Princess Elizabeth: Destined For Greatness | 2022 | FULL MOVIE | Queen Elizabeth II

In 1926, Britain was a very different place, almost unrecognizable, in fact. King George V was on the throne, and Britain was still recovering from the horrors of the Great War, World War I. On April 21st, 1926, the future queen was born, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Princess Elizabeth had a very, very happy childhood. She was born in 1926 in the center of London in Bruton Street, and it was six weeks before the general strike, so it was a time of great political turbulence, but there was still great excitement about this new royal baby. People were really interested in the royal family, although they never thought that she would be an heir to the throne, because at the time, everyone loved the Prince of Wales, who, of course, was later the Duke of Windsor, who abdicated, but all eyes were on him, but this was a beautiful baby, and she was brought up by a series of nannies and nursemaids, and she had very loving parents, and they basically, in those days, people followed the sporting calendar. The winters were in hunting country, summers were in Scotland, and the season was in London, and Elizabeth had this idyllic childhood with her parents and horses and dogs and also her loving grandparents. Her father, the Duke of York, later King George VI, was the second son of the king. Her mother, the Duchess of York, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Beaux-Lyon. Elizabeth's only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marian Crawford. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature, and music. Princess Margaret was born in 1930, and Elizabeth looked after her. She was always really kind to her little sister, a beautiful little sister, and they had a very, very close relationship. They looked after each other, but obviously Elizabeth was the oldest, and so she kind of took charge of her little sister. During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her uncle Edward and her father. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as Edward was still young and likely to marry and have children of his own, who would precede Elizabeth in the line of succession. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second in line to the throne after her father. Then, scandal broke in British newspapers. King Edward VIII wanted to marry American divorcee, Wallace Simpson, but Parliament could find no way to allow it. At the time, the rules were very clear. The monarch is the head of the Church of England, and it was simply untenable that the king could marry a divorcee. It was against the law. Despite Sir Winston Churchill's intervention and attempts to change the law at that time, it was not acceptable to the British government, and King Edward was forced to abdicate the throne to be with the woman he loved. When their uncle, David, as he was known to the family, otherwise King Edward VIII, abdicated, it was Princess Elizabeth who told Princess Margaret, and she said, Uncle David's going away and Papa is to be king. And Princess Margaret said to her, does that mean you're going to be queen? And Elizabeth said, yes, one day. And nothing more was ever said about it or between them, and Princess Elizabeth, as we know very well, is able to compartmentalize aspects of her life. So she realized, this girl of 10, that one day she would become queen. It came as a great shock to the royal household. Elizabeth and Margaret's father, King Edward's younger brother, Prince Albert, was to become King George VI. His was the first voluntary abdication in a thousand years of British history, an abdication he explained to his far-flung empire in the most dramatic and heart-rending farewell ever broadcast. But you believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility without the help and support of the woman I love. On the 10th of December, 1936, Prince Albert watched as his older brother signed the abdication notice. It was not only a day that would change the rest of his life, but he became distinctly aware of what this meant for his family. His two girls would soon feel the enormous pressure of the crown. It was his job to make sure Elizabeth was prepared for the task she would undertake when she eventually succeeded him. Things did change for Princess Elizabeth as heiress presumptive, because it was felt that on an educational level, that she needed higher education, particularly when you think of the British Constitution and matters like that, that it was now crucial that she should be very well aware of. And so she was given this additional instruction by the then Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Martin. I talked to Princess Margaret about this on one occasion and said that you didn't get that higher education. And she said, no, it was always a bone of contention. And I said, well, it was really very short-sighted because when you think that your grandfather, King George V, was the second son and he was called to the throne, your father was the second son, and the same thing happened with him. Here you were the second child. There was only a heartbeat between you and your sister, yet you did not get the same further education that Princess Elizabeth got. And she said it was always a bone of contention. The Yorks became King and Queen. Elizabeth, at 10, was now heir presumptive. Reviewing the girl guides at Windsor Castle, the little princesses Elizabeth, 12, and Margaret, eight, assumed new importance. This would be the start of a significant transitional period in the two sisters' relationship. They had gone from being two equals to the heir presumptive and the spare. It had an enormous impact on the dynamic of their relationship, and this shift in power and status would move in Elizabeth's favor. King George asked Elizabeth to write a review of his coronation to get her to take in all the thoughts and feelings she had about the event, as she would one day experience it for herself. For him to receive it, the Lord Great Chamberlain draws off the jeweled glove after which the Bible can be delivered. Elizabeth's admiration for her papa was made quite evident, as she described him as looking