Portrait of a Queen ‘who was young once, too’
Rare home movies reveal ‘fun behind the formality’ of being a Royal, says Her Majesty in jubilee show
THE QUEEN has opened her home video archive to the nation, saying she hopes the next generation will not only find it interesting but also remember that she too was “young once”.
Remarkable footage of the Queen as she has never been seen before will be aired in honour of the Platinum Jubilee, capturing the “fun behind the formality” of life in the Royal family.
The BBC documentary Elizabeth: the Unseen Queen includes material from 400 reels of footage and 60 of the Queen’s speeches to bring her early years to vivid life, from the first moving image of her as a baby to the high jinks of childhood holidays at Balmoral.
The Queen was so taken with the concept of the film, she agreed to record her own thoughts to introduce it, explaining that the Royal family captured their private lives on camera not just for the historic record, but for their own pleasure.
“Cameras have always been a part of our lives,” she said, in an audio message recorded at Windsor Castle on May 19.
“I think there’s a difference to watching a home-movie when you know who it is on the other side of the lens. It adds to the sense of intimacy.
“Like many families, my parents wanted to keep a record of our precious moments together.”
Referring to her life with Prince Philip and their four children, she added: “And when it was our turn with our own family, we did the same. I always enjoyed capturing family moments.
“Private photos can often show the fun behind the formality.
“I expect just about every family has a collection of photographs or films that were once regularly looked at to recall precious moments but which, over time, are replaced by newer images and more recent memories.
“You always hope that future generations will find them interesting, and perhaps be surprised that you too were young once.”
The footage begins with very early moments of Princess Elizabeth’s life, being pushed in a pram in 1926 wearing a baby bonnet.
Later, she is seen riding a tricycle and examining the flowers as a toddler, while her pipe-smoking father George VI joins the fun, and playing with Princess Margaret holding tea parties and pulling funny faces.
As they get older, Elizabeth and Margaret perform a choreographed dance, bounce in the heather at Balmoral, and bask in the sun on HMS Vanguard during their 1947 tour to South Africa.
At almost all times, George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth are seen at the very heart of warm family life.
Prince Philip, too, is captured in his element, with all-action appearances in swimming pools and on water skis matched by moving scenes of the newlyweds in private in the corridors of Buckingham Palace.
The Queen’s two older children take something of a starring role, with Prince Charles filmed learning to use a spoon in his high chair and marching around in dungarees, and a spirited Princess Anne giggling, throwing her rattle aside and trying to eat pebbles at the shore of a loch.
Edward VIII is seen in happier times, playing the bagpipes while his young nieces dance and arm-in-arm with his brother Bertie, before footage including Wallis Simpson shows him announcing his abdication.
Prince George, the Duke of Kent, who died on active duty in the Second World War, is filmed helping Elizabeth ride a Shetland pony. Her Majesty expresses her condolences at his death saying “he was always so kind to us”. It is believed to be the only surviving footage of the pair together.
The 75-minute programme has been given permission to use the very last film taken by the Princess before she became Queen. It features wildlife in Kenya and was shot shortly before she learned of the death of her father.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson hailed the Queen “Elizabeth the Great” as politicians paid tribute to the monarch in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister praised her “profound knowledge” of politics and world affairs and said no monarch had served their country so long or so well. He also expressed hope that the nation would next week come together to reciprocate the “love, devotion and leadership” she had shown the country over the last 70 years.