Original subtitles

for the first time in modern history a

queen has reached her 60th year on the

throne a sea of faces a forest of hands

60 years on duty 60 years of being the

uncomplaining servant of her subjects

what's familiar

is the protective blanket of reassurance

the reign of queen elizabeth ii has

spread in a world which has changed at

the wildering speed continuity but it

hasn't always been easy and you can't

get continuity by standing still

the monarchy always seems the same but

it's inside story is rather different

she's managed to to modernize and evolve

the monarchy like no other she seen tour

prime ministers and she's still going

she still going strong in a second of

this three-part series filmed over a

year and a half we explore how the Queen

has kept some grand traditions while

others couldn't survive how she's

tweaked listened and changed opening up

palaces and supporting a more relaxed

royal wedding I rang my grandmother off

some clarification on the issue and

Julie got sir told that it was a

ridiculous she was right as she was it

this is the tale of the Queen as quiet

reformer taxpayer and anxious social

observer we could never forget those who

have died or been injured and their

families she did Clause a circle of

history

June 2011 and let's start at the more

eccentric end of the scale for gutter

Knights of the realm troupe down the

hill at Windsor Castle the Queen has

modernized a lot but it's worth

remembering what she hasn't not that

even this is quite what it appears gold

and glitter and pageantry doesn't get

much better than this this is garter day

one of the most important emblematic

moments in the Queen's year and the

images go all around the world and yet

this is a characteristic example of the

Windsor dynasty's great trick of

reinventing tradition because although

garter day does go back to the English

medieval monarchy in its modern form it

was invented by the Queen's father in

1948 so not that long ago Her Majesty

and His Royal Highness the Duke of

Edinburgh were resplendent in rich

medieval rows it's a kind of club for

the top ranks of society former

ministers members of the royal family

the establishment it's not the easiest

part of the monarchy this a reminder

perhaps that for a thousand years

monarchs stood on top of a pyramid of

aristocrats landowners and Nobles whose

power has vanished

the monarchy though is a defiant

survivor and orders of chivalry are

still taken very seriously

well the Garcias is the highest order of

chivalry in in in Britain and the oldest

one as well it's in the sovereigns

personal gift

it's an enormous honor for anybody what

the public doesn't see is what happens

inside the Garter throne room the

dressing and decorating of the new

Knight including an actual Garter in

this case it's a charge Lord Phillips

president of the Supreme Court and for

the Queen this is hands on

see this road with him McCullen delivery

of this mess excellent monarchy comes

barnacled with stately traditions titles

grandness but if this was all if this

was the only image of the British

monarchy it surely wouldn't be half as

popular as it actually is in fact the

Windsors have always been acutely aware

of public opinion and changing attitudes

and ready to ditch what needs to go

there on their way to Buckingham Palace

to attend one of the three last

presentation parties that Her Majesty

will hold terribly thrilling but we

mustn't show how nervous we feel

presentation of aristocratic young women

debutantes at a ball which used to mark

the start of the annual London season a

kind of very grand marriage market was

abandoned in 1958 really out of

embarrassment in the tart words of the

Queen's late sister Princess Margaret

every taught in London was getting in

but as the Deb's were gently shown one

door other doors were opened the Queen

extended the ones tradition and an

exclusive summer garden parties and

opened them up to people from all walks

of life from nurses builders and bombard

ears to care workers and captains eight

thousand at a time at one of the most

open and relatively informal of royal

events

it's nice just to be able to relax and

just stroll around the grounds this

beautiful garden down by the lake and

see just just a really the greater good

of Britain you know get invited here and

it's a lovely day for them and I think

it's great the Queen does it you know

it's a it's just a fantastic thing to do

and Ready's offer okay modern world

modern monarchy which means that the

statistics of even garden parties are

squinted over and published so we know

each one involves twenty seven thousand

cups of tea twenty thousand cakes and

sandwiches and the cost is rising from

seven hundred thousand pounds to eight

hundred thousand pounds a year which

could be something to do with the fact

that every guest on average consumes

fourteen items each very calming a cake

or two

really stunning surroundings the other

essential ingredient for a British

garden party is of course dodgy weather

it would be less interesting if it was

always sunny less to talk about shelter

at once became the most important thing

in every vantage point was soon occupied

it fairly poured down and at least one

guest was trapped

and this is of course the Queen's reign

away from the formal diary and the

spotlights the Queen and the Duke of

Edinburgh have spent a lot of time

reaching out to key figures in a

changing country when they were younger

they began inviting actors writers

scientists and others for regular

lunches now they welcome a wide range of

people for themed evenings at Buckingham

Palace it might be Australians in

Britain members of the emergency

services explorers tonight its young

performers and some of their mentors

never met the creme met Prince Charles

and the Welsh connection you know and so

I'm really honored to be here it is

actually being in the movies it is an

honor to be invited to the wedding I

thought there'd be more people camped

outside if I missed it

I think you know this thought this is

not the right thing it's just me Duffy

and Ellie Goulding

I mean I think it's incredibly important

for the young performers of all the

different in all the different arts to

be recognized at an early age because I

think it's so it is so incredibly

encouraging to feel that you are

accepted by your culture by your society

by your family by the status quo because

so often I think performers especially

young performers feel there they are on

the outside of society in many ways they

are and so they should be because they

have to challenge yes it is called

people of course associate a lot around

world lots people associate you with the

Queen but well in that ridiculous way

which is completely wrong but um what

does she mean to you you know apart from

my sister she's the only other person

who's been a total constant in my life

ever since I was you know it came to

consciousness the Queen was there and

that's an incredible um kind of rock to

happen in your life I think

one gets the impression a lot of these

things have been decided by committees

looking at long lists actually how much

does the Queen herself involved in who

she wants to celebrate who she wants to

come here hugely this is the Queen's

guestlist no one comes here without the

Queen having they extended that

invitation and how much briefing

does the Queen need to absorb for an

event like this because she will be

presumably meeting huge numbers of

people she hasn't met before

well the Queen's been involved in this

evening from its very conception so as

the work has gone on here to develop the

ideas that you'll see later the Queen's

been involved at every step along the

way so not a lot of briefing because

she's built it up with the rest of us

this evening there's a performance a mix

of traditional and modern culture based

on Romeo and Juliet

once palaces were closed off royal

refugees now this one is more like a

grand theatrical space where both guests

and hosts are on stage together

Queen Victoria would have been amazed

and amused well who knows it's hard to

imagine her mingling as easily as this

so humbling experience medically I think

I'm a strong believer in the arts are

the the support of the arts and all

these wonderful people they're here

making things work and I feel amazing

mix of people is amazing mix of people

times changing and seeing a multi ply

problem Juliet and everything from old

to new being involved in there is a

great thing one of the other things

tonight's done for me is it may be

actually quite proud of the industry I'm

in and off yes often or not I'm a bit

ashamed of it but actually tonight I

feel quite proud of it because I've met

some great people and feel some grazing

and here now actually was the very first

time that I've met the Queen it's the

only shame because there's no pictures

you know they don't allow pictures so

there's no out you know you can't go hey

look hey hey in the Queen sis that's me

mi one of the longest running campaigns

of reaching out was created by the Duke

of Edinburgh a man well known for his

direct small talk his award schemers

helped more than 7 million young people

test themselves achieve more push harder

with the Duke often presenting the gold

award personally as today at San James's

Palace home people were walking around

handsome

senior members of the royal family have

to cultivate a skill almost nobody else

needs

it's a carefully timed dance through the

hire small talk designed to calm the

nervous restrain the over talkative

release intention produce a little

bubble of laughter and in that way

ensure that millions of people leave

events like these having had some sort

of personal connection with him this

case the Duke of Edinburgh but in

general and the British monarchy and you

all walk the do feel my kayak sir yeah

along the River Tweed you be done the

retreat yeah fellas start to finish

which was good that's an awkward yeah we

drive up to the source and then start

kayaking down all the way to the mouth

religious you all got lost walking

it's dumped at the top so how do the

Royals learn these techniques it's a

kind of trade with its trade secrets and

it's special skills most days of the

year the entire working royal family has

spread around the country from Town

Hall's to schools hospitals and

charities they've personally chosen to

support everybody gets their bit of time

this is a huge undertaking around 4,000

engagements a year between them so how

do they do it

you learn by watching by listening by as

it were first of all being in the

background I've got so many memories

very fond memories when I was younger

and I'm growing up and trying to be sort

of not giving the weibull's of

engagements or you know events that are

going on and realising when I got sort

of stiff hit round the back of the head

that it was probably time to sort of

behave

I think the first engagement I did was

my father wanted me to give leeks the

Welsh Guards on Sunday Tuesday did the

Queen help you in terms of how to do

these kinds of things well that first

engagement probably came with helpful

instructions in the sense of structure

of the day in the level of expectation

but not much more than that she very

much leaves family to go off and find

their own way and if you get it wrong

stand by you will be put back back in

your place which you know quite rightly

so but she very much lets us get on with

it and choose choose our own sort of

choose what we want to support but how

do they choose the Queen's

granddaughters are getting to the age

when they're considering how much to

contribute of their time so what causes

are on their minds I had an operation as

well so hopefully looking at into

helping other people have learned about

the condition I had so they can help

right so that was this of scoliosis of

the spine it's when you carve right so

your bones that's where you're born lots

of people have it and lots of children

when they're diagnosed don't really know

what it is

so so there's something you can bring

your own experience to help other people

I know about it I'm not just talking not

no experience I know about this thing

I'm especially bit just doing this

lecture in education I think that's

something that's really important very

important project and especially you

know especially primary education and

which is something that is when I got

diagnosed with dyslexia at age 7 never

almost sort of thinking why she's so

slow to read why she's so slow and it

was you know something that I think you

could recognize a lot sooner and to get

the support there and then and then

you can kind of go through your life but

know a bit more support but it can't all

be personal choice the spread is too big

and in 2002 for instance the royal

family faced a dilemma after the deaths

of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret

there were great many different

organizations that were left without a

patron or without a presidental without

some family association and then there

was a little bit of coordination highly

who's thought that out that that list is

laid on the card table at Sandringham

and we all sit around the card table and

decide of course it's not just the

individual support that matters perhaps

the Queen's and the British monarchy is

most important role is in bringing

people her people together as a nation

the most recent and spectacular example

of this was of course the Royal Wedding

April the 29th 2011

and Prince William the Queen's grandson

is due to marry Catherine Middleton more

than half a century after the Queen was

married hear much about this will be

familiar the glittering full fig British

monarch achill event so many people

watch around the world

the crowd behind me look different and

probably sound different from the crowds

that were waiting for the Queen's

wedding after the war or for Princess

Diana and Charles's wedding but they're

doing exactly the same thing as their

great grandparents and their

grandparents and their parents did and

they've been camping out all night

people are drinking thermoses of tea

singing patriotic songs doing little

dances this sort of scene is actually

almost as traditional as the modern

monarchy itself how important is it you

think for the British monarchy that

we've got in Kate Middleton as a middle

class member of it I guess really yeah

Britain's all about though isn't it it's

just you know London having a big party

have you been here for earlier royal

occasions yes we always come to royal

weddings it's part of the fun yes what

do you think - why'd you want to come -

the whole and even royal weddings to

have arguments but the guest list first

meeting we had person gaygent when those

still very big buzz going on and I was

obviously very excited and happy about

it all I walked into the first meeting

and literally got presented with a list

of 777 names on and I looked at it and

it wasn't one person on there I knew and

it brought sort of sense of dread and

fear over so what was going to happen

and who's gonna start running the whole

day but um I sort of said no this isn't

it's not the way it's gonna be let's um

let's start again

and I rang my grandmother up some

clarification on the issue and Julie got

told that it was a ridiculous and I

should start with my own friends

Boris Johnson this is a very very big

day obviously for the couple themselves

but also for the British monarchy it's a

huge moment but this is of course the

anthropologically critical moment in the

life of this nation and you could argue

of many other nations because this is

the moment when we publicly legitimate

the reproduction of the kings and queens

of England and everybody season is

fantastic happy event is this this

marriage between two young people they

see the incarnation of the greatest

institution or the emblematic

institution of this country so the

marriage stands for the continuity of

Britain land of under Britain see that

word again

continuity but it's change as well

trumpets but trees in the Abbey two

flags and foliage I am a very

traditional guy and says my wife and so

together we wanted to obviously create

that and special atmosphere but at the

same time we wanted have our impulse on

twist on it because at the end of day

it's our day and so we wanted basically

everyone to share in our happiness as

anyone does at anyone's in a wedding day

but and it had to be you know see it on

a sort of slightly bigger scale than one

might normally do I know I was just as

nervous as William being the ring bearer

was a bit of a responsibility and I had

it in the end the cuff because I have no

pockets and so it I was having to try

and check to make sure was there without

making obvious as far as I was concerned

I was there to support him and to tell

him how great he is see it was his day

so I had to lie a bit and just make sure

that you know he was wasn't too nervous

and that everything was going to go

according to plan

and while all eyes were on the bride and

her bridal gown behind the scenes the

groom's own attire had also been a

source of deliberation within the Irish

Guards regiments thism as several

variances addressed you can wear and I

was opting for a different type

addressing than what I wore on the day

so my grandmother very much decided that

um the red unit was very smart and the

appropriate one's worth today so I was

Judy told on that occasion it's like did

as I was told I felt a little bit

ridiculous but his ritual it was

definitely am the one to wear I think so

she was right as she was it there's

nothing frozen about this as we watch it

again or accidental it's tradition with

a twist and the message is thought

through and serious with this ring I

thee Wed with this ring I thee Wed with

my body I the honor with my body I do

honor and all my worldly goods with the

I share all my worldly goods with the

azure

many many people were I think

tremendously encouraged by the fact that

she oh it was a very contemporary couple

deciding to shape their lives according

to historic Christian disciplines of

marriage doing it without fuss without

some self-consciousness stepping into

into a role with confidence and and

Happiness I think it was a very very

joyful rather relaxed occasion in in

many ways it's quite avenues over there

bit of a blur

above all by taking into the highest

ranks of the royal family

someone many people consider their first

genuinely middle-class recruit Prince

William is continuing the firm's long

term hope of always Reese teaching the

monarchy into the changing social fabric

of the British will we one day have our

first black or Asian member of the royal

family well it's no reason why not

the Windsor dynasty has always presented

itself as the family monarchy the ideal

family but of course it's also a real

family and real families have bumps and

upsets and fallings out and even falling

apart on the other hand real families

can mend and join hands again and grow

again

true of us true of them

and this generation just feels different

even down to the Prince driving his

bride off in his father's car to the

gentle amusement of his brother

William's been trying to drive that car

for years and a couple of times he has

driven it at home he stalled it and it

is very difficult cars drive combined

with the fact that I can't drive but I'm

to make even Holley obviously I disperse

on which was very insane to see him so

buckling palace and let's be honest the

royal wedding also felt like a happy

ending after troubles that had dogged

the Queen's own family in 1949 as a

young married woman the Queen made a

speech to the mothers Union denouncing

divorce and separation as producing some

of the darkest evils in society back

then monarchy and iron strong

traditional marriage seemed a natural

equation divorced people couldn't be

invited to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot

when in 1955 the Queen's sister Princess

Margaret wanted to marry a divorced man

Group Captain Peter Townsend a senior

minister threatened to resign from the

cabinet and the marriage was vetoed but

during the Queen's reign attitudes have

changed at the wildering speed three of

the Queen's own children divorced the

sad collapse of the marriage of Prince

Charles and Lady Diana Spencer produced

a full-scale royal crisis and the time

of deep personal unhappiness for the

Queen herself undoubtedly the worst year

in her life 1992 is not a year on which

I shall look back with undiluted

pleasure in the words of one of my more

sympathetic correspondents it has turned

out to be an annus horribilis

1992 was the year that struck the Queen

like no other on her 45th wedding

anniversary the seat of the monarchy for

almost a thousand years Windsor Castle

went up in flames after a humble

spotlight began a blaze which spread

through more than a hundred rooms the

inferno accelerated a dramatic shift in

the way the Queen dealt with money and

tax the government suggested taxpayers

should fund the 37 million pound bill

for restoring Windsor but there was an

outcry and it came when questions were

already being asked about why the Queen

didn't pay tax on her personal income

the fire at Windsor I think affected the

timing of the announcement of it but

that sort of area of reform people have

been thinking about for quite a while

and it was progressive because there had

been a sort of drumbeat of criticism and

the opinion polls and so on were showing

that people felt that she should pay tax

yes I mean that that she shouldn't be

above that part of the law during that

period were at any stage were you

worried about the status of the monarchy

in the country

I was concerned at the share of

criticism and unpopularity that the

monarchy was facing in the short term I

wasn't worried about the long term for

two reasons firstly we have seen this

before

Queen Victoria being an obvious example

very unpopular for a very long period of

time after Prince Albert died and

secondly the roots of the monarchy are

so deep that even in a period of

unpopularity it can sustain that and

come through at the end of it

the Queen moved quickly finalizing her

decision to pay income tax and deciding

to meet the Windsor repair bill by

throwing open the doors to paying

visitors starting with buckingham palace

since 1993 they've arrived in their tens

of thousands to see the famous corridors

the grand interiors the priceless art

collection the income has grown and

grown though this is money not for the

Queen but earmarked for the care of

those palaces and artworks the greatest

traditional source of royal wealth are

in fact the crown estates monarchies

farmland London squares forests and four

Shores going back to medieval times a

new deal means the monarchy will get a

percentage of that income with

safeguards and the right of MPs to

oversee spending most of what the Queen

has isn't really hers personally she

can't go out and sell it and the annual

cost of the system to the rest of us

isn't exactly huge it's been estimated

that every year the monarchy costs each

of us about half the price of a cup of

coffee at a high street chain still

monarchy is a relatively expensive

option or is it what do you think

Britain would be like what would be the

difference if there was no monarchy

there had been no queen's raider we were

a republic a number of people think well

we we'd be better off because we'd spend

less money and all of this well let's

knock that on the head because if you

look at those countries with

presidencies turns out they spend almost

as much if not more in some cases than

we do so I don't think it doesn't save

your money it doesn't save you money

actually when I think about the Royal

Wedding which had the privilege to be at

that sort of event I mean and the the

global stage you know how much would we

have paid for the advertising for our

British design industry to get all of

that on global television around the

world third of the world's population I

read probably what probably watched

British designers selling their wares

you know this was fantastic for

advertising

the Windsor fire was a great disaster

for the royal family but from the ashes

of that disaster has grown an enormous

success

2011 season half a million people have

come through here and it raises enormous

amounts of money for the royal

collection in total around the country

all the palaces all the galleries all

the shops something like 42 million

pounds a year in modern Britain never

underestimate the huge economic

importance of cake in her 60 years the

Queen has broken new ground well beyond

simply opening up the palaces and in

2010 this palace Holyrood house in

Edinburgh was the setting for a highly

significant moment Scotland has had a

long sad history of bigotry and

hostility between Protestants and Roman

Catholics it wouldn't be the same at a

ranger Celtic met here proposing

supporters didn't crash so it's a

significant place for the Queen Supreme

Governor of the Church of England and a

member of the Presbyterian Church of

Scotland to receive for the first time

the Catholic pope of rome on a state

visit it's a great deal of course to

Scotland the Scots to have the to the

visit starting in Scotland and secondly

in terms of the communities of Scotland

the fact that the whole country was able

to embrace its whole in a support of the

warmth and affection that was displayed

it is a great unifying feature of

Scottish society it shows how far we've

traveled in terms of overcoming a

prejudices of the past

this is the Queen as unifier puller

together symbol of healing in a very

place where a Catholic Queen Mary was

imprisoned and she was later beheaded on

the orders of Queen Elizabeth an earlier

Queen Elizabeth a hundred years even

fifty years ago it would have been

almost unthinkable for the Pope of Rome

and the defender of the Protestant faith

to meet here in Scotland all friendly

not a hint of tension and when the Pope

and the Queen get together here between

them on the carpet

an old taboo lies dead your holiness in

recent times you have said that

religions can never become vehicles of

hatred but never by invoking the name of

God can evil and violence be justified

today in this country we stand united in

that conviction we hold that freedom to

worship is at the core of our tolerant

and democratic society

the Queen has been willing to face many

taboos in her time some more difficult

than others it's May 2011 and the Queen

is about to set foot in the Irish

Republic

no reigning British monarch has been

here for a century when it comes to

broken ground it doesn't get much more

broken than this

now this is not a visit without risk

there were security alerts in London and

in Dublin before the Queen's arrival and

as always know where she's going that

doesn't have some kind of sensitive

historical echo so this is not entirely

easy stuff the Queen as the

representative of the British state

takes credit for all the things that

Britain gets right and has done it in

history and as the representative of the

British state sometimes she has some

harder jobs to accomplish as well as she

touches down a reminder that this is not

a nation of Royalists it's just another

head of state you know we have Obama's

welcome and at the end of the warmth you

know so I don't really think much one

way the other I don't really think it's

that important but I think that now that

she's coming we will show her as much

car to say as we can garner it's the

first visit in about a hundred years

from the monarch and maybe an apology

would be good too many people have died

because of British I'm absolutely

shocking

on the same day her father became king

the Parliament of the Irish Free State

removed the monarch from its

Constitution now his daughter arrives as

the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Northern Ireland to meet the

then Irish President Mary McAleese

if there is one place on earth which has

defined its identity against the British

crown it's here now it's important that

we remember our history but sometimes

then we have to forget it again and for

all the noise we're about to hear that

is the Queen's job she's here to put a

little history to sleep it's like a door

that's been locked her for a long time

and she's been dying to see what's on

the other side of it because many many

people won't understand you know not

being able to go somewhere or see

something for your life and being sort

of almost like a sort of child not

allowed to go into a certain room for

her very much case of Harlem's

sort of it's off limits she's always

wanted to go and be able to go in an

official capacity so I think it was a

huge was a huge turning point for her

must mean a certain amount of

nervousness beforehand because it's

there's a lot of history to put to bed

though I thought I was nervous about it

I think come but I was hugely admiring

of the fact that the royal family wanted

to go ahead with this visit you know

relatively quickly after the finalizing

of the last bits of devolution of part

and all that Island they didn't want to

wait and play it a little bit longer and

other that was a fantastic judgement a

century ago crowds met the Queen's

grandparents King George the fifth and

Queen Mary with enthusiasm at the time

Home Rule a reconciliation of

nationalist Ireland with Imperial

Britain seemed likely the First World

War and the Irish Easter Rising put paid

to that and a bloody history began to

uncurl today on the streets of Dublin

the public are kept well back from the

Royal party and voices of discontent a

kept the traffic free side streets roads

have been sealed off to keep the Queen

moving yes the security from from our

point of view was exceptionally heavy

and exceptionally tight and had to be so

because this was receiving global

coverage on everything from al-jazeera

to to Bloomberg and and you know

personally my own office got several

thousand messages and I each of them

contained two words pride and respect

the Queen understands the torment of the

Irish troubles violence has marked much

of a 60-year reign and he reached her

own family in the most direct way in

1979 the Queen's cousin Lord Louis

Mountbatten the former First Sea Lord

one of the most colorful and closest

influences on the inner circle of the

royal family was assassinated by the

Provisional IRA at his home in Ireland

Lord Mountbatten had taken his boat and

members of his family on a day out in

County Sligo on board was a boat hand

poor max wall-mount battens eldest

daughter Patricia her husband Lord

Braben the mother-in-law and their

14-year old twins Nicholas and Timothy

the seven of us went out we had been

going for a few minutes beautiful flat

calm sea not a cloud in the sky

and my grandmother sitting also in the

stern with her legs up in front of her

said I seen this a beautiful day and

shortly after that there was this

almighty bang

I mean it wasn't for a long time that I

knew that it was the IRA I just thought

because we had problems with the boat I

thought the engine had blown up and not

until after I came out of intensive care

did somebody explain to me down there it

was a bomb so I was really surprised

about only three people survived the

blast

Patricia her husband and just one of

their twins Timothy were all seriously

injured so at what point did you realize

that Nicky was dead my sister Joanna one

of my two sisters came to me and she

explained that when you arrived in the

hospital you were unconscious you woke

up Nicky never did and I knew really in

an instant that either I was going to

survive or I would never get over it and

in that instant I think the path towards

being a survivor started a few weeks

later his parents still hospitalized the

Queen stepped in and invited Tim and a

sister to Balmoral to help with his

recovery and he saw a side of the Queen

seen by very few outsiders we arrived

through the door and I looked down his

long imposing corridor and the sight

that greets me is of the Queen Prince

Charles at her side and she's sort of

steaming up the corridor towards us with

a sort of it's too cool quite a describe

but it had this sort of feeling of a

sort of mother duck gathering Innes had

lost young and they just wanted really

just to go into their default setting of

love care of asking about family of

plying us with soup and sandwiches and

wrapping us up in what I can only really

describe as a sort of motherliness

coming from the Queen

Queens visit to Ireland was in a

completely different way another act of

healing formal salv

for old wounds it goes to the most

sensitive places possible I always had

this this idea that in a way the

culmination of the changed relationship

between the Republic of Ireland and the

UK would be a royal visit and it's

something I discussed with the Irish

prime minister at the time and and this

again is something is a role probably

only she could have played as to put the

stamp on the fact that history was

history and the future was going to be

different perhaps one of the most

important places for the Queen's visit

was Croke Park

in 1920 during the Irish war of

independence 13 spectators and a player

were killed here as forces under British

control opened fire at a match earlier

that day IRA assassination squads had

shot 14 suspected British intelligence

agents dead it became known as Bloody

Sunday

a dublin castle that evening the queen

made an unexpected opening to her speech

and she expressed sympathy though not

apologies for what has happened between

the British and the Irish doctorine

Argos I Kaiser I wondered to myself

because I speak I wish how she would get

on with the words Luke throne I was a

Cordia

which means president and friends and

yet as she did his very well in fact it

was exceptionally good pronunciation had

an absolutely electric effect all these

people who were sitting around too quite

strong Republicans were you could sort

of you know you could hear the hearts

melting in the room you could just see

she'd used the authority of the monarchy

her own brilliance and experience to

crack a problem and to improve a

relationship and to change the nature of

what has gone between us in a really

absolutely

spell by the way we could never forget

those who have died or been injured and

their families to all those who have

suffered as a consequence of our

troubled past I extend my sincere

thoughts and deep sympathy with the

benefit of historical hindsight we can

all see things which we would wish had

been done differently or not at all

she did close the circuit of history so

everybody can make a contribution for

the future and after all we are closest

neighbors Ireland and Britain for many

reasons known are probably the closest

in every sense of that world and that's

to be to be welcomed

back home is head of state she's welcome

so many overseas leaders icons of the

20th century such as Frances shoulder

Gold South Africa's Nelson Mandela and

Cold War Russians like Khrushchev she

knew the last emperor of Ethiopia Haile

Selassie and obeying her ministers she's

also had to greet some brutal tyrants

Nicolae Ceausescu the Marxist dictator

of Romania welcomed in 1978 he gave her

a communist medal

Zimbabwe's robert mugabe came in 1994

although he was later stripped of his

honorary knighthood

Uganda's Idi Amin a monstrous leader

arrived to visit in 1971 and promptly

asked the Queen to arrange a visit for

him to Scotland Ireland and Wales so he

could meet the heads of revolutionary

movements fighting against your

imperialist oppression so she's known

all sorts 2011 the queen is about to

welcome a hundred and first head of

state and he really is welcome

so here we are on the Sun dappled lawns

Buckingham Palace where President Barack

Obama has just arrived only a few days

after the Queen's historic

reconciliation visit to the Republic of

Ireland and there is something that

connects these two events because when

Barack Obama first became US president

many people in White Hall were worried

that he was not particularly Pro British

even a bit cool and part of the reason

for that was that Barack Obama's own

grandfather was arrested imprisoned and

tortured by forces loyal to the crown

just before the Mau Mau rebellion one of

the darker colonial moments in the young

Queens history and so the fact when he

arrives here

the Queen has formed such a strong

personal relationship with Barack Obama

and his family is a sort of human

reconciliation not saying that it's the

most important thing in British American

relationships of course not but at a

human level this sort of thing really

does matter

they are extraordinarily gracious people

they could not have been kinder to us I

met the entire royal family the last

time I was the first time I was in

England in April of 2008 and then

Michelle and the girls actually visited

London again and went to Buckingham

Palace she could not have been more

charming and gracious to the girls they

actually had a chance to arrive in a

carriage on the grounds I think what the

Queen symbolizes not just to Great

Britain but to the entire Commonwealth

and obviously the entire world is is the

best of England and we're very proud of

her on all of these visits small touches

count each guest gets a special little

show from the Royal Collection archives

this time it emphasizes how hostile

Queen Victoria was to slavery in America

and it displays King George the Third's

anguished handwritten note America is

lost

theoretically this is a gentle little

break in the day the president is off to

Downing Street for serious talks about

the world economy and then he's going to

dress up for a state banquet in the

Buckingham Palace ballroom which won't

be your average dinner party we've got

the Queen and the president here and

then key are there guests

across the top of the table the silver

gilt that we're using is part of the

Grand Service commissioned by George the

fourth in 1811 approximately although

it's been added to over the time there's

in excess of 4,000 pieces in this all

right yeah every time once the table is

set at about 6 p.m. in comes the boss

for a final check

these these are from and she really does

check what about those microphones for

the after-dinner speeches shouldn't they

be hidden and of course because you said

tall I believe she saw yes was that a

right of a nice of height so it's

towards the ears to make good okay but I

think that their potential the Queen

checks the menus the flowers the seating

plan shall show visitors to their

bedrooms where she suggested bedside

books for them it's all gently

flattering there is no such thing here

as a routine foreign visitor nice having

the roses that fella roses in the front

I wonder with a million left off Chelsea

cuz you see that we arrived were

concerned about good stuff like

California but time we seem to not do

too bad

I think people may not realize around

the world what an iconic figure the

queen is the highlight of the state

visit is the Buckingham Palace banquet

it does an enormous amount of good can

you quantify it very difficult does it

matter

yes is it in the British interest beyond

a shadow of a doubt would we lose

something if it wasn't there we

certainly would I must say though this

dinner is a humbling reminder of the

fleeting nature of presidencies and

prime minister ships your Majesty's

reign has spanned about a dozen of each

and Counting

that makes you both a living witness to

the power of our alliance and a chief

source of its resilience it's been a

delicate dance between tradition and

modern times

the unsentimental demands of

international politics and old-fashioned

politeness and not everything survives

Britain's changed status as the Queen

herself knows all too well I named the

ship Britannia

in 1953 the Queen launched the Royal

Yacht Britannia which would sail the

seas for half a century as her personal

vessel

what was it like being on Britannia with

her

it was the most enjoyable thing I did

the most enjoyable single thing that I

that idea that wouldn't have missed it

for anything did you think that the

Queen was more relaxed perhaps on

Britannia than she would have been else

well she certainly was there was a sort

of magic moment at the end of the day

when she came downstairs from the room

and it kicked off her shoes and gave us

a good scotch and embarked on a sort of

resume of the day

you saw a different person the Queen in

trousers and a shirt and sitting around

telling funny stories from the past

I think the yacht's just been enveloped

in one huge wherever we went

they have was opened and the wind blew

we're the luckiest people to be able to

go on holiday on Britannia and I mean so

many memories she was a home away from

home I mean certainly in the early years

when when they were doing some six-month

world tours Patania was home aboard her

the Queen made almost a thousand royal

and state visits around the world

playing host to leaders from Boris

Yeltsin to Ronald Reagan if the Queen

was queen of the United Kingdom

Britannia would be a floating

extravagance but she wasn't and isn't

she's head of the 54 member Commonwealth

and Britannia was part of the plan to

keep that extraordinary organisation

ranging from huge countries to china

little barnacle-encrusted lumps of rock

together

but there was a secret role for

Britannia throughout the Cold War

once the royal yacht was in existence

its real purpose in war was not to be a

hospital ship that was the cover story

it was her floating nuclear bunker it

would lurk in the sea lochs on the

northwest coast of Scotland the

mountains would shield it from the

Soviet radar and at night it would

quietly go from one sea lock to another

it wouldn't be static so if the Prime

Minister was wiped out

once the salts knew the boat where the

bunker was that he was operating from

from the signals traffic the Queen would

be in a position out of the rubble to

appoint a surviving prime minister

because only the Queen can appoint a

prime minister so the British

constitution was taken care of even unto

Armageddon and there she would have been

somewhere beyond kyle of lochalsh ready

to do the business when her kingdom was

a smoking and irradiated ruin dreadful

thought dreadful thought

as it was the yacht proved to be a safe

haven of a different kind unlike her

other residences this was the only one

built for her she designed it in great

detail herself and this is what she

chose this is her bedroom on Britannia

and it is commendably plain it's rather

1950s in style lots of people of that

generation will recognize it exactly and

you can make the same point about the

Duke of Edinburgh because his bedroom

designed by him is just next door and

it's a rather stark er more masculine

version of the same thing he left very

detailed instructions about it however

for instance when it came to the

pillowcase no frills

as she said goodbye in 1997 after a

million miles shared the Queen was seen

to shed a tear

conservative ministers had never invaded

new labour politicians onto the boat to

enjoy it and so after that year's

general election Tony Blair's government

had no substantive debate about

decommissioning Britannia without a

replacement this happened just when we

came in yeah and you know it was the

time when we were keeping to some very

tough financial measures it would be

just had been hurt it would have been a

very hard sell at the time but it was it

was arguably something that has earned

its way as an institution I think there

is a case for that so I don't know

whether or to come at the end of the ten

years has really happened have had a

different view of him this talk they're

not from the queen of a new privately

funded yacht well we'll see meanwhile

Britannia herself remains a gleaming

motionless museum tethered outside

Edinburgh the last cruise we did on the

west coast on a night service very

emotional and you know very sad for a

granny as well because you know as a

massive part of her life and her growing

up

I think it says up there when you go and

look round it there's a picture of her

and it says the place where I feel most

free which just says it all

most people in their 80s have stopped

changing for the Queen that isn't an

option

central to the monarchies survival is

the constant need to adapt and stretch

out to everyone from thinkers and

leaders to the crowds at garden parties

when god save the queen is played some

people still stand to attention she has

lived at attention 60 years of never

standing still to think for example in

1947 the Cold War really froze and yet

in 1990 by 1990 it's over without a

general war or a global nuclear exchange

and if you consider a woman who was

monarch when Stalin was still in the

Kremlin seeing through all that

she's got on with the job and she hasn't

expressed public angst either about

being monarch or about being moniker of

a declining nation she just got on with

it

so it's arguably the case that she's

been a very good front person during

this period when in many ways Britain

has David Turin eyes downsized E&P

realized she's been terrific for that

what the Queen's managed to do she's

managed to bring the monarchy into the

21st century as best as you can you know

every organization needs to look at

itself along the time and the monarch is

a constant evolving machine in it I

think it really wants to reflect society

it wants to move with the times and it's

um it's important it does for its own

survival

in her 60-year reign the Queen has seen

much and said little in Episode three we

revisit the rare moments when we've

heard the Queen's inner thoughts what I

say to you now as your queen and as a

grandmother I say from my heart those

words in that speech were her own we go

right back to February the 6th 1952 the

day she unexpectedly became Queen and we

follow her to a country where the

monarchies future is hotly debated

Australia and what about the

Commonwealth

she's been referred to as the glue that

binds the Commonwealth together and in

this final episode her family reveal who

the Queen herself

turns to for support I personally don't

think that she could do it with on

the diamond Queen continues at nine next

Monday here on BBC one