Queen Elizabeth II - The Untold Story of Britain's Modern Monarchy

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:01]Queen Elizabeth II is one of the longest reigning monarchs in history. Since she came to the throne in 1952, she has met more presidents and potentates than any other head of state. Her reign has witnessed some astonishing changes in Britain and the world. For 60 years, she has tried to make the monarchy more relevant in a changing society.

[00:00:24]Her personal life has seen much turbulence. The failed marriages of [music] her sister Margaret and three of her own four children have deeply saddened her. The idyllic royal family image was shattered by divorce and scandal, culminating in the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997.

[00:00:43]Public reaction to Diana's death posed the biggest royal crisis since the abdication of Edward VII in 1936.

[00:00:51]After Diana, the Queen successfully rebranded and modernized the monarchy while keeping its colorful pageantry [music] intact.

[00:01:01]The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrates her years on the throne and the resurgence of popularity that the monarchy enjoys today. With Prince Charles settled into his second marriage and [music] Prince William also married, the Queen has every reason to believe that the foundations she has laid will endure.

[00:01:25]>> [music] [screaming] >> The Queen has traveled over a million miles and made over 250 foreign visits.

[00:01:45]In October 2011, she flew to Australia, [music] one of the Commonwealth nations in which she is sovereign. It was her 16th visit to Australia.

[00:01:56]She was 85, her husband, Prince Philillip, 90.

[00:02:01]Preserving Britain's links with the Commonwealth remains one of the Queen's most important challenges. Personal visits strengthen bonds and revive old memories. The Queen was 27 when she made a two-month journey across Australia with Prince Philillip in 1954, the year after her coronation.

[00:02:21]It was a landmark in Australian history, the first visit of a reigning monarch.

[00:02:27]>> I want to tell you all how happy I am to be amongst you and how much I look forward to my journey through Australia.

[00:02:38]It was estimated that onethird of Australia's entire population turned out in person to greet their young queen.

[00:02:46]Many still remember that historic visit.

[00:02:50]Among those greeting the queen in 2011 was Margaret Cunningham, who as a young child presented the queen with a bouquet of flowers on her first visit to Australia 57 years before.

[00:03:04]There is definitely a warmth in her eyes that has been maintained. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[00:03:11]>> Some wonder if the queen, now 86, will be able to make this long journey again [music] and whether she'll have to rely on other members of her family to maintain the precious links with [music] Australia and other Commonwealth countries.

[00:03:27]St. Paul's Cathedral was the setting for a service of thanksgiving [music] to mark the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006.

[00:03:36]The nation's gratitude was expressed by the Archbishop [music] of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

[00:03:43]>> Birthdays are among the most vivid reminders we can have of our common humanity and our common call to journey through time with each other.

[00:03:53]So today, your majesty, we give thanks with you simply for the gifts of life and experience.

[00:04:00]>> Afterwards, the crowds showed their affection. Just a few years before, Diana's death had caused unprecedented public reaction, but the Queen's efforts to connect more closely with her subjects had made the monarchy popular again. Prince Charles paid this tribute to his mother.

[00:04:18]It gives me enormous pride to be able to congratulate her publicly in this way and to thank her on behalf of us all for the many wonderful qualities which she's brought to almost an entire lifetime of service and dedication.

[00:04:34]>> The divorces of three of her four children challenged the family image of the royal house of Windsor.

[00:04:41]>> [music] >> Starting in 1973 with Princess Anne's marriage to Mark Phillips, spectacular royal weddings which promised so much had ended in failure and [music] scandal.

[00:04:53]No one foresaw the problems that the marriage of Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer [music] in 1981 would bring to the royal family.

[00:05:02]The marriage of Prince Andrew and [music] Sarah Ferguson in 1986 also failed.

[00:05:09]On her divorce from Charles in 1996, Diana, Princess of Wales, lost the title Her Royal Highness.

[00:05:16]But after her death following a car accident a year later, she was given a royal funeral befitting the mother of a future king.

[00:05:25]Then in 2005, Charles married his longtime mistress, Camila Parker BS, in a private civil ceremony.

[00:05:36]He had married Diana in the splendor of St. Paul's Cathedral. To the Queen, his first wedding meant the continuation of the royal line.

[00:05:44]>> I think the day that the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer was a great day for the Queen. What it was showing that day was that the continuity of her family was con was being continued in a correct and proper manner. I think there was always a certain amount of concern about Diana who was really quite young for her years. I think she was happy and satisfied that her son was marrying somebody and they would produce children and the and the continuity of the House of Windsor would almost certainly keep going.