very beautiful in a crimson robe, and also how Westminster Abbey was covered with a sort of haze of wonder as papa was crowned. From the coronation chair, His Majesty goes to the chair of state for his intronization. For royal families, as for the rest of us, life has its times of sorrow as well as joy. With this royal family, the British peoples have shared both. To the king, who in his own words, now enters upon a new life, and to his charming queen, Britain and empire wish many years of happiness. Long may they reign. God save the king. At the time of their parents' coronation in May of 1937, white lace dresses had been designed for them, special gold coronets had been made for them, and also trains, the purple robes of their rank. And Margaret was a bit bothered by the fact that her train was shorter than her sister's, and she complained about this, and it had to be explained to her that it had nothing to do with rank. She wasn't being demoted in any way. What it meant was that the train was cut in relation to their height. So as Margaret was shorter, she obviously had a shorter train. So there was just that kind of little thing. Well, why doesn't that also apply to me? As she grew up, of course, she knew perfectly well why there would be those kind of certain differences. Her youngest sister, Princess Margaret, became her best friend and confidante as a child. They grew up in a relatively stable and mundane family dynamic. Their mother and father were very hands-on parents, and they spent a great deal of time together as they did not attend conventional school. They were educated by private tutors and did not mix with anybody but the most aristocratic of families. It was a seemingly blissful life with privilege, with very little in the way of the pressure they would later face. King George VI, he always referred to himself, his wife, and two daughters as us four. And they were a royal family within the broader royal family. But because they never anticipated their ranks and their position and their responsibilities changing, they anticipated carrying on as being this very close-knit, very loving us four, you know? So Princess Margaret and her sister did have hugely enjoyable and very loving childhood. When they were children, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, of course, they had, apparently, Princess Margaret had a pretty good left hook. So, you know, and Princess Elizabeth would sometimes complain, Margaret always wants what I want. So I think, you know, what you actually see there between the two of them is sibling rivalry, as there would be with other children, other sisters, other brothers. It's, you know, it's something that one always has to remember, is that essentially these, you know, they may have been princesses, they may have been royal, but they were also human. And, you know, and this was the tone of their lives, that they were very, very close. But, of course, there were kind of moments where they would kick and they would bite and they would fight, you know, or particularly Princess Margaret would. Even at a young age, differences between the sisters were starting to show. Sir Winston Churchill described Elizabeth as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant. Because there was this incredibly strong loving bond between Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, that there was always that support there throughout their lives. You know, they were as different as chalk and cheese. Princess Elizabeth, very uncomplicated, very straightforward. Princess Margaret, very complex. You know, her sister in later life described her as being an enigma. And really, that about sums her up because she was a very enigmatic personality. In 1940, Hitler began to bomb England. Thousands of children were evacuated, among them Elizabeth and Margaret, now 14 and 10, who were sent up the Thames to a safer haven. Well, the outbreak of World War II affected the British royal family hugely because they were right up there at Buckingham Palace, which was a big, big target for the German bombers. But they decided that they would not leave the country, they would stay there with their people. They obviously had to look after their two daughters. Elizabeth and Margaret eventually stayed at Windsor Castle for five years while the King and Queen went to London during the week. And they wanted to be visible to their people. So they would go round the bombed areas, you know, and meet the people. And obviously, the King became very involved with the troops and he would go and visit the troops. So they were a very big part of the sort of PR war effort. What tragedies, what horrors, what crimes has Hitler and all that Hitler stands for brought upon Europe and the world? Of the 500 German planes that came over that day, more than one third were shot down. In the 28 days of terror from September 7th to October 5th, the Nazis dropped 50 million pounds of bombs on the city, killed 7,000 helpless civilians and wounded 10,000 more. Bombs fell on Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Fleet Street, the center of the news, St. Paul's Cathedral. Bombs blasting the historic past out of the lives of Englishmen. One of their favorite fun activities to entertain themselves and their family was to put on pantomimes. And it was here that Margaret discovered her ability to perform. She took all the attention, and Elizabeth was pleased to stand back and let Margaret enjoy the spotlight. Well, in October 1940, the King and Queen paid a visit to the BBC and the chairman of the BBC asked them if there was any chance that perhaps his eldest daughter might contribute to the children, the evacuees, who were in Canada or Australia, North America. There were a lot of them there. And they had a program called Children's Isle, which was embryonic then. And they asked the King if he would consider allowing his daughter to do it. Well, of course, she was thrilled to do it and practiced very, very hard. And eventually, aged only 14, gave this extremely professional speech to the children that were separated from their parents. Five famous little hearts are stirred as the Dionne Quince listen to a broadcast from London by Princess Elizabeth, a message of cheer to children of the empire. My sister is by my side. And we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret. Goodnight, children. Goodnight and good luck to you all. Because Princess Elizabeth always thinking about her younger sister, she brought her younger sister in at the very end and said, come on, Margaret. And come on, Margaret became a catch phase in America. The speech went down an absolute storm in America. And it was like headline news in the New York Post, you know, that this princess had given this speech to the evacuees. And also politically, it was a very good thing because of course, Churchill was trying to get the president, Roosevelt, you know, to enter into the war to support us. So anything that we could do was a good thing. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in these islands to lose the war. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty. And so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its commonwealths last for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour. It was a difficult few years for Britons and the two princesses, but they kept each other company and enjoyed their time in Windsor Castle. Like many other British children, they spent much time apart from their parents. Elizabeth and Margaret were true wartime children and growing up in a time of austerity, even as princesses, would impact them for a long time to come. They took part in the government's Dig for Victory campaign, growing their own vegetables to help fight the food shortages. I think that living five years of your childhood somewhere would give you either a loathing or a deep affection for a place. And I think that is definitely where the queen sort of fell in love with Windsor Castle, which is still supposedly to be her favorite official home. In 1943, Princess Elizabeth undertook her first solo public appearance on a visit to the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed colonel the previous year. Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, known as the ATS, when she was just 18 years old. She trained as a driver and mechanic, starting at the rank of second subaltern, and later she was promoted to junior commander, which was the equivalent to captain. Princess in overalls, the heiress presumptive to England's throne, learns a few facts about tires and carburetors. Elizabeth is in the ATS, or British Whack, and at the king's request, is being treated just like any other trainee. Now, visited by her parents and sister Margaret Rose at a training station in southern England, she shows them she knows a fan belt from a spark plug all right, and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Her father gave her an officer's commission early in March. And mama seemed to approve, too. Daughter is the first woman member of the royal family to join the services full time. The young princess, who's never set foot in a London bus and was only once in the subway, now drives a truck for the Red Cross. And, come to think of it, can you name a better way for a princess to spend her birthday? Her father's trust and belief in Elizabeth became quite evident. When he went to tour the Italian battlefields during the war, he named her a councillor of state, which meant she could represent the UK when he was away or unable to do so. She was the first female member of the royal family to be on active duty in the British Armed Forces and is the last surviving head of state to have served in World War II. Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, Tuesday, the 8th of May. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. Today is Victory in Europe Day. Tomorrow will also be Victory in Europe Day. God save the King. King George would broadcast to the nation on VE Day and the whole family would make appearances on Buckingham Palace's balcony to join in the celebrations. The two princesses pleaded to participate in the celebrations outside of the palace and they were allowed to sneak out and take part. I remember the thrill and relief after the previous day's waiting for the Prime Minister's announcement of the end of the war in Europe. My parents went out on the balcony in response to the huge crowds outside. I think we went on the balcony nearly every hour, six times. And then when the excitement of the floodlights being switched on got through to us, my sister and I realized we couldn't see what the crowds were enjoying. My mother had put her tiara on for the occasion so we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. We were terrified of being recognized so I pulled my uniform cap well down over my eyes. A grenadier officer amongst our party of about 16 people said he refused to be seen in the company of another officer improperly dressed. So I had to put my cap on normally. We cheered the King and Queen on the balcony and then walked miles through the streets. I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall. All of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief. I remember the amazement of my cousin just back from four and a half years in a prisoner of war camp, walking freely with his family in the friendly throng. And I also remember when someone exchanged hats with a Dutch sailor, the poor man coming along with us in order to get his cap back. After crossing Green Park, we stood outside and shouted, we want the King. And we were successful in seeing my parents on the balcony. Having cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside. I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life. Before long, the two sisters embarked on a grand adventure with their mother and father. They set off on the first royal tour since the outbreak of World War II, and they made their way to South Africa. Here, Elizabeth celebrated her 21st birthday. She demonstrated her sense of duty and service, making a speech that would captivate her audience as she dedicated her life 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. Princess Elizabeth was a very keen equestrian, as was her sister Margaret. During their spare time, they visited Bonsai Beach in South Africa and went horse riding. They enjoyed a brief moment of fun and freedom as they