1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:03,720 (crowd cheering) NARRATOR: The British Royal Family, 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:05,760 one of the most famous dynasties in the world. 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:08,800 CROWD: God save the Queen! 4 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,560 NARRATOR: For more than a century, 5 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:13,560 the lives of the Windsors have enthralled the nation, 6 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:16,640 mesmerized the press, 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,600 and inspired some of the most popular films 8 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,120 and dramas of recent decades. 9 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,840 But what's fact and what's fiction? 10 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,000 There were rumours that not everything was right in the marriage. 11 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,280 PIERS: He was only on extremely loose terms with monogamy. 12 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,160 KATIE: That's the moment when the Palace 13 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:42,960 absolutely lost grip of the narrative. 14 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,960 NARRATOR: In this series, we delve deep into the archives 15 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,000 to reveal controversial documents concealed for decades 16 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,920 ROBERT: This is a hand-written note 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,240 saying: "We're going to tap the King's phone". 18 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,600 NARRATOR: And meet royal insiders 19 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:00,160 who witnessed history first-hand. 20 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:05,920 She steps out and we realise this is a horror story. 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,360 I'm about four feet from the Princess. 22 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,600 It was the first sign 23 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,440 something was wrong. 24 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,960 NARRATOR: In this episode, we look at the perpetual conflict 25 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,720 for the royal family between love and duty. 26 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,880 One of the hardest challenges of being a royal is marriage. 27 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:27,320 You're not just marrying a person, you're marrying a job. 28 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,880 - There is this added component, this duty thing. 29 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,440 NARRATOR: After the fairy tale wedding, 30 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,360 comes a reality which has seen 31 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,440 three out of four of the Queen's children divorced. 32 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,520 We were living a lie, the marriage was pretty much dead. 33 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,080 NARRATOR: The Queen and Prince Philip, however, 34 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,280 have reconciled both love and duty. 35 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,440 It has been the great royal love story. 36 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,320 He calls her "cabbage", for goodness sake. 37 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,760 WESLEY: Seventy-two years is a very, very long marriage. 38 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:59,400 But what Prince Philip said, I think, is "the key, is tolerance". 39 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,840 NARRATOR: But will the next generation be able to do the same 40 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,800 in the pressure cooker of the modern monarchy? 41 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:16,040 The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly 42 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,120 was a sort of confirmation to me that... 43 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,360 all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect. 44 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,920 It was this beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life, 45 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,160 I fell into her life. 46 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,720 Meghan and Harry are an incredibly tactile couple. 47 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:33,360 There's a lovely chemistry between them, 48 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,360 and, without a doubt, 49 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:36,960 it has increased Harry and Meghan's popularity. 50 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,680 You know, they suddenly seem more real than royal. 51 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:42,880 NARRATOR: Love has never seemed more important 52 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:44,880 to the royal family's popularity, 53 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,040 but it's only part of the picture. 54 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,200 I know the fact she'll be unbelievably good 55 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:55,280 at the job part of it as well. It's obviously a huge relief to me. 56 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,080 She'll be able to deal with everything else coming with it. 57 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:03,400 I really believe that William and Harry have learnt a lot of lessons 58 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,000 from watching their parents' marriage. 59 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,960 KATIE: Diana told William and Harry to marry for love, 60 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:14,240 and, to their great credit, both of them have married for love. 61 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,160 William is completely devoted to Kate, 62 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,440 they're very much in love, they make a great team. 63 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,920 The big difference was that William knew Kate 64 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:24,440 before they married one another. 65 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,880 WESLEY: They were at university together, 66 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,720 they shared a house together as flatmates 67 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,520 before they started going out, so there was a long courtship. 68 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,800 And I think that she'd been sort of inducted into the family 69 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,960 and knew what she was getting into. 70 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,240 NARRATOR: Harry's marriage to Meghan was more of a whirlwind. 71 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,000 KATIE: Here is Prince Harry, 72 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,200 he's married an American, he's married a divorcee, 73 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,720 and, without a doubt, this has been a very fast-moving royal romance. 74 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,240 Yes, behind the scenes, there were some questions being asked, 75 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,560 just to make sure that Harry was sure, because of course, 76 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,640 divorce is something that has tainted the House of Windsor. 77 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,440 NARRATOR: The spectre of divorce has been 78 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,480 hanging over the Windsor dynast since 1936, 79 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,240 when Edward VIII chose love over duty, 80 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,920 and abdicated rather than give up Wallis Simpson. 81 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:22,560 REPORTER: The same loyal welcome, the amazing scenes of enthusiasm 82 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,760 that mark him as undoubtedly deserving his well-earned title: 83 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:30,840 the most popular man in the world. 84 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,120 NARRATOR: Despite his huge crowd appeal, 85 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,440 Edward VIII was, behind the scenes, obsessed by Miss Simpson. 86 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,280 PIERS: Wallis Simpson was "an American adventuress", 87 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,000 in the words of Queen Mary. 88 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:50,040 She absolutely captivated, entranced, bewitched him. 89 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,800 NARRATOR: Although she was still married to her second husband, 90 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,840 the King was determined to make her his wife, 91 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,240 which put him at loggerheads with the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. 92 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:04,040 He said to Baldwin that he was going to marry her, 93 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:08,160 and Baldwin said: "Look, this simply isn't on. 94 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,720 Parliament won't wear it". 95 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,800 NARRATOR: The King responded that he would marry Mrs Simpson 96 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,640 without government approval, and, if necessary, abdicate. 97 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,000 JANE: What Edward VIII did was to say, 98 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,600 "I have to be with the woman I love 99 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,280 and that takes priority over everything". 100 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,960 NARRATOR: Royal biographer Robert Hardman 101 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:33,200 has spent his career 102 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,240 examining the decisions the royal family make. 103 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,160 His investigations at the National Archives at Kew 104 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,080 have uncovered secrets about the abdication, 105 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,640 kept under wraps for over eighty years. 106 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,480 ROBERT: Everyone from the Prime Minister down was extremely worried 107 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,800 about the state of the King's mind, which way he was gonna go. 108 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,560 This is an extraordinary document 109 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:58,040 from senior Home Office official 110 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,280 to the Head of the Post Office 111 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,320 saying, "We're gonna tap the King's phone. 112 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,120 You'll arrange the interception of telephone communications 113 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,640 between Fort Belvedere, certain addresses in London, 114 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:11,960 and the continent of Europe". 115 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,120 This is effectively saying, "Yes, he is our head of state, 116 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,640 we have sworn oaths of allegiance, 117 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:20,040 nonetheless, we're gonna spy on him, 118 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,880 because we feel it's in the national interest". 119 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,560 Mrs Simpson has all sorts of devious contacts 120 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,720 and friendships, not least with German diplomats. 121 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,840 The King was known to have met leading members 122 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,640 of the British fascist movement. They want to know it all. 123 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:42,160 And indeed, it was later discovered that it was an MI5 operative 124 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,920 hiding in a bush in Green Park listening to the conversations. 125 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,560 You actually heard the first conversation where 126 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,320 King Edward VIII told his brother, 127 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,960 the Duke of York, that he was going to abdicate. 128 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,240 PIERS: The public only knew about it 129 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:04,400 on 3 December, and by 10, 11 December, the King had gone. 130 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,600 NARRATOR: On 12 December, his brother was proclaimed George V 131 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:13,760 and Edward left the country. He married Wallis in France in 1937. 132 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,880 None of his family attended the wedding. 133 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:23,840 Putting love over duty had changed the course of British history. 134 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,040 PIERS: None of them had been prepared for this. 135 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,960 They'd been prepared for a life of living in a country house 136 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,280 with horses and dogs: basically what Elizabeth wanted to do. 137 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,600 That's what she was prepared for, she wanted to be a country lady. 138 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:39,560 NARRATOR: Just a decade later, 139 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,280 the girl who had hoped to live a quiet life in the country 140 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:43,960 had fallen in love, 141 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,160 and the Palace thought her choice, Prince Philip of Greece 142 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:48,720 was also unsuitable. 143 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,480 There was this strand of British establishment thinking 144 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,320 that he was a slightly dangerous outsider 145 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,680 from a foreign royal house. 146 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,480 The Greek royal family had been imported from Denmark 147 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,120 and so Prince Philip is not actually Greek at all, 148 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,960 he has quite a lot of German and Russian blood in him. 149 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:08,720 NARRATOR: When he was just a baby, 150 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,080 Philip's family went to live as impoverished exiles in Paris 151 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,480 and soon after, the Greek royal family were deposed. 152 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,400 He was very much a man who had to make his own way in life. 153 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,440 He said to me once that his mother was ill 154 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,280 and his father was away so he said, "I had to get on with it". 155 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:26,880 And get on with it he did. 156 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,640 NARRATOR: Luckily for Philip, he was rescued by his extended family, 157 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,120 his mother's brother, Louis Mountbatten, 158 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,440 helped transform Philip's fortunes 159 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:38,880 by encouraging him to join the Royal Navy. 160 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,040 PIERS: He'd come up through this school of hard knocks 161 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:44,280 and been very successful, he was good looking, 162 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,600 he was extremely attractive to women 163 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:54,240 and he caught the eye of Princess Elizabeth at Dartmouth. 164 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,200 WESLEY: And Philip was a naval cadet, 165 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,920 and he impressed the girls, he jumped over a tennis net, 166 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,160 and then, as the Royal Yacht was leaving, 167 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,200 he went behind it in a rowing boat. 168 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,720 NARRATOR: 13-year-old Elizabeth fell in love with Philip 169 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:14,160 at Dartmouth Naval College. But her mother was less enamoured. 170 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,520 HUGO: Queen Mother would have much preferred her 171 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:18,560 to marry a Grenadier Guard and indeed spent 172 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,800 quite a lot of time putting Grenadier Guards in her path. 173 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:22,920 NARRATOR: After the Second World War, 174 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,800 the prevailing feeling 175 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,720 was that Elizabeth should marry someone British. 176 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,080 PIERS: The Queen Mother saw him as a Hunnish Junker, 177 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,920 with all sorts of very embarrassing Nazi relations. 178 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,880 NARRATOR: But the determined princess 179 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,760 saw something in the dashing young naval officer 180 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,320 and remained resolute. 181 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:44,800 HUGO: She was still very young and, so, 182 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,360 the King took them all to South Africa on the African tour. 183 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,120 NARRATOR: George VI had agreed they could marry 184 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:54,920 as long as his daughter waited 185 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,600 until they came back to announce her engagement. 186 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,160 One of the most welcome feature of the royal train, 187 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,720 which transported the family across South Africa, 188 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,560 was the post-office carriage with its telephone exchange. 189 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,880 A vital lifeline to Philip. 190 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:18,040 PIERS: She was strikingly in love with him and made it clear. 191 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:23,040 He certainly saw the advantages of marrying into the House of Windsor. 192 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:27,120 Somebody described him as a big dog wanting a basket. 193 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,040 NARRATOR: The Queen's was a love match which endured, 194 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:32,680 but fast forward a generation, 195 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:37,760 and her son felt impelled to sacrifice love on the altar of duty. 196 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,440 INDIA: What I do remember is as the weeks passed, 197 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,760 Diana became thinner and thinner and thinner. 198 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,720 PENNY: By the time they walked up the aisle, 199 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,400 the relationship was in a very, very bad way. 200 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:02,960 NARRATOR: In 1980, Prince Charles was 32, 201 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:06,480 and the pressure was on for him to marry and produce an heir. 202 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,280 In a way, it was the last marriage played out 203 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,440 by old royal rules - 204 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,720 that the Prince of Wales had to find a suitable bride, 205 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,280 a young, aristocratic, virgin bride. 206 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,120 And of course, Diana Spencer ticked all these boxes. 207 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:32,880 PENNY: Everybody loved her. She was funny, she was uncomplicated. 208 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,840 But the reality was actually rather different. 209 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,200 It was the most curious engagement really, 210 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,080 they didn't know one another. 211 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,360 Diana was taken out of her lovely flat 212 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,760 where she shared with bubbly girls 213 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:54,000 and she was given a suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace. 214 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,240 The perfect girl Charles thought he was falling in love with, 215 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:01,480 was much darker, and was much more moody, 216 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,240 and by the time they walked up the aisle, 217 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,520 the relationship was in a very, very bad way. 218 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,560 NARRATOR: An interview filmed on the eve of the wedding 219 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,000 exposes the state of their relationship. 220 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,000 INTERVIEWER: What sort of reactions 221 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,080 have you encountered to your marriage? 222 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:23,800 Well, the most overwhelming and touching reactions as far as 223 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,680 we've been concerned. 224 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,400 They're stiff, they have no kind of body contact. 225 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,480 INTERVIEWER: When you make your vows, that's the most personal moment. 226 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:36,320 And hardly any sort of eye contact. 227 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,480 INTERVIEWER: Is it gonna be that for you, even though you know 228 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,800 the eyes of the world are watching you 229 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:42,840 at that very important moment? 230 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,360 Well, I hope so, yes. I don't know about... 231 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,040 People often say, "Why did Charles not marry Camilla 232 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,920 "when he had the opportunity? When they first met, 233 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,480 "when they were young Both were single?" 234 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,840 But Camilla was in love with Andrew Parker-Bowles. 235 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,480 Charles, I think, fell very much in love with her. 236 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:10,080 But actually, he didn't ask her to marry him. 237 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:14,720 But I don't know that she would have accepted if he had done. 238 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:22,040 Charles always said that when he married, 239 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,280 he would marry with his head and not his heart. 240 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,760 And that, I think, was a hangover 241 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,520 from the lesson learnt from Edward's abdication. 242 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,680 It could not be a passion 243 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,760 that swept him away. 244 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,480 I suspect they quite quickly found 245 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:45,720 they weren't ideally suited to each other, 246 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,240 but unfortunately, the world had fallen in love with her. 247 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,040 (crowd cheering) 248 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,120 NARRATOR: Charles and Diana's wedding 249 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,480 was to be the biggest national celebration since the coronation, 250 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:05,160 with Lady Di in the starring role. 251 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,720 Everything was huge about it. 252 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:12,640 St Paul's, because it could take this enormous crowd. 253 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:17,480 A wedding dress that practically covered the steps. 254 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:22,360 It was a sort of surrogate love affair for the nation. 255 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,720 It seemed to be a completely romantic wedding. 256 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,800 Of course, we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. 257 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,880 NARRATOR: Prince Charles's god-daughter, India Hicks, 258 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,280 was one of the five bridesmaids 259 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,760 and witnessed the feverish speculation 260 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:48,880 surrounding the wedding dress. 261 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:50,000 There were extraordinary... 262 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,640 An extraordinary experience for a 13-year-old child. 263 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:57,560 Whenever we turned up for dress fittings, 264 00:14:57,640 --> 00:14:59,760 the organisation of the car coming up, 265 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,000 and the world's press descending and trying to get any snap. 266 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:08,840 When we were actually inside the Emmanuel's studio, 267 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,160 I remember they had blocked out a lot of the windows 268 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,320 because, of course, cameras had camped out 269 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:18,600 on neighbouring buildings, with long lenses to spy inside 270 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:22,760 to see what the greatest fashion secret was going to look like. 271 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,840 There was a feeling of fun around it all. 272 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,240 We would be on the floor above, she would be on the floor below. 273 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,320 What I do remember is as the weeks passed 274 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,560 Diana became thinner and thinner and thinner, 275 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:46,040 and they had to take the dress in and in and in and in. 276 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,960 And so, there was a lot of scurrying around 277 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,600 to make sure that dress was fitting her. 278 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:57,120 You got pretty close to Diana during those times, 279 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,040 and there was always this feeling of Diana being the head girl, 280 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,280 and we were in awe of her. 281 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,560 And looking back, you think: "My god, she was 19, 282 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,600 she was just a child herself". 283 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,640 But as a 13-year-old, I was quite impressed by her. 284 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,360 During the dress fittings, this beautiful silk taffeta 285 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,720 felt very princessy and very fairy-tale-ish. 286 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,400 Of course, what no one had tested or anticipated 287 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:36,000 was cramming that amount of fabric into a very small carriage. 288 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,000 Her father, herself, her dress and her 25-foot train 289 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,960 trot gloriously down The Mall as the world watches. 290 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,040 The carriage draws up, and the trumpeters, the horses, 291 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:02,680 and the atmosphere was sensational, and the crowds are going crazy. 292 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:07,240 And the carriage door is opened by the footman and she steps out 293 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:10,840 and of course the train then begins to unfold itself 294 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,160 and we realise this is a horror story. 295 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,960 It is just 25 feet of crumpled mess. 296 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,560 And so, Sarah Armstrong-Jones and I just set to work 297 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,120 and really all he would see of me was my bottom in the air 298 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,880 as I'm bending down trying to undo this. 299 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,880 There was a great ball afterwards at Buckingham Palace 300 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,240 and I was so excited that was going to be my first ball. 301 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,640 And after Charles and Diana's wedding, 302 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:04,200 we went home and I lay down for a moment, just a moment, 303 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,800 and I woke up to discover my family had gone to the ball 304 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,880 and I had been left alone in the house. I was livid. 305 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,000 I was so cross. Why had they not woke me? 306 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:18,200 My mother thought: "She's so tired, we'll leave her behind". 307 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:20,160 I thought: "Bloody hell, I've missed the ball". 308 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,840 NARRATOR: In contrast to the extravagance 309 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:32,920 of Charles and Diana's wedding, 310 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,080 when Elizabeth and Philip got married in 1947, 311 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,480 the country was in the grip of post-war gloom. 312 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,080 PIERS: People felt that they hadn't had the rewards 313 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,920 that they should have got as a result of victory. 314 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,760 And all of a sudden, this great event took place, 315 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:55,280 the marriage of the future Queen of England. 316 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,080 And it was, as Churchill said, a great flash of colour 317 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,400 in a period of grim, grey, 318 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,640 dark, gloomy austerity. 319 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,120 People were standing in queues. 320 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:17,720 Rationing. 321 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,320 People really had not enough to eat. 322 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,080 NARRATOR: In keeping with the straightened times, 323 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,720 the Prime Minister refused to make the wedding day 324 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:28,640 a national holiday. 325 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,960 The royals themselves wondered whether a private ceremony, 326 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,080 out at Windsor maybe, would be more appropriate. 327 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,560 NARRATOR: Robert Hardman has sifted through dozens of documents 328 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,080 at The National Archives 329 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,960 that show a government determined to economise. 330 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,960 ROBERT: It's two years after the Second World War, 331 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,400 the country's broke, there's no money for anything, 332 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,560 and what you see here is the extraordinary extent 333 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:55,600 to which the government is going to try 334 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,120 and scrimp and save on everything. 335 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,120 This is October, one month to go, 336 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,760 and the Palace are finally approving 337 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,360 a press stand, 275 pounds. 338 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,280 6-foot red carpet from the West Door to the Sacrarium steps. 339 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:14,680 There's a debate going on about whether they're gonna have 340 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,840 new blue carpet in Westminster Abbey for 100 pounds, 341 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,080 or there's a second-hand red carpet 342 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:22,480 that might be used which would 83 pounds, 343 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,480 although someone else has found another red carpet that might do 344 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:26,680 for 75. 345 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,440 NARRATOR: While other couples couldn't afford to get married, 346 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,440 there were inevitably concerns about wasting money. 347 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:33,920 ROBERT: Here is a letter of complaint 348 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,360 from a branch of the Labour Party 349 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,480 saying there can be no undue expense on anything. 350 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,760 This has got to be an austerity wedding. 351 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,000 "Intolerable for any substantial quantity 352 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,560 of labour or materials to be diverted". "Justified indignation". 353 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,560 "The British people will be discouraged in the immense efforts 354 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,800 "they are making towards economic recovery 355 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,120 "if this wedding is made the occasion 356 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,480 "for displaying a vast inequality of sacrifice". 357 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,760 NARRATOR: But in the end, the public didn't have the appetite 358 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:04,800 for a wedding done on the cheap 359 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,040 and they wanted to play a part in making it a day to remember. 360 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,520 Wedding gifts were sent from all over the world, 361 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:13,560 and displayed at St James's Palace. 362 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,320 And huge numbers of people turned up to see them. 363 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,760 ROBERT: A lot of people abroad thought Britain was starving, 364 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:22,160 so a lot of people sent the Princess food. 365 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,240 She received something like 500 tins of pineapple. 366 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,040 A lady in Brooklyn sent a turkey. 367 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:30,560 She also received 148 pairs of stockings. 368 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,880 And a couple of kittens, sent by a pair of district nurses. 369 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,120 Highbank Council decided it'd be a good idea 370 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:38,880 to send her a sewing machine. 371 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:45,400 Oh, and Gandhi sent a tray cloth that he'd spun on his own loom, 372 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,080 and old Queen Mary, famously, thought-- 373 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,480 mistook it for a loincloth, and complained about the indelicacy. 374 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:58,000 NARRATOR: Hundreds of sympathetic women across the country 375 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,520 sent in clothing coupons for the wedding dress. 376 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,600 Designed by Norman Hartnell, 377 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,080 it was an exquisite austerity miracle, 378 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,640 complete with 15-foot train. 379 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,640 LADY MARY: Oh, look at all that! I love that dress. 380 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,760 It was a beautiful sort of satin, 381 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:22,120 and I think there was a huge lily somewhere, 382 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,320 and it was embroidered with sequins. 383 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:31,400 I just remember it being lovely for her. 384 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,800 NARRATOR: Lady Mary Colman 385 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:36,600 is the Queen Mother's niece, and the Queen's cousin. 386 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,440 She's never spoken about the Queen in public before. 387 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:46,360 Now, at 87, she's agreed to remember that joyous day back in 1947. 388 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:51,200 We were 14, my twin and I, we were at boarding school. 389 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,120 And... 390 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,040 the thought of coming up to London 391 00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:59,720 was dread instead of excitement. 392 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,080 Because it was sort of unknown. 393 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,200 I remember the whole thing, 394 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,960 the crowds, they were just so enthusiastic. 395 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:18,680 You just gasped when you saw them all waving their flags. 396 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,640 You know, after the war, it was such a break 397 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,680 to have some happiness. 398 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,080 The ceremony was very touching. 399 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,640 The Archbishop said that in many ways 400 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,240 this was just like the wedding of an ordinary couple, 401 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,640 in all the Yorkshire Dales. 402 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,720 (organ plays wedding march) 403 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,120 LADY MARY: She looked as if she could almost see heaven, 404 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,600 she was really happy. 405 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,800 It was wonderful, and he looked happy too, 406 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,000 so that's good. 407 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,720 I remember being glad that we were there. 408 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:07,840 REPORTER: Following the King and Queen in the procession, 409 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,600 Princess Andrew of Greece, Queen of the Hellenes, 410 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,680 and the Boy King of Iraq. 411 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:14,640 SARAH: The people who couldn't come to the wedding, 412 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,600 rather tellingly, were Prince Philip's sisters, 413 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,680 because all of his surviving sisters 414 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,400 had been married to German nobility, 415 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,920 who played an active part in the Nazi cause, 416 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,600 so they couldn't possibly make an appearance. 417 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,880 It was that close to the war. 418 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,600 There was a great feeling of euphoria suddenly, 419 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:47,040 a release of tension, a feeling that things could only get better. 420 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,040 REPORTER: Seldom has a bride and groom 421 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:51,600 received such a tumultuous expression of goodwill. 422 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,840 ROBERT: We could look forward as a nation, instead of looking back, 423 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,840 and it was a turning point for the monarchy, no question. 424 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:03,400 NARRATOR: But in just a few years, 425 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,200 Princess Margaret's love for a married man 426 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:06,920 would threaten to undermine 427 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,440 the bright new era for the royal family. 428 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,560 People were very shocked, they felt he'd taken advantage. 429 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,800 PIERS: The Queen's Private Secretary said to Townsend, 430 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,600 "You must be either mad or bad". 431 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,600 NARRATOR: Ken Lennox photographed the royal family 432 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,160 for over half a century and took the first grainy photograph 433 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,240 of Diana with Charles on the banks of the River Dee in 1980. 434 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,400 He got to know Lady Di trying to capture her on camera 435 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,440 outside her Earl's Court flat. 436 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:48,120 KEN: I couldn't give away photographs of the royal family 437 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,280 before Diana came on the scene. 438 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:53,080 When Diana came along, all that exploded. 439 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,640 NARRATOR: Ken was to photograph the Princess 440 00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,920 for the rest of her life. 441 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,360 KEN: This is the honeymoon photocall 442 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,880 of the couple, locked up, sat in a little style, 443 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,440 and really full of affection. 444 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:12,400 They answered questions and they were hugging in front of the cameras. 445 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:17,360 We'd never seen royals do an official photocall like that. 446 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:21,960 It's not only an age difference, but there's a mind difference 447 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,400 between the way they thought life should be. 448 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,080 Prince Charles was worried about so many things, 449 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:31,000 and Diana was young, and wanted to have a young woman's life 450 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,440 and I think Charles found that quite difficult. 451 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,200 I think that Diana was genuinely 452 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,560 in love with Prince Charles at the beginning, 453 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,480 but Prince Charles didn't respond. 454 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,640 I think they were incompatible characters was the basic problem. 455 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,960 NARRATOR: Ken was part of the royal press pack 456 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,840 for their first overseas tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1983. 457 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:54,920 Before Diana got on the scene, 458 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,080 it was Prince Charles who was the most photographable royal. 459 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,120 He was Action Man, and there was choruses of girls crying out for him. 460 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,680 I felt sorry for Charles now, because no one wanted to see him. 461 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,160 This time, Charles would work one side of the street 462 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,160 and Diana the other, and, at Charles, they would just say to him, 463 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,800 "Sir, can you get your wife to come over here?" 464 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,960 And from being "Mr Popular" 465 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,840 to "Mr Please-can-you bring-your-wife-over-here" 466 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,200 was not a happy situation for him. 467 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,760 I'm about four feet from the Princess 468 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:40,400 and I'm trying to get a bit of the Opera House in the background 469 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,200 and some of the crowd, 470 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,840 and Diana burst into tears, and wept for a couple of minutes. 471 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,480 After it was over, I went to see the press officer 472 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,600 for the Prince and Princess at that time, and I said, "What happened?" 473 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,800 And he said, "Ken, mozzies and jet lag and heat and so on". 474 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,520 So I just accepted that. 475 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,840 Charles, I don't think noticed it at that stage, you know. 476 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:09,040 If he has, typical of him to look the other way. (laughs) 477 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:14,400 But it was the first sign of something was wrong, 478 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:18,080 and we then began to see other things happening later on. 479 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,800 DICKIE: You could tell by the mid-'80s 480 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:28,800 that things were not particularly good. It wasn't hostility, 481 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,240 but it was just the sense that everything wasn't right. 482 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,840 PATRICK: The idea that there could be actually anything 483 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,240 seriously wrong with the marriage was unthinkable. 484 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,440 It had to work. And it was our job to make it work, 485 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,600 or at least appear to work. 486 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,480 NARRATOR: Patrick Jephson was equerry and Private Secretary 487 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,440 to The Princess of Wales for eight years, 488 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,840 with responsibility for her household, 489 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:56,080 and he witnessed the problems that were not yet apparent to the public. 490 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,960 As professional Royal performers, they were unbeatable, 491 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,840 but behind the scenes, it was quite different. 492 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,240 They didn't talk to each other, there was the minimum of eye contact, 493 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,280 they were short-tempered with each other. 494 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,080 Diana, of course, being who she was, 495 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,800 enjoyed upstaging her husband. 496 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,920 And if she was laughing or smiling or... 497 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,520 it wasn't just because she was happy and smiley, 498 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,600 it was also because she knew it got on his nerves. 499 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,560 I remember on one particular occasion in Seville, 500 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,720 he was looking one way, and she was looking the other way, 501 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,360 and you could have driven a double-decker bus 502 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,120 between the two of them, such was the hostility. 503 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,360 PATRICK: We went to Glasgow for the Glasgow Garden Festival. 504 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:48,600 Charles and Diana were seen happily together among the crowds, 505 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,400 but they had actually arrived quite separately in different aeroplanes. 506 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,560 We were living a lie, 507 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:59,280 we were covering up for the fact that the marriage was dead. 508 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:04,320 The piece de resistance, in terms of the ending of the marriage 509 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,600 was South Korea. They looked like "Mr and Mrs Glum". 510 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,080 They looked like two people 511 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,000 who didn't want to be in each other's company, 512 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,760 and who didn't particularly want to be in South Korea. 513 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:19,480 It says just how bad it had got that divorce, even to Queen Elizabeth, 514 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,240 looked like the solution, not the problem. 515 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,000 JANE: The Queen intervening to say 516 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:28,160 "enough is enough, the time has come to divorce" 517 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:32,040 was really giving closure to something that was going to happen 518 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,160 at some point in the near future. 519 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,520 NARRATOR: The idea of the Queen ordering her son to divorce 520 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,640 would have been unthinkable in a previous era. 521 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,640 In the early 1950s, the possibility that her sister might wed 522 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,280 a married palace equerry with children 523 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,560 led to a crisis that ended with the Princess giving up 524 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,560 the man she loved. 525 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,720 LADY GLENCONNER: I remember Peter Townsend was very good looking, 526 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,800 he was a war hero, the King adored him, 527 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,880 he was like sort of proxy son. 528 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:12,640 Princess Margaret said that it was very romantic because, every evening, 529 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,760 they all went riding off into the sunset. 530 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,800 And that, I think, was the first time 531 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,840 that, you know, they sort of, I suppose, fell in love. 532 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,760 NARRATOR: Lady Glenconner has known the royal family her whole life. 533 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,800 She was the Queen's maid of honour at the coronation, 534 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,400 and Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting and close friend. 535 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,560 LADY GLENCONNER: Here's a picture of me, 536 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:38,920 Princess Margaret, the Queen, 537 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,600 and Princess Margaret is looking at my feet. 538 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,080 And when she was staying with me, 539 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,080 we were looking at old photographs, 540 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,040 I said, "Why are you looking at my feet?" 541 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,240 And she said, "Well, because you had silver shoes, 542 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:53,880 I had brown ones, I was so jealous of your silver shoes". 543 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,360 Anyway, Princess Margaret and I did have great fun, 544 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,680 and in those days, we had this nursery footman, 545 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,720 and we were always hiding behind doors to go "boo", 546 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:04,800 you know, when he came along with his tray. 547 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,000 And I can remember the Queen saying, 548 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,960 "Margaret and Anne, what are you doing? Are you behaving?" 549 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:11,840 Of course, we weren't. 550 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,280 The traditional picture of Princess Margaret 551 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:15,680 is that she was the naughty one, 552 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,960 while her eldest sister was the goody goody two-shoes. 553 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,120 And there's a lot of truth in that. 554 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,960 HUGO: Her father absolutely adored her, 555 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,640 he couldn't believe he'd created this beautiful creature, 556 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,200 and he always used to say, "Lillibet is my pride, 557 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:33,920 "and Margaret is my joy". 558 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,280 PIERS: It's difficult to think back 559 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,400 as to the extraordinary glamour and good looks. 560 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:42,920 She was a pocket Venus, 561 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,920 she was absolutely the Princess Di of her age. 562 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,920 NARRATOR: Margaret had the world at her feet, 563 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,760 but it came crumbling down when her father died 564 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,640 and her sister became Queen. 565 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,760 I remember at the coronation 566 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,920 we arrived back at Buckingham Palace 567 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,600 and the Queen skipped along the passage with us, 568 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:11,360 and then behind her, came the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother, 569 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,200 and then behind that, Princess Margaret looking so sad. 570 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:18,400 I remember saying, "Ma'am you look so sad". 571 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,000 And she said, "Of course I do. I've lost my beloved father 572 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:23,760 "and my sister". 573 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,480 Because she was Queen, she'd moved into Buckingham Palace. 574 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,920 She said: "I've got to live at Clarence House with my mother". 575 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,360 NARRATOR: Princess Margaret had turned to Peter Townsend 576 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,360 in her distress. When he divorced his wife, 577 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,600 she told the Queen she wished to marry this man 578 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,360 16 years her senior. 579 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,000 In those days, being divorced was a really big, you know. no no. 580 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:51,520 And people were very shocked, they felt he'd taken advantage. 581 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,480 Princess Margaret was so much younger than him. 582 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:56,920 And of course, Peter Townsend was staff. 583 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,200 PIERS: When the Queen's Private Secretary, Tommy Lascelles, 584 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:06,880 heard about this, he said to Townsend "You must be either mad or bad. 585 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:12,560 Your intruding in this way into the royal household 586 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,960 constitutes a danger to the monarchy". 587 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,800 NARRATOR: Less than 20 years after the abdication, 588 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,640 the very mention of the word "divorce" 589 00:34:22,720 --> 00:34:26,280 in Palace, government and church circles caused grave concern. 590 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,160 Townsend was sent to Brussels, 591 00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:31,160 and the Queen asked Margaret to wait a year. 592 00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:34,360 And so, the traditional story begins to unfold 593 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:39,080 of an unhappy Princess thwarted in love by the establishment. 594 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,200 But documents released by the National Archives 595 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:43,920 rewrite that history. 596 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,800 ROBERT: What we see here is that, actually, by 1955, 597 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,320 Anthony Eden, himself a divorcee, 598 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:54,400 and his government have decided that actually she can marry. 599 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:56,240 In fact, they're gonna give her some more money. 600 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,680 "The civil list have provided that she should receive 601 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,040 "on her marriage a further sum of 9000 a year 602 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,000 "in addition to the 6000 a year which she has already". 603 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,160 This is the government's plan in the event that Princess Margaret 604 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:09,920 and Group Captain Townsend are gonna get married. 605 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,280 And she would have been aware of this. 606 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:13,840 "Ministers understand that it is Princess's Margaret's wish 607 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,640 "that despite her renunciation of her right to the Succession, 608 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:18,920 "she should continue to live in the United Kingdom 609 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,760 "and carry out her public duties as member of the Royal Family". 610 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,240 So, what they're saying is 611 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,480 "We're happy with her carrying on being Royal, 612 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,200 "we're happy with her staying in the country and this marriage. 613 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,960 "The one thing that has to change is she herself cannot be Queen 614 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:34,480 "and nor can her children". 615 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,480 Life would really not have changed very dramatically at all 616 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:38,920 for Princess Margaret. 617 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,760 But what we do know from other correspondence in this file, 618 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,000 including the remarkable letter from the Princess herself, 619 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,880 is that it wasn't a sort of crazy love affair by this stage. 620 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,400 This is the Princess writing to the Prime Minister. 621 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,520 It's a very honest letter, it's really rather touching. 622 00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,960 She's saying, "I'm not going to see him during this time, 623 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:02,040 "but in October I shall be returning to London, 624 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,800 "and he will then be taking his annual leave, 625 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,960 "and only really then can I make up my mind". 626 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:10,120 She says here, "It's only by seeing him in this way 627 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:14,920 "that I feel I can properly decide whether I can marry him or not". 628 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,560 I think, inevitably, as a young woman 629 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,800 who was initially head over heels in love with this man, 630 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:22,400 but possibly after all this time now, 631 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,200 having had all these people poring over her relationship, 632 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,360 maybe it's started to rub off. 633 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,520 Maybe she's started to think, "You know what? I'll think again". 634 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:33,480 Within a couple of months, 635 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,680 the couple would have made up their mind 636 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,680 and the Princess issued her famous statement 637 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,000 to say, "Mindful of the teachings of the Church, 638 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,360 "she's not going to go ahead with it." It doesn't happen. 639 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:48,920 Some people said absence makes the heart grow fonder, 640 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,040 but I think it does make you think 641 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,400 exactly what you're going to give up. 642 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:58,240 I think during the wait, she started to enjoy herself again, 643 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,680 her friends rallied round... 644 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,760 I think personally, if the King had lived, 645 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,800 she would have married somebody more suitable. 646 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:12,240 And I did once ask Princess Margaret about her set. 647 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,960 "Among all of them, who would you might have married?" 648 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:20,080 And she said Sunny Blandford, so she would have had Blenheim. 649 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,480 I think that would have been more suitable. 650 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,960 She would have had a palace, of course. 651 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,360 NARRATOR: The demands of the crown 652 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,920 would not only pit sister against sister, 653 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:33,840 but husband against wife. 654 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:37,080 He wasn't even allowed to call his children by his own name. 655 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,560 He became emasculated. 656 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:42,560 It really sounds as though it threw him 657 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,560 into something like a depression. 658 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:57,080 NARRATOR: When George VI died aged just 56 in 1952, 659 00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,960 it sent shock waves through the entire family. 660 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,040 Not only did Princess Elizabeth 661 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,760 take on the heavy responsibility of the Crown, 662 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,080 but her husband had to give up the career he loved. 663 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:12,960 This posed a massive strain on the Queen's marriage to Prince Philip, 664 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:17,960 because Prince Philip imagined, with good reason, 665 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,040 that he was going to have a good career in the navy. 666 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,320 PENNY: Suddenly, she went from being a naval wife to Queen. 667 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,920 And he went from being a naval officer 668 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,640 in command of his own ship, to being a consort, 669 00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:35,920 to walking three steps behind his wife. 670 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,480 Which totally, totally went against the grain 671 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,600 for this man who is the ultimate alpha male. 672 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,600 PIERS: He wanted to modernise and streamline the monarchy, 673 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,440 and, of course, the courtiers weren't having any of this. 674 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:51,240 Prince Philip came up against 675 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,640 plenty of opposition from the Palace old guard. 676 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,080 He used to refer to these establishment figures 677 00:38:58,160 --> 00:38:59,840 as the "men with moustaches". 678 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:03,480 And he's not allowed anywhere near red boxes, 679 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,440 he's not allowed anywhere near prime-ministerial audiences, 680 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,920 he's very much kept at arm's length. 681 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,520 He wasn't even allowed to call his children by his own name. 682 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:17,640 He became emasculated. I mean, he said at one point, "What am I? 683 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:21,120 Just, am I nothing more than a bloody amoeba?" 684 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,400 SARAH: It really sounds as though it threw him 685 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,840 into something like a depression. 686 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,920 He began living this slightly raffish life. 687 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:35,600 His membership of the famous Thursday Club, 688 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:39,520 a lunch club, you know, with other young men about town, 689 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,800 but also with a certain number of party girls. 690 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,720 It must have been a very difficult period for her. 691 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,960 She knew that her husband was hurting and that it was difficult for him 692 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,240 and that some people were not treating him very well. 693 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,400 NARRATOR: A solution seemed to lie in the newly-completed Britannia. 694 00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,560 Philip would open the Olympic Games in Australia, 695 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,360 and then tour the far-flung islands of the Commonwealth 696 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,720 aboard the Royal Yacht. 697 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:08,600 It was to fly the flag, of course, 698 00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:11,000 but perhaps it was also to give Prince Philip 699 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:12,720 a little time back at sea 700 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,640 and a little time away from the constraints of his role. 701 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:23,040 REPORTER: Everyone was dressed up to kill. 702 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,040 Indeed, not so long ago that really was the big idea. 703 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:31,280 - But that all went wrong when one of the close associates of the Prince, 704 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,400 Mike Parker, was summoned back to England 705 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:39,040 to appear in the divorce courts, and that tar spread. 706 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,840 NARRATOR: The divorce of his close friend 707 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,560 coupled with Philip's four-month absence 708 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,480 was enough to open the floodgates of speculation 709 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:49,960 about the state of the royal couple's marriage. 710 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:56,240 There were rumours that not everything was right in the marriage. 711 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:58,680 NARRATOR: For the first time ever, 712 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:01,000 the Queen issued an official denial 713 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,280 saying it was quite untrue that there was a rift, 714 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:04,840 and for added emphasis, 715 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,720 she made the Duke a Prince on his return home. 716 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,000 JANE: It must have been a crisis in the early marriage, 717 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,440 and it's the sort of crisis that is only possible to negotiate 718 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,680 if you actually love the person you're married to. 719 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,360 ROBERT: It has been the great Royal love story, 720 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,000 it's the longest Royal marriage in history. 721 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:27,040 It's one of the many records that the Queen can lay claim to. 722 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,560 I suspect it's probably the one she holds most dear. 723 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,480 WESLEY: I remembered the Queen, 724 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:37,320 if the Duke was arriving back from an engagement, 725 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:38,760 she would sort of perk up a bit, 726 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:41,160 and become sort of smiley and relaxed. 727 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,200 The Duke of Edinburgh would start fiddling with his hair 728 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,120 or adjusting his buttons when he was going in to see the Queen. 729 00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,320 Unlike some of the other Royal marriages 730 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:51,520 she took on somebody her own size, 731 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:54,160 and I think she's appreciated over the years the fact that 732 00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:57,720 he is the one person who can actually say exactly what he thinks to her. 733 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,120 There's a lot of intimacy 734 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:05,800 almost in crowds is that you're these two people 735 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:09,960 on this very strange journey, and with this unique life 736 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,080 and I think that there's a very, very powerful bond. 737 00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:18,440 As Harry famously said, 738 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:20,640 "I don't think she could have done it without him". 739 00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,920 NARRATOR: Today, the young Royals have more freedom than ever before 740 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000 to marry who they want. 741 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,120 KATIE: William, without a doubt, tore up Royal history 742 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:34,440 because Kate was a commoner. 743 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:37,200 She was a regular girl from the home counties. 744 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,080 NARRATOR: But putting duty first 745 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,920 is still the number one quality in any Royal marriage. 746 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,880 KATIE: There is a sort of tick list that has to be met - 747 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:47,760 discretion, duty, 748 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,760 and putting duty before self, most importantly. 749 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:55,160 And the Queen has very much been the personification of that. 750 00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,640 Prince William must look at his grandparents' relationship, 751 00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,840 which has endured 70 years, 752 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:05,680 a great example of a successful matrimony. 753 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,240 And I'm sure he hopes that for himself too. 754 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,240 NARRATOR: William certainly seems to have had this in mind 755 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:13,160 when he proposed to Kate. 756 00:43:13,240 --> 00:43:16,640 I do think that William always has one eye 757 00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:18,560 to the fact that he is going to be King, 758 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,280 so whomever he married is going to be Queen. 759 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,320 I think it helped that Catherine was a personality 760 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:28,920 who is quite publicly closed, is quite careful, 761 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:30,040 she never puts 762 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,400 a nude-court-shoe-heeled foot wrong does she? 763 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,240 Prince William lives next door to me up here, 764 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:37,880 I see them shopping. 765 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:42,040 Duchess of Cambridge has done a really good job, 766 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,280 she hasn't put herself forward, 767 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:49,600 which was what happened with the Princess of Wales. 768 00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:52,960 And she's glorious-looking 769 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:56,240 and sweet and perfect, 770 00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,400 but she lets Prince William take the lead 771 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,800 and I think that is what the Duchess of Sussex 772 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:04,760 may have to learn, 773 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,080 that, you know, that's what we want in a Royal family. 774 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:12,240 NARRATOR: Kate had the benefit of ten years knowing William 775 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,920 to size up the demands of Royal life before they married. 776 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:17,560 For Meghan, it was different. 777 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,280 EMILY: Meghan has had a normal life. (chuckles) 778 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,880 If an acting, Hollywood career can be called a normal life. 779 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:24,440 I think they're massively in love, 780 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,400 and together they are a very powerful couple. 781 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,480 I think they both realise they have this public position. 782 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:32,920 It's global. 783 00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:38,640 And I've been told by aides that they want to change the world. 784 00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:42,680 CROWD (cheering): Meghan! Meghan! 785 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:47,320 I think the challenges for the Sussexes 786 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,240 will be balancing that sense of duty 787 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,280 and the life they want as private people, 788 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,040 as a family. 789 00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,680 NARRATOR: Like the Queen, both William and Harry 790 00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:02,360 have chosen partners who are their equals - 791 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:06,520 women they love, but who share their vision for a relevant monarchy 792 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,360 that's a positive force in the world. 793 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:11,160 But the challenge remains. 794 00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:14,000 Will they be able to live with the conflicting demands 795 00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:15,760 of love and duty? 796 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:17,760 Only time will tell.