0:00:10 > 0:00:15She's probably the most famous woman in the world - and a visit by the Queen is always special.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21Over 20 years reporting on the Queen I have followed her around the world, and I can tell you this -
0:00:21 > 0:00:27whether it's here in the West Country, where I now live, or deep in the Australian bush,
0:00:27 > 0:00:32the day the Queen comes your way is a day you will remember forever.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Everyone turns out for the Queen, don't they? It brings the whole community together.
0:00:45 > 0:00:51Her Majesty is the most brilliant person at putting people at their ease.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55She never puts a foot wrong.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59She's always ready to talk to anybody and I just think...
0:00:59 > 0:01:04I've said it before and I will go on saying, goodness, aren't we lucky?
0:01:08 > 0:01:10I'm Jennie Bond and in this film we'll be meeting
0:01:10 > 0:01:12some of the people here in the South West
0:01:12 > 0:01:15whose lives have been touched by the Queen,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and finding out just what she means to us all.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41The Queen doing what she does best - out and about
0:01:41 > 0:01:46meeting and greeting people, this time in Exeter's Princesshay.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51Clearly she lives up to her private motto, "I have to be seen to be believed."
0:01:51 > 0:01:55And she's been being seen for more than 60 years.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03NEWSREEL: Exeter, famed Devon cathedral city, celebrates a great day in its history,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07as thousands turn out to cheer Princess Elizabeth on the first day of her West Country tour.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09She came to Exeter in 1949,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13to inaugurate the rebuilding of the city centre after the blitz.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18I have very great pleasure in uncovering this tablet
0:02:18 > 0:02:22and in fixing it in the position it is to occupy
0:02:22 > 0:02:28so that future generations may see where the rebuilding of Exeter began.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32In 1956 she was back, to lay the foundation stone
0:02:32 > 0:02:35for Exeter University.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38That's one of the things that really hit me,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40what a beautiful woman she was
0:02:40 > 0:02:43and how delicate and how petite
0:02:43 > 0:02:45and how very little justice to her
0:02:45 > 0:02:50any photograph I'd ever seen had done.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54More than 50 years later, the Royal roadshow is back,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and, for a lucky few, a chance to meet the Monarch.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Kelly Thacker and her daughter Yasmin both have special jobs today.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05I'm going to be serving the Queen her lunch
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and I've been given the top table to look after,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09so it's a real honour actually.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12So you clearly haven't spilled soup in someone's lap.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Oh, no, don't say that just yet! Hopefully not.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Can you curtsy? Go on, show me your curtsy.
0:03:18 > 0:03:24- Whoa! Perfect. You've been teaching her.- I'm not very good at it myself!
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Well, well done. Enjoy it. That's the main thing, enjoy it.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36This is just the latest in a long line of visits the Queen has paid to the South West.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Her first, as a young girl, would be the beginning
0:03:39 > 0:03:43of a lifetime's involvement with a West Country institution.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51- NEWSREEL:- As the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert glides into the mouth of the River Dart,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53memories must be revived for His Majesty,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55for the King himself was a cadet at the Royal Naval College
0:03:55 > 0:03:57in the years before the Great War.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07The Princess accompanied her parents on their tour of the South West in 1939.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12It was the first time she'd had the chance to meet a dashing young cadet,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14a Greek prince by the name of Philip.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18So it was here in Dartmouth that the sparks of a love affair
0:04:18 > 0:04:20that was to last a lifetime were first lit.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25Over the next few years, through the dark days of war, Elizabeth and Philip kept in close touch.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28And in 1947 they were finally married.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Two years later, on the first of many return visits,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34they came back here to the Royal Naval College,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and some of the then cadets remember it still.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39BELL CHIMES
0:04:46 > 0:04:50I remember it vividly because it was my first term here at Dartmouth.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54I was a new boy and it was a very important occasion
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and we were made to be very smart,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00rehearsed and drilled to be very smart, and I came to understand that
0:05:00 > 0:05:03that was the standard that the Navy expected of us,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07and it was, with hindsight, a wonderful start.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13It was made very clear to us that we were supposed to excel ourselves,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18but this high standard was going to be the norm anyway.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Well, I remember it particularly well because the Queen stopped
0:05:25 > 0:05:27and spoke to me on the parade.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28She said,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32"Did you join the Navy because your father was in the Navy?"
0:05:32 > 0:05:34and I said, "Yes, Ma'am."
0:05:34 > 0:05:36That's all I said.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45- Hip! Hip!- Hooray!- Hip! Hip!- Hooray!