[00:06:28]>> Diana became pregnant soon after the wedding. Her problems and illnesses were concealed from the public at first.

[00:06:34]Shortly after these pictures, Diana threw herself down some stairs at Sandringham, the Queen's Norfolk estate.

[00:06:42]>> The Queen must have known that there were all sorts of problems almost from the word go. So without us knowing, and she hid this very well, she was aware that Diana was having an incredibly difficult time settling down to married life.

[00:07:02]>> Since childhood, the Queen has kept her private feelings hidden from the public.

[00:07:08]Although she's paid tribute to Diana, she's given little sign of the turbulent emotions that the princess's life and death created behind palace walls.

[00:07:18]And while the outward display of monarchy has gone on, the queen has had to accommodate Prince Charles's determination to marry the woman Diana called the third person in her marriage.

[00:07:30]Camila Parker BS was Charles's mistress for several years before [music] the public became aware of her. After Diana's death, Charles no longer hid his affair with the now divorced Camila.

[00:07:41]A campaign [music] to gain public acceptance began with an appearance outside the London Ritz Hotel in 1999.

[00:07:47][music] The press eagerly followed each stage of the public relations [music] exercise.

[00:07:55]A series of high-profile events for [music] Charles's main charity, The Prince's Trust, propelled Camila ever more into the public arena. According to the law, Charles still had to ask the queen's consent to marry.

[00:08:09]>> Charles, of course, had to go and ask her. Surely the only 56y old man [music] in this day and age who has to undergo such a humiliating and embarrassing experience to ask his mother for permission to marry.

[00:08:22]>> Charles was technically a widowerower, but Camila's divorce [music] made a Church of England wedding impossible.

[00:08:27]The couple had a civil service at Windsor's Town Hall on April the 9th, [music] 2005. William and Harry were among the few witnesses. The Queen [music] did not attend.

[00:08:38]>> She was advised both by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. her own Williams and also by um her own private secretary, Sir Robin Janverine, that it would be unwise and inappropriate to attend the civil wedding because she is of course the supreme governor of the church of England.

[00:08:58]>> However, the queen did attend the church [music] blessing held at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

[00:09:05]Against expectations, Camila had become a member of the royal family. But the queen was still concerned [music] about her impact on the monarchy.

[00:09:14]>> I think what the queen felt at the beginning was that the people wouldn't accept Camila because of Camila being the other woman in in the marriage when Charles was in love supposed to be in love with Diana. And the queen was worried that that her people her subjects wouldn't accept Camila. What she does feel is that Camila has been a wonderful influence on Prince Charles and she truly loves Prince Charles and so the queen warms to Camila by the day.

[00:09:44]Recently, Camila has worked hard at gaining public acceptance which has improved thanks largely to the Queen's support.

[00:09:55]now known as her royal highness the Duchess of Cornwall. She is tactfully avoided using the title Princess of Wales which is irrevocably associated with Diana. We are told she will be the princess consort when Charles is king.

[00:10:10]>> Queen has now come to the conclusion Camila is winning over uh the people in a way that a year ago looked impossible frankly and that the monarchy therefore is in in much safer hands than perhaps it was. She knows that there is um strong opposition still to Camila.

[00:10:28]That's why we go through the idea that Camila will never be queen. But in 20 years time, if that's when Prince Charles comes to the throne, who is then to say that Camila shouldn't be his queen at his side?

[00:10:42]>> Prince Andrew, a naval officer, married Sarah Ferguson in 1986 and became Duke of York.

[00:10:49]There were high hopes for this marriage, but like Diana, the new Duchess of York, disappointed the Queen.

[00:10:59]Her backgrounds are so very different from hers. After all, she'd grown up with it. She'd been used to Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle as a as a child.

[00:11:09]She'd been trained for her job for forever. And so I don't think she fully understood the difficulties that these girls experienced. And I think when it came to um the Duchess of York particularly so because for the queen her own naval days as a naval wife had been absolute joy to her and the fact that Sarah Ferguson didn't or the Duchess of York didn't seem to enjoy that aspect of her husband's life she found very difficult to understand. With hindsight, it was clear that Diana and Sarah found adapting to royal life more difficult than anyone expected. But the queen did try to help them.

[00:11:54]If we look back, remember it was the queen who called the editors to the palace in the early days u when the princess of Wales uh felt she was being pressurized by the press in the media and uh the queen said uh you know my daughter-in-law's piece must must be protected and she at that time moved to protect the princess. Princess Wales to her was like an adorable skittish niece.

[00:12:19]I mean she just knew Diana from childhood. Um and so she was indulgent, caring and a little bit bewildered at sometimes. I mean in the early days when the princess was married and they were at Balmoral and it was stuffy occasion, princess would jump up from the table and run around the table and sit on Prince Charles's lap and give him a kiss. I mean something like that had never been seen before amongst the royal family. The queen would just shake her head and give a little smile. The queen attended the wedding of Princess Margaret's son Viccount Lindley to heirs Serena Stanh Hope in 1993.

[00:12:55]Both David Lindley and his sister Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones were close to the queen.

[00:13:02]Princess Margaret had married Lord Snowden in 1960, but the marriage fell apart. The Snowdens divorced in 1978 after several hostile years. The Queen took the children under her wing.

[00:13:19]She dotes on Princess Margaret's children, especially um Lady Sarah, who is just a favorite niece, and she was a very sort of loving aunt figure and very proud of Lord Lindley. I think one of the queen's quarters said to me that sometimes those young children thought the queen was their mother because she would always take them up to Balmoral with her when um Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden would go on their summer holidays to Sardinia or to um Tuskanyany and she was very much a stable figure in their lives and she loved them very much. That stability of the queen was needed when three of her four children divorced and her grandchildren had to cope with split homes.

[00:14:05]The queen took a special interest in Charles's sons, William and Harry.

[00:14:10]William, the second in line to the throne, developed a close relationship with his grandmother. But as their parents' marriage disintegrated, there were gaps in the young prince's contact with the rest of the family.

[00:14:24]I think with William and Harry, she's got to know them far far better in the last few years. I think when the marriage was still going on and Charles and Diana were each other throat, she hardly saw them at all. But obviously in in the last 10 years, she's seen them grow up. And although she might not see them that much, I think she's very proud, especially of Prince William. In 1992, both the Yorks and the Wales separated after a series of scandals which shocked the queen. Princess Anne also divorced in the same year and remarried.

[00:15:02]I know that when these divorces came one after another, she did say to close friend, well, what have we done wrong?

[00:15:10]It is very difficult to be a queen and a mother. I think every important executive woman finds this. I think that the Windsor temperament which has been handed down from George V and Queen Mary has also been a factor. Um the stiff upper lip, the um sweeping problems under the carpet and the lack of communication. And this also comes from living in enormous houses like Buckingham Palace where they live quite separate lives each with their own suite and their own servants. And so it isn't that you have a jolly get together in front of the television. It's a different life.

[00:15:52]>> And then on November the 20th, 1992, Windsor Castle caught fire. It happened on the Queen's 45th wedding anniversary.

[00:16:03]The queen was upset at [music] the damage to her favorite home where she had spent the war years with Princess Margaret. She supervised the removal of family treasures and days later she spoke of her sadness.

[00:16:16]>> 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.

[00:16:26]In [clears throat] the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annis horis.

[00:16:37]I suspect that I'm not alone in thinking it so.

[00:16:41]>> Couldn't have been worse, could it? All the children's marriages going wrong one after another. the tremendous scandals in the papers and the constant attention to the the royal family's private lives and then the outspoken criticism of her which she wasn't used to. She'd been used to nothing but kindness all her life and when the public turned on her at the time of the um wounds of fire and said no we won't pay I think she was deeply hurt and surprised by this. The world mourned the loss of Diana, but the Queen's slow public reaction provoked criticism.

[00:17:21]>> Of course, the Queen was shocked when Diana died, as was everybody else. But her concern wasn't actually for Diana or her family or her Prince Charles. It was for her grandchildren.

[00:17:34]And William and Harry were up at Balmoral staying with the Queen in Scotland.

[00:17:41]and her whole concentration was on protecting and safeguarding those poor young children as best she could.

[00:17:52]>> At Balmoral, the Queen learned of the growing tension in the capital.

[00:17:57]Attention focused on the empty flag pole on top of Buckingham Palace.

[00:18:02]>> She then gave orders for a flag to be put up, never happened before, and that it should fly at half mass. I think she was out of touch. I think it was mainly because she was trying to protect the grandchildren and I think she very nearly got it seriously wrong.

[00:18:19]>> William and Harry walked behind their mother's coffin with their grandfather to support them on their heartbreaking journey.

[00:18:26]>> Prince William asked his grandfather to walk in the funeral procession. It was Prince Prince William's request and I think that Prince William is probably the sort of son Prince Philip would like to have had. I think he's very proud of him and [clears throat] he likes Prince Harry's robustness and uh I I think he's um very devoted to them in his in his way.

[00:18:49]>> The death of Diana will have a lasting impact. I think it probably will be looked at in the history books as the time when the monarchy radically changed its attitude to its past and its future.

[00:19:05]However, the business of monarchy always goes on.

[00:19:10]Entertaining heads of state is one of the queen's most important duties. This ceremonial hospitality builds bridges between countries and cements international friendships.

[00:19:22]A state banquet at Windsor Castle was the highlight of this visit of Polish President Le Fensa in 1991.

[00:19:29]Guests dined from the finest china, silverware, and crystal. 300 staff served them quails eggs, turbet, ve and peaches. For many in white Thai and tiaras, this was a unique experience, but it was the queen's 65th state banquet.

[00:19:49]>> I raise my glass to you and Mrs. Venza and the well-being and happiness of the Polish people.

[00:19:59]International diplomacy requires visits abroad, like this one, to France [music] in 1992.

[00:20:06]The Queen is one of the most widely traveled monarchs in history. Her reliability and grasp of foreign affairs are never in doubt.

[00:20:15]Her professionalism was evident on this tour of Germany in 1992. It was her first visit there since the fall of communism and the unification of West and East Germany.

[00:20:31]She came to support the newly united Republic and to strengthen ties between Germany and Britain which had been disrupted [music] by two world wars.

[00:20:42]Her speech put aside old enmity.

[00:20:46]Like all close friends, we do not always see eye to eye.

[00:20:52]But as friends should, we try not to let the sun go down on our quarrels.

[00:21:00]Visiting the United States reinforces the special relationship enjoyed with Britain since before World War II. In 1991, the Queen was welcomed by President George Bush, Senior.

[00:21:12]There is a symbolism in the events of such a visit that defies analysis but which has a way of reaching the hearts of people far and wide.

[00:21:23]>> She is head of state in Australia as in a further 15 out of 54 countries comprising the Commonwealth.

[00:21:32]She went to Australia in 1992 after a gap of 12 years. Republicanism was a growing movement, but her personal popularity ensured that she is still queen there today.

[00:21:46]During the trip, she unveiled one of the many portraits of her [music] reign.

[00:21:50]This one captures the reserved character of the woman behind the crown.

[00:21:56]The queen isn't by nature an emotional person.

[00:22:02]um she doesn't have great highs and great lows. She accepts life and if there's something she doesn't want to understand or doesn't want to see, she compartmentalizes it. So, she avoids emotional confrontation. She avoids moral confrontation altogether.

[00:22:22]>> Elizabeth had a golden childhood with her younger sister Margaret. Her life was carefree until her parents became [music] king and queen in 1936 when she was 10.

[00:22:36]They became the family firm or we four as her father George V 6 called them as a presumptive Elizabeth was influenced by her formidable grandmother Queen Mary.

[00:22:51]she didn't inherit her own mother's warmth um and spontaneity and the person she admires almost most um apart from Queen Victoria is her grandmother Queen Mary and you can see a great resemblance between the two you know that uh shyness that formality that slight distance from the public at 21 she became engaged to Prince Philillip [music] of Greece despite the reservation s of her father.

[00:23:24]>> There were some family tensions mainly because um the king, King George V 6th, uh the Queen's father, of course, Princess Elizabeth's father um didn't feel that Philip Mountbatton at that time um was a suitable prospective husband. He just didn't feel so. A he didn't come out of the top draw of European royalty. the Greek or royal family were fairly low down in the league table of European royalty. He didn't have a a great title. He didn't have a vast fortune or estates to bring into um into the marriage. Um and also he felt at 21 was a bit young. He thought she should have waited four or five years but she showed that she had some steel in her and indeed she persuaded her mother and her mother supported her. And of course, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, had a huge influence over her husband. And that's what happened.

[00:24:17]>> In 1947, during a family tour of South Africa, Elizabeth made her 21st birthday speech.

[00:24:24]>> 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 to which we all belong.

[00:24:39]But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me as I now invite you to do.

[00:24:49]I know that your support will be unfailingly given.

[00:24:54]God help me to make good my vow and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.

[00:25:02]>> Nearly 50 years later, she returned to a country where great changes had taken place.

[00:25:10]South Africa had withdrawn from the Commonwealth in 1961 over its policy of apartheid. This ended in 1994 and South Africa was readmitted to the Commonwealth.

[00:25:24]On this visit in 1995, the Queen met a statesman who became a personal friend, President Nelson Mandela. The following year, Mandela came to London to visit the woman he called my friend Elizabeth.

[00:25:40]>> Queen isn't racially prejudiced at all.

[00:25:43]She's colorblind, if you like. And one of her greatest friends and the person who impressed her and the other members of the royal and members of the royal household, if you like, was Nelson Mandela. And when she met Mandela, she was tremendously impressed with his sincerity and with his integrity and with his compassion. And I think the fact that he felt all this um endeared him to the queen and indeed they are still very much uh in touch. They correspond with each other if not regularly but certainly quite frequently.

[00:26:14]>> When Princess Elizabeth married her sailor prince in 1947, it was an occasion for national rejoicing. Still burdened with ration books and clothing coupons, the British public welcomed this glittering relief from postwar austerity.

[00:26:33]ires to the kingdom since the age of 10, Elizabeth was the nation's sweetheart.

[00:26:38]Her wedding brought romance and promise to a country still adjusting to life after a world war.

[00:26:47]Elizabeth's lavishly embroidered silk wedding gown was designed by the royal couturier Norman Hartnull. It was beyond the dreams of any other bride at the time.

[00:26:59]>> [music] >> Although the king found the parting from his daughter painful, it was a day [music] of family joy shared by his subjects.

[00:27:12]It was very, very depressing time and Churchill described the wedding as a bright ray of color on the hard gray road we have to travel. Despite the November weather, the happy couple traveled in an open carriage to Waterlue Station for the journey to their honeymoon. They were accompanied by Susan, the bride's favorite corgi.

[00:27:33][cheering] [applause] Unknown to the public, Elizabeth had married the man she had loved since her early teens. The Queen was 13 when she first saw Prince Philillip, who was then a young naval cadet at Dartmouth, and very good-looking. you know, every sort of school girl's idea of a dashing hero, blonde life, very sort of athletic. They then um met um some years later and of course was so different then. A courtship was conducted perhaps at a distance, but uh the queen had met the man she loved and uh I would think has never stopped loving.

[00:28:12]>> The couple spent the early part of their marriage on the island of Malta where Philillip was stationed at the naval base.

[00:28:20]For Princess Elizabeth, it was like um flying out of a cage. After all, she'd been brought up during the war at Windsor Castle, very much isolated. And there in Malta, she just lived the life of any naval wife, going to dances, going to parties, going to beach parties, um just living a totally normal life. And it was perhaps the happiest period of her life. The birth of a son Charles a year after the wedding brought further happiness and secured the Windsor dynasty for another generation.

[00:28:57]Letters sent by the doting mother showed maternal warmth and paternal pride.

[00:29:06]Baby Charles brought great joy to both his young parents.

[00:29:12]In 1950, Charles was joined by a sister Anne. But Princess Elizabeth soon had to deputize for her ailing father.

[00:29:20]>> She was on an state visit going to visit Australia and New Zealand when she stopped off in Kenyan. It was there that she heard that her father died.

[00:29:31]>> Her coronation on June the 2nd, 1953 was an occasion of great pageantry and splendor.

[00:29:39]Charles for and an watched as their parents left the palace in the gold coronation coach.

[00:29:46]>> [cheering] >> Afterwards, they joined their newly crowned mother and watched the cheering crowds from the palace balcony. On that historic day, the world heralded a new Elizabeth and age. People were optimistic in the way that they thought, "Oh, this is going to be a new Britain with a young queen." And then on the day of the coronation came the news that Hillary and Tensing had conquered Everest. And this was another terrific morale booster.

[00:30:17]>> The Queen's duties took her away from her young children. As a result, Charles grew close to his grandmother. He seemed rather beused by the protocol surrounding the Queen.

[00:30:30]Sometimes he and Anne joined their parents at the end of foreign tours, such as here in Gibralta in 1954. They hadn't seen their mother for 6 months.

[00:30:42]We have to remember that um Prince Charles and Princess Anne were born before she came to the throne and she was still just the heir to the throne.

[00:30:52]And so she had more time. She had a more private life. As soon as she exceeded the throne, she had so much to do, so much to learn, huge Commonwealth tours to do, which in those days before jet planes had rarely caught on, took months.

