- For the press.
- And they can see it.
I don't mind. I don't matter.
70 Years.
Seven decades of service
and duty to her people.
Our record breaking Platinum Queen.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
has devoted herself
to her people since 1952
following the early death
of her father King George VI.
As her Platinum Jubilee
year builds to a crescendo
of summer celebrations, Her
Majesty will surely stop
for a moment to reflect on
the extraordinary changes
the world has seen during her reign.
Inevitably, a long life
can pass by many milestones.
My own is no exception.
She has seen 14 prime ministers.
The Queen did me the great honor.
The Queen has asked me to
form a new administration.
To form a government.
And I have accepted.
And I accepted.
And I have accepted.
Met 13 of
the 14 U.S. presidents,
survived assassination attempts,
and calmly dealt with
her own family crises.
She has made over 280
overseas state visits
to other countries and her
Commonwealth of Nations.
She has unveiled countless plaques
and cut too many ribbons to remember.
My goodness I've been busy.
But all who come into her purview,
even fleetingly, will vividly remember
that regal presence,
dignity, and charisma
she brings with her even into her 90s.
Living under the constant and
intense scrutiny of the media,
but able to do so much
to help and support those
who look to the monarchy
for leadership and example.
Seven decades of a head of state,
in her position not
because of a popular vote,
but because her people respect and revere
what she does for her nation.
This afternoon, the Queen
did me the great honor
to ask me to form a government.
I have accepted this duty.
The 1950s was
a difficult time for Britain
as post-w*r austerity still
dominated the nation's economy,
but also for the Queen personally,
grieving for her
recently-deceased father.
Man first went into space in the 1950s,
and the discovery of DNA heralded
fantastic scientific breakthroughs.
To have a look round the next corner
has always been a characteristic
of the human race,
and this characteristic
is most unlikely to wither
just at this moment of
history when the first steps
into another unknown
have just been taken.
The Queen's
coronation was televised live,
much to the consternation
of her first prime minister,
Winston Churchill, but
television also offered
the opportunity to see the Queen
broadcasting her Christmas message.
The decade started for
Her Majesty with the birth
of her second child, Anne,
now the Princess Royal.
She became queen on
the death of her father
on February the 6th,
1952, but her coronation
did not take place until
June the 2nd, 1953.
It was in Kenya
at the royal hunting lodge
that the news of the King's
death reached his daughter.
When she returned from
a night in the forest,
it was to learn that
she is now the queen,
acceding to her father's
throne immediately.
There is no break in the
continuity of the British monarchy.
It was her own decision to
return at once to London.
In fact, she had already started
her decades of service having
stood in for her father
during the last few years of his life
and when he was unable
to fulfill his duties
through ill health.
Following her coronation,
Her Majesty's influence
was quickly established,
inexperienced though she was,
but guided by the most experienced
of prime ministers, Winston Churchill.
When she embarked with Prince Philip
on a six-month world tour,
making her the first reigning monarch
to visit Australia and New Zealand,
dubbed by the media as her
World Commonwealth Tour,
she may not have known it would remain
the longest overseas tour of
her 70 years on the throne.
Along the two-mile lane
formed by yachts, the Queen and Duke
headed towards Farm Cove,
the historic place
where the first governor
of New South Wales landed
more than 150 years ago.
Awaiting them were men whose names
are famous throughout the world.
The governor general, Sir William Slim,
welcomed Her Majesty on behalf
of the whole Commonwealth of Australia,
and after him came the
governor of New South Wales,
then our good friend the
prime minister, Mr. Menzies,
and other notables of the city itself.
Her Majesty replied to
the address of welcome.
Standing at last on Australian soil,
on this spot that is the
birthplace of the nation,
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.
Whilst the Queen was on her world tour,
Dwight D. Eisenhower was
elected President of the USA,
and his inauguration was quickly followed
by an end to racial
segregation in public schools.
Churchill resigned halfway
through the decade,
and Anthony Eden was invited by the Queen
to form a government on her behalf,
followed by Harold Macmillan in 1957.
This afternoon, the Queen
did me the great honor
to ask me to form a government.
I have accepted this duty.
The occasion is a sad one for me,
brought about as it is by the retirement
of my old and very dear
friend, Anthony Eden.
Queen Elizabeth visited
her North American
realm for the first time
since ascending the throne.
Canada summoned up a regal
display of pomp and ceremony
to hail a beloved ruler.
It was also in 1957 that the Queen
became the first monarch to
open the Canadian Parliament,
and she went on to address
the General Assembly of the
United Nations in New York.
The royal couple proceeded
up Broadway, the Canyon of Heroes,
bombarded by tons of ticker
tape, millions of cheers,
in what was the most
enthusiastic reception anywhere
in Elizabeth's 10-day
North American tour.
A monarch of 10 commonwealth nations
was New York's queen for a day.
In 1955, the
government finally took action
and prohibited the
burning of coal in London,
putting an end to the
infamous London smog
which had taken so many lives.
The mid-'50s seemed to take the country
from one problem to the next,
with the Suez crisis
dividing the UK government
when Britain and France invaded Egypt.
When President Abdul Nasser
announced its seizure by Egypt,
thrust Israeli troops struck
down the Sinai Peninsula
to within a few miles
of the canal itself.
Within days, Egyptian forces
were completely routed.
The stage was set for the next move
in the complex Suez situation.
Britain and France,
after a short ultimatum,
in a joint sea and air invasion att*cked
following a preliminary air bombardment.
From a staging area on Cyprus,
airborne troops quickly followed
and established a beachhead
at the entrance to the canal.
They were followed by
seaborne contingents
which swiftly controlled
the Mediterranean end
of the vital waterway.
The 1950s witnessed the beginning
of what was to become
a revolution in youth
and music culture on both
sides of the Atlantic,
with Bill Haley and the Comets
winning two top 10 hits,
taking the focus from
the traditional crooners
such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin,
Nat King Cole, and Rosemary Clooney.
