0:00:03 > 0:00:08In the 1950s, the famous newsreel company, Pathe,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11produced a major historical documentary series for British television.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Made by the award-winning producer Peter Baylis
0:00:15 > 0:00:19and narrated by an illustrious line-up of celebrated actors,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Time to Remember chronicled the social, cultural and political forces
0:00:22 > 0:00:26that shaped the first half of the 20th century.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32The series covered the activities of a variety of Royal figures.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37The fortunes and fates of the European monarchies during that period
0:00:37 > 0:00:40provide a compelling perspective on a turbulent time.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51# Life is fair
0:00:51 > 0:00:54# Gloom and misery everywhere
0:00:54 > 0:00:55# Stormy weather... #
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Things and faces, friends and places,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04years and moments half forgotten.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Laughs, fears, songs, tears,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09memories are made of this.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43During the first half of the 20th century,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Europe's royal family's would change forever.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51They witnessed two World Wars and experienced numerous dissolutions,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55assassinations and abdications, many of which were captured on film
0:01:55 > 0:02:00and provide some of the most significant pieces of news reel in history.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05In the early 1900s, Europe's monarchies still held strong.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10With only three republics, Europe was a land of dynasties and Empires.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14The sturdiest of them all, Britain, ruled by Victoria,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Her Imperial Majesty, the Queen Empress.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21A flickering, jumpy scene.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Their carriage arriving at the Garden Party.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26An old, old lady being assisted from it.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29"The Queen, the Queen."
0:02:32 > 0:02:36From the snows of Kilimanjaro round the globe to Hong Kong,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38the wealth of Africa was the Queen's.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44The wool of her shawl came from Australia or New Zealand,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46for her men rode from Darwin to Sydney,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Wallaroo to, yes, Queen Victoria Springs.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57For Victoria, they felled the timber of British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And woe betide any who broke her laws in the great North West.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04For there, her Mounties always got their man.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08For her, men dodged bullets high in the Kyber pass,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11defending the ramparts of Victoria, Empress of India.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Their princes, rich enough to buy all England,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18still bowed their heads to the little lady across the seas.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25There in the great sub-continent and in neighbouring Ceylon and Burma,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28men and beasts toiled to grow the tea for Victoria's drawing room and the
0:03:28 > 0:03:33teak for her Royal Train, the cotton for her throbbing Lancashire mills.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Rubber and tin, copper, diamonds, gold and silver,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Victoria's empire produce them all.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46A way of life, a state of mind,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49and, whatever one thought of it, a mighty powerful,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53impressive structure. Millions upon millions,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58all together under the flag upon which the sun never sets.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05So when Victoria, the widow of Windsor, rode past in her carriage
0:04:05 > 0:04:07and celebrated her Diamond Jubilee,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12the whole world, friend and foe, lifted its cap.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Yes, a powerful thing, this Empire.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22And powerful this grip of an old lady upon the world's affairs.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24And not only within her own realm, at that.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26The German navy might to all appearance
0:04:26 > 0:04:30challenge Britain's rule of the seas, but in truth,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33one false step and the Kaiser would earn a personal dressing down
0:04:33 > 0:04:35from his British grandmother.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Closely entwined into Victoria's family tree
0:04:40 > 0:04:42were most of Europe's crowned heads.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47And any of them at any time were liable to be pruned down to size.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Nicholas, Tsar of all the Russias, ruled over every kulak and Muzhik
0:04:51 > 0:04:53from St Petersburg to Vladivostok.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Yet even Nicholas was not immune from a scathing letter
0:04:56 > 0:04:59bearing the postmark "Windsor Castle."
0:05:01 > 0:05:05But then, one day in 1901...
0:05:08 > 0:05:11..they were soldiers of the Queen no longer.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Even a century must reach its end,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19even a queen who had reigned for 63 years.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Don the black and beat the drums,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25for the Queen was dead.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27The Queen, who had been on the throne for so long
0:05:27 > 0:05:31that England could hardly credit her dead.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35England wouldn't be the same without the Queen.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Behind the gun carriage rode her son, Edward,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and representatives of every kingdom in Europe.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Europe wouldn't be the same without Victoria.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49And as, at Windsor, they bore the widow to her last resting place.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54There were many who wondered, fearful of change,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59unsure of the future, unsure of themselves.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Yet, paradoxically enough, the reign of Victoria had
0:06:01 > 0:06:06known greater change in the world than any other 60 years in history.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Goodbye, Victoria. Farewell a way of life, a state of mind.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18The Queen is dead. Long live the king.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Thus, late in his life, the throne passed to Edward, Prince of Wales.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25So, Britain made ready for a coronation,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28a ceremony that had last happened so many years back
0:06:28 > 0:06:31that most people had forgotten how to crown a monarch.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34That was the coronation that began the era
0:06:34 > 0:06:36that the world now calls Edwardian.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40And that, too, was a time to be remembered.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45For as everybody knows, the Edwardian keynote was gaiety.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51A reaction against the stern, maybe.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Or was it just a part of the inevitable progress?
0:06:54 > 0:06:58A change of social order a little delayed
0:06:58 > 0:07:02by a greatly loved, but rather formidable old lady.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03Who knows?
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Fond of sports and a familiar face at international parties,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Edward became the living symbol of the new, less inhibited age.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Edward the peacemaker.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Apart from a fondness of shooting game out of the skies,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Edward VII of England was a man of peace.
0:07:25 > 0:07:2910 years of rule only before the crown was to pass to his son.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Yet, though no time can be termed perfect, to many,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38in retrospect, those 10 years are among the sunniest.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Edwardian summer in Europe.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48The last great sunny parade of Kings
0:07:48 > 0:07:53in kingdoms so soon to be kingdoms no longer.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Following the priests and the nobles,
0:08:00 > 0:08:06Tsar Nicholas of Imperial Russia with his wife and children,
0:08:06 > 0:08:12one day all to find death in the bullet swept cellar.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Or did the little Anastasia survive?
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Under the warm sun of the South, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy,
0:08:20 > 0:08:25a king, even though not up to his stately wife's shoulder.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28And his was a dynasty to last the longest.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33At least until the Second World War.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41Then the imperial warlord, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, launching
0:08:41 > 0:08:47another ship in his country's drive to capture command of the oceans.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Commercial command and the other kind.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55King Edward never quite saw eye-to-eye with his nephew,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Kaiser Wilhelm, and presciently suspected he would start a war.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02But the king did not live to see the conflict that would plunge
0:09:02 > 0:09:07his dominions into the bloodiest fighting the world had ever seen.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Already an old man when he ascended the throne,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15he died on May 6th, 1910, after a reign of only nine years.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17The end of the Edwardian era.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Behind the dead king, the last great parade of the regal.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29The Kaiser of Germany,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32the boy one day to be Edward VIII,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Alfonso of Spain,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39heads and representatives from every state in the world.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Pick them out for yourselves.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44You'll never see such a concourse again.
0:09:44 > 0:09:50French, Italian, Austrian, Chinese, Indian.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Positively the last appearance of the greatest show on earth.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12And behind the procession, the coach of Alexander,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14the Queen, the widow.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26And so Britain has a new king and queen.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29George V and Mary.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31But though George has all the intention
0:10:31 > 0:10:33of following the peacemaking
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and maintaining the world of his father,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40already events are moving too fast for him.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46Meanwhile, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria pays a visit to Bosnia,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50to that very Sarajevo where soon the assassination of his son
0:10:50 > 0:10:54would spark off the First World War.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Signs and portents, but never mind the portents,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01let's celebrate a coronation.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06With full ceremony, King George rides to Westminster Abbey
0:11:06 > 0:11:10for his crowning. But even in the midst of rejoicing, fire engines?
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Was it an omen?
0:11:17 > 0:11:21At the unveiling in London of the memorial to Queen Victoria,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany walked together
0:11:23 > 0:11:27with King George V to attend the ceremony.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30For both were Victoria's grandson's.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33And yet only three more years.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38But who in 1911 would have imagined war?
0:11:38 > 0:11:40In 1913, King George visits Berlin
0:11:40 > 0:11:44and rides through the streets with his cousin.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49The Kaiser's speech is tinged with peaceful platitudes.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54But behind the scenes, Germany presents a different picture.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Of course, Europe would feel better
0:11:57 > 0:12:00if those Germans drum beat a little less.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Queen Victoria was always putting her German grandson into his place,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06but now Victoria was dead.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09And Wilhelm, the All Highest, was as ambitious as ever.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14But then, these foreign monarchs always were show-offs.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19Proud, proud Hapsburgs of Austria and all those other crowned heads
0:12:19 > 0:12:24in Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, not to mention Spain and Portugal.
0:12:28 > 0:12:34Europe was thick with them and the pomp and exhibitionism of it all.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Perhaps the most proud was he who held sway
0:12:36 > 0:12:39over so many millions of miles of the Earth's surface.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Nicholas, Tsar of All the Russias.
0:12:42 > 0:12:48Nicholas, proud, vain and not very bright.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51But all the same, to British eyes a gentleman.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53For how like their own King George he looked.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02But it was the fate of a prominent figure in another European
0:13:02 > 0:13:06imperial family that would change the destiny of Europe.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12On 28th June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated alongside his wife.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20The attack polarised countries across Europe
0:13:20 > 0:13:25and was the catalyst to start the First World War just a month later.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30Germans marching, Austrians marching, onward Christian soldiers.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Different uniforms, different flags, but the same purpose.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36To fight for civilisation as each saw it.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Oh, dear. The Kaiser's marched into Belgium.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44That's done it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46King Albert and his army are putting up a good show.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Brave little Belgium.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52We've got to stand by them.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Britain did stand by Belgium and declared war on August 3rd, 1914,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02after Germany failed to give a satisfactory response
0:14:02 > 0:14:06to Britain's ultimatum to keep Belgian neutral.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09And so the kingdoms and empires of Europe mobilised their armies
0:14:09 > 0:14:11and marched them into war.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18The allied and central powers fought for four long years until finally,
0:14:18 > 0:14:23on 11th November 1918, a ceasefire was called.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25The war was over.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29But it was not without its Royal casualties.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34The Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and German empires
0:14:34 > 0:14:38were swept away during or soon after the war.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42But even for the Royal families of the victorious nations,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44things would never be the same again.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Britain's Royal House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
0:14:47 > 0:14:52was renamed Windsor, to rid itself of its German associations.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Now the pomp and circumstance, the parades and decorations
0:14:55 > 0:14:58were not only for the Monarchs
0:14:58 > 0:15:01but to celebrate the victory of the common man,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03who had fought so hard for king and country.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07The official end of the First World War,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11the official pretty bubbles of world peace.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19But depressingly, the peace was short-lived.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23In 1919, the Crown's horses were dispatched to Ireland
0:15:23 > 0:15:26to fight nationalists waging a war of independence.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32After years of bloodshed, a treaty was signed and in Dublin,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35a new flag replaced the Union Jack.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Ireland, save the six counties of Ulster,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43had become the Irish Free State.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Down came the barriers and barbed wire so long associated
0:15:46 > 0:15:51with British rule and the crown's forces marched out for good.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53After such years of tension and being sniped at,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57the lads were glad to go.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59And, let's face it,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Ireland, too, was glad.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03But Ireland was across the sea and far away
0:16:03 > 0:16:05from Britain's social gatherings.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08And although the secession of Ireland was a crack,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12the tiniest crack in the structure of the British Empire,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15you wouldn't have noticed it in London that season.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19In the limelight were three generations of British royalty.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23That of the day was King George V and Queen Mary, as much in public
0:16:23 > 0:16:27life as they had been during the long, dark days of the war.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Then, representing pre-war Britain was Queen Alexandra,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33widow of King Edward VII.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36But the star of the moment, newly returned from a brilliant
0:16:36 > 0:16:40world tour, was the heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45He had conquered the Empire and shot his first Indian tiger.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49He had walked in Tokyo with the heir to Japan's crown, Prince Hirohito.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Back home at last, he was the lion of house parties,
0:16:58 > 0:16:59the hunt and the polo field.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Not to mention the best man at a wedding,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04the marriage of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14But even the most cavalier of Europe's playboy Princes
0:17:14 > 0:17:17couldn't ignore the shifting attitudes towards hereditary rule
0:17:17 > 0:17:21and the increasing fragility of their hold on power.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Mr Ramsay MacDonald formed the first Labour government
0:17:26 > 0:17:27in Britain's history.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30This, many assured my friend, was it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Now that they were in, postage stamps would be issued from the Kremlin.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38There'd be a selling up of the empire, liquidation of
0:17:38 > 0:17:42the armed forces, the marriage ties would no longer be sacred
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and free love would be made official.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47But the scaremongering proved unfounded.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Ramsey MacDonald didn't even last a year.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54A minority socialist government made little impact on a society
0:17:54 > 0:17:57so entrenched in an age old class system.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01So Britain wouldn't be selling up the Empire just yet.
0:18:01 > 0:18:07In the Thirties, there were indeed many to sport the purple, the gold and the plumes.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12But how many continue to support them? Ah, that's another matter.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Assassination, abdication, revolution,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19the causes of disruption are many.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23I remember, in 1934,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26the arrival of a king in the harbour of Marseilles.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Not a French king. They haven't had one for centuries.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33But a King of Yugoslavia,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37where they haven't had one for a much shorter time.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40This royal guest of France, King Alexander,
0:18:40 > 0:18:46sat in an open car with the French foreign minister, Monsieur Barthou.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49And though they weren't to realise it,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53this was to be their last ride alive on this earth.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00Slowly, they drive through the welcoming crowds of Marseilles.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Then, in seconds, all is violence and fearful confusion.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Under the feet of a mob, a man is torn to pieces.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12A man who had shot at a King and a minister.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Alexander is already dead.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Barthou lives on for only a few more minutes.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23A King dies by violence
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and his kingdom, like so many in Europe,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29is destined to survive him by only a few years.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35And what other monarchs were there in the Balkans during the Thirties?
0:19:37 > 0:19:39King Carol of Romania,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42a ruler forced eventually to yield his throne to his son,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45the boy prince, Michael.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48And Carol's mother, Queen Marie,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50what did she think of her son's entanglement
0:19:50 > 0:19:52with the glamorous Madame Lupescu?
0:19:54 > 0:19:56King Boris of Bulgaria,
0:19:56 > 0:20:01rather dull, really, by modern journalistic standards.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Not a breath of scandal, at least nothing that anyone seems able to recall.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Further north in the Netherlands, the House of Orange.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Still with us because it lies close to the people.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17In Britain, there was no Dutch-style bicycling monarchy,
0:20:17 > 0:20:22yet the House of Windsor still enjoyed loyal public support.
0:20:22 > 0:20:29Thousands watched the pomp and pageantry of King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The celebration of the 25 years reign of a king
0:20:33 > 0:20:36who had seen his people through the greatest war in history
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and the discouraging peace that followed.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42King George V and Queen Mary's Jubilee.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47A flag time, a bunting time that, alas,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51was to prove but the beginning of a much sadder story.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53This is London.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57The following bulletin was issued at 9:25.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13FANFARE PLAYS
0:21:16 > 0:21:20It has pleased Almighty God
0:21:20 > 0:21:23to call to his mercy
0:21:23 > 0:21:27our late sovereign, Lord King George V.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36Of blessed and glorious memory, that the high and mighty Prince
0:21:36 > 0:21:42Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David...
0:21:42 > 0:21:44CANNON FIRES
0:21:44 > 0:21:51..is now become our only lawful king.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57By the grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and the British dominion beyond the seas...
0:22:00 > 0:22:02CANNON FIRES
0:22:02 > 0:22:06..defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10So the dyes were changed and a new head appeared on the letters.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And the spring and summer saw Edward VIII of England
0:22:17 > 0:22:20making his Royal calls up and down the country.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The figure of a monarch as yet uncrowned.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Long live the king.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32So Edward took the throne as the country mourned, but for how long?
0:22:32 > 0:22:36His father, George V, once quite ominously predicted -
0:22:36 > 0:22:41"After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in 12 months."
0:22:48 > 0:22:52King Edward VIII, the world's most famous bachelor,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56has often been a best man, but never a bridegroom.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59At the wedding of the Duke of Kent, King Edwards seemed pleased to see
0:22:59 > 0:23:01his youngest brother march to the altar,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04but his own wedding march has yet to be written.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Today, the American press is filled with rumours of royal romance,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15of the possibility of King Edward marrying Mrs Wallis Simpson,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17the former Baltimore belle.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Yesterday, as a girl,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24she lived in Maryland in this quiet and humble Baltimore home.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Tomorrow, she may dwell in Buckingham Palace.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33King Edward and Mrs Simpson have been pictured together on many occasions.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35And in this topsy-turvy world,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38it may be time for an American woman to marry a British king.
0:23:41 > 0:23:42American reporters celebrated,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45but to most members of the British establishment,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49the prospect of a divorcee from Baltimore becoming the consort
0:23:49 > 0:23:51of the British king was totally unacceptable.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Britain had found herself faced by a constitutional dilemma
0:23:59 > 0:24:02unprecedented even in her long and eventful history.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06The nation looked to the king and to Stanley Baldwin's government.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13And so the crisis dragged its length, until at last, over the radio,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17a King made a statement telling of an issue already decided.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20At long last
0:24:20 > 0:24:26I am able to say a few words of my own.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28I have never wanted
0:24:28 > 0:24:33to withhold anything, but until now,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37it has not been constitutionally possible
0:24:37 > 0:24:39for me to speak.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42You all know the reasons
0:24:42 > 0:24:48which have impelled me to renounce the throne.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54But you must believe me when I tell you
0:24:54 > 0:24:56that I have found it impossible
0:24:56 > 0:25:01to carry the heavy burden of responsibility
0:25:01 > 0:25:05and to discharge my duties as King
0:25:05 > 0:25:07as I would wish to do,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10without the help and support
0:25:10 > 0:25:14of the woman I love.
0:25:14 > 0:25:20And now we all have a new king.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26I wish him and you good people happiness
0:25:26 > 0:25:32and prosperity with all my heart.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34God bless you all.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38God save the King.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44The abdication crisis had done little to dampen
0:25:44 > 0:25:47the public's appetite for royal spectaculars.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Huge crowds lined the route of King George VI's
0:25:51 > 0:25:54coronation procession on 12th May 1937.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01A coronation in Britain.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06Its procedure, its regalia, its ceremony the same as always.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Only the figures change with each occasion.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13But is it just a question of the retention of things past?
0:26:15 > 0:26:17The Archbishop,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19assisted by the other bishops,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23moves down from the altar.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25The Dean of Westminster brings the crown.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31The Archbishop takes it from him
0:26:31 > 0:26:35and lays it reverently on the King's head.
0:26:36 > 0:26:42And his Majesty, King George VI, is the king.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49And so Britain celebrated another coronation, the third in 40 years.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51The new king didn't know it, but he was about to
0:26:51 > 0:26:54occupy the throne at a time when the nation he ruled
0:26:54 > 0:26:59would be confronted by forces that threatened its survival.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05An extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet at Number 10 Downing Street.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Extraordinary, too, that only very rarely
0:27:07 > 0:27:10does the reigning monarch attend at that address.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13An ultimatum to the Third Reich,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18"Evacuate Poland or else his Majesty's government..."
0:27:20 > 0:27:23But as the ministers left, some by car,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26some to walk home across the park, they knew it wasn't any use.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34The King and his Queen would help keep morale high during the war,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37a war that would shake the royal houses of Europe but which the
0:27:37 > 0:27:42British monarchy would survive in a show of great fortitude and spirit.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50# Run rabbit run rabbit, run, run, run
0:27:51 > 0:27:56# Run rabbit run rabbit, run, run, run
0:27:56 > 0:28:01# Bang, bang, bang, bang goes the farmer's gun
0:28:01 > 0:28:06# So run rabbit run rabbit, run, run, run. #
0:28:06 > 0:28:11The first half of the 20th century changed continental royalty forever.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13By the end of World War Two,
0:28:13 > 0:28:18Britain was one of only 10 remaining hereditary monarchies in Europe.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25Amid the trembling thrones, one that endures because somehow it captures
0:28:25 > 0:28:30the imagination of millions, binding together a Commonwealth of Nations.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34And this in a world where thrones count for less and less.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Withstanding war, death, abdication,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41the British Crown appears the hardiest of all.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48# Run rabbit, run rabbit run, run, run
0:28:48 > 0:28:54# Run rabbit, run rabbit run, run, run
0:28:54 > 0:28:59# Bang, bang, bang, bang goes the farmer's gun
0:28:59 > 0:29:04# So run rabbit run rabbit run, run, run. #