0:05:47 > 0:05:51These were still carefree years for the young Elizabeth,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55starting a family and settling into married life.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59But all that was to change on February 6th, 1952.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01NEWSREEL: This is London.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07The King, who retired to rest last night in his usual health,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11passed peacefully away in his sleep earlier this morning.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37She returned from a trip to Kenya as Queen,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41met by men in top hats, used to serving a king.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Looking back on those days, you realise that it was very much a man's world.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52But the new Queen was not only a woman,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54she was young and inexperienced.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Elizabeth was just 25 when she came to the throne,
0:06:57 > 0:06:58with two tiny children,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02and now a great weight of responsibility on her shoulders.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05It was a lot to ask of her, but then, as now,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08her sense of duty runs deep.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:07:18 > 0:07:22We may all complain today about living in a time of austerity,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24but the Queen came to the throne in a post-war Britain
0:07:24 > 0:07:27where deprivation was commonplace.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33CHEERING
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Things, though, were changing.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41NEWSREEL: Queen Elizabeth going forth to her crowning, wearing a diadem
0:07:41 > 0:07:46and her traditional parliamentary robe of velvet furred with ermine.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49The coronation was a blast of colour in a grey age.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Colonel Vere Fisher, from Cornwall,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56was a young soldier marching in the parade.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01And the noise was absolutely deathly. I shall never forget it.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04The stands were very high, because the buildings were high.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Oh, you couldn't help but feel elated, almost, you know.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Concentrating hard because you had to keep in line
0:08:16 > 0:08:18and keep abreast, et cetera.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27We were eventually disbanded at Hyde Park.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29So that was the actual parade for me.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Squadron Leader Mike Gill, from South Devon,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43still treasures his coronation medal.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46As a young pilot, he took part in the fly-past.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50We all met up over Felixstowe down on the Thames estuary
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and then flew up the Thames and came into London that way.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58It was...rather hairy.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02The wind and the...cloud base was very low, the wind was quite strong
0:09:02 > 0:09:07and it was bumpy, so formation flying was difficult.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12But the most important thing was that the Queen and all the crowds in London who'd gone to see her crowned
0:09:12 > 0:09:15would be looking up at the sky at that time.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27No sightseeing tour of Buckingham Palace or anything like that at all.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31I was just doing what a formation pilot has to do.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39It's something I wouldn't have missed for the world. I was so pleased to have taken part.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43NEWSREEL: Electricity from atomic power for homes and factories.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44The beginning of a new era.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49It is with pride that I now open Calder Hall,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Britain's first atomic power station.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55A new era of technological innovation...
0:09:55 > 0:09:58A rowboat that flies. Well, why not?
0:09:59 > 0:10:02..but also political turmoil.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07In 1956, the Suez Crisis saw the end of Britain as a great power.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09But the Queen was, as usual,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14engaged in her relentless round of official duties,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17with visits both overseas and around the UK.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21- DORIS DAY: - # When I was just a little girl
0:10:21 > 0:10:24# I asked my mother, "What will I be?" #
0:10:24 > 0:10:27For one 15-year-old from Barnstaple,
0:10:27 > 0:10:301956 will be remembered for only one thing.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34# Here's what she said to me... #
0:10:34 > 0:10:37The year before, I'd had a compound skull fracture
0:10:37 > 0:10:40and was off school for eight months.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44I was in hospital, well, for eight weeks anyway.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47But...I had to learn to walk again,
0:10:47 > 0:10:52so the curtsy was a little bit of an anxious time!
0:10:52 > 0:10:54# Que sera sera... #
0:10:54 > 0:10:57It was the Queen's one and only visit to North Devon,
0:10:57 > 0:11:03and thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of their young Sovereign.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05# Que sera sera... #
0:11:05 > 0:11:09A little bit scared. Bit apprehensive.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11But very excited.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14And then the doors were opened
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and she walked right in to the Pannier Market. That was amazing!
0:11:17 > 0:11:18SHE CHUCKLES
0:11:18 > 0:11:24And all the flag-waving children, they reckoned about 5,000.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Well, you could see she was visibly moved.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Then it was my turn to perform.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34So I did my bob
0:11:34 > 0:11:36and gave her the beautiful bouquet.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Oh, she was very, very beautiful. Absolutely radiant.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43But quite small, very petite.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46But she did look so beautiful, really beautiful.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58I have got one of the photographs of the...of the bouquet
0:11:58 > 0:12:03and one of me actually with my bob, upstairs in the bedroom.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04SHE CHUCKLES
0:12:04 > 0:12:06That's about it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Well, who wouldn't want a picture of themselves with the Queen?
0:12:10 > 0:12:13But, for most people who gather for a Royal visit,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16the best they can hope for is a snap of the lady herself,
0:12:16 > 0:12:22and back in 1962 that's exactly what enticed one 19-year-old apprentice
0:12:22 > 0:12:27out onto the streets here in Plymouth with his very first camera.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32NEWSREEL: Plymouth today looks skywards as well as seawards,
0:12:32 > 0:12:38for the new council house and municipal offices are as up-to-the-minute as any skyscraper.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40To give the building a Royal opening
0:12:40 > 0:12:43was one of the objects of Her Majesty's visit to the city
0:12:43 > 0:12:46during her short stay in the West Country.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51It was my first ever camera, and it was a Retinette 1A.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53It cost £15 and,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58because I was not the age to qualify for hire purchase,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01my father bought it and I ended up paying him back over two years.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03And away I went.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05At the press of a button, the curtains parted
0:13:05 > 0:13:08to reveal a plaque commemorating the Royal opening.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14I was based around Royal Parade
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and the area between the parish church and the guildhall.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And the crowd was quite large, so I'm stood on a bollard,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25snapped away, I didn't know what I was getting in the camera
0:13:25 > 0:13:27because I couldn't look through the lens.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Although by his own admission Colin's efforts that day
0:13:33 > 0:13:37weren't his best, he went on to have a career with a camera.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41We decided to up sticks and I managed to talk myself into
0:13:41 > 0:13:45a job with the local paper here in St Ives, the St Ives Times and Echo.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48And within five minutes I was out on the street with another camera,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52obviously belonging to the company, photographing the events of the day,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and I've never stopped since basically.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00The Lord Mayor conducted the Royal visitor through the ancient Barbican
0:14:00 > 0:14:03on the way to see one of Plymouth's best-known links with the past,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08the steps where the Pilgrim Fathers bade goodbye to England in 1620.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15- SONNY & CHER:- # Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain... #
0:14:17 > 0:14:21The Technicolour '60s - full employment, the pill, hippies -
0:14:21 > 0:14:25a new generation busy looking to the future.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29# History has turned a page, uh-huh... #
0:14:29 > 0:14:32But in the far west of her realm
0:14:32 > 0:14:35hopes in 1967 were a little more conservative.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38FOGHORN SOUNDS
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I'd say one thing that a lot of us were looking forward to
0:14:44 > 0:14:47was the Royal Yacht Britannia coming into the islands.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50And, boy, oh, boy, was she a beautiful yacht.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57They came ashore and they went around in the Land Rover
0:14:57 > 0:15:02and they stopped at many places and spoke to the people
0:15:02 > 0:15:07and it was my privilege then to be up in the church porch,
0:15:07 > 0:15:08er, met the Queen,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and the Duke was interested in the west window.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16He was so interested in it that we took so long
0:15:16 > 0:15:21that somebody came up and said, "You're keeping the Queen waiting."
0:15:21 > 0:15:26And we had to scuttle down very quickly, you know, to keep 'em on schedule.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29So it's all wonderful memories.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Well, I didn't get sent to the Tower. I managed to talk my way out of it.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37MUSIC: "Ride A White Swan" by T Rex
0:15:37 > 0:15:40The next decade saw radical changes in Britain,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44with one of the longest strikes the country had ever seen.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51There was also industrial action by postal workers and dustmen.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Cornish miners even took their grievances to London.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03But in 1977, there was the chance for us all to forget our troubles and disagreements.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It was the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and, rather to everyone's surprise, the country went a bit bonkers.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14MUSIC: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA
0:16:16 > 0:16:20It was the decade of the walkabout, the Queen's new common touch.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26But the optimistic mood didn't last.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29THE SEX PISTOLS: # God save the Queen
0:16:29 > 0:16:31# She ain't no human being
0:16:32 > 0:16:36# And there's no future
0:16:36 > 0:16:39# In England's dreaming... #
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Election year brought a new government,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46and another woman at the top of public life.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48Her mission? To start a new political era.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Now, the steady decline of the mining industry came of course to define the Thatcher era,
0:16:58 > 0:17:04but in 1980, when the Queen visited Cornwall, it was still very much at the heart of this county.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08NEWSREEL: The Royal party spent 45 minutes underground, discovering at first hand
0:17:08 > 0:17:13how Cornish mines meet a quarter of the nation's tin requirements.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16At Geevor, near Land's End, the Queen, Prince Philip
0:17:16 > 0:17:21and a young Prince Andrew would plunge 1,500 feet to open a multi-million-pound mining shaft.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Word has it, the cage man, who was a lovely old fella,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30when they got the Queen into the cage, or were getting them in,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33I believe he's supposed to have said, "Mind your step, my 'andsome."