♪ I think of when
I had none at all ♪
♪ And I fall asleep
counting my blessings ♪
In 1957, during her uplifting
address to the nation
in the Queen's Christmas
Message, she said,
"Today, things are very different.
I cannot lead you into battle.
I do not give you laws
or administer justice,
but I can do something else.
I can give you my heart and my devotion
to these old islands
and to all the peoples
of our brotherhood of nations."
The world witnessed extraordinary change
during the first 10 years
of the Queen's reign
with enormous strides forward
in science and technology,
but with Britain in the doldrums
trying to establish a new post-w*r order.
Her first eight years of
reign and the end of the 1950s
saw the start of the Vietnam w*r
and a world stage readying itself
for the conflicts of the 1960s.
Houston, the Eagle has landed.
I've today been appointed
prime minister by the Queen.
♪ Shake it up, baby, now ♪
♪ Shake it up, baby ♪
♪ Twist and shout ♪
♪ Come on, come on,
come on, come on, baby ♪
If the 1950s were difficult,
the speed of change in
technology and culture
accelerated rapidly during the 1960s.
Following the birth of her
second son, Prince Andrew,
her younger sister's troubled
love life looked as though
it was taking a turn for the better
with Princess Margaret's marriage
to society photographer
Anthony Armstrong Jones.
At the same time, Prime
Minister Harold Macmillan
made his famous Winds of Change speech
asking the white ruling
government of South Africa
to start the process
of true democratization
and to acknowledge the
beginnings of the end of apartheid.
Perhaps one of the
biggest and most important
of cultural changes
took place in 1961 when,
with a woman on the throne,
birth control pills became
commercially available,
placing the power of procreation, or not,
in the hands of women
for the first time ever.
Women could now make their own decisions
if and when they wanted children.
The Queen has great conviction and belief
in the value of the
Commonwealth of Nations.
During the reign of her grandmother,
Queen Victoria, Britain had been
one of the world's most
prolific colonizers,
building an empire on which
the sun famously never set.
The 1950s and '60s saw perhaps
the biggest breaking up of the empire,
following the gaining of
independence of India in 1947.
Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica, and others
were quickly establishing
their own constitutions
and ways of governing, and
the Queen was determined
to find some good in
history and to create
a thriving Commonwealth of Nations
based around the remnants
of the British Empire.
She set about the task with
great energy and enthusiasm,
determined to make a difference
and to maintain close
social and cultural ties
with member countries
of the Commonwealth.
This gathering shows the
diversity of people's creeds
and cultures within the Commonwealth,
each having an equal place in
our organization of nations.
In the wide association
which is the Commonwealth,
we must all try to cultivate the virtues
of tolerance and understanding,
to recognize each other's qualities,
and to respect each other's feelings.
In this modern age,
the strength and unity
of the Commonwealth family
does not lie in bonds
forged by formal instruments,
nor in common ancestry,
nor in pursuing the same political line.
It springs from the
knowledge that we all share
a lively concern for individual freedom
and all the machinery
which makes this possible.
Majestic Orinduik Falls
in British Guiana seems
to put on added sparkle
for the occasion, a visit
from Queen Elizabeth
and Prince Philip.
The royal pair stop first
at this soon-to-be independent colony
before touring their
dominions in the West Indies.
They receive an enthusiastic welcome
that covers the tensions that
seethe in the background.
British Guiana has been
the scene of race wars
between East Indians and
Negroes and it's touch and go
as to which faction will gain control
with independence next May.
In face of b*mb threats,
security was tight
and authorities would not let the Queen
travel more than seven
miles from Georgetown.
In the capital, however,
nothing mars the festive mood.
In the legislative chambers,
portraits are unveiled
which will link an independent
Guiana with the Crown.
There's an informal reception
at Promenade Gardens,
and even some of the
opposition party members
are here to greet the Queen.
Elizabeth and Philip take a
ride on the oldest railroad
in South America, a line
running to the sugar plantation
of La Bonne Intention.
This railway was built only a few years
after the first one in
England began operation.
Now the Queen will board the royal yacht
for a five-week cruise
through the Caribbean.
In the early '60s,
John F. Kennedy was elected
president of the USA,
and he continued the
process of trying to bring
a greater equality to his
country and ending the racism
which had blighted the
nation for so long.
And when Americans are sent
to Vietnam or West Berlin,
we do not ask for whites only.
It ought to be possible, therefore,
for American students of any color
to attend any public
institution they select
without having to be backed up by troops.
Famously, Kennedy
was k*lled by an assassin
as his motorcade drove through Dallas
on November 22nd, 1963.
As he places a wreath marked
"From President Johnson
and the nation."
Of course, Her
Majesty sent her own messages
of condolence to our
cousins across the Atlantic,
and she was said to have
greatly enjoyed her meeting
with Kennedy during his
visit to the United Kingdom.
He said, "I shall always
cherish the memory
of that delightful evening."
It was also in 1963 that The Beatles
released their first album,
quickly establishing
themselves as the forerunners
to a new era of
nonconformist pop culture.
The Queen must have
been agog at the changes
happening on her own doorstep.
Mods fighting rockers on
the seafront at Brighton
and a new breed of fashion designer
introducing the miniskirt
onto an unsuspecting public.
The country was looking
for something new,
a breath of new life
into postwar Britain,
and the swinging London scene
became the backdrop for that shift.
The Queen, not to be left behind,
adopted her own sense of style,
keeping that sense of
conservative dignity
yet adopting a more modern look,
which she took with her on her travels
championing the British
fashion designers of the time.
The summer of 1966 was a
defining moment of national pride
when England b*at West Germany
in the Football World Cup
in front of a packed Wembley Stadium
and an enormous TV audience.
The Queen must surely have
enjoyed a great moment of pride
as she presented the trophy
to Bobby Moore, England's captain.
The late '60s also saw
the start of decades
of civil strife and
troubles in Northern Ireland
and personal security was tightened,
not only for the Monarch and her family,
but also for politicians as terrorism
arrived on Britain's shores.