explored the area and spent some time just being sisters, laughing and joking around together. Elizabeth knew her role in life. She had to marry and have children, then one day become queen. She and Margaret met Prince Philip when they were quite young. Elizabeth was only 13 years old and Philip five years her senior. He was at the beginning of his career with the Royal Navy at the time and the war was about to start, but they would meet again and romantic sparks would fly when they did. Princess Elizabeth met Prince Philip at a family wedding, but she can't really remember that moment. The reason we know so much about it is because her governess, Marian Crawford, talks in great detail about their first meeting at Dartmouth College, where Prince Philip was a naval cadet. And he was very, very good looking, 18 years old, very striking, blonde looking. And he was assigned to look after the two princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, for the day, for their visit while their parents went around the college. It's quite strange to think of an 18 year old looking after the princesses, the oldest of whom was 13. But he decided that it would be fun if they jumped the tennis nets. So he took the princesses outside and he jumped the tennis nets for them and they were very, very impressed. Later he went on board the vessel that the king and queen had come to Dartmouth in and he had lunch and then the following day he went and had tea. So that was the meeting that the princess remembers. In 1947, two years after World War II, Elizabeth and Philip married. It was a very grand affair and lifted the nation's spirits in the post-war austerity. Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. He was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style His Royal Highness just before the wedding. Elizabeth and Philip were married on the 20th of November, 1947 at Westminster Abbey. They received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown, which Norman Hartnell designed. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. Well, from Prince Philip's perspective, this is someone that had had to leave their country. They didn't have a home of their own. All his sisters were married to German aristocracy and lived in enormous castles. And there's Philip, living off the goodwill of his relations. So I think that the idea of marrying a princess that was going to inherit so much must have been very attractive. And he was pushed by his uncle, Louis Mountbatten, who was the great kingmaker. And he really pushed Philip into kind of maintaining a relationship with Princess Elizabeth, who she was completely smitten with him from the age of 13. And I think she started, she wrote to him to say, thank you for entertaining us at Dartmouth. And I suppose she gradually, gradually kept up. Then of course, during the time when he was on leave, on shore leave, he often went to stay at Windsor Castle. The puzzle pieces were coming together for Elizabeth. And soon after her marriage, her focus changed to her duties and her new family. She focused on her husband and building a family of their own. Her Royal Highness is the proud and happy mother of a prince. The salute is fired, and in the monarch's home lies the infant boy who will one day be king. On Saturday, the eminent gynecologist, Sir William Gileart, was called to the palace for the most responsible case in even his career. By his advice, Sister H.M. Rowe was chosen midwife. The whole country knew that the baby would soon be born. All day on Sunday, people waited outside the palace, including phlegmatic pressmen with whom it is a point of honour to show no excitement. And all day there was no announcement. It was after 10 at night that those who waited, and they were very many, heard the tremendous news, a royal baby and a boy. Radio gave no advantage to watchers at the palace. The glad tidings went out everywhere. This is the BBC Home Service. It has been announced officially from Buckingham Palace during the past hour that Her Royal Highness, the Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, was safely delivered of a prince at 9.14 p.m. today. And that Her Royal Highness and her son are both doing well. In 1948, Elizabeth's first child, Charles, was born. One month earlier, the king had issued letters of patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince. The early years of marriage have set the seal on the happiness of the princess and her husband. The blessing of children has come not only to enrich their lives, but also to establish securely the line of succession. In Prince Charles, the public has acquired a new popular subject of interest of whom some delightful pictures have been taken. We should like to see more of him, but the insatiable demand of the public has had to bow to the princess's very proper determination that her son shall not be spoilt by publicity. Well, I think the reason that the queen is referred to by some historians as the unlikely queen is that she wasn't prepared to be queen. She was married in 1947 and she expected to have a proper long-ish married life before her father, you know, died, but he died quite suddenly. So she was an unlikely queen. And also she wasn't designated to be queen because her uncle, who became Edward VIII very briefly, abdicated and put Elizabeth directly in the line of succession. During 1951, George VI's health declined and Elizabeth frequently stood in for him at public events. When she toured Canada and visited President Harry S. Truman in Washington, DC in October, 1951, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, carried a draft accession declaration in case the king died while she was on tour. What happened was the Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were standing in for the king and queen and they started a big Commonwealth tour in Kenya, as it was called in those days. And the people of Kenya wanted them to be there and they'd given them a lodge for their wedding present. And the sort of joy for them was that they were going to visit this game reserve and there was a little place called Treetops, which was overlooking a salt lake, so you could really see the animals. This is 1952, so the