Frills and flounces The Principal Drawing Room was photographed for Country Life in the early 1900s. Ornate plasterwork on the ceilings, walls, and doors, and the painted panels, can still be seen by visitors today.
An Anglican abroad A goodwill ambassador to the Anglican world outside England, the Queen greets James Horstead, the Archbishop of West Africa, at a cathedral in Nigeria, in 1956.
THE QUEEN AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH The Queen as Head AFTER of the Church Some experts are questioning the sustainability of the monarch’s role as head of the Church of England, after the changes in the law in 2011 that made it legal for a royal to marry a Catholic. The Queen has always taken her public role as head of the Church of England very FUTURE OF THE QUEEN’S ROLE seriously. In private she has nurtured an undemonstrative but abiding faith, as well It is now theoretically possible for the heir as a commitment to ensure freedom of worship for all. to the throne to marry a Catholic. The political and constitutional reform committee A mong the Queen’s many titles A significant portion of the Queen’s A royal place of worship commented: “The scenario does beg the is that of “Defender of the Faith coronation oath was given over to The 19th-century Crathie Kirk near question of whether it remains appropriate and Supreme Governor of the asserting this role. Among other Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, has for the monarch to be required to be in communion with the Church of England.” Church of England,” a role that is things, the Queen swore “to strong connections to Queen Victoria set out in the Preface to one of the maintain in the United Kingdom and to successive generations of foundational documents of the Church the Protestant Reformed Religion the Royal Family, who worship of England, where the monarch is established by law... preserve there when vacationing at described as “being by God’s inviolably the settlement of Balmoral Castle. I should sign something which will Ordinance, according to Our just Title, the Church of England... and change the liturgy until at least we’ve Defender of the Faith and... Supreme government thereof, as by law prayed it through.” Governor of the Church of England.” established in England” to In a 2012 address at Lambeth Palace, The Queen also has a role in the the utmost of her power. the Queen gave an impassioned Church of Scotland. Although she is To the Queen these are not defence of the role and value of the simply an ordinary member and not merely words, but a spiritual Church of England: “The concept of supreme governor, she is required charge that she took to her our established Church is occasionally by the Treaty of Union of 1707 heart. “The sense of misunderstood and, I believe, spiritual exaltation that commonly underappreciated... It 7 The number of Archbishops radiated from her was believing woman,” relates a story certainly provides an identity and of Canterbury during almost tangible to those of us who spiritual dimension for its own many Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. stood near her in the abbey,” recalled about the introduction of a new adherents. But also, gently and Dermot Morrah, Arundel Herald version of the Church of England assuredly, the Church of England to preserve the Church of Scotland. Extraordinary, one of the principal prayer book in 1966. Before she signed has created an environment for other Her role is central to the status of both organizers of the Coronation in 1953. off on the new version, Elizabeth faith communities and indeed people these churches as “established The Queen appoints and invests called Woods, saying, “I don’t think of no faith to live freely.” churches,” which means that they are bishops (on the advice of the prime “ … woven into the fabric of this regulated by British law. minister and Church Commission), country the Church has helped and bishops and parish priests take to build a better society.” BEFORE an oath of allegiance to the Queen and need royal authority to resign. Much as with Parliament, the Queen opens the Synod The monarch’s role (the governing assembly THE QUEEN’S LAMBETH PALACE ADDRESS, 2012 in the Church of of the Church of England), England is a direct and her assent is required consequence of for it to pass measures and Henry VIII’s break canon legislature. with Rome in the Defending the faith 16th century, which led to a series of GOLD MEDAL On a more personal level, the Parliamentary Acts OF HENRY VIII Queen has a deep and abiding faith. in the 1530s. Every Sunday, wherever she is, she attends church, including the POWER TO THE MONARCHY private royal chapel in Windsor Great In 1534, Parliament proclaimed Henry the only Park, St. Mary Magdalene at supreme head of the Church of England, and in Sandringham, and Crathie Kirk at 1559 Parliament decreed an Act of Supremacy, Balmoral. One commentator remarks declaring that Elizabeth I was the “only that “Her every decision is informed Supreme Governor of this realm and of all by her faith.” For instance, her former other her highness’ dominions and countries, Domestic Chaplain Robin Woods, who as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or describes the Queen as “a praying and causes, as temporal.” The act was to “restore to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the Papal visit estate ecclesiastical and abolishing all foreign In September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, on his first visit powers repugnant to the same.” to the UK, met Queen Elizabeth in Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was received with a Royal Salute and a Guard of Honor. 151