[00:31:09]The person who has given the queen the greatest public support is Prince Phillip. But in their family life, she has chosen to defer to him. Arguably, this has had unfortunate consequences for Charles, who was sent to Philillip's old boarding school, Gordonston. He is very much a boss in the home. Um, he was the man who he was the one who decided that the boys should go to Gordon, you know, whereas the queen herself might have preferred Eaton. She took her eye off her son. I think that um she listened to her husband and said, "Look, I think it's a good idea if he goes away to a boarding school." And I'm not sure in retrospect that that was such a good idea. But then we'll never really know how Prince Charles would have turned out if he'd been to a sort of day school or had had governors. It's very very hard to tell. But I think Philillip was very harsh on Prince Charles.

[00:32:05]We know that this has not been an immense success and the poor prince Charles was deeply unhappy there. But I think the queen felt particularly um that in her marriage it should be a traditional marriage of her time which in which the husband called the shots and the women ran the house.

[00:32:24]And also I feel that she had to compensate felt that she had to compensate for the fact that she was in essence the boss and this dominant um male matter man that the Duke of Edinburgh had to take second place in public. Anyway, >> Prince Andrew was born in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.

[00:32:48]After a marriage lasting nearly 65 years, Elizabeth and Philillip remain close.

[00:32:54]>> The Queen will call Prince [music] Phillip darling, but if she's in public or she's cross with him, she'll call him Phillip. And one knows then that things are not are a little glacial. And the queen is not the sort of person to lose her temper. Um, I think if there's a a blistering row about something, she will probably go out and ride her horses or go and feed the dogs or um groom the corgis and he may stomp about a bit. But the queen, her voice is not raised loudly, but everyone is aware if she is displeased and not amused.

[00:33:30]>> In 1977, the queen celebrated her silver jubilee. She traveled to St. Paul's Cathedral in the 200-year-old gold state coach. Her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary, celebrated their silver jubilee in 1935, riding in the same coach.

[00:33:49]The Queen's processional route was lined with cheering crowds all the way from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral, then to London's Guild Hall, where she had lunch, and back to the palace. She had not expected the warmth of the public's response. Amazed at the spontaneous bursts of cheering outside St. Paul's Cathedral, the Queen made an impromptu walkabout, the first of her reign.

[00:34:12]>> She comes from an era when it was not done for those people to be demonstrative in public. And sometimes she said after a day of meeting people, you know, I simply ache with smiling.

[00:34:24]But as confided, it's a sad thing. She doesn't have a smiley face. But where she was actually very touched and very natural was the time of the silver jubilee going through the streets and the people came out once again and shook her warmly by hand and she was astonished by this. I think she's gets a lot of her shinyness from Queen Mary.

[00:34:42]The same sort of uh uprightness and inability and yet so caring.

[00:34:49]>> On this memorable day, over a 100,000 people waited to cheer her outside the palace. 5 years earlier, the Queen and Prince Phillip celebrated their silver wedding. Playing on the famous royal use of the pronoun we, she included a subtle joke in her speech.

[00:35:07]>> We, and by that I mean both of us, are most grateful.

[00:35:17]>> A 21 gun salute marked Prince Philillip's 70th birthday in 1991.

[00:35:23]Last December, he was successfully treated for a blocked coronary artery. 5 years older than the queen, Philillip has retained his energy and enthusiasm for the monarchy. He is prince consort in all but name.

[00:35:38]At Balmoral, their home in Scotland, the royal couple relax with their family and their favorite pets. This is the granddaughter of Susan, the corgi that the queen took with her on her honeymoon. This is the breed most associated with her. She appears to be at her happiest with her pack of corgis and likes to feed them herself.

[00:35:58]>> The queen is in the palace. She does give them afternoon tea herself. I mean um she chops up their food and their biscuits and puts it down in little silver salvas. And some of them are quite snappy and are not averse to biting an ankle. And I sometimes think that gives her a very secret chuckle.

[00:36:17]After lunch at Windsor, and this is quite disconcerting for guests, uh the queen will spray dog biscuits around under the table, the footman appears with a salv on one occasion, the salva of dog biscuits was presented to the queen, and a nervous bishop who was sitting beside her actually took one and ate it.

[00:36:38]>> Prince Phillip took up carriage driving when he was forced to give up the very physical sport of polo at the age of 60.

[00:36:45]For a horseman of [music] long experience, carriage driving offered a way of prolonging his participation in equestrian events.

[00:36:55]Even after his heart operation, Philillip still takes the reigns for a spot of more leisurely carriage driving.

[00:37:03]And just as he supports the queen in her official role, she likes to show her encouragement for her husband's unusual hobby.

[00:37:11]She always made time [music] to watch him when he competed at carriage driving trials. Horses can be disturbed by noisy and intrusive spectators which puts the drivers at risk.

[00:37:24]Sometimes she let her feelings be known, showing off unwelcome attention. Few dare argue with the queen. She is a renowned horsewoman with legendary control. She rides frequently at Windsor, sometimes with Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex. She's notably relaxed with her youngest son, who's happily married with two young children.

[00:37:52]The Queen is passionate about racing.

[00:37:54]She owns Ascot Racecourse near Windsor and attends Royal Ascot there each June.

[00:38:01]The parade of open carriages before the start of the races was as much part of the attraction in the 1960s as in more recent times.

[00:38:11]But the Duchess of York, princesses Anne and Margaret and of course the Princess of Wales didn't share the Queen's boundless enthusiasm for watching her horses.

[00:38:26]You can see the sort of absolute girish glee with which she treats them when she'll run down, you know, to get a better view. And uh, you know, her face lights up as you never see it light up on public occasions.

[00:38:43]>> She shared her love of horses with her racing manager, Lord Canavan. They'd been friends since their teens. His death from a heart attack on 911 the day of the terrorist attacks in America was a bitter blow.

[00:38:55]>> The queen had a wonderful relationship with Lorenavan. He was her racing manager and racing is one thing that the queen loves above all else. And she's extremely extremely intelligent about breeding. And here was one man that she could talk to to her heart's content and never be bored. Now, even if he called in the middle of dinner, I'm not saying a state banquet, but if it was a family dinner, she would always take his call.

[00:39:22]Um, so she misses him a great deal.

[00:39:26]>> The Queen owns raceh horses and broodmars worth several million pounds.

[00:39:32]When President Reagan visited Windsor in 1982, the Queen was keen to show off her horses to the one-time Hollywood actor and owner of a Californian ranch.

[00:39:42]He happily posed for the cameras and then led back by the queen into Windsor Castle.

[00:39:53]>> Rich list [music] compilers have cautiously estimated the Queen's personal fortune at £400 million.

[00:40:03]>> It's terribly hard to work out just how rich the queen is. It's very hard to separate the goods, chattles, which are very valuable ones that [music] she is custodian of for her life.

[00:40:20]The crown worn at the opening of Parliament is state property. But the queen has fabulous jewels, magnificent homes, a huge investment portfolio and paintings and drawings which are the envy of the art world.

[00:40:34]>> Her art collection is just astonishing.

[00:40:36]There are so many Van Dyes around. There are Michelangelos. I mean, absolutely endless goodies, but I'm not sure that she could classify them as being hers.

[00:40:48]>> Windsor Castle is her favorite home. But officially, it too belongs to the state.

[00:40:54]Despite her lavish surroundings, the Queen is well known for her frugal habits.

[00:40:59]>> You'll still find the Queen perhaps with a small electric power. I I think it may run to three bars, but uh quite and very often she'll put on two, but uh she likes to be thrifty.

[00:41:14]The Duchy of Lancaster is the ancient custodian of 50,000 acres, including farmland, historic buildings, urban developments, and other assets held in [music] trust for the monarch.

[00:41:29]The duche pays an annual private income to the queen of over13 million.

[00:41:35]This is separate from the civil list awarded by Parliament [music] to cover her official expenses as head of state and head of the Commonwealth.

[00:41:48]She pays regular visits to the duche and keeps in touch with her many tenants this way.

[00:41:55]Here, as everywhere else she visits, the Queen's clothes and grooming reflect her position rather than her wealth.

[00:42:06]She has a very matter-of-fact attitude to clothes. She has always said, "I'm not a film star. Um, clothes, you know, are just essential to the job." And she has very strict rules. She will say to designers who will draw up some beautiful um thing for a tour and she say, "Hopeless for waving. I can't wave with uh sleeves like that. So they must always ensure that you can wave. Hats must always be off the face um because the people must be able to see me and lipstick is always a very strong red and this is for the sake of the photographers and so that she can be seen by people from a great distance.

[00:42:43]But she doesn't have a frivolous attitude to clothes. Though she does like pretty bright colors. She likes um lemons, pinks, blues, purples, although she looks very good actually in dark colors.

[00:42:59]Her hair is immovable probably in in whatever the weather conditions. And I once said to her hairdresser, "What is the secret of the queen's hair? You know, why why does it never move in the wind?" And he said, "Bute force and lacquer."

[00:43:14]>> The queen welcomes world leaders [music] to Britain. Nelson Mandela came in 1997.

[00:43:21]Pope John Paul II in 1982.

[00:43:25]Ronald and Nancy Reagan visited Britain in the same year.

[00:43:33]President George Bush Senior and his wife Barbara were welcomed in 1991.

[00:43:42]Bill and Hillary Clinton came to call in 1995.

[00:43:49]More than two billion people in 54 countries across six continents count themselves citizens of the Commonwealth and subjects of the Queen.

[00:44:00][cheering] About a third of her visits abroad have been to Commonwealth countries starting in 1953, the year of her coronation.

[00:44:09]These tours foster international cooperation and trade links between member countries.

[00:44:15]She has known many Commonwealth prime ministers, all as important to her as her 12 British ones, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. A lot of people don't appreciate this. They consider the Commonwealth as really very unimportant, a relic from the past. It's not how the Queen views it at all. She considers her role as um Queen of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, any of the other 16 Dominion countries. She considers that every bit as important as being queen of Britain, UK, Northern Ireland, Wales, all that. Every bit as important. And she loves her prime ministers.

[00:44:58]The Commonwealth love her. They think that she's the person who cares about them, that the government of the day in Britain usually doesn't. And also she's been around so long that all these she's such friends with all these leaders. She knows their problems. She knows their family. She knows intimate details about them. You know whether their brothers just died or something. So they really feel that she genuinely cares and she does.

[00:45:28]>> She speaks privately to everyone at the Commonwealth heads of government meetings.

[00:45:34]Although royal tours are immensely wellprepared, gaffs can still happen.

[00:45:39]When she made a speech at the White House in 1991, the stand was arranged for a taller figure than the queen.

[00:45:47]>> Some nitwipped had got the stand from watch where she was reading her speech a little bit too high and the camera was too low and you just had a picture up over the lectern onto you couldn't see the queen's face properly. All you could see was a hat and everybody dubbed it as the speaking hat. She finds this actually immensely amusing. She has a great sense of humor.

[00:46:11]>> Well, the Queen's friends will tell you what a wonderful sense of humor she has and how she find she likes to laugh at herself for a start and she loves ridiculous things. I mean, she'll laugh till the tears run down her face and then she's got a quick w sense of irony.

[00:46:28]And there's a story I particularly like and she was in a Norfolk shop dressed as she normally is in the country with her headscarf and everything. And a woman came up to her and said, "Um, I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you look awfully like the Queen." And the Queen said, "How very reassuring."

[00:46:47]A fountain in Kensington Gardens is Britain's memorial to Diana. It was opened by the Queen in 2004. the Diana who made such an impact on our lives.

[00:47:00]Of course, there were difficult times, but memories mellow with the passing of the years.

[00:47:07]I remember especially the happiness she gave to my two grandsons.

[00:47:13]>> William has learned a great deal from the Queen. Uh when William first started at Eaton, every Sunday afternoon he was taken up to have tea with granny at Windsor Castle when he was given a few off-the- cuff lessons in constitutional history. Not the ideal way for a 13 and 14 year old to spend a Sunday afternoon, I would have thought, but he did. And he absolutely worships his grandmother.

[00:47:36]They have a wonderful time.

[00:47:38]>> At the start of her [music] diamond jubilee, the queen made an official visit to the London store of Fortn Mason. It was dubbed [music] the visit of the three queens, Elizabeth II, and the future queens, Camila and Kate.

[00:47:54]The strong bond between the Queen and Prince William now embraces his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. [music] The Queen has made sure that Kate has been welcomed into the royal family and given the guidance that Diana and Sarah Ferguson lacked. And in the year since her wedding, Kate has created a new wave of royal popularity.

[00:48:16]As the queen moves into her seventh decade on the throne, she can reflect on the huge changes in her reign, not least in her own family.

[00:48:27]Seven years have passed since the wedding of Charles [music] to Camila, once reviled as the woman who destroyed Diana's marriage. Making Camila acceptable to the public as a future queen consort, became one of the most important challenges of the queen's reign.

[00:48:43]In her autumn years, the queen has had to rebrand the [crying] monarchy and stabilize it after the turmoil of the 1990s and the tragic death of Diana.

[00:49:00]In 1981, the queen had shared the hopes of the world in this starcrossed union of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. 30 years later, the wedding of her grandson, Prince William, to Kate Middleton has given the Queen every confidence that the future of the monarchy is finally secure.

[00:49:20][cheering]