Her Majesty's forces were
called in to quell rioting
in the streets of
Belfast when local police
were unable to deal with the unrest.
There was a very deep sense
of loss by the entire nation
when 166 children and
28 adults were k*lled
in Aberfan in Wales when
the spoil tip of a coal mine
slid down a hill and buried
the children's school.
The Queen visited Aberfan
a week after the disaster,
trying to find some way to
offer some words of comfort
in a small town stunned by
the enormity of the tragedy
and their very own personal losses.
As the '60s drew to a close,
1969 saw Nixon elected
to the White House,
Prince Charles was invested
as Prince of Wales,
and the nation was treated to
a groundbreaking documentary
showing the Royal Family at home,
relaxing and enjoying their leisure time.
The Duke of Edinburgh
had initiated the film,
hoping the more open approach
would bring the Queen closer
to her people and help the Royal Family
to retain their relevance and survive
in a fast changing world.
Houston, Tranquility Base here.
The Eagle has landed.
Roger, Tranquility,
we copy you on the ground.
You got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue.
We're breathin'
again. Thanks a lot.
In June 1969, man walked on the moon.
The astronauts had with
them on their mission
a tiny disc that contained a
message from Queen Elizabeth
that stated, "On behalf
of the British people,
I salute the skills and courage
which have brought man to the moon.
May this endeavor increase the knowledge
and wellbeing of mankind."
On October the 14th, 1969,
the three astronauts from
the Apollo 11 mission,
Neil Armstrong, Buzz
Aldrin, and Michael Collins,
visited Buckingham
Palace at the invitation
of the Royal Family.
If the 1960s had witnessed
such an immense change
in so many different spheres of life,
it all just accelerated in the 1970s.
Tired of touring under
the commercial pressures
of the music industry, the Fab Four,
Britain's greatest iconic pop group,
finally decided to end
their musical collaboration
and The Beatles went their separate ways,
bringing to an end the most extraordinary
and prolific musical collaboration
and one whose music still
endures to this day.
In the UK, Edward Heath
became prime minister
and the Queen and Prince
Philip set off on a long visit
to Australia and to the Pacific Rim
to celebrate 200 years since
Cook's discovery of Australia.
It was also in 1970 that the Queen
went on her first ever walkabout,
leaving the safety of her
entourage and getting close up
with the cheering crowds, shaking hands,
and chatting with eager royalists
during her Australian trip.
Keen to connect more with the people,
her walkabout proved enormously popular
and is, to this day, quite naturally
a part of many a royal visit.
Every coin and bank note
in the United Kingdom
has a portrait of the Queen, and in 1971,
1,000 years of pounds, shillings,
and pence came to an end
when on the 15th of February, 1971
decimalization was brought to Britain.
The portraits, of course,
remain to this day,
but two shillings became 10 pence
and new coins were minted
to replace the old.
After years of post-w*r wrangling
across the English Channel,
British Prime Minister
of the day, Edward Heath,
took Britain into the
European economic community,
enabling free trade
between its member nations
whilst regulating some of
the commercial activity
and product standards.
It wasn't long after
this momentous change
that Heath was brought
down by the miners strike
and Harold Wilson was once again
invited by the Queen
to form her government.
Amidst much fanfare and a
ceremony televised in color
to the nation, the Queen's
only daughter, Princess Anne,
married fellow equestrian enthusiast,
Captain Mark Phillips on
the 14th of November, 1973
at Westminster Abbey.
The first of her children to marry,
the day must have provided a great deal
of personal joy to the Queen.
Following the long
aftermath of the scandal
of the Watergate affair,
Richard Nixon resigned
and Gerald Ford took
office as U.S. president.
I have never been a quitter.
To leave office before
my term is completed
is abhorrent to every
instinct in my body.
At the same time,
Concorde began commercial flights
for British Airways and Air France,
and Her Majesty was
invited to a state dinner
at the White House
in Washington, D.C.,
hosted by President
Ford and his wife Betty,
to celebrate the continued relationship
between the UK and the U.S.
The Queen and the
President danced together
and wowed everybody who
was there that evening.
A new era in our transatlantic
special relationship was born
and the Queen had more than admirably
done her duty once again.
1976 saw the appointment
of Britain's first ever
Minister for Drought during
the long, hot summer,
when a water shortage was declared
following record high temperatures
and very little rainfall for many months.
The Queen must have looked out
on the brown and dry stubble
of the lawns in the back
garden of Buckingham Palace,
doing her bit to lead the
nation in minimizing water usage
until rain finally arrived in September.
As the decade marched on, Her
Majesty invited Jim Callaghan
to form a government, and another James,
Jimmy Carter, was limbering up
for his spell as U.S. president.
Both their terms of office can
only have been overshadowed
by the appearance of Darth
Vader on our screens in 1977.
And one can only wonder at
what the Queen may have thought
of light sabers, R2D2 and Alec
Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The "Star Wars" generation was being born
just as the Queen's Silver
Jubilee was getting underway
and the nation was celebrating
Queen Elizabeth II's
25 years as reigning monarch.
In Guildhall after lunch,
the Queen rose to make a speech
live to the Commonwealth.
At this moment of my Silver Jubilee
I want to thank all those in
Britain and the Commonwealth
who through their loyalty and friendship
have given me strength and encouragement
during these last 25 years.
My thanks go also to the many thousands
who have sent me messages
of congratulations
on my Silver Jubilee,
that and their good wishes
for the future.
My Lord Mayor, when I was 21,
I pledged my life to the
service of our people
and I asked for God's help
to make good that vow.
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.
The Queen and Prince Philip
took on goodwill visits through the year,
visiting 36 counties in Britain
and embarking on a Commonwealth tour,
taking in Tonga and Fiji
then onto New New Zealand
and Australia, rounded off by
visits to Papua New Guinea,
the West Indies, and finally Canada,
where they were joined by Prince Charles.
Following the celebrations of 1977,
the next few years were a roller coaster
of highs and lows for
Britain and for the Queen.
Margaret Thatcher was elected
Britain's first female prime minister,
and the nation had two
women in the most powerful
and influential offices in the land.
Her Majesty the Queen has asked me
to form a new administration
and I have accepted.
Sadly, the Queen's cousin,
Lord Louis Mountbatten,
was k*lled by an IRA b*mb.
Mountbatten had been a mentor
and friend to Prince Charles,
and he was a trusted friend and
advisor to the Royal Family.
It must have been a
bitter blow to the Queen
when he was assassinated.
To add to the woes of the decade,
the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures,
art historian Anthony Blunt,
was exposed as a Soviet spy.
What kind of work were you doing
for the Russians then inside the MI5?
Well the information that I passed them
was almost exclusively about
German intelligence services,
and that was largely
information, which again,
as I said in my statement,
a lot of people in MI5
thought ought to have
been given officially.
For Her Majesty to have had
a communist infiltrator
freely walking the halls
of Buckingham Palace must have been
a distressing embarrassment
with which to end the decade.
When you made your confession,
did the Queen know?
Well, this is a question, again,
I would rather not discuss
because my information
is certainly if not
secondhand, is rather vague,
and I can only say that as
far as I was told at the time,
and later, she was not.
The '80s would offer
extraordinary ups and downs
and world-changing events
which would test the Queen's resilience,
yet also bring immense reward.
The start to the decade witnessed
record low temperatures across the UK,
John Lennon's shocking and brutal m*rder
outside his apartment in New York,
and at the end of the year,
Ronald Reagan's election as
President of the United States,
She holds many offices and titles,
but one of the most important
and significant for her,
as well as her people,
is that of Head of the Church of England,
a position held by the
sovereign since Henry VIII.
So, it was a real landmark
in the annals of history
when Queen Elizabeth
II visited Vatican City
at the invitation of the Pope
and the heads of two of the
world's foremost churches
greeted each other warmly.
It was followed in 1982
by the first-ever visit
of a Pope to the UK
when Pope John Paul II
visited nine UK cities in five days.
Computer technology was
still in its infancy,
but in 1981, Pac-Man was
released and the world
of computer games was
given its first game
designed to capture a female
audience as well as male.
It is still considered
one of the most iconic
and influential games ever,
and a turning point away from
sh**t-'em-up video games.
There must have been many
moments in her 70-year reign
when the Queen has had
to keep a cool head,
and none more so than
when six sh*ts were fired
from a handgun pointed straight at her
by a man in the crowd during
the Trooping the Colour
ceremony in June 1981.
The sh*ts turned out to be blanks,
but the Queen won widespread
admiration and praise
for her horsemanship in
calming her startled ride
and carrying on to finish
the important ceremony
as if nothing had happened.
When the Queen came by,
you know on the corner,
he just stepped backwards, you know,
took about a half step backwards,
and raised it up in his right hand
and then, you know, held
it police marksman style
and fired about four or five sh*ts.
Then what happened?
Then there was, you know, like I said,
about three of us that came
in from his right and behind,
you know, and got him over the railing
into the street itself,
and then the constables
came and took him.
Had you noticed him earlier?
I had seen him before,
you know, all morning long.
He'd been there longer than I had.
Was there anything unusual about him?
Just that he was alone, you know,
by himself and didn't speak to anybody.
The Queen had also kept a very cool head
when she was awoken by a burglar
sitting on the end of her bed.
He had scaled the walls
of Buckingham Palace
and somehow found his way
into her private apartments,
sitting, chatting casually
until the police arrived to arrest him.
So Michael Fagan
visited Buckingham Palace
twice, but committed no offense.
The idea came to him, he
says, when visiting the palace
with his children and
studying the security.
Each time he followed a similar route.
On the occasion he found
the Queen in her bedroom,
he began by climbing the railings
outside the ambassador's entrance
and got into the stamp room
through an unlocked window.
But the internal door was locked,
so he shinned up a drainpipe
outside onto a flat roof,
a roof now guarded by police.
1981 had its difficult moments,
but all that will have been put aside
for a day of personal pride
and joy for Her Majesty
when on July the 29th,
1981, Prince Charles,
the Queen's eldest son and
heir apparent to the throne,
married Lady Diana Spencer in a ceremony
which captured the hearts
and minds of the nation
and which was watched
by a record TV audience
across the globe.
Just a year later,
the Queen enjoyed another
personal family moment
when she held her first
grandchild, Prince William,
at his christening, and she
proudly posed for family photos.
The early '80s were tough times at home
for Britain with unemployment
reaching record levels
of over three million,
but more drama was to come
when the Falkland Islands, a
British dependent territory
in the South Atlantic,
were invaded by Argentina.
From April the 2nd to
June the 14th, 1982,
the Falklands were occupied
by Argentinian forces.
Her Majesty's Armed Services
went to an undeclared w*r
and 255 British servicemen
lost their lives
along with three local civilians
before the islands were retaken.
The commander of the operation
has sent the following message:
"Be pleased to inform Her
Majesty that the White Ensign
flies alongside the Union
Jack in South Georgia.
God save the Queen."
What happens next?
Thank you very much.
- What's your reaction?
- Just rejoice at that news
and congratulate our
forces and the Marines.
Goodnight, gentlemen.
- Are we going to declare w*r
on Argentina, Mrs. Thatcher?
Rejoice!
The Queen and Prince Philip headed east,
making Elizabeth the
first British sovereign
to make a state visit to China.
It was both a state visit
and a diplomatic one,
coming a short time after negotiations
between the UK and the
People's Republic of China
about returning Hong Kong
to Chinese sovereignty.
So it came about that only
a few favored party
officials and a lot of press
were permitted to witness
this piece of history.
The 77-year-old president Li Xiannian
moved carefully to perform
the ceremonial greeting.
But the Queen had scored one point.
She was in an ordinary limousine
instead of the dark windows,
closed curtains model
the Chinese had offered.
And the color of her mohair
coat was a complement
to her host's political persuasions.
The meeting with President
Li produced a handshake
of record-breaking duration.
1986 called for yet more diplomacy
by Her Majesty when
sanctions were proposed
against South Africa
by all but one member
of the Commonwealth, of
which the Queen is head.
Margaret Thatcher did
not believe sanctions
would have the desired result,
and she felt British
interests would be damaged,
but she would not go against her Queen
and limited sanctions
were finally agreed upon,
reputedly sounding the death
knell for the apartheid regime
which had ruled South Africa for so long,
and paving the way for the
release of Nelson Mandela.
At Buckingham Palace tonight,
the Commonwealth leaders
are dining with the Queen,
an informal occasion, no speeches,
but no one underestimates
the Queen's ability
to have the right word in the right ear,
especially when it comes
to the Commonwealth.
The '80s was a
time in which great strides
were taken in bringing
about a peaceful solution
to the decades of tension
between East and West,
the Soviet Union and the
superpowers of the Western World,
of which the Queen is head of one.
Diplomatic ties and state visits
between the UK and the USA
with President Ronald Reagan
and Margaret Thatcher in
regular communication,
led to a state visit by Reagan,
and the first occasion
on which a U.S. President
stayed overnight at Windsor Castle.
In the same decade, diplomatic efforts
brought about the end of the Cold w*r
when Reagan and Gorbachev
signed a peace treaty.
It was a time of great
change in the world,
but one in which Her Majesty
played a significant role
in bringing about peaceful
and diplomatic answers
to seemingly unsolvable issues.
It would previously have been unthinkable
that a Soviet leader
would lunch with the Queen
at Windsor Castle, but in 1989,
Mikhail Gorbachev made a
historic visit to Britain,
and during that lunch, he
invited the Queen to visit Moscow.
The relationship between
Gorbachev and Thatcher thawed
and a diplomatic solution was found
to a longstanding tension
between two great nations.
♪ Yo, I'll tell ya what I want ♪
♪ What I really, really want ♪
♪ So tell me what you want ♪
♪ What you really, really want ♪
♪ I'll tell ya what I want ♪
♪ What I really, really want ♪
♪ So tell me what you want ♪
♪ What you really, really want ♪
♪ I wanna, I wanna, I wanna ♪
The '90s saw extraordinary
advances in technology
with the start of the internet
and the launch of Amazon and Google,
as well as the first ever
successful clone, Dolly the sheep.
Following the end of the Cold w*r,
the Soviet Union was dismantled,
but the '90s would prove
to be Her Majesty's
most challenging decade,
facing her 1992 annus horribilis
and the untimely death
of her once daughter-in-law
Diana Princess of Wales.
1990 saw a shift in British politics
when Margaret Thatcher resigned
and she handed the reigns to John Major.
The 1990s also saw the end
of apartheid in South Africa.
In February 1990, Nelson
Mandela was freed,
having been imprisoned for 27 years.
Mandela's first visit
to a Commonwealth Heads
of Government meeting
was to the Harare summit in October 1991,
where he arrived unexpectedly
and without a prior invitation
to the banquet hosted by the Queen
as head of the Commonwealth.
Rapid reshuffling of the
table settings averted
a potential public relations disaster
after the Queen insisted
he be allowed to stay.
By 1994, Mandela became
president of South Africa
and swiftly the country
rejoined the Commonwealth.
The Queen and Mandela were
known to have a close friendship
and a strong mutual admiration,
and he was one of the few people
who would simply call her Elizabeth.
On the 16th of May, 1991,
Queen Elizabeth became
the first British monarch
to address the U.S. Congress.
Her speech lasted 15 minutes
and received three standing ovations.
She summed it up by saying,
"You will find us worthy partners,
and we are proud to have
of you as our friends.
May God bless America."
On that particular trip, George
H.W. Bush invited the Queen
and Prince Philip to Memorial
Stadium in Baltimore,
which was the first time the
Queen visited a baseball game.
The following year would mark one
of the most notably difficult
years for the Queen,
dubbed her annus horribilis.
It was a year that saw the
separation of Charles and Diana
and the media storm that preceded it,
the year of Anne and
Mark Phillips' divorce,
as well as the destruction
caused by a fire at Windsor Castle.
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.
I sometimes wonder how future generations
will judge the events
of this tumultuous year.
I daresay that history would take
a slightly more moderate view
than that of some
contemporary commentators.
He who has never failed
to reach perfection
has a right to be the harshest critic.
After much debate on the suggestion
that the taxpayer pay for the damage,
in 1993 Buckingham
Palace opened its doors
to the paying public for the first time
to recoup some of the cost
to rebuild Windsor Castle.
For the first time in history,
the Queen and the Royal Family
also began to pay taxes.
It was in that same year that
Bill Clinton was inaugurated
as the 42nd President of the USA.
The following year,
Clinton and his wife stayed
on the Royal Yacht Britannia
before heading to Normandy
for the D-Day anniversary.
Clinton later wrote of
the Queen in his memoir:
"Her Majesty impressed me as someone who,
but for the circumstance of her birth,
might have become a successful
politician or diplomat.
As it was, she had to be both
without quite seeming
to be either."
In 1994, the Queen made a historic trip.
She and Prince Philip traveled
to Russia on a state visit,
staying at the Kremlin for three days.
It was the first ever
state visit to Russia
by a British monarch.
The Russian presidential
spokesperson said of the visit,
"We realize that the British
Queen would never have visited
a communist country, and it was deemed
a highly significant
and symbolic moment."
In 1995, Queen Elizabeth
and Prince Philip
were invited to Capetown
by President Mandela.
My memories of South
Africa are part of me,
and I have wanted to return
to this magnificent country.
That wish has never deserted me
through a half century during which
you have seen turmoil and tragedy.
Now though, you have become one nation
whose spirit of reconciliation
is a shining example to the world.
On the Queen's first official visit
to post-apartheid South Africa,
against security advice,
she and her husband
visited Black townships
where they were greeted with tears of joy
by Black and white supporters alike.
Their trip saw the greatest
rain season for over 10 years,
and she was given the
nickname Motlalepula,
meaning Rain Queen, after her tour.
President Mandela was invited
to Buckingham Palace in 1996,
and he spoke in adoration
for this gracious lady.
You have yourself
provided the leadership,
and by your willingness to
embrace your former captors,
have set the course towards
national reconciliation
and freedom for all the
people of South Africa.
As we approach the 21st century,
our relationship is one of friendship
fortified on South Africa's side
by a warmth and respect for yourself,
for Britain, and for the Commonwealth.
The face of British politics
saw a drastic change in 1997
as Tony Blair became prime minister,
ending 18 years of
conservative government.
In a ceremony attended by
the new prime minister,
Hong Kong was returned
to China after 155 years
as a British colony.
China will tonight take responsibility
for a place and a people which
matter greatly to us all.
The triumphant success
of Hong Kong demands
and deserves to be maintained.
In August 1997,
Diana Princess of Wales d*ed
an untimely and tragic death,
leaving the Queen's grandchildren,
William and Harry, without a mother.
At the time, the Queen,
Philip, and Charles
felt it wise to keep the two
young boys at Balmoral Castle
and give them time to
process what had happened
and protect them from the world's media.
However, fueled by the tabloid press,
there was a degree of
unrest in the nation
as the Royal Family
remained seemingly silent.
On her return to London with
Princes William and Harry,
the Queen addressed
the nation on live TV.
It was a personal but very
public tribute to Diana
and lifted the spirits
of a grieving public.
What I say to you now, as
your Queen and as a grandmother,
I say from my heart.
First, I want to pay
tribute to Diana myself.
She was an exceptional
and gifted human being.
In good times and bad,
she never lost her
capacity to smile and laugh
nor to inspire others with
her warmth and kindness.
I admired and respected
her for her energy
and commitment to others,
and especially for her
devotion to her two boys.
As the millennium was drawing to a close,
1998 saw the impeachment of Bill Clinton
for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The Good Friday Agreement
was reached in 1998,
a significant moment that ended most
of the v*olence of the troubles.
And today's historic
agreement marks a new beginning
for all of us in Northern Ireland,
on the island of Ireland,
and in these islands.
And finally, in 1999,
the Queen's youngest child, Edward,
married Sophie Rhys-Jones.
At the centerpiece of the celebrations,
the Millennium Dome, the
Prime Minister hugged his wife
while the Queen kissed
the Duke of Edinburgh,
and the audience broke into
a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne,"
Cherie Blair in full voice
before the Royal party
had even linked arms.
♪ For auld lang ♪
With a slightly less than amused look
on her otherwise inscrutable face,
the Queen and Prince Philip
welcomed in the New Year
and the new millennium with
Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The 2000s, as well as bringing
the growth of the internet
into the digital age with the launch
of Facebook and YouTube, also
brought its own challenges,
the beginning of the w*r on Terror
and more widespread concern
over climate change.
British citizens can apply
to receive a birthday letter
from the Queen when they
reach their 100th birthday,
and the Queen Mother was no different.
In early 2000, Queen Elizabeth
sent the Queen Mother
a standard congratulatory letter,
though this one was handwritten
and she signed it Lilibet.
In January 2001, George W. Bush
became President of the United States,
but his agenda and priorities
were quickly altered
following the t*rror1st att*cks
on the World Trade Center
on the 11th of September, 2001.
The att*cks resulted in
the deaths of 2,977 people,
and it remains the worst
single terror att*ck
in human history.
The U.S. and UK
remain strong allies,
and the Queen, offering words of support
to a nation in mourning, sent a message
read by the British
Ambassador to Washington
during a prayer service.
These are dark and harrowing times
for families and friends
of those who are missing
or who suffered in the att*ck.
Many of you are here today.
My thoughts and my prayers
are with you all now
and in the difficult days ahead.
But nothing that can be said can begin
to take away the anguish and
the pain of these moments.
Grief is the price we pay for love.
That sentiment lived on
as the Queen faced the loss
of two very important people
in her life, the Queen
Mother and Princess Margaret
d*ed within a month
of each other in 2002.
Very rarely for the Queen,
she gave a televised address
to the nation after the
death of her mother,
thanking the public for the
outpouring of love and prayers.
Ever since my beloved
mother d*ed over a week ago,
I have been deeply moved by
the outpouring of affection
which has accompanied her death.
My family and I always
knew what she meant
for the people of this
country and the special place
she occupied in the hearts of so many
here in the Commonwealth and
in other parts of the world.
But the extent of the tribute
that huge numbers of
you have paid my mother
in the last few days
has been overwhelming.
I have drawn great comfort
from so many individual acts
of kindness and respect.
Although 2002 was a year
of great personal loss,
it was also the Queen's
Golden Jubilee year.
In celebration, she traveled
to 70 cities and towns
across the UK from May to August.
As part of the huge national celebrations
following a public party at the palace,
Brian May played a unique
rendition of the national anthem
on the roof of Buckingham Palace.
An iconic moment that
marked the celebration
of the Queen's reign and
the sense of patriotism
among British people.
2003 saw the first occasion
that the UK Parliament
held a vote to show its
position in response
to the declaration of w*r.
The sovereign has the
power to declare w*r
without parliamentary approval,
but this was the first time Parliament
could indicate where they stood.
Prime Minister Tony Blair led
the UK to join with the U.S.
in the Iraq w*r to take
down S*ddam Hussein.
The Queen's eldest son, Prince
Charles, remarried in 2005.
In a small civil ceremony,
Charles and Camilla married
at Windsor Guildhall.
Buckingham Palace announced the Queen
would not attend the ceremony,
but would attend the church
blessing and host a reception.
In 2005, London faced
its own t*rror1st tragedy
with four separate su1c1de att*cks
on London's public transport.
The Queen has just issued her reaction
to today's events in London.
It says, "The dreadful
events in London this morning
have deeply shocked us all.
I know I speak for the whole nation
in expressing my sympathy
to all those affected
and the relatives of
the k*lled and injured.
I have nothing but
admiration," she goes on,
"for the emergency services
as they go about their work."
After a significant reduction
in Labour's majority, low
approval ratings and the Iraq w*r,
Tony Blair resigned, leaving Gordon Brown
to become prime minister in 2007.
I've just accepted the invitation
of Her Majesty the Queen
to form a government.
This will be a new government
with new priorities,
and I've been privileged
to have been granted
the great opportunity
to serve my country.
But for the Queen, it was a year
she and Philip celebrated
their 60th wedding anniversary,
and when the Queen became the
oldest ever reigning monarch.
Approaching the end of the decade,
the world faced the Great Recession,
the most serious financial crisis
since the Great Depression.
Barack Obama took over the White House
when he was elected president in 2009,
the first African American
to hold that office.
The Queen and Philip met
with President and Michelle
Obama in Buckingham Palace,
forging what would become
a strong relationship.
Michelle notably broke Royal protocol
when she put an arm around the Queen.
She later wrote about the
incident in her memoir
and they shared a funny moment
about how uncomfortable their shoes were.
The 2010s started amidst
a global financial crisis.
Technological progression
brought us widespread use
of smart phones along
with huge advancements
in data processing, with
the exponential growth
of social media leading
to the Me Too movement
and cancel culture.
China's one-child policy
was ended in 2015,
the people of Britain
voted to leave the EU,
and U.S. TV celebrity
Donald Tr*mp was inaugurated
as president of the USA.
The decade saw the
Queen's own family grow
as both her grandsons started
families of their own.
British politics was facing
another critical change.
In the 2010 general election,
the conservatives, led by
David Cameron, won 306 seats,
but it was 20 seats short
of an overall majority,
resulting in a hung Parliament,
and Cameron announced
his intention to form
a coalition government
with the Liberal Democrats,
which would be the first
since the Second World w*r.
Her Majesty the Queen has asked me
to form a new government,
and I have accepted.
Before I talk about that new government,
let me say something about
the one that has just passed.
Compared with a decade ago,
this country is more open at home
and more compassionate abroad,
and that is something we
should all be grateful for.
In 2011, Queen Elizabeth became
the first British monarch to
visit the Republic of Ireland,
and during her visit, she spoke publicly
about the troubles in the North.
Madam President, speaking
here in Dublin Castle,
it is impossible to ignore
the weight of history,
as it was yesterday when
you and I laid wreathes
at the Garden of Remembrance.
Indeed, so much of this visit reminds us
of the complexity of our history,
its many layers and traditions,
but also the importance of
forbearance and conciliation,
of being able to bow to the
past, but not be bound by it.
These events have touched us
all, many of us personally,
and are a painful legacy.
We can never forget those who have d*ed
or been injured and their families.
The following year, the Queen shook hands
with former IRA leader,
Martin McGuinness,
a symbolic moment of
forgiveness and reconciliation,
which for many welcomed
a new era of peace.
Their body language
for the public handshake
seemed to bear that out.
There was clearly a friendly atmosphere.
Good. It went really well.
- Mr.
- McGuinness was delighted,
but not a convert.
I'm still a Republican.
Martin, how was it to meet the Queen?
Very nice.
For the next few years,
Britain was bustling with
excitement and anticipation.
First, for the wedding
of William and Kate,
which would see the
marriage of the future king.
Royal reporters have said in
preparation for the wedding,
William confided in the Queen,
after having looked at
the extensive guest list
explaining he didn't know those invited.
The Queen told William
to forget the guest list,
to invite the people he and Kate wanted,
and if there were any leftover spaces,
the list could be revisited.
The Olympic Games due
to be held in London
in the summer of 2012,
were also a cause for much excitement.
This will be the third
Olympiad, third London Olympiad.
My great-grandfather opened
the 1908 Games at White City,
my father opened the 1948
Games at Wembley Stadium,
and later this evening
I will take pleasure
in declaring open the
2012 London Olympic Games
at Stratford in the East of London.
The Queen showed a humorous side
of her character that the public love,
where she agreed to a film a video
where James Bond takes
her to the stadium.
She agreed on the condition
that she could utter
those immortal words,
"Good evening, Mr. Bond."
Good evening, Mr. Bond.
Good evening, Your Majesty.
2012 marked the Queen's Diamond Jubilee,
a rare occasion for a monarch,
and the 60th anniversary since
her accession to the throne.
Celebrations were widespread,
including the Thames'
Diamond Jubilee Pageant
and the concert at Buckingham Palace.
Your Majesty, Mummy.
As a nation, this is our
opportunity to thank you
and my father for always
being there for us,
for inspiring us with your
selfless duty and service
and for making us proud to be British.
The Queen was also invited
by Prime Minister David Cameron to sit in
on a cabinet meeting,
which is believed to be
the first time a monarch has
done so since King George III.
It's a huge treat for a prime minister
to speak to Her Majesty
every week for an hour
knowing I'm the 12th prime minister.
She started with Winston Churchill.
Her knowledge, her
experience of world events
and world leaders and world
issues is unparalleled.
She's an amazing listener,
but she also asks some
really pertinent questions.
But I think above all, what
we're celebrating today
is the 60 years she's given
of service to our country,
but also this extraordinary institution
that stands above politics,
that brings the country together,
that something we're
all celebrating today,
that I think is such a
valuable thing in our country
and so admired across the world.
With the marriage
of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and their desire to
have their own family,
the Queen amended the Bill of
Rights and Act of Settlement
in the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.
The changes saw the end of the
system of male primogeniture,
meaning whether the Cambridges
had a boy or a girl,
their first child would take their place
as third in line to the throne.
And should it be a girl,
she would not lose her place
if they later had a boy.
2015 saw our record-breaking Queen
hit another landmark in her reign.
On the 9th of September,
Queen Elizabeth surpassed
her great-great
grandmother, Queen Victoria,
and became the UK's
longest serving monarch.
In the typical selfless
style of Queen Elizabeth,
she wanted the public to
treat this day as any other.
Many, including you First Minister,
have also kindly noted
another significance
attaching to today,
although it is not one
to which I have ever aspired.
Inevitably, a long life can
pass by many milestones.
My own is no exception.
But I thank you all and the
many others at home and overseas
for your touching messages
of great kindness.
After years of
royal landmark celebrations,
changes were afoot in
the world of politics.
In 2016, a momentous referendum was held
and the people of the United Kingdom
voted to leave the European Union,
resulting in David Cameron
resigning as prime minister,
being succeeded by Theresa May.
In David Cameron I
follow in the footsteps
of a great modern prime minister.
Under David's leadership,
the government stabilized the economy,
reduced the budget deficit,
and helped more people
into work than ever before.
But David's true legacy
is not about the economy,
but about social justice.
2017 Saw Donald Tr*mp inaugurated
as president of the USA,
amidst widespread protests.
The UK found itself divided on Brexit,
with negotiations of the exit
proving to be challenging.
But around the corner, to
the delight of the nation,
Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle were to marry.
In some ways, their marriage
demonstrated the progress
and modernization of the monarchy.
Meghan, a biracial American divorcee,
would not have been welcomed in the past.
The Queen's uncle, King Edward VIII,
had to abdicate the throne to
marry his American divorcee,
but during Elizabeth's
reign much has changed
and Meghan was warmly
welcomed into the family.
By the end of the decade,
Theresa May failed to pass
her Brexit withdrawal agreement
through Parliament three times,
and subsequently she
announced her resignation.
I will shortly leave
the job that it has been
the honor of my life life to hold.
The second female prime minister,
but certainly not the last.
I do so with no ill will,
but with enormous and enduring gratitude
to have had the opportunity
to serve the country I love.
Boris Johnson won the race for leadership
of the Conservative Party
and became Britain's prime minister.
Boris went on to win the general
election later that year.
Good afternoon.
I have just been to see
Her Majesty the Queen
who has invited me to form a
government and I have accepted.
I pay tribute to the
fortitude and patience
of my predecessor and her
deep sense of public service.
- No justice!
- No peace!
- No justice!
- No peace!
The uniquely difficult start to the 2020s
saw a global pandemic
sweep across the world
and protests and demonstrations worldwide
against racism and police brutality
after the death of George Floyd.
The fall of Kabul marked the end
of the 20-year w*r in Afghanistan,
and the need to address climate change
became a growing concern
and has dubbed the 2020s
as the decisive decade after
worsening extreme weather.
January 2020 saw Harry
and Meghan make a sudden,
and for many, unexpected move.
They announced they would
relinquish their roles
as senior members of the Royal Family
and their wish to lead
more independent lives.
Her Majesty released a
statement promptly saying,
"Although we would have preferred them
to remain full-time working
members of the Royal Family,
we respect and understand their wish
to live a more independent
life as a family
while remaining a valued
part of my family."
In the months that followed,
coronavirus started to make
its way across the globe.
Few thought coronavirus
would cause the world
to stop for so long.
It has caused a global economic recession
and a supply chain crisis,
but more close to home,
it caused people to stop
their lives, lock their doors,
and stay away from the people they love
for fear of transmitting a
virus which may prove fatal.
In times of crisis, the
Queen has come through
to offer the nation a sense of hope.
After the start of the coronavirus,
that is exactly what she did.
She broadcast to the nation,
referencing the w*r-time spirit
that would be needed to get
through this challenging time,
but with the certainty that
we would get through it.
And those who come after us,
will say the Britons of this generation
were as strong as any,
that the attributes of self-discipline,
of quiet good-humored resolve
and a fellow feeling still
characterize this country.
We will be with our friends again.
We will be with our families again.
We will meet again.
Following the defeat of Donald Tr*mp,
Joe Biden became the 46th
President of the United States,
the 14th U.S. president
since Her Majesty came to the throne.
It is an extraordinary
statistic that nearly a third
of U.S. presidents
have come and gone
whilst the Queen has remained sovereign.
In April 2021, following a
short illness, Prince Philip,
the Queen's husband and
her strength and stay,
d*ed peacefully surrounded by his family.
The Queen has dedicated
her life to her duty,
but so did Philip, always at her side
and her greatest supporter.
His funeral, amid COVID restrictions,
saw a most poignant image
of the Queen sat alone
in mourning for her utterly
loyal and beloved husband.
The words she used in her
message after the 9/11 att*cks
were picked up again by
reporters, so moving and apt.
"Grief is the price
we pay for love."
2022 sees our Queen's
70th year on the throne,
her Platinum Jubilee, a
wonderful opportunity for the nation
to celebrate the
achievements and longevity
of this extraordinary woman.
I did remark that it was upside down
and you wouldn't be able
to see what was on it.
I was told it had to be
upside down for the press.
And they can see it.
I don't mind, I don't matter.
Well, I think I can probably
read it upside down, too.
I think you probably can.
"The Queen's Platinum Jubilee."
Yes.
That's very nice.
There is a Kn*fe.
I don't know whether you'd
like to just do a little bit.
I think I might just put a Kn*fe in it.
I think that's a really good idea.
See if it works.
- Oh it does!
- Oh yes,
it goes in beautifully.
Beautifully.
Somebody else can finish
it off, do the rest of it.
With little real power
but with more influence than
perhaps any other leader
on the world stage, Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
has conducted herself with grace,
with dignity, and with determination.
She has been a constant
cornerstone of stability
in a seemingly ever-changing world,
earning unparalleled
admiration and respect
across the globe.
She has traveled more than
any monarch in history
and is estimated to have met more people
than any other human being.
She has exemplified
tolerance and forgiveness
whilst inspiring the armed services
in their own sense of duty.
As a young princess, only 21 years old,
Elizabeth, with truly inspiring words,
dedicated her life to
the service of her people
and to the Commonwealth.
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.
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.
I know that your support
will be unfailingly given.
God help me to make good my vow
and God bless all of you who
are willing to share in it.
She is our Queen, our Platinum Queen.
Our Platinum Queen: 70 Years on the Throne (2022)
Moderator: Maskath3