52that you cannot disassemble it now.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56By the end of this trip, it's absolutely obvious
0:38:56 > 0:38:59that the Queen's visit has been hugely popular.
0:38:59 > 0:39:05Chinese Australians, Japanese Australians, Indian Australians
0:39:05 > 0:39:08are among those waving flags when the Queen and the Duke
0:39:08 > 0:39:12arrive for what's billed as the world's largest barbecue.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Around 100,000 people turn up in Perth.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19"I wish she'd stop coming," said one leading republican.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23"She sets the cause back 20 years every time she does."
0:39:23 > 0:39:28Once again, we will return to the United Kingdom with fond memories
0:39:28 > 0:39:33of our time here and the warm Australian welcome we have received
0:39:33 > 0:39:36on our 16th visit to this beautiful country.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42After all those head-shaking stories
0:39:42 > 0:39:45about this being the last trip to Australia,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47and perhaps the last time a monarch will ever visit,
0:39:47 > 0:39:52well, by the end, neither of these things seems particularly likely.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55If she can make it back, she will.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58And even that republican Prime Minister
0:39:58 > 0:40:01doesn't see a republic looming any time soon.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04Right now, I think in the life of the Australian nation,
0:40:04 > 0:40:08it is not the question at the forefront of people's minds.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12We are a wonderful democracy, a vibrant democracy.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Ultimately, I believe Australians will have their say again
0:40:15 > 0:40:18on our ongoing constitutional arrangements.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22But it's not the centre of national life or national debate at the moment.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28The Australian visit also marked a legal change
0:40:28 > 0:40:31which will affect the entire future of the British monarchy.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36At that Commonwealth meeting, the leaders of the 16 realms
0:40:36 > 0:40:39agreed to amend the 1701 Act of Settlement
0:40:39 > 0:40:42so that the first-born of Prince William and Kate,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45girl or boy, will succeed to the throne,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50ending 300 years of monarchical male discrimination.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57The process of change for an institution like that is constant.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00You constantly have to change and adapt.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04That's the best way of maintaining what we have.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07And I think this was the right time to make this change.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17The Queen is now the oldest-lived monarch in British history.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Hip hip, hooray!
0:41:22 > 0:41:27Summer 2012 saw her Diamond Jubilee celebration.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30A Diamond Jubilee is a very rare event.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33This country has only seen one before.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37In 1897, Queen Victoria marked hers
0:41:37 > 0:41:41at the zenith of Britain's worldwide empire, with plenty to celebrate.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Frail, though at 78 rather younger than our Queen,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Victoria enjoyed every minute.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50"The cheering was quite deafening.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53"Every face seemed to be filled with real joy.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55"I was much moved and gratified."
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Today, as at earlier celebrations in the Queen's reign,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06times seem tough and the future uncertain.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08But the historian's perspective suggests
0:42:08 > 0:42:12this may mean that Jubilees matter more, not less.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16If you live in a republic, let's take the United States of America,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18and you think about the periods of history
0:42:18 > 0:42:20that the country's chopped up into,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23it's four years for a president, eight if you're lucky,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26and it's 100 years for centenaries or centennials.
0:42:26 > 0:42:27That's about it, really.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31If you have a monarchy, especially if you have the present Queen,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34who has reigned for 25 years, then 50 years, then 60 years,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36what you get is this sequence of Jubilees
0:42:36 > 0:42:38which provides you with the opportunity
0:42:38 > 0:42:41for structured retrospection, looking back 25 years,
0:42:41 > 0:42:4350 years, 60 years, that otherwise you don't have.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51The 2002 Golden Jubilee saw the Queen tour the country
0:42:51 > 0:42:54and the weekend itself saw a million people flock to The Mall
0:42:54 > 0:42:58to show they still cared for their monarch.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01For the first time, the Queen allowed Buckingham Palace
0:43:01 > 0:43:07to be the setting for a pop concert, which opened live from the rooftop.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12BRIAN MAY PLAYS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
0:43:12 > 0:43:16Was this something you particularly wanted to do for the Queen?
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Yes. For me, yes. For many reasons, really,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22because in a sense, the Queen was...
0:43:22 > 0:43:23The other Queen?
0:43:23 > 0:43:27Of course, THE Queen. She presided over the birth of rock 'n' roll,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29which I pointed out at the time.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31In a sense, I was symbolising
0:43:31 > 0:43:3450 years of her reign and 50 years of rock 'n' roll.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43But 2002 was also a year of family sadness.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46In the run up to the Golden Jubilee weekend,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48the Queen's mother and her sister, Princess Margaret,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51died within weeks of one another.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Losses which struck the Queen hard.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55We all knew that, inevitably,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Queen Elizabeth was going to have to die soon
0:43:58 > 0:43:59because of her age.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03But I think that...
0:44:03 > 0:44:06And poor Princess Margaret had become so ill with various strokes
0:44:06 > 0:44:11that, in a way, it was probably almost a merciful release.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16There is no doubt that losing your mother and your sister
0:44:16 > 0:44:20in the same brief period is really hard.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25Because both of them, in a way, had a very close relationship,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28pretty well on a daily basis.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30And that's pretty hard, to lose
0:44:30 > 0:44:33probably your closest sounding boards in such a short space of time.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Part of getting over the experience is to keep going.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43OK, in a way, that sounds a bit traditional and a bit old-fashioned,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47but I don't believe that's necessarily bad.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51I think that gives you a way of dealing with things.
0:44:53 > 0:44:54I was 12 when she died.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58So I remember, the last few years, we spent a lot of time together.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00She, again, was this energy
0:45:00 > 0:45:02when you walked into the room.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04You just felt she was there
0:45:04 > 0:45:07and everyone listened and learned and sat with her.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11It was just another silent, great being in the room.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13She is a very special lady.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15But only as you get older,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17do you really appreciate,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20because when I was growing up, it was just Gangang.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23- Yes.- And now, it's like, "No, oh, my goodness."
0:45:23 > 0:45:25It sort of takes you by surprise a little bit.
0:45:33 > 0:45:362012, Diamond Jubilee year was marked,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39with the release of new stamps and coins.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43The Queen and Prince Philip criss-crossed the United Kingdom,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47and June saw an extra Bank Holiday over the central weekend of celebrations.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51And we are now celebrating the life and service
0:45:51 > 0:45:57of a very special person over the last 60 years.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:46:01 > 0:46:062,012 beacons flared around the country and the Commonwealth
0:46:06 > 0:46:12and the River Thames saw the splash and eddy of a rain-soaked Jubilee Pageant,
0:46:12 > 0:46:14with the gathering of 1,000 boats.
0:46:14 > 0:46:22# ..mighty, make thee mightier yet! #
0:46:26 > 0:46:30In the run-up to every Jubilee, there's an institutionalised
0:46:30 > 0:46:33pessimism on the part of some commentators and some papers,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35as if it can never be the same as last time.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37But, so far, it always is.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39The people come up trumps.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42The Marxists always say, "The masses let us down."
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Well, the masses don't let the Queen down on any of her Jubilees.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49I don't believe that there's any real risk of a Jubilee flopping.
0:46:49 > 0:46:50Au contraire.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55This gloomy foreplay is always confounded, and long may it be so.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01Throughout the Queen's reign, of course, she's not stood alone.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Beside her, there's been a constant presence.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12It's often said that the Queen has done everything expected of her.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14But it's not quite true.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17When she was young, all sorts of establishment figures
0:47:17 > 0:47:21had all sorts of clever ideas about who she might marry -
0:47:21 > 0:47:27the sons of grand landowners, titled guards officers.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29But from the time she was a teenager,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32she knew exactly who she wanted.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36And none of the more conventional candidates
0:47:36 > 0:47:40proposed by friends of the family had a chance.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46The man who captured her heart was, of course, Prince Philip,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49the Duke of Edinburgh, now in his 90s.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Despite heart surgery and recurrent ill health
0:47:51 > 0:47:57he has always been there to steer and steady when the water gets choppy.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01In November 2011, she made him her Lord High Admiral.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04Theirs has been the closest union.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14But he has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years.
0:48:15 > 0:48:20Trying to imagine what it is actually like to be the sovereign,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23where that's where the buck stops.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26In many ways, it can be a very lonely place to be,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29because, at the end of the day, everybody's going to defer to you.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33Having somebody there with which you can share that load,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37I think, is really important and I think the Duke of Edinburgh
0:48:37 > 0:48:39has been able to do that particularly well
0:48:39 > 0:48:43without ever stepping across that magic line.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47I think the story of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51is the unrealised success story of the Monarchy.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Here is a man, a man's man, a no-nonsense man,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58who has managed, throughout his life,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01with total loyalty, not to upstage his wife.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09He's been popularly known
0:49:09 > 0:49:12for his salty and sometimes crotchety sayings
0:49:12 > 0:49:14but the truth is that, for a long time,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17this was a restlessly reforming figure,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20once voted the most popular member of the royal family.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Chivvying British business,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27taking risks like letting television cameras into the palaces,
0:49:27 > 0:49:32appearing on television to promote wildlife, and helping urban youth,
0:49:32 > 0:49:37from his Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, to campaigning for children's playing fields.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- We want to see the boss! - Please, we want to see you.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42What do you want to see me about?
0:49:42 > 0:49:46- We want more playing fields.- Well, you've come to the right place.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50And he gave up his naval career to spend his life by her side.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54Some people said he could have gone all the way to the top.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58As a professional, he could have been sitting in your uniform.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00I think all the indications of the manner
0:50:00 > 0:50:04in which he's conducted his Royal duties since 1952-3
0:50:04 > 0:50:08indicate that he had everything that was appropriate to doing my job.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12The Queen may be head of the nation,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14but he is still head of the family.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19The support that he gives to my grandmother
0:50:19 > 0:50:20is phenomenal.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24Um... I mean, I'm still doing engagements by myself, you know,
0:50:24 > 0:50:25William's now got Catherine.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Other members of the family have their other halves,
0:50:28 > 0:50:29which makes a huge difference.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33And regardless of whether my grandfather seems to be
0:50:33 > 0:50:38doing his own thing, wandering off like a fish down the river, the fact that he's there.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41I personally don't think that she could do it without him,
0:50:41 > 0:50:43especially when they're both at this age.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53So, 60 years on the throne,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57quite an achievement for this small woman with a world-familiar face,
0:50:57 > 0:51:001,000 years of history at her back,
0:51:00 > 0:51:03who, since a twist of fate at the age of ten,
0:51:03 > 0:51:05has known her destiny.
0:51:06 > 0:51:11I hope you don't feel I've been stalking you too much in the last 18 months. I've been pursuing you.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14- I've seen you in the background. - In the background all the time.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20For her children and grandchildren, it's a different story.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22Next in line of succession,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26the Prince of Wales is the oldest heir apparent in British history.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34Half the battle, isn't it, is how to adapt in the best way
0:51:34 > 0:51:37without losing that element of continuity.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Not easy.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42So you sort of feel your way gently, you know.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44And her legacy also, of course,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47lies in the hands of her eight grandchildren.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55There's quite a lot of pressure on someone like me, as a junior boy,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58coming through, because of the example the Queen has set.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02Whilst she's still there, providing such a good example,
0:52:02 > 0:52:06it allows me to learn and to develop and to be able to understand better
0:52:06 > 0:52:10what the role plays, and I think she defines it brilliantly.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Every time I find myself whingeing
0:52:14 > 0:52:17about why I have to put on a dinner jacket and go and do this and that,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20and recently I've been thinking to myself, I can't complain.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23At the end of the day, she has put this country way before...
0:52:23 > 0:52:27way before anything that she'd ever want to do.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29You know, it was...it's her job, understandably,
0:52:29 > 0:52:33but she, at a very young age, was put in a position
0:52:33 > 0:52:35that I would love to see anybody handle.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38And I don't think they would be able to as well as she has.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44Family is a massive thing in her life.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48And even though she is the monarch, she's the most caring...
0:52:50 > 0:52:55Just a person that you could actually go to and ask anything
0:52:55 > 0:52:58and we all have massive respect for her
0:52:58 > 0:53:00and, you know, love her to bits.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Just the consistency that she has shown
0:53:03 > 0:53:05throughout those 60 years,
0:53:05 > 0:53:11the support that she's had from the family, from Grandpa,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14the support that she's given to her family, as well.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17And, you know, don't forget, she may have visited
0:53:17 > 0:53:21however many countries it's been in the last 60 years
0:53:21 > 0:53:24and had so many engagements and this and that and the other,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26but she's also been a mother
0:53:26 > 0:53:28and grandmother and now a great-grandmother.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31And to get that balance,
0:53:31 > 0:53:36and do both so incredibly well, is probably her greatest tribute.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Take a bow, Savannah,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44daughter of the Princess Royal's son Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47the Queens's first great-grandchild.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Two years later she was joined by sister, Isla Elizabeth,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55and the great-grandchildren will become three
0:53:55 > 0:54:00with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's child who, boy or girl,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03will become third in line to the throne.
0:54:13 > 0:54:19Queen Elizabeth II has been part of all our lives for 60 years
0:54:19 > 0:54:22doing her quiet, phlegmatic, relentless best.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24During her reign, she's been a witness
0:54:24 > 0:54:28to the most rapid changes in society.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32For more than 21,000 days since the age of 25,
0:54:32 > 0:54:38she has dedicated her life as the servant of her people.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42She's seen triumph
0:54:42 > 0:54:43and disaster,
0:54:43 > 0:54:48family heartache and family delight,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51and she has come through the rapids into calmer waters.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56I've seen the Queen over the years
0:54:56 > 0:55:01and I'm just awe-inspired by her ability to listen,
0:55:01 > 0:55:07to consider, and to be able to alter things and suggest things.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10That's where she's been so clever, I think.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14Her ability to keep pace with the changes,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17understand what those changes mean,
0:55:17 > 0:55:21but also that the role of the Monarchy doesn't change very much,
0:55:21 > 0:55:27in that sense, so that degree of continuity and constancy remains.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30No reason for that not to be able to go on, I hope.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39But if these are calmer waters for the Queen,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43they're hardly calm times for her country.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46Will Great Britain survive?
0:55:46 > 0:55:48Or will Scotland leave?
0:55:48 > 0:55:50How will the British deal with the rest of Europe,
0:55:50 > 0:55:55now struggling with its greatest crisis since the Second World War?
0:55:55 > 0:55:57And in hard economic times,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01how well will we hang together, as one people?
0:56:01 > 0:56:03That's politics.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05But the state is more than its politicians.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10- And what about the Libyan thing? - That was...
0:56:10 > 0:56:13One of the things you want for the Prime Minister is to have a safe space
0:56:13 > 0:56:18where they can talk very openly about what's working and what's not,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and actually to have someone really senior, really independent,
0:56:21 > 0:56:26really discreet, who will have those discussions.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28And very wise and has seen it all before.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31That's priceless, in my book.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35You think, in our lives, how many mistakes we all make,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38politically, professionally, personally.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41I mean, it is extraordinary that in 60 years,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45she has just been an unbelievable model public servant
0:56:45 > 0:56:48and we've been so lucky to have someone like that on the throne
0:56:48 > 0:56:52for such an extraordinarily long period.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Confronted by trouble and argument,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58the British have someone at the top of the tree who didn't fight
0:56:58 > 0:57:01or elbow her way there,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04who's there...because she's there.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Modern monarchy is not inevitable. It's not a part of nature.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11It's a choice.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13The Windsor dynasty was created
0:57:13 > 0:57:16at a time of crisis and national soul-searching.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21And for 60 years, this Queen has reigned,
0:57:21 > 0:57:23knowing that monarchy works
0:57:23 > 0:57:26when it sustains and supports the democracy.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30In the future, as in the past,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33the British monarchy will not be made by monarchs,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37or by princes or princesses,
0:57:37 > 0:57:39or by politicians.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41In the end, as in the past,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45it depends on the people who turn up and the people who don't.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47It's in THEIR hands.
0:57:49 > 0:57:50It's in OUR hands.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56I declare before you all that my whole life,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59whether it be long or short,
0:57:59 > 0:58:01shall be devoted to your service
0:58:01 > 0:58:05and to the service of our great imperial family
0:58:05 > 0:58:07to which we all belong.
0:58:07 > 0:58:13I think she's brought life, energy and passion to the job.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15She's modernised and evolved the monarchy like no other
0:58:15 > 0:58:18and it just shows the strength of women at the top.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21I think it's fantastic and she's done...
0:58:21 > 0:58:24You know, she's really set the bar very, very high.
0:58:46 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd