Carol Kirkwood The Day I Met the Queen

90 years ago, our longest serving monarch,

Queen Elizabeth II, was born.

Since then, millions of us have met her

and many have got close.

You're having a good, old stare at the Queen, aren't you?

Oh, yes, we are. I had a good view of her.

But how well do we know her?

She is on our stamps and she's on our coins,

and she's in our hearts.

And how well does she know us?

She gave me a puppy... Oh, right. ..which was very nice.

This is Her Majesty as you've never seen her before.

Good Queen hair you've got going on there.

I was completely paralysed

as this amazing icon walked over my gangway.

A people's portrait of the Queen.

She wasn't there doing her job,

she was there because she was genuinely concerned.

This is your main workshop now, then, is it, here?

In this series, it's handbags at dawn for John Craven...

And what's...? It's obviously leather. Ah, ah, ah.

Oh, can I not touch it?

You like the Queen, don't you?

..Aled Jones gets super close with a super-fan in Wales...

Look at that.

It's practically this close.

..and today I'm in a part of Britain that's undeniably

special to the Queen, and it's very dear to me too.

It's where I started my broadcasting career.

It's also where the Queen comes every summer for her holidays.

I'm somewhere that's world-famous for its majestic 3,000 castles...

..and over 800 stunning mountains.

Yes, you've guessed it - I'm in Scotland.

Not quite an open-top carriage,

but it's the closest I could get to how the Queen arrived

in Edinburgh when she came to take up her Scottish Crown in 1953.

Huge crowds lined the streets to welcome her.

The Queen's been attached to this part of Britain her whole life.

Her mother was Scottish, her sister was born in Scotland

and they were both very close to their Scottish nanny.

And the Queen's fondness for Scotland

and us Scots has continued right the way through her reign.

From opening the Scottish Parliament and the new Borders Railway,

to throwing a tea party for some 8,000 locals,

she's very much at home here.

And I hear she takes the sound of Scotland with her wherever she goes.

Forget the alarm clock - every weekday morning at nine,

the Queen's own piper plays the bagpipes under her window

for 15 minutes.

PIPER PLAYS

And there's no snooze button on these bagpipes.

I think it's the Queen's hard work and dedication to duty

that has earned her the respect of us Scots,

and we can be a hard bunch to please, so...

I'm looking forward to talking to lots of people north of the border,

just to find out what she's really like.

But first, what do Scots think of their longest reigning monarch?

She's a lovely woman.

She's got a gorgeous smile and I'm sure that all her grandchildren,

great-grandchildren and the family love her.

She certainly seems a very warm individual.

I think the Queen is a remarkable woman and she's a beautiful lady.

I have to say, she's got the most amazing skin.

I'd love to know her secrets.

I suspect it's all in the genes.

She's guided and given advice to the country in, you know, many ways,

and, as a matter of fact, actually, I do keep Her Majesty with me

sometimes, when it was her birthday

so I've got a lovely, wee picture of her to celebrate her birthday.

So there we are there. Big fan from Scotland.

If she ever wants to come up to Glasgow and get a hug from myself

and all these wonderful citizens

then I'm sure she'll have a great time.

But the Queen isn't just with us for the good times.

On the 13th of March, 1996,

a man entered Dunblane Primary School

and shot dead 16 children and their teacher.

At this most difficult time,

when the unimaginable had happened in this quiet town,

the Queen made sure she was there to mourn with her people.

It's hard to comprehend what happened here 20 years ago.

I can hardly believe, myself, that it happened.

And I do remember where I was on that day.

I was on my way home from work,

listening to the news on my car radio.

And you listen in disbelief.

So as soon as I got into the house, I switched on the television news

and watched in horror what happened,

that one lone man with a gun could wipe out so many innocent lives.

It's still actually hard to comprehend.

On Mothering Sunday,

the Queen arrived with her own daughter, Princess Anne,

who brought a posy of snowdrops from her garden to lay at the school.

They also visited Stirling Royal Infirmary

to meet the injured children who had survived

and the medical teams who dealt with the aftermath.

I'm in Dunblane to meet Martyn Dunn.

He lost his five-year-old daughter, Charlotte, on that dreadful day.

This is Charlotte's last picture.

This was taken up in Callander.

And this is Charlotte at five. Yes, this is Charlotte at five.

We went for a walk along the river there,

with grandparents,

and, yes, that is our last picture ever taken of Charlotte,

eight weeks before we actually lost her. So...

So, Martyn, tell me what happened on that day.

The day was going normal

and then, all of a sudden, I got a phone call.

It was one of my colleagues and he said,

"Have you got a radio on in the office there?"

I said, "No. Why?" And he says,

"There's something on the news about an incident happening in Dunblane."

I telephoned Barbara and said,

"Look, can you get to the school, pick up Charlotte?

"There's been an incident."

Coming up the motorway, there was police cars and ambulances

and all sorts of things going towards Dunblane.

It was like, "Oh, what has happened?"

We then were taken into the school and put into the staffroom.

No-one was coming into tell us, no-one updated us.

Just sitting in a room, waiting.

Then all of a sudden, the door opened, three people came in,

introduced themselves to us, sat us down and...

said, "There's no easy way to tell you this.

"Unfortunately, there's been an incident here at the school today.

"There have been some shootings and, unfortunately, your daughter

"was one of the victims and, unfortunately, she's dead."

I can't even begin to imagine how it must feel to be told

your child's been shot.

It was obviously...

We thought we were just going to collect our daughter,

not to be told that our daughter's gone.

And that's when our life fell apart, really.

We just hugged each other, screamed out loud.

Obviously we wanted to... They all had been taken to the mortuary

at the hospital, so...

a social worker and a policeman came back that evening

and escorted us to the hospital,

and then Charlotte was...

presented to us on a table.

Fortunately, there were no marks on her face.

We later found out that she'd been shot three times...

..which, again, was hard to come to terms with, but...

So we just saw her there and...

..cuddled her, relaxed, talked to her.

Unfortunately, we then had to leave her.

For the families that lost children,

it was their worst nightmare,

but the whole community was traumatised.

The Queen attended an emotional memorial service

in Dunblane Cathedral,

but she wanted to share her deep-felt sympathy

away from the eyes of the media...

..so she invited the bereaved families to meet her

in the Chapter House of the Cathedral.

This room has some special meaning for us.

This is where we met the Queen

when she eventually came in here and came and had a chat with us.

And, of course, the Queen is a mother and a grandmother herself.

The Queen is a mother herself.

I mean, most of the times I think the Queen obviously attends events

as the head of state

and she has to be prim and proper.

I think on this day, when she came here, she came as a mum.

And she just came up and you could see a tear in her eye

and, once we started speaking to her, the atmosphere sort of changed.

She was very...

very upset and you got the sort of feeling and the view that she was

not the Queen, she was a mum and she was coming to pass on her thoughts.

What did it mean personally to you, Martyn, that the Queen came here?

There wasn't that feeling of, oh, you've got to stand straight

and you've got to be all posh and, "Yes, Your Majesty."

She was just the Queen, and Princess Anne was standing

there behind her and she was exactly the same, just normal people,

and that meant such a lot to us.

It gave us a lot of hope for the future.

So, you know, it gave us a lot of confidence

and also made us realise that people in a high position

are just human beings, like the rest of us.

In the months after the tragedy,

Martyn and other members of the community

set up the Snowdrop Campaign to ban private ownership of handguns,

a campaign they won in 1997.

It's so shocking to think that something like that happened here.

And the raw emotion that the Queen showed, I mean, gosh,

I can completely relate to that

because you can't help but be moved and horrified by what happened.

But the way the community have pulled together,

well, that's just amazing.

Even if you've never met her,

I'll bet the Queen has made an impression on you.

When I was growing up in the wee coastal village of Morar,

in north-west Scotland...

..she was a big deal for us kids.

My mother is an ardent fan of the Queen - she always has been.

You know, when we were growing up and the six o'clock news was on,

she'd be in the kitchen making our dinner and we'd be shouting,

"Mum, the Queen's on," on the news,

so she'd come running through.

And she was always interested in what the Queen was wearing

and where she was in the world, and how her hair was.

It was the same on Christmas Day.

On Christmas Day, everything stopped for the Queen's Speech.

So I've always been a bit of a Queen fan myself.

'And when I met the Queen, Mum was so proud.'

It's funny how things work out.

Who would have thought me joining the BBC and the Met Office would

ever have led to me actually meeting and giving a talk to the Queen?

And do you know what? I've never asked why they picked me to do it,

but I'm going to find out now

because I'm meeting the lady that gave me the gig.

Yvonne Brown is the chair of the Sandringham Women's Institute,

a position with a special royal perk.

Every year, the Queen, in her role as president,

attends their general meeting.

It's Yvonne's job to find a guest speaker to amuse Her Majesty...

..and I'm joining her at the Scottish WI for a collage class.

Yvonne. Hello! Hello!

It's lovely to see you... And you. ..after all this time.

It must be, what, four years? It is four years since you came.

And look at you, here in Edinburgh. How time flies. Time does fly.

Do you know, Yvonne, something I've always wanted to ask you is

why did you choose me?

Because it just came from nowhere. It was so surreal.

Well, we have a committee meeting in October

and we sit around and we sort of say,

"Well, who are we going to have as our guest speaker this year?"

Nobody came up with any ideas

and then, the next morning, I put on breakfast television

and I thought, "That's the woman we're going to invite."

Were you hoping for a good weather forecast that day?

Oh, absolutely, yes. How did you feel when I got in touch with you?

It came in the form of an e-mail, of course,

and I thought, "Is this a joke?" Then when I followed it up

and thought, "Gosh, it's not a joke, it's for real,"

I couldn't believe it.

It was all really hush-hush and, you know, you were saying,

"You can't tell anyone." Well, this is the thing.

We like to keep it as quiet as possible.

I have to confess, I did tell my mum.

I remember, when I went in, I felt so nervous.

When we started,

literally, I was standing six feet away from the Queen

and I had a wee story.

One of our older weather gentleman, who's now sadly passed away,

and it was in the days of the magnetic symbols, when we had,

you know, letters for "fog", the F, the O and the G.

And so they were all stuck onto the magnetic board

and, when he was presenting the weather live, he walked in

and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry about the F in fog,"

because the F had slipped off. She laughed!

I remember at the end, in the questions and answers, I said,

"Does anybody know where the coldest part of the UK has been,

"the lowest temperature ever recorded?"

And the Queen knew - Balmoral.

January was -27. I was so impressed.

When it all finished, Yvonne, I got back in the car going home

and it was just...

SHE GASPS "Oh, my goodness!"

I phoned my mother, "I've just met the Queen!"

I think they really did enjoy having you

because you're such a fun person. Thank you.

Well, it is, of course, the Queen's 90th birthday this year,

so I think there's something we ought to say to her,

ladies, don't you? Yes.

ALL: Happy birthday, Your Majesty.

The Queen clearly feels relaxed at those WI meetings,

as she does when she takes her annual summer holiday

at one of her favourite places in the world,

and it's right here in Scotland.

Since her childhood, the Queen has spent her summer holidays

in the Highlands at her Balmoral estate.

Her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria,

bought Balmoral Castle in 1852.

So, unlike the state-owned Buckingham Palace,

Balmoral is hers.

Balmoral is said to be where the Queen is happiest.

It's where Prince Philip proposed to her

and where they spent part of their honeymoon, and it's so peaceful.

She has over 50,000 acres of Highland scenery,

hidden away from the eyes of the world...

..and what neighbours she has respect her privacy.

And none more so than retired church elder and neighbour

Ed Bushnell, who used to welcome the Queen every Sunday.

This is where the Queen sits,

when she comes to church,

and she comes every Sunday when she's in residence at Balmoral.

She sits in the middle here.

The Duke of Edinburgh sits on the end.

And she enters through the royal porch

and comes in that door and in here.

28 minutes past 11 she arrives.

She's very, very punctual.

Local people are also very protective of the royal family.

They give them their space, they give them...

freedom to be themselves on the estate.

And if any press come along and ask questions,

they're sometimes politely told where to go.

I think that's why she enjoys it up here so much.

ANNOUNCER: Here we have the royal party coming in now.

When the Queen's at Balmoral,

she never misses the annual Braemar Gathering,

which can be traced back over 900 years.

In her role as Chieftain of the Gathering,

she really gets into the spirit of the games.

One of the Queen's neighbours is Willie Meston.

When he was Secretary of the Gatherings,

he found himself in a sticky situation with Her Majesty.

There's a very relaxed, comfortable atmosphere in the Royal Box,

a lot of laughter.

We've had some very funny presentations over the years.

One of the occasions was when

Geoff Capes was being presented with his trophy for being

the best overall heavyweight at the Gathering.

Geoff was taken up to the Royal Box,

introduced to Her Majesty by myself,

the trophy handed over.

Unfortunately, I hadn't listened to Geoff.

He still had resin on his hands.

Her glove stuck

and she just roared with laughter.

It was a great occasion.

The other thing that Her Majesty loves every year

is the children's sack race.

It gives them tremendous pleasure.

But her true passion lies in all things equine...

..and this passion started in miniature.

She was given her first pony, a wee Shetland called Peggy,

by her grandfather, King George V, when she was only four years old.

The Queen's equestrian passion is shared by a member of

the Royal Regiment, who guards her when she's in Balmoral,

and he goes by the rather wonderful name of the Pony Major

and I think I'll find him in here.

Oh! Look at them!

It's very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. How do you do?

Oh, they're gorgeous, wee ponies.

What are their names?

This is Lance Cpl Cruachan IV,

who is the regimental mascot of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

And this Lance Cpl Cruachan III, retired. Lance Cpl? Lance Cpl.

They've even got titles? They've got titles, yes.

And Lance Cpl Cruachan IV welcomes the Queen to Balmoral every year.

Any time that Her Majesty's in Scotland, she likes to see them.

She likes to spend a wee bit of time with them,

especially Cruachan III, who's her wee special friend.

What's so special about him, then?

When she visited here in '96 in Redford Barracks,

Cruachan had a wee nip at her.

It wasn't predominantly at her.

She had a posy of flowers in her hand

that she had received from the families

and he thought it was breakfast.

Oh... So he took Her Majesty's glove off,

so he got into a wee bit of trouble for that. Oh, no. Bless him.

Did the Queen think it was funny? She thought it was hilarious.

She knows Shetlands.

She learnt to ride on a Shetland,

so she knows they've got a mind of their own.

So, does the Queen still come and see them a lot?

Every morning, she'll come down.

She'll have a small, brown sack of carrots...

..and, in these, the chefs have battened them... Oh...

..and then she'll say good morning to him, spend that time with him.

So the Queen comes to the stables everyday, Mark.

What kind of things does she say to you?

Ask me about him, ask me about his health,

ask me about Cruachan IV's health,

spend a bit of time just chatting about them.

There was one morning we stood there for 20 minutes

and I didn't even notice the time had gone.

She can go to the stables and see this Highland pony that me and you

would never remember its name in a month of Sundays,

but Her Majesty knows the name, the age, what he enjoys, or she enjoys,

and she'll give them a carrot... That's amazing.

..and she'll move onto the next one.

You must have met the Queen millions of times, then. We have.

We first presented Cruachan IV to Her Majesty

and it was also the same day that I first met her down in Canterbury.

Straight away, she makes you relax,

she talks to you like a person.

If you were walking through the courtyard, for example,

would she be, "Oh, hi, Mark, how are you doing?"

She'd be like, "Good morning, Pony Major." Oh, sorry!

CAROL LAUGHS

You said there that she immediately puts you at ease. Ow!

Did he get you? Oh! You little rascal! He just bit me.

You little scallywag.

It'll sting for a bit. For about two years.

THEY LAUGH

But what we were saying, she makes you feel at ease.

I think she loves meeting people as she's moving round the estate

and, if some of the soldiers are walking around,

she'll stop and speak to them

and she'll remember their names and it makes the soldier feel,

"I'm doing my duty but Her Majesty is talking to me."

Makes you feel... "I'm a person." It makes you... Feel special.

It gives you that lift for the day. Yes. You know?

Does the Queen ever comment on how magnificent they look? Always.

She knows her equine, she knows her horses.

If something's not right on his tack,

she'll pick it up straightaway.

Her Majesty is always out riding in the mornings when she's in Balmoral.

She'll go away with her groom. So how long does she go out for?

She can be out for roughly an hour every morning,

still looking fresh as a daisy out riding round the estate.

It's amazing when you think it's her 90th birthday this year... Yes.

..and she's still out riding for an hour.

It's great to see and I hope I'm like that when I'm 90.

On behalf of Lance Cpl Cruachan III, Lance Cpl Cruachan IV,

the Royal Regiment of Scotland,

happy birthday, Your Majesty.

INDISTINCT

So, the Pony Major and the Queen

share a love of spirited Shetland ponies...

..but I have to say that's the last time I'm going

anywhere near one without a pair of steel-lined jeans.

Meeting people is a huge part of the Queen's job.

I was lucky enough to meet the Queen a second time

when she opened New Broadcasting House in London.

I didn't know whether to curtsy or bow,

so I went for a good, old British handshake.

Over her 64-year reign, the Queen has shaken hands with millions...

..wearing out some of her gloves in the process.

But in 2012, there was one handshake

that was one of the most symbolic of her reign.

Less than 50 miles separate Scotland from Northern Ireland...

..and it was here in Northern Ireland

where that historic handshake took place.

The Queen is Great Britain and Northern Ireland's head of state

and head of the Armed Forces,

and she shook hands with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.

This was one of many visits, over 20 of them, in fact,

that the Queen has made to Northern Ireland.

She's met and chatted with folks from all walks of Irish life,

from market stall holders...

..to the cast and crew of the hit series Game Of Thrones.

Between handshakes, Her Majesty took a moment to admire the furniture...

..and maybe put in an order for a new throne?

Back on my home turf, I'm heading to a place where the Queen

really left her mark when she visited almost 50 years ago.

She was here to get the royal seal of approval to a namesake

that weighed over 65,000 tonnes.

The Queen has launched 23 of the world's finest ships,

smashing bottles of champagne, Scotch whisky - what a waste -

across their bows.

Many of them were built on the River Clyde, here in Glasgow,

of course, once the home to shipbuilding.

And when the Queen came back here in 1967,

to launch what turned out to be

the last of the iconic Clyde-built ships,

she attracted headlines from around the world.

I'm scaling the heights of the Titan Crane,

used to build those incredible ships.

From here, there's a bird's-eye view

of where the mighty Queen Elizabeth II was built.

Peter Kemp, a young apprentice who worked on the QE2,

made sure he was on shift on launch day.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric.

Huge crowds, they reckon there was between 30 and 40,000 people

between here and across the other side of the river.

And I came down here with my mother.

I'd no girlfriend at the time, so I took my mother.

Just across there, the big stand was all set up.

I could see the Queen on the deck.

Even though Peter worked on the ship every day,

he had no idea what she'd be named.

It was a well-kept secret

and caused great debate in the shipyard at the time.

I think they'll call it Queen Mary, myself.

It'll need to be a she anyway.

It couldn't be Prince Charles, that's one thing.

I think it'll be a royal name.

The odds were 3-1 that it would be Princess Margaret,

but the ship's name wasn't revealed until the very last minute.

I name this ship Queen Elizabeth II.

APPLAUSE

And it didn't move.

55 seconds it sat there.

And there was somebody shouted from the bow, "Gonnae gie us a shove?!"

And one of the foremen jumped up on the box and he was doing that.

And I think, to be honest with you, I think the ship heard the name

Queen Elizabeth II and went,

"Aye, that'll do me."

And then slowly off she went down there, gathering speed,

and she got to about 20mph as it hit the water.

All I could hear was bang, bang, bang.

Clouds of dust and rust was coming up,

and that was all the drag chains.

And as the ship just went in there, it hit the river,

and she sort of curtsied back up again. How lovely.

To see a ship that size go into the water is just

a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Yes, it must be.

How did it make you feel that the Queen had actually

come to Clydebank for this?

Personally, I think it was icing on the cake on the day

because it just uplifted the whole town.

It was a high point for Clydebank.

On the day, I was impressed with the kind of affection that was

shown by the crowds here.

Yeah, I felt really, really uplifted and proud,

and I still do to this day.

It was lovely to hear all Peter's memories of the QE2.

It's amazing to think the Queen was here and brought

so much to Clydebank, and really put shipbuilding here on the world map.

It's not just ships that are named after HRH,

there's many things, like theatres and conference halls.

The latest to be added is the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

and I'm on my way to meet one of its bravest patients.

When the Queen came to Glasgow

to open Scotland's brand-new super hospital,

11-year-old Amy Carmichael was chosen to present her with a posy.

This special little girl has gone through a very difficult journey.

You were in the hospital. Why were you there?

Well, in 2012, I got diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

and then I went through lots of chemotherapy,

and I got steroids that gave me diabetes

and then, at the end of my treatment,

when everything was going well,

I got chemically-induced meningitis.

Oh! So, yeah. Gosh, you've been through the mill.

So, did you meet lots of friends in the hospital, Amy? Yeah.

I met lots of friends, but some weren't so lucky and did pass away,

and some of them had the same as me and I thought, "Would I pass away?"

And it was an extra pressure to my mum as well.

I didn't really know what was happening at first

cos I was quite young,

but it went on for two and a half years and now I'm back to normal.

That is brilliant news.

Amy, that is a beautiful picture of you

with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen.

Have you any more pictures? Yeah.

Oh, look at you!

Look at the Queen smiling at you.

Look at her smiling at you in that one.

You're almost as tall as the Queen. Yeah, she was quite small.

In fact, I think you're probably be bit taller

cos she's got a big hat on.

What was she like?

She was very posh and she asked if I liked the new hospital,

and he asked if I was discharged from the hospital now,

and it was amazing just being so up close to them.

So how did you know she was moving on?

Did she say, "Thank you very much, Amy. Goodbye," and did she curtsy?

Well, she didn't curtsy. She just went, "Thank you."

CAROL LAUGHS

So you are one brave, gorgeous young lady and I have to say,

give me five.

Yeah.

Amy has been through so much.

She's back to good health but her mum, Heather,

can never completely relax.

So what the prognosis for Amy now?

Yeah...it's quite good. It's good.

She's...

She'll go to the hospital every two months, still, to have checkups.

There's a 15% chance, I think it is,

of relapse, but usually the cure rate for this type of leukaemia

is between 85 and 90%.

But obviously it's just not 100% and that's like... It's not...

That's what we'd like. Yes.

It's always that feeling, you know, but, yeah,

it's good and we need to try to be normal now... Yes.

..which is quite hard sometimes, to be normal,

because still, when she gets ill,

I'll maybe still get anxious about that

and I think that'll probably...

When she was talking about meeting the Queen here,

the sparkle and twinkle came into her eyes.

That must have been special for her.

To see her, on the day,

it was just the most amazing feeling to see her going up there.

She was so smiley and it was a really special moment,

and really special for Amy, and it was lovely for her to do

something nice in the new hospital and have this wonderful memory.

Every time we go back, there's the plaque there

and she can remember that day.

Amy is amazing.

Even though she isn't 100% clear of hospital visits,

she's putting all her energy

into raising money for leukaemia research -

a whopping ?13,000 so far.

She's asked me to join her latest fundraiser.

'Meeting the Queen has inspired Amy to keep fundraising...'

This is like Strictly, only much harder.

'..but I don't know how much my dancing will help!'

Oh, no, there's more!

Is it nearly at the end?

Well done, everyone.

I mean, I need a seat. I'm exhausted.

It's inspiring to see Amy come through such a struggle.

She's such a gorgeous, bright, bubbly, wee button and she's

so intent on helping other people.

I'm not surprised she was nominated to meet the Queen.

She may be in her tenth decade,

but the Queen is still in tune with the younger generations,

even dabbling in a bit of photo-bombing.

And I've heard of another young photographer who took

a rather wonderful picture of the Queen,

although his was rather more than a snapshot.

Shaun Murawski is the youngest photographer ever to take

a formal portrait of the Queen.

He won the commission as part of a competition

to mark the tenth anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.

It's a formal portrait but I wanted it to be as informal as possible.

I think I probably said my idea of a joke.

It can't have been very good because I can't remember what it was,

but, you know, it got a smile.

When I look at the photograph, I like to think that I see what

a moment in her company feels like and what she's like as a person.

There is a moment, where you look at the back of the camera

and you think, "Wow, that's the Queen,"

but then it's back to, you know, f/1.8 at a 500th of a second.

SHUTTER CLICK

I reckon the Queen must be one of

the most photographed ladies in the world, but one place

she could always guarantee getting away from those photographers

also just so happened to be her favourite form of transport.

The Royal Yacht Britannia.

From the minute Britannia was built in Scotland,

to the day it was decommissioned and returned there,

the Queen treasured her time aboard her home on the high seas.

And just as well, as she was on board for months at a time.

In the Queen's service, Britannia travelled over a million miles

and visited over 135 countries

and, on those long royal trips abroad,

the Queen looked forward to getting home at night,

not to fancy palaces, but to her own ship,

with familiar faces. Come on.

Familiar faces like Britannia's longest serving Royal Yachtsmen...

..Ellis Norrell and Albert Dean.

These gents, Norrie and Dixie to their friends,

have promised me an insider's view of the Queen's bedroom.

Gentlemen, hello. It's lovely to meet you. Hello, Carol.

Hello. Dixie? Yes. Dixie. I got that right. So, Norrie.

Norrie. Yes, indeed. Thank you for this. What a fabulous yacht.

So this must be familiar territory to you.

I was on board for 35 years and Dixie was 27, so...

So man and boy, basically. That's right.

So this is the State Dining Room. Yes, it certainly is.

It looks magnificent.

How many people would have been sitting down at this table, then?

Seats 56 for a state banquet and...

besides the dining room,

it also converted into a cinema

and also for church on a Sunday.

So how did that work, then? So you've got...

Well, for the church and the cinema, chairs would be laid out,

a cinema screen up there, or a lectern here for the church,

and all the staff were allowed to come in,

the Queen would come in, either side, and sit down.

So were you invited in to watch these films with the royal family?

Oh, yes, yes. Can you remember any of the films that you actually saw?

I think it was Carry On Up The Khyber,

with Sid James was the local governor or something,

and they were watching a polo match, and he said to...

Joan Sims, I think was his wife,

"That Philip's a good lad.

"He'll go a long way if he marries the right girl."

And he did! That's very good.

So how did the Queen like to relax when she was on the yacht?

The Queen would dress relaxed, trousers and blouse and...

Jacket, head scarf. ..tropical gear.

You know, once we were out of sight of land,

there was no paparazzi and then she could completely relax.

Well, I would like to see some more of her rooms, if I may, gents.

Would you show me, please? Yes. Come on, Carol. Let's go. This way.

So where are we heading now?

So where was the Queen's favourite place to come

when she was on the yacht?

I suppose here, on the Verandah Deck.

What a view.

This is the...Verandah Deck.

This is where they would normally breakfast.

And her most favourite place... Yes. ..without a doubt.

You'd have deckchairs out there for them, where they wanted,

in the sun. How beautiful. And when the children were on board,

out there, there was a big canvas splash pool for them.

And this rattan furniture here,

which the Duke of Edinburgh

bought himself in 1959 when we were on a visit to Hong Kong.

They were very trendy in those days, weren't they?

This is the Queen's bedroom here, on the right. This one.

As you can see, it's quite small in comparison to most bedrooms.

Do you know? I can't help but notice how small the bed is.

It's a single bed. And look at the bedspread on it as well.

That's something like, you know, my granny would have had.

She is a granny. She is a granny, of course she is.

A very glamorous granny at that, too, Dixie.

But there's an adjoining door through there

and that would be the Duke's bedroom...a bit further forward.

This is fascinating.

This way? Yes.

But the real fun took place at the front of the ship.

We'd have concert parties here.

There'd be a big canvas backdrop,

which the chief painter would have done,

pertaining to where we were - either the South Seas or a city skyline.

You know, there's a tropical background

and that's the Queen's there

and that's the Duke of Edinburgh's head there. So it is.

And were you gents in that picture? That's me, there. That's you.

What a fine-looking man you are, Dixie.

And there's Norrie at the back, there. And you too, Norrie.

So, who wrote these plays, then? Dixie. I wrote all the sketches.

Gosh. Did you have much notice, Dixie? Well, yeah.

You know, a few weeks in advance. Quite a lot. Yeah.

So you'd get your costume sorted and everything.

Wives used to give us clothes they didn't want, or dresses,

wigs and things, and we had a big store back aft and I've seen...

My late wife, I've seen one of her long dresses

in three different shows.

So how did the Queen react to the plays that she was watching?

Did she enjoy them? Yes.

On one occasion, she did, in fact, take part.

The private secretary was waiting to greet her,

grass skirt on and a blazer,

and he bowed to the Queen as he came onto the stage.

He bowed and he had a bald pate,

and he had a big "EIIR" on his head, and he'd greet her in this

pidgin English, which he'd practised on the flight on the way out.

And Princess Anne was actually in a grass skirt

and all the royal household were taking part,

and the Queen and the Duke came in

and the Queen actually went to shake hands with the people one way,

the Duke went round the other,

and the Queen and the Duke shook hands and said,

"Have we met before?"

It brought the house down, and then they took their seats

and the rest of the concert party went on.

Britannia was in service for over 40 years

and carried out 696 overseas trips.

But even though she travelled the globe,

it was the Scottish coast

the Queen chose for her own family sailing trips.

In 1997, the Queen was visibly upset

when she was forced to bid farewell to her beloved Britannia

when the yacht was decommissioned by the government at the time.

The Queen walked around those decks,

she was in the rooms we were in as well,

and she was free as a bird here.

There was no pomp and ceremony surrounding her private time.

She could do as she liked, wear what she wanted

and she was at home here as well.

And the other lovely thought is that, you know,

the yacht was made in Scotland

and I think perhaps, when she was travelling abroad,

she was taking a bit of Scotland with her.

Even as she celebrates her 90th birthday,

the Queen is still travelling,

still meeting people in every corner of her country.

And there is one more special person I'd like you to meet,

retired schoolteacher Phyllis Box,

who was born on the very same day as our Queen.

On my 80th birthday,

I went to the palace for lunch

with Her Majesty the Queen,

and I turned round and there was the Queen.

Not being one of those people who kowtows to everybody,

I just said, "Oh, hello."

And she responded beautifully.

"Hello," she said, "What a lovely party this is."

And she said,

"Do you think we should have another one when we're 90?"

And I said, "What a good idea."

If there is a 90th reunion,

I'm ready to go.

Wishing you a very happy birthday, Your Majesty,

on your 90th birthday.

SHE GIGGLES

ALL: Happy birthday, Your Majesty.

Happy birthday to you, ma'am.

BOTH: Happy birthday, Queen.

Happy birthday, ma'am.

Wonderful for 90.

Happy birthday, ma'am. Hope you have a good one.

Happy birthday, ma'am.

I hope you have a lovely birthday and I think you're amazing.

I have loved speaking to so many people, whose lives

have been touched by the Queen in so many different ways,

and I really feel I've got a better understanding now

of our enigmatic monarch.

She really understands and appreciates us Scots,

and we love her for it...

in a no-fuss, reserved kind of Scottish way.

The very fact that she spends so much time here in Scotland

speaks volumes and long may it continue.

Happy birthday, ma'am.

I have some sense that there is some kind of malice at work here.

They do not see that the workhouse is for their own safety.