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Which I think would have probably brought a smile to the Queen's face.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39And...down they went.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44When she got to the 18th station, I was there,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47ready to take the pictures of her getting out.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51I mean, you can't tell me she wasn't petrified
0:17:51 > 0:17:54when she climbed out of that carriage.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Because she really looked pale.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Everything was going fine, I stepped back to take a picture
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and caught me back foot on a rail, one of the railway tracks,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and sort of...disappeared.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10But you get tied in with the occasion
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and you don't think beyond the viewfinder on your camera.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16You know, "I'm going to get this picture..." Wallop!
0:18:18 > 0:18:23Geevor closed in 1988, the works so proudly shown off
0:18:23 > 0:18:27now submerged under thousands of gallons of water.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34But in Torquay that year the Queen was to prove as popular as ever.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38NEWSREEL: At Haldon Pier, the Royal party boarded the Royal barge
0:18:38 > 0:18:42for the trip out to Britannia, from where they were to watch
0:18:42 > 0:18:44the finish of the Anglo-Dutch yacht racing.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49And for one young sailor, the visit remains a career highlight.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Fortunately we won the race, which we didn't think we had won
0:18:52 > 0:18:54until right at the end.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56A boat came from nowhere and said, "You've won it.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59"We need you off the boat quick. We need you to go and meet the Queen."
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I had no jacket, so I had to borrow a jacket, I had no shirt,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I borrowed a shirt, I had no socks.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And I just had the trousers on that I was wearing out sailing,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13so I wasn't in the best attire.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Well, she passed me this big prize with a silver ship on it,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19so I was more worried about catching her hands underneath
0:19:19 > 0:19:23and the etiquette of how I would bow and everything.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I couldn't remember what she said, unfortunately. I wish I had.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30That's one thing. I would love to have gone back
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and found out what she said to me,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34but I was so excited and overawed by the occasion.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Always with a ready smile, always on show, that's the way life is for the Queen,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48but the truth is this was the start of a decade of turmoil for the Queen and her family.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52It was also the start of my time as the BBC's Royal Correspondent,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55and I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01'The following years were to rock the monarchy to its very roots.'
0:20:01 > 0:20:04It came at 12 o'clock and comprised just 26 words.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08It reads, "Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips
0:20:08 > 0:20:10"have decided to separate on terms agreed between them."
0:20:12 > 0:20:16'I was there when Diana, Princess of Wales, posed so poignantly
0:20:16 > 0:20:18'at the Taj Mahal.'
0:20:18 > 0:20:20- JENNIE IN NEWSREEL:- She posed at the same marble bench where,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25six months before their marriage, Prince Charles had also sat alone.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29He's said to have commented then that next time he'd bring his wife.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32ELTON JOHN: # Cold, cold heart
0:20:32 > 0:20:36# Hard done by you
0:20:37 > 0:20:41'It was the image that signalled the marriage was over.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:47'The divorces of her children caused the Queen enormous sadness
0:20:47 > 0:20:50'and put the monarchy on the back foot.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53'Then, a cruel blow.'
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Britannia was the Queen's floating home, her haven during hectic overseas tours.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01But in 1997, the Government decided that the maintenance
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and running costs were simply too high.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07I watched as the Queen shed a tear during the decommissioning ceremony.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11And the decision angered many of those who had served on board the Royal Yacht.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18285.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Rear Admiral Sir Robert Woodard, who lives in Cornwall,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24commanded the Royal Yacht for five years.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26One mile to run.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29I don't know why I was selected,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34but I was...I was very excited and very thrilled and very honoured.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45The fact that she was making a fortune,
0:21:45 > 0:21:53I mean hundreds of millions of pounds a year, through very specially arranged high-pressure trade days,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55was almost ignored completely.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01It was a very sad mistake, in my humble opinion.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Britannia was her one great, er, holiday place,
0:22:09 > 0:22:15because she could get up when she wanted, go to bed when she wanted, eat what she wanted
0:22:15 > 0:22:22and do what she wanted, in complete private and, er...as she desired.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28It's a lot of flowers. I hope that he's going to bring them on...
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- Yes, Ma'am. - ..because they're so beautiful.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36- Did you have a good journey back? - Yes, we did.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Well, I think the most extraordinary moment was in Durban,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45because my final state act was to look after the yacht
0:22:45 > 0:22:49while Her Majesty was supporting Mr Mandela.
0:22:49 > 0:22:56And as she was leaving the yacht at the end of the South African tour to fly home,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00I was called at eight minutes' notice to her study
0:23:00 > 0:23:03and she knighted me.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06And I hadn't been expecting that at all.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10And so at eight minutes' notice it was quite a surprise.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15I rang my wife and said, "Hello, Lady Woodard."
0:23:15 > 0:23:20And she said, "What are you talking about?" and I said, "I've just been knighted."
0:23:22 > 0:23:26It was a unique time in my life which I shall obviously never forget
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and look back on with great pride and a vast amount of happiness.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41It's a sentiment shared by almost all those who personally serve the Queen.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45In 1994, Lady Mary Holborow was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48I'll never forget the first visit.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51One of the places we went to was a factory
0:23:51 > 0:23:54which was employing a lot of people and was important to Cornwall.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59As she was leaving she saw on a shelf one of those little watering cans
0:23:59 > 0:24:01and she said, could she have one of those?
0:24:01 > 0:24:05She'd love one to give to Philip to put out the barbecue.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08And it made me think that there is somebody
0:24:08 > 0:24:13who probably never has the opportunity to go to a hardware shop.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Two years later, and the monarchy faced perhaps its biggest crisis.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25The death of Diana, and the Queen's reaction to it,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29led some to question the point of the monarchy.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39- NEWSREEL:- For the first time, the Queen officially goes to the pub.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42A year after Diana's death, the Queen dropped in at a pub,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Exeter's Bridge Inn.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47It was part of the Palace's fightback,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52but she stayed for just seven minutes and she didn't have a drink.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55The Palace was desperate for a turnaround,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and it chose Falmouth as its starting point.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01NEWSREEL: Throughout the day there's been frantic last-minute preparations
0:25:01 > 0:25:04for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's arrival in Falmouth,
0:25:04 > 0:25:10their first stop in a 14-week tour which encompasses all corners of the UK.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Kicking off the Golden Jubilee in Cornwall in 2002
0:25:15 > 0:25:17put the county in the spotlight.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20There was certainly pressure on me.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23I put pressure on everyone else that was involved,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and it was really, really important to us that it should work.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32The BBC thought it so important that I should follow the Queen's every step
0:25:32 > 0:25:35I was given my own helicopter - for a day at least.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40The Queen views this tour as a chance to thank people for their support
0:25:40 > 0:25:45over what she says have been 50 unforgettable years, and, as we travel round the country with her,
0:25:45 > 0:25:51the reception she gets will help gauge the public mood towards the monarchy in 21st-century Britain.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55And the crowds did turn up.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59The welcome was both warm and enthusiastic.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01It was very, very special,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06and hopefully the whole of the Golden Jubilee celebrations,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09I think, really helped the monarchy enormously.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15Even avowed republicans would have an enormous admiration for our Queen
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and I think that Golden Jubilee made them realise
0:26:18 > 0:26:22they just had to shut up if they didn't want the Queen.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26NEWSREEL: But just look now at how many people are here.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35The Golden Jubilee put the Royal ship back on course.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40The Queen, still being seen to be believed, had come through a turbulent time,
0:26:40 > 0:26:46perhaps largely thanks to her sense of public duty and service, which never faltered.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Ten years on and it's been a great day.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54The Queen has looked, as she always does,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57calm in the centre of the Royal whirlwind.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01So has she made an impression on those who've met her?
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Oh, it was amazing, actually, and I did feel really nervous.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I think I was quite calm all morning and then as the time got closer
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and we saw the car coming, we were all looking out the window
0:27:10 > 0:27:12and were like, "Wow, she's here."
0:27:12 > 0:27:17So, yeah, and as she entered the room I did feel really nervous
0:27:17 > 0:27:21but I kind of pulled her chair out for her and sat her...she sat down
0:27:21 > 0:27:25and the meal began and then it was all OK, everything was calm again!
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Was she as you expected?
0:27:28 > 0:27:30She was shorter than I expected,
0:27:30 > 0:27:36erm, but apart from that I think she looks just like she does when you see her on the TV or in magazines.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41It sums up what the Queen is all about - that personal contact
0:27:41 > 0:27:45with thousands of people over the past 60 years,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49always saying the right thing, always putting people at their ease,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53the relentless Royal tour without end.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55So what does it all mean?
0:27:55 > 0:27:58What has the Queen achieved in the past 60 years?
0:27:58 > 0:28:01To my mind, whether you're a royalist or not,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05you really can't overestimate the importance of her quiet, calm presence
0:28:05 > 0:28:08in the background of our national life.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10After six decades,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14she really is a very wise head on extremely experienced shoulders
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and, whatever else, I promise you this -
0:28:17 > 0:28:23she leaves behind a sea of smiling faces whenever the Royal roadshow rolls out of town.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32CHEERING
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd