Queen Elizabeth II in her own words - Guardian Reaction

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Welcome back everyone. Hope you're doing fantastic cool today.

[00:00:04]Or fantastic today.

[00:00:06]Today we're going to be reacting to a Queen Elizabeth II in her own words.

[00:00:11]This is nearly a hundred years since she was born.

[00:00:16]Well, it is a hundred years since she was born. If you're watching today on the Tuesday of April 21st, 2026. Well, this is when this video is going out. A hundred years ago Queen Elizabeth II was born.

[00:00:33]And what a interesting life. One of the most interesting lives anyone had ever lived.

[00:00:40]Um you may think about it, well, no, must be a boring life being, you know, in the high uh you know, high up monarch and just what do you what do you do? Like especially you know, monarch doesn't have any power, but the people she met the ability that she was able to convey via her leadership her family of course is is true and true as one of the you know, oldest families in Europe her predecessors uh but let's jump right in. This is going to be Queen Elizabeth II in her own words. Let's go.

[00:01:21]I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great Imperial family. Well, hold on.

[00:01:36]We're going to go back.

[00:01:39]Right here.

[00:01:41]I don't know how old she is in this.

[00:01:43]But this looks like she's not she's still a princess.

[00:01:49]So, we're going to guess like I don't know, 17, 19, something like that. to to your service and to the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong.

[00:02:04]In a way I didn't have an apprenticeship. My father died >> [music] >> much too young. Yeah. Yeah, way too young. If you think about it. I can't I can't remember how old he was.

[00:02:14]But we'll find out in like 5 seconds if you just hold on.

[00:02:18]I know she was like 20 six, right?

[00:02:22]How old was George VI?

[00:02:26]George VI her father.

[00:02:30]1952 So, he was 57 years old. That is pretty freaking young. Half the lifespan is her I mean, I think it was a lung condition.

[00:02:45]Right?

[00:02:46]And said it was all a very sudden kind of Her mother lived just as old as she did, right? Her mother lived to be like a hundred and two or something like that.

[00:02:56]Taking on. They have really good genes.

[00:02:59]Good doctors as well, but they have good genes. Philip lived to what? 99? And making the best job you can.

[00:03:08]It's a question of accepting the fact that here you are and and it's your fate.

[00:03:25]And what a genuinely warm welcome she got everywhere she went. Thousand mile round the >> world tour to the far-flung domains of the Commonwealth, the first made by a reigning monarch. Germany's warm welcome to Her Majesty and Prince Philip, the first visit by a British monarch for over 50 years. Yeah, especially around that time. What a changing world we were in in the 1950s.

[00:03:47]Another royal tour, this time to Ghana.

[00:03:49]A lightning visit to northern France.

[00:03:51]Another port of call, another official welcome ahead.

[00:03:54]>> On to New Zealand with a Maori choir singing a welcome.

[00:03:58]Of course the Commonwealth stretches from sea sea to shining sea.

[00:04:04]The British Raj I believe was given up in 1947.

[00:04:08]Um so the colonies started to fall from there and you really had like that strength of the Commonwealth more than anything.

[00:04:22]I don't think you can stay in London all the time. You have to visit other parts of the country to either find out what's going on or try and encourage um people in Yeah. in different areas, some of which have unemployment, some of which have new factories.

[00:04:42]And I think the possibility of meeting more people is very important. set in motion the nationwide celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee. Silver Jubilee is a 25 years.

[00:04:56]Was that 1977?

[00:04:59]25 eventful and glorious years.

[00:05:08]Of course that's around the same time.

[00:05:10]Philip not Philip's um Charles and Diana marries.

[00:05:15]Um and they have their children.

[00:05:19]And then that was Andrew.

[00:05:25]1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. Isn't that when like all her children got divorced that year? A crazy year for her.

[00:05:38]>> [clears throat] >> In the words of one of my most sympathetic correspondents it has turned out to be [music] an annus horribilis. Latin. Three of her married children all having marital difficulties. Easy, isn't it? Three out of her four children.

[00:05:57]And was it Anne, Andrew and of course Charles. In the space of a matter of months and then a fire >> And then a fire, which is like how?

[00:06:13]Windsor Castle somehow almost suggesting a kind of divine justice being meted out on the house of Windsor, like literally the house of Windsor.

[00:06:23]What did it I forget I I forget about this this fire. What did it destroy?

[00:06:29]And probably priceless objects.

[00:06:33]I sometimes wonder how future generations will judge [music] the events of this tumultuous year.

[00:06:40]There can be no doubt of course that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life. Hm. New institution city monarchy whatever And that's her mother to her left. Well, I guess to her right to our left.

[00:07:01]And she still you know, her mother's going to live probably another 10 years from here.

[00:07:08]should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it that And there's Camilla with Charles who obviously they had many affairs amongst their weddings. loyalty and support >> Not [music] to mention those who don't.

[00:07:27]Yeah. But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society.

[00:07:33]And that scrutiny by one part of another can be just as effective if it is made with a touch [music] of gentleness, good humor and understanding.

[00:07:48]This is BBC Television from London.

[00:07:50]Diana, Princess of Wales, [music] has died after a car crash in Paris.

[00:07:54]The French government announced her death [music] just before 5:00 this morning. In a statement Buckingham Palace said the Queen and the Prince of Wales are deeply shocked and distressed by this terrible news.

[00:08:05]Normal programs have been suspended while we bring you the latest >> I mean, of course the world stood still at that moment.

[00:08:11]>> news and reaction.

[00:08:13]Diana, Princess of Wales, has died.

[00:08:16]And then yeah, the tabloids really dragged her. I mean, that's her daughter-in-law.

[00:08:21]I know there's probably conversations about Well, technically at that moment she wasn't even the daughter-in-law cuz she had been removed, but still dragging another person.

[00:08:36]Now we go live to Buckingham Palace for a tribute from Her Majesty the Queen.

[00:08:42]What I say to you now as your Queen and as a grandmother I say from my heart.

[00:08:50]First I want to pay tribute to Diana myself.

[00:08:54]She was an exceptional and gifted human being.

[00:08:58]In good times and bad she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.

[00:09:11]Queen and Duke of Edinburgh coming out now.

[00:09:14]So, this must be the Golden Jubilee.

[00:09:18]The Golden Jubilee coincided with another difficult year for the Queen because in 2002 both the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret died.

[00:09:31]Yeah, that's tough.

[00:09:33]Her sister and her mother die.

[00:09:39]That means her father's gone.

[00:09:41]He's seen Diana fall.

[00:09:44]He's been through so much. Her children's marriages aren't working out.

[00:09:48]Wow.

[00:09:50]Insane.

[00:09:52]But she did have, you know, her mother did have a long life. I think her like I said her mother lived to be 102.

[00:09:59]A lot of people don't get that privilege of having a mother live that old.

[00:10:04]But, still in the same year, it's pretty tough. Another difficult year for the Queen because in 2002, both the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret died. So, it was a difficult time in many ways for her.

[00:10:18]Change has become a constant.

[00:10:21]Managing it has become an [music] expanding discipline.

[00:10:26]The way we embrace it defines our future. Just days after giving what [music] has been described as a car crash interview on television, Prince Andrew on Wednesday in a statement said that he would be stepping down Yeah, and towards the very, very, very end of her life, he of course is he has gone through the worst of the worst, but probably really bad person. Probably a really bad person we're looking at right here.

[00:10:59]You know, more details will come out in the future, but Andrew probably a really bad person. Is a really bad person. We'll say that. Is a really bad person.

[00:11:10]You know, if you don't know enough, just search it up. from royal duties >> [music] >> for the foreseeable future.

[00:11:15]Tonight, Oprah's interview with the Duke and Duchess of And then of course this bombshell kind of like, you know, you know, Sussex.

[00:11:24]>> [music] >> Accusations of racism at the heart of the royal family could represent an existential threat for this ancient institution.

[00:11:31]>> A statement was released on behalf of the Queen. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.

[00:11:46]Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much loved family members.

[00:11:53]The outbreak of coronavirus is now undeniably a global crisis and is now officially a pandemic.

[00:12:01]While we have faced challenges before, >> [music] >> this one is different.

[00:12:06]This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor.

[00:12:12]We will succeed and that success will belong to every one of us.

[00:12:17]We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return.

[00:12:25]We will be with It's crazy that she's working and she's like 90 How old is she? Like 96 or something like that?

[00:12:37]with our friends again.

[00:12:39]We will be with our families again.

[00:12:42]We will meet again.

[00:12:45]It is with deep sorrow [music] that Her Majesty the Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke And but didn't he pass in '21? of Edinburgh. He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments, but he has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years.

[00:13:05]And I and his whole family and this and many other countries owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.

[00:13:15]Mhm.

[00:13:18]When I was 21, I pledged my life to the service of our people. Okay, so the original version, I mean the original intro to this video that we were watching at the beginning, she's 21.

[00:13:31]And I asked for God's help to make good that vow.

[00:13:37]Although that vow was made in my salad days when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.

[00:13:55]Mhm.

[00:14:01]That's the video.

[00:14:03]Wow.

[00:14:04]You know, she was fierce. She was a fierce individual.

[00:14:08]There's probably a lot of shortcomings to the society of the monarch and that institution, but she did break a lot of barriers.

[00:14:16]Um, you know, probably went through more change as a monarch than anyone ever had been.

[00:14:25]You know, from being the the days of the '40s when, you know, everything in society was different to 2022 where things move fast, so fast.

[00:14:40]You know, her coronation was in 1952.

[00:14:45]And I think, right? '52, I think. '52, '53.

[00:14:50]And her coronation was the first publicly televised live coronation.

[00:14:57]And from there, you have pretty much the media fixating and creating this whole category of royal, right?

[00:15:07]We think about, you know, royal and we think about like kings and queens and all of this mainly because of this institution, this administration right here.

[00:15:18]Because of the media coverage that her family had over a 60-year time frame, 70-year time frame.

[00:15:31]From 1952 to 2022, it was constant coverage of her children, her grandchildren, her herself, her sister, uh, ex- you know, external families, etc. And then there's just so much there.

[00:15:49]It's so interesting, right? Because of course the monarch does not have the power of like a King Henry the VIII or like a or like a John the first before the Magna Carta. Like obviously.

[00:16:04]But that role as sovereign is so different than any other role.

[00:16:10]Now today we have Charles III currently.

[00:16:13]This is the 21st of April 2026. We currently have Charles III.

[00:16:19]What's What comes after this?

[00:16:22]Right? Obviously William's next, but what will What will life be like? Will it be handled the same?

[00:16:28]It's already very different. It feels very different.

[00:16:33]We'll have to see.

[00:16:34]Let me know your thoughts. Uh, this like I said, this was more of a uh, commemoration of when he's 26 from 1996, 100 years old he would be today.

[00:16:51]So, very important part of history was the monarchy of or is the monarchy of England.

[00:17:00]Anyway, thank you guys so much for being here.

[00:17:02]I'll see you guys next time. Peace out and bye-bye.