Diamond Jubilee - The Queen on Tour The Queen and I

She's probably the most famous woman in the world - and a visit by the Queen is always special.

Over 20 years reporting on the Queen I have followed her around the world, and I can tell you this -

whether it's here in the West Country, where I now live, or deep in the Australian bush,

the day the Queen comes your way is a day you will remember forever.

Everyone turns out for the Queen, don't they? It brings the whole community together.

Her Majesty is the most brilliant person at putting people at their ease.

She never puts a foot wrong.

She's always ready to talk to anybody and I just think...

I've said it before and I will go on saying, goodness, aren't we lucky?

I'm Jennie Bond and in this film we'll be meeting

some of the people here in the South West

whose lives have been touched by the Queen,

and finding out just what she means to us all.

The Queen doing what she does best - out and about

meeting and greeting people, this time in Exeter's Princesshay.

Clearly she lives up to her private motto, "I have to be seen to be believed."

And she's been being seen for more than 60 years.

NEWSREEL: Exeter, famed Devon cathedral city, celebrates a great day in its history,

as thousands turn out to cheer Princess Elizabeth on the first day of her West Country tour.

She came to Exeter in 1949,

to inaugurate the rebuilding of the city centre after the blitz.

I have very great pleasure in uncovering this tablet

and in fixing it in the position it is to occupy

so that future generations may see where the rebuilding of Exeter began.

In 1956 she was back, to lay the foundation stone

for Exeter University.

That's one of the things that really hit me,

what a beautiful woman she was

and how delicate and how petite

and how very little justice to her

any photograph I'd ever seen had done.

More than 50 years later, the Royal roadshow is back,

and, for a lucky few, a chance to meet the Monarch.

Kelly Thacker and her daughter Yasmin both have special jobs today.

I'm going to be serving the Queen her lunch

and I've been given the top table to look after,

so it's a real honour actually.

So you clearly haven't spilled soup in someone's lap.

Oh, no, don't say that just yet! Hopefully not.

Can you curtsy? Go on, show me your curtsy.

-Whoa! Perfect. You've been teaching her.

-I'm not very good at it myself!

Well, well done. Enjoy it. That's the main thing, enjoy it.

This is just the latest in a long line of visits the Queen has paid to the South West.

Her first, as a young girl, would be the beginning

of a lifetime's involvement with a West Country institution.

-NEWSREEL:

-As the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert glides into the mouth of the River Dart,

memories must be revived for His Majesty,

for the King himself was a cadet at the Royal Naval College

in the years before the Great War.

The Princess accompanied her parents on their tour of the South West in 1939.

It was the first time she'd had the chance to meet a dashing young cadet,

a Greek prince by the name of Philip.

So it was here in Dartmouth that the sparks of a love affair

that was to last a lifetime were first lit.

Over the next few years, through the dark days of war, Elizabeth and Philip kept in close touch.

And in 1947 they were finally married.

Two years later, on the first of many return visits,

they came back here to the Royal Naval College,

and some of the then cadets remember it still.

BELL CHIMES

I remember it vividly because it was my first term here at Dartmouth.

I was a new boy and it was a very important occasion

and we were made to be very smart,

rehearsed and drilled to be very smart, and I came to understand that

that was the standard that the Navy expected of us,

and it was, with hindsight, a wonderful start.

It was made very clear to us that we were supposed to excel ourselves,

but this high standard was going to be the norm anyway.

Well, I remember it particularly well because the Queen stopped

and spoke to me on the parade.

She said,

"Did you join the Navy because your father was in the Navy?"

and I said, "Yes, Ma'am."

That's all I said.

-Hip! Hip!

-Hooray!

-Hip! Hip!

-Hooray!

These were still carefree years for the young Elizabeth,

starting a family and settling into married life.

But all that was to change on February 6th, 1952.

NEWSREEL: This is London.

The King, who retired to rest last night in his usual health,

passed peacefully away in his sleep earlier this morning.

She returned from a trip to Kenya as Queen,

met by men in top hats, used to serving a king.

Looking back on those days, you realise that it was very much a man's world.

But the new Queen was not only a woman,

she was young and inexperienced.

Elizabeth was just 25 when she came to the throne,

with two tiny children,

and now a great weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

It was a lot to ask of her, but then, as now,

her sense of duty runs deep.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

We may all complain today about living in a time of austerity,

but the Queen came to the throne in a post-war Britain

where deprivation was commonplace.

CHEERING

Things, though, were changing.

NEWSREEL: Queen Elizabeth going forth to her crowning, wearing a diadem

and her traditional parliamentary robe of velvet furred with ermine.

The coronation was a blast of colour in a grey age.

Colonel Vere Fisher, from Cornwall,

was a young soldier marching in the parade.

And the noise was absolutely deathly. I shall never forget it.

The stands were very high, because the buildings were high.

Oh, you couldn't help but feel elated, almost, you know.

Concentrating hard because you had to keep in line

and keep abreast, et cetera.

We were eventually disbanded at Hyde Park.

So that was the actual parade for me.

Squadron Leader Mike Gill, from South Devon,

still treasures his coronation medal.

As a young pilot, he took part in the fly-past.

We all met up over Felixstowe down on the Thames estuary

and then flew up the Thames and came into London that way.

It was...rather hairy.

The wind and the...cloud base was very low, the wind was quite strong

and it was bumpy, so formation flying was difficult.

But the most important thing was that the Queen and all the crowds in London who'd gone to see her crowned

would be looking up at the sky at that time.

No sightseeing tour of Buckingham Palace or anything like that at all.

I was just doing what a formation pilot has to do.

It's something I wouldn't have missed for the world. I was so pleased to have taken part.

NEWSREEL: Electricity from atomic power for homes and factories.

The beginning of a new era.

It is with pride that I now open Calder Hall,

Britain's first atomic power station.

A new era of technological innovation...

A rowboat that flies. Well, why not?

..but also political turmoil.

In 1956, the Suez Crisis saw the end of Britain as a great power.

But the Queen was, as usual,

engaged in her relentless round of official duties,

with visits both overseas and around the UK.

-DORIS DAY:

-# When I was just a little girl

# I asked my mother, "What will I be?" #

For one 15-year-old from Barnstaple,

1956 will be remembered for only one thing.

# Here's what she said to me... #

The year before, I'd had a compound skull fracture

and was off school for eight months.

I was in hospital, well, for eight weeks anyway.

But...I had to learn to walk again,

so the curtsy was a little bit of an anxious time!

# Que sera sera... #

It was the Queen's one and only visit to North Devon,

and thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of their young Sovereign.

# Que sera sera... #

A little bit scared. Bit apprehensive.

But very excited.

And then the doors were opened

and she walked right in to the Pannier Market. That was amazing!

SHE CHUCKLES

And all the flag-waving children, they reckoned about 5,000.

Well, you could see she was visibly moved.

Then it was my turn to perform.

So I did my bob

and gave her the beautiful bouquet.

Oh, she was very, very beautiful. Absolutely radiant.

But quite small, very petite.

But she did look so beautiful, really beautiful.

I have got one of the photographs of the...of the bouquet

and one of me actually with my bob, upstairs in the bedroom.

SHE CHUCKLES

That's about it.

Well, who wouldn't want a picture of themselves with the Queen?

But, for most people who gather for a Royal visit,

the best they can hope for is a snap of the lady herself,

and back in 1962 that's exactly what enticed one 19-year-old apprentice

out onto the streets here in Plymouth with his very first camera.

NEWSREEL: Plymouth today looks skywards as well as seawards,

for the new council house and municipal offices are as up-to-the-minute as any skyscraper.

To give the building a Royal opening

was one of the objects of Her Majesty's visit to the city

during her short stay in the West Country.

It was my first ever camera, and it was a Retinette 1A.

It cost £15 and,

because I was not the age to qualify for hire purchase,

my father bought it and I ended up paying him back over two years.

And away I went.

At the press of a button, the curtains parted

to reveal a plaque commemorating the Royal opening.

I was based around Royal Parade

and the area between the parish church and the guildhall.

And the crowd was quite large, so I'm stood on a bollard,

snapped away, I didn't know what I was getting in the camera

because I couldn't look through the lens.

Although by his own admission Colin's efforts that day

weren't his best, he went on to have a career with a camera.

We decided to up sticks and I managed to talk myself into

a job with the local paper here in St Ives, the St Ives Times and Echo.

And within five minutes I was out on the street with another camera,

obviously belonging to the company, photographing the events of the day,

and I've never stopped since basically.

The Lord Mayor conducted the Royal visitor through the ancient Barbican

on the way to see one of Plymouth's best-known links with the past,

the steps where the Pilgrim Fathers bade goodbye to England in 1620.

-SONNY & CHER:

-# Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain... #

The Technicolour '60s - full employment, the pill, hippies -

a new generation busy looking to the future.

# History has turned a page, uh-huh... #

But in the far west of her realm

hopes in 1967 were a little more conservative.

FOGHORN SOUNDS

I'd say one thing that a lot of us were looking forward to

was the Royal Yacht Britannia coming into the islands.

And, boy, oh, boy, was she a beautiful yacht.

They came ashore and they went around in the Land Rover

and they stopped at many places and spoke to the people

and it was my privilege then to be up in the church porch,

er, met the Queen,

and the Duke was interested in the west window.

He was so interested in it that we took so long

that somebody came up and said, "You're keeping the Queen waiting."

And we had to scuttle down very quickly, you know, to keep 'em on schedule.

So it's all wonderful memories.

Well, I didn't get sent to the Tower. I managed to talk my way out of it.

MUSIC: "Ride A White Swan" by T Rex

The next decade saw radical changes in Britain,

with one of the longest strikes the country had ever seen.

There was also industrial action by postal workers and dustmen.

Cornish miners even took their grievances to London.

But in 1977, there was the chance for us all to forget our troubles and disagreements.

It was the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee

and, rather to everyone's surprise, the country went a bit bonkers.

MUSIC: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA

It was the decade of the walkabout, the Queen's new common touch.

But the optimistic mood didn't last.

THE SEX PISTOLS: # God save the Queen

# She ain't no human being

# And there's no future

# In England's dreaming... #

Election year brought a new government,

and another woman at the top of public life.

Her mission? To start a new political era.

Now, the steady decline of the mining industry came of course to define the Thatcher era,

but in 1980, when the Queen visited Cornwall, it was still very much at the heart of this county.

NEWSREEL: The Royal party spent 45 minutes underground, discovering at first hand

how Cornish mines meet a quarter of the nation's tin requirements.

At Geevor, near Land's End, the Queen, Prince Philip

and a young Prince Andrew would plunge 1,500 feet to open a multi-million-pound mining shaft.

Word has it, the cage man, who was a lovely old fella,

when they got the Queen into the cage, or were getting them in,

I believe he's supposed to have said, "Mind your step, my 'andsome."

Which I think would have probably brought a smile to the Queen's face.

And...down they went.

When she got to the 18th station, I was there,

ready to take the pictures of her getting out.

I mean, you can't tell me she wasn't petrified

when she climbed out of that carriage.

Because she really looked pale.

Everything was going fine, I stepped back to take a picture

and caught me back foot on a rail, one of the railway tracks,

and sort of...disappeared.

But you get tied in with the occasion

and you don't think beyond the viewfinder on your camera.

You know, "I'm going to get this picture..." Wallop!

Geevor closed in 1988, the works so proudly shown off

now submerged under thousands of gallons of water.

But in Torquay that year the Queen was to prove as popular as ever.

NEWSREEL: At Haldon Pier, the Royal party boarded the Royal barge

for the trip out to Britannia, from where they were to watch

the finish of the Anglo-Dutch yacht racing.

And for one young sailor, the visit remains a career highlight.

Fortunately we won the race, which we didn't think we had won

until right at the end.

A boat came from nowhere and said, "You've won it.

"We need you off the boat quick. We need you to go and meet the Queen."

I had no jacket, so I had to borrow a jacket, I had no shirt,

I borrowed a shirt, I had no socks.

And I just had the trousers on that I was wearing out sailing,

so I wasn't in the best attire.

Well, she passed me this big prize with a silver ship on it,

so I was more worried about catching her hands underneath

and the etiquette of how I would bow and everything.

I couldn't remember what she said, unfortunately. I wish I had.

That's one thing. I would love to have gone back

and found out what she said to me,

but I was so excited and overawed by the occasion.

Always with a ready smile, always on show, that's the way life is for the Queen,

but the truth is this was the start of a decade of turmoil for the Queen and her family.

It was also the start of my time as the BBC's Royal Correspondent,

and I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.

'The following years were to rock the monarchy to its very roots.'

It came at 12 o'clock and comprised just 26 words.

It reads, "Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips

"have decided to separate on terms agreed between them."

'I was there when Diana, Princess of Wales, posed so poignantly

'at the Taj Mahal.'

-JENNIE IN NEWSREEL:

-She posed at the same marble bench where,

six months before their marriage, Prince Charles had also sat alone.

He's said to have commented then that next time he'd bring his wife.

ELTON JOHN: # Cold, cold heart

# Hard done by you

'It was the image that signalled the marriage was over.'

'The divorces of her children caused the Queen enormous sadness

'and put the monarchy on the back foot.

'Then, a cruel blow.'

Britannia was the Queen's floating home, her haven during hectic overseas tours.

But in 1997, the Government decided that the maintenance

and running costs were simply too high.

I watched as the Queen shed a tear during the decommissioning ceremony.

And the decision angered many of those who had served on board the Royal Yacht.

285.

Rear Admiral Sir Robert Woodard, who lives in Cornwall,

commanded the Royal Yacht for five years.

One mile to run.

I don't know why I was selected,

but I was...I was very excited and very thrilled and very honoured.

The fact that she was making a fortune,

I mean hundreds of millions of pounds a year, through very specially arranged high-pressure trade days,

was almost ignored completely.

It was a very sad mistake, in my humble opinion.

Britannia was her one great, er, holiday place,

because she could get up when she wanted, go to bed when she wanted, eat what she wanted

and do what she wanted, in complete private and, er...as she desired.

It's a lot of flowers. I hope that he's going to bring them on...

-Yes, Ma'am.

-..because they're so beautiful.

-Did you have a good journey back?

-Yes, we did.

Well, I think the most extraordinary moment was in Durban,

because my final state act was to look after the yacht

while Her Majesty was supporting Mr Mandela.

And as she was leaving the yacht at the end of the South African tour to fly home,

I was called at eight minutes' notice to her study

and she knighted me.

And I hadn't been expecting that at all.

And so at eight minutes' notice it was quite a surprise.

I rang my wife and said, "Hello, Lady Woodard."

And she said, "What are you talking about?" and I said, "I've just been knighted."

It was a unique time in my life which I shall obviously never forget

and look back on with great pride and a vast amount of happiness.

It's a sentiment shared by almost all those who personally serve the Queen.

In 1994, Lady Mary Holborow was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.

I'll never forget the first visit.

One of the places we went to was a factory

which was employing a lot of people and was important to Cornwall.

As she was leaving she saw on a shelf one of those little watering cans

and she said, could she have one of those?

She'd love one to give to Philip to put out the barbecue.

And it made me think that there is somebody

who probably never has the opportunity to go to a hardware shop.

Two years later, and the monarchy faced perhaps its biggest crisis.

The death of Diana, and the Queen's reaction to it,

led some to question the point of the monarchy.

-NEWSREEL:

-For the first time, the Queen officially goes to the pub.

A year after Diana's death, the Queen dropped in at a pub,

Exeter's Bridge Inn.

It was part of the Palace's fightback,

but she stayed for just seven minutes and she didn't have a drink.

The Palace was desperate for a turnaround,

and it chose Falmouth as its starting point.

NEWSREEL: Throughout the day there's been frantic last-minute preparations

for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's arrival in Falmouth,

their first stop in a 14-week tour which encompasses all corners of the UK.

Kicking off the Golden Jubilee in Cornwall in 2002

put the county in the spotlight.

There was certainly pressure on me.

I put pressure on everyone else that was involved,

and it was really, really important to us that it should work.

The BBC thought it so important that I should follow the Queen's every step

I was given my own helicopter - for a day at least.

The Queen views this tour as a chance to thank people for their support

over what she says have been 50 unforgettable years, and, as we travel round the country with her,

the reception she gets will help gauge the public mood towards the monarchy in 21st-century Britain.

And the crowds did turn up.

The welcome was both warm and enthusiastic.

It was very, very special,

and hopefully the whole of the Golden Jubilee celebrations,

I think, really helped the monarchy enormously.

Even avowed republicans would have an enormous admiration for our Queen

and I think that Golden Jubilee made them realise

they just had to shut up if they didn't want the Queen.

NEWSREEL: But just look now at how many people are here.

The Golden Jubilee put the Royal ship back on course.

The Queen, still being seen to be believed, had come through a turbulent time,

perhaps largely thanks to her sense of public duty and service, which never faltered.

Ten years on and it's been a great day.

The Queen has looked, as she always does,

calm in the centre of the Royal whirlwind.

So has she made an impression on those who've met her?

Oh, it was amazing, actually, and I did feel really nervous.

I think I was quite calm all morning and then as the time got closer

and we saw the car coming, we were all looking out the window

and were like, "Wow, she's here."

So, yeah, and as she entered the room I did feel really nervous

but I kind of pulled her chair out for her and sat her...she sat down

and the meal began and then it was all OK, everything was calm again!

Was she as you expected?

She was shorter than I expected,

erm, but apart from that I think she looks just like she does when you see her on the TV or in magazines.

It sums up what the Queen is all about - that personal contact

with thousands of people over the past 60 years,

always saying the right thing, always putting people at their ease,

the relentless Royal tour without end.

So what does it all mean?

What has the Queen achieved in the past 60 years?

To my mind, whether you're a royalist or not,

you really can't overestimate the importance of her quiet, calm presence

in the background of our national life.

After six decades,

she really is a very wise head on extremely experienced shoulders

and, whatever else, I promise you this -

she leaves behind a sea of smiling faces whenever the Royal roadshow rolls out of town.

CHEERING

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