whole of Kenya was teeming with game and they spent the night up there and actually it was during the night, unbeknownst to the princess, that she became queen. So they left their game viewing, went back to Sagana Lodge and had a little sleep because they'd been up all night. When the news came across to Prince Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, that the king had died and he thought that he eventually, he had one of those little radios and he fiddled with it and eventually he heard the sounds of Big Ben and he knew that the news was true. And it was his duty to tell Prince Philip, which was probably, he says later, the most difficult thing he'd ever had to do in his life. So he went to Prince Philip and told him the news that his wife, Prince Philip's wife was queen. So Prince Philip was in such shock, he just put a newspaper over his face and let the news just absorb. And then he got up and he went and got the princess out of her bedroom where she was resting and took her down to the lake at the bottom of the garden. And the lady-in-waiting tells a wonderful story. She watched them walk up and down, up and down and she knew that he was telling her. And when they walked back into the lodge, she was putting her arms around the princess and she thought, my goodness, but she's queen and dropped into a curtsy. And then of course, they had to make their way back to England as quickly as possible. But by the time they arrived back at London airport, she came down the steps, beautifully dressed in her black clothes and Prince Philip waited on the steps until she was at the bottom and she greeted her prime minister. And that's how it was going to be from then on. Despite the death of Queen Mary on the 24th of March, the coronation on the 2nd of June, 1953 went ahead as planned as Mary had asked before she died. The ceremony in Westminster Abbey with the exception of the anointing and communion was televised for the first time. Elizabeth's coronation gown was embroidered on her instructions with the floral emblems of the Commonwealth countries. The Princess Elizabeth became queen in February, 1952 and the coronation was in June, 1953. But there was no plan for her coronation. There had been a plan for her uncle's coronation, Edward VIII's, but that had been scuppered. So it takes a long time to pull all the ends together. So it was decided that they would wait until June the following year and then everything could be lined up because for a coronation, you've got to have all the heads of state from all the various countries, all the Commonwealth. So you couldn't just say, well, we're going to have it in November. Everybody needed time to organise things. Well, the historical significance of the coronation is that it's a very ancient ceremony and the queen, as she was by then, but she has to be anointed in the eyes of God and that is the coronation ceremony. So she sits on the throne in a very simple white linen dress and she has holy oil put on her forehead and that makes her queen in the eyes of God, which is why she always said in all her speeches, I will rule and I will do my duty and as long as I'm fit and able to do so. So it's an anointing ceremony in the eyes of God and that was the great importance of it. And then of course, you've got all the pomp and ceremony of all the lords and the ladies and the dignitaries and the heads of state. So it was an enormous undertaking and it was televised because Prince Philip pushed the idea that it would be a great thing for the country and the Commonwealth and the world even to have this ancient ceremony televised. And it was and it was taken back to America by plane and I know the two big networks at the time, which was CBS and NBC, were in a sort of a race against each other to see who could get the film footage first. So there was all kinds of things like that and although America got a little tiny snippet of the coronation, they didn't have the full ceremony obviously. It had to be played out in cinemas in those days. Well, when the queen came to the throne, she was only 26 and Churchill made the remark to his private secretary, but she's a child, but she wasn't a child. She was very sophisticated and mature mentally and it was a man's world and women were really subservient in those days and the queen was walking into this world of men who were all much, much older than her. But, and also she hadn't really been taught. She said there was no way to be taught. All she did was she watched what her father did and followed him. So of course, the court was very old fashioned and very stuffy, because it was really her father's court. It is a real pleasure to have an opportunity so early in my reign of visiting such a beautiful part of the principality and to see that the natural beauty of these Welsh hills has not been impaired by this vast work of modern engineering. I thank you, my Lord Mayor, for the kind terms of your loyal welcome to myself and my husband. In the caring open the Clarendon Reservoir, I congratulate you and all concerned with it on the completion of this great undertaking and express my good wishes for its successful operation. I think the day-to-day life of the monarch is very regimented. Her private secretary would bring her important letters to look at and sign. And then every 20 minutes during the day, there is an appointment. So, and it's the same every day during the working week. So it is a very regimented life. From the young princess to the Queen of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth has continued to fulfill her duties and lifetime of service to the throne. It is almost impossible to imagine the great burden of responsibility that has been carried by Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, throughout her life. Still, in 2022, she celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years since she acceded to the throne after her father's death. Elizabeth renewed her commitment to a lifetime of public service in her accession day message, which she originally made in 1947. The Queen does not intend to abdicate, though Prince Charles began to take on more of her duties as she grew older and began carrying out fewer public engagements.