1947–1960 Travel and At sea State Visits Captain Alan McNicoll shows Elizabeth around his ship, HMAS Australia, during her 1954 tour of Australia. This ship was part of the escort for the Royal Yacht carrying the Queen during the Australian leg of her coronation world tour. Elizabeth II is probably one of the most recognizable women on the planet—partly because she has visited most of it. The Queen’s constant tours enable her to connect personally with millions of people. T he Queen has traveled more (see pp.106–107). In 1951, the princess widely than any other monarch. and her husband Philip were sent Her extraordinary history of on a five-week-long, coast-to-coast official overseas visits dates back to tour of Canada in place of the ailing 1947, when she was still a princess. George VI. However, it was only after That year, Elizabeth accompanied Elizabeth’s accession (see pp.132–33) her parents on a tour of Rhodesia and coronation (see pp.140–43) that (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, her truly epic travel itinerary began. where she celebrated her 21st birthday in Cape Town, with a memorable First Commonwealth tour radio broadcast to the Commonwealth One of Elizabeth’s first duties as Commemorative tea caddy newly crowned queen was to The Queen's 1954 visit to Australia caused nationwide undertake a grueling tour of the excitement. This octagonal tin of tea, with illustrations Commonwealth that had originally of Elizabeth and Philip on opposite sides, was specially been planned for her father. She produced to commemorate the visit. took off with Philip in 1953, leaving behind their two young children for a period of seven months. Her goal, she said to the people of the Commonwealth in a Christmas Day message broadcast from New Zealand, was “to show that the crown is not merely an abstract symbol of our unity, but a personal and living bond between you and me.\" The highlight of the tour was the 1954 royal visit to Australia, which produced some extraordinary scenes. In BEFORE The prelude to the Queen’s epic 1953–54 tour of the Commonwealth was her coronation tour of the British Isles, including visits to Scotland and Northern Ireland. FIRST VISIT TO NORTHERN IRELAND In July 1953, Elizabeth visited Northern Ireland for the first time. Accompanied by Philip, she traveled by train through the Ulster countryside and along the north coast. A public holiday was declared, and cheering crowds thronged to see the Queen. Conspicuous in the royal entourage was equerry Peter Townsend, brought along to put some distance between him and Margaret 154–55 ❯❯. 152
TRAVEL AND STATE VISITS Ballarat, in rural Victoria, more than and between the communities within those two nations; a living testament 150,000 people lined the streets to get to how much in common we have.\" a glimpse of the Queen. “We shared A royal ambassador in an elevating experience from which For much of her reign, the Queen has attended up to 10 official engagements we should all emerge better citizens a day when on tour, working up to 14 hours a day. It is perhaps not surprising, and better Britishers,\" gushed the given the volume of arrangements and security involved, that tours take up to Ballarat Courier—a local newspaper. two years to organize. In recent times, the Queen's state visits have become At Melbourne Cricket Ground (one shorter and less onerous. of the world’s biggest sports stadiums), Elizabeth is of remarkable value as an ambassador for Britain. A visit more than 100,000 children turned from the Queen helps the country exert influence, spread its culture out to greet Elizabeth. Excitement and values, and advance its economic objectives. For instance, Reader’s Digest turned to hysteria in other parts of the magazine described the Queen’s 1953–54 Commonwealth tour as country: 2,000 people fainted while “possibly the most ambitious and certainly the most successful piece waiting to see the Queen outside of public relations ever attempted.\" A visit from the Queen carries unique Sydney's town hall, and women and prestige, due in part to the relative scarcity of ruling royal families since children were trampled underfoot as World War II. Lord Chalfont, who frequently served as the Queen’s a crowd surged to see the monarch in Minister in Attendance on state visits, noted: “The British monarchy occupies Lismore, northern New South Wales. a unique band in the spectrum of international diplomacy… [the Queen] It was estimated that some 10 million has for most people overseas that indefinable quality sometimes Australians—about 70 percent of the described [as] ‘glamour.’\" population—saw the Queen in person The Queen in Africa AFTER during the visit. Elizabeth is escorted to a dais under a large sunshade Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth continues Coming home to view a parade at Kumasi Sports Stadium during a to undertake one or two official state visit to Ghana in November 1961. The Queen visits abroad each year. Elizabeth’s tour of the Commonwealth also visited Sierra Leone and Gambia the same year. ON BEHALF OF THE QUEEN In recent times, the Queen has increasingly been was scheduled to come to an end in represented abroad by her family—her son, Prince Charles, and grandchildren, Princes May 1954. The Royal Yacht Britannia, comprehensive travel plans for the year Harry and William 294–95 ❯❯. The newest member of the Royal Family, Prince George, built in 1953 by the prestigious Clyde ahead, the Queen famously quipped, made his first visit abroad—a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand 294–95 ❯❯ shipyards of John Brown & Co. at \"Between us, we are going to many at only 8 months old. a cost of more than £2 million ($5.6 parts of the world. We have no plans million), was enlisted to bring the royal for space travel—at the moment.\" couple home. The yacht would carry Prince Charles and Princess Anne to the Historic firsts Mediterranean, where they would During her reign, Elizabeth has visited join their parents before sailing back more than 100 nations, and achieved to Britain. The family was reunited many historic firsts. In 1986, she on May 1, when became the first Elizabeth and Philip 43,617 The total reigning British boarded the yacht distance in miles monarch to visit at Tobruk, Libya. (70,196 kilometers) covered by China, and also On May 15, Elizabeth II during her 1953–54 made first state the Royal Family tour of the Commonwealth. visits to Russia received a rapturous in October 1994, welcome as they sailed up the Thames Brunei and Malaysia in 1998, and River. Prime Minister Winston South Korea in 1999. In 1995, the Churchill was also on the yacht, Queen finally went back to South having boarded the previous day at Africa for the first time since 1947, Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight. The after the end of apartheid. twin arms of Tower Bridge were In 2011, Elizabeth became the first opened to their fullest extent to let British monarch to visit the Republic the yacht through, and a huge banner of Ireland (see pp.270–71), making the bearing the words \"Welcome Home\" first visit to southern parts of the island ran across the top of the bridge. A since the 1911 tour by her grandfather 41-gun salute thundered out from the George V. At a state dinner held in her Tower of London. After bringing the honor, the Queen reflected on the Queen's first Commonwealth tour to historic import of the occasion, talking a successful conclusion, Britannia went of “the peace and understanding we on to cover more than a million miles now have between our two nations in over 44 years of royal service. Far and wide Her Majesty's Yacht The Royal Yacht Britannia is The Queen's Commonwealth tour of seen docked alongside the 1953–54 was her longest. Since then, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront she has continued to tour extensively, during Elizabeth’s 1995 historic travelling around 100,000 miles visit to South Africa after the (160,000 km) per year for much of her abolishment of apartheid, reign, making at least one state visit or racial segregation. The a year. The rest of the Royal Family yacht was decommissioned shares some of the burden with her. two years later. In her 1958 Christmas broadcast, after listing the Royal Family's 153
Lovers on parade A photo of young Princess Margaret, inspecting the troops at a ship launch in 1947, captures royal equerry Peter Townsend in the background. This was at the start of their relationship.
MARGARET’S DOOMED ROMANCE Margaret’s Doomed Romance The young Queen Elizabeth’s fledgling rule soon faced a test that pitted changing social mores against the traditional conservatism of the monarchy, as Princess Margaret considered marrying a divorcee, Group Captain Peter Townsend. BEFORE O n her 18th birthday, Princess Captain Peter Townsend, a war hero Margaret enjoyed a glittering whose daring exploits as a pilot during Margaret’s first encounter with coming out. Her private life the Battle of Britain were legendary. Townsend came in February 1944 at would now be the talk of the gossip Buckingham Palace, when she was 14. columns, as commentators speculated Out in the open She sat next to Elizabeth, waiting for over the identity of the most likely the heroic pilot to pass by en route to suitor for perhaps the most eligible The outside world first became aware an audience with the King. As the woman in the world. The general view young airman came in, Elizabeth was that Margaret ran with a “fast” set: of the relationship between princess whispered to Margaret: “Bad luck, dashing young playboy aristocrats. But he’s married.” in truth she merely dallied with them, and equerry in 1953. On the day of for her heart had long been set on an ROYAL APPOINTMENT older, more serious figure: Group Elizabeth’s coronation (see pp.140–43), After the war Townsend had a nervous breakdown, and it was agreed that the Keeping her distance Margaret was seen picking a bit of fluff relatively low-key role of equerry—a personal Princess Margaret’s visit to the West Indies in aide to the royals—might suit him. He soon February 1955 was widely seen as an attempt off Townsend’s uniform, a gesture that became a firm favorite with the King to put some distance between herself and Peter and Queen. Townsend and Margaret were Townsend. It did not work. spoke volumes. Their relationship increasingly thrown together, especially during the 1947 tour of South Africa, where they spent immediately became a media circus, much time in each other’s company and began to fall in love. In 1950 Townsend was with sensational coverage that appointed Deputy Master of the Household, with his own office at Buckingham Palace. disturbed the Palace greatly. After In 1952 he divorced his wife. Edward VIII’s abdication crisis (see pp.90–91), the thought of another For the love of Peter royal getting involved with a divorcee Headlines from the Daily Mirror, dated was unacceptable. Various steps were October 19, 1955, give a flavor of the pervasive taken to separate the couple. In July media coverage of Margaret’s relationship. 1953 Margaret was sent to accompany the Queen Mother on a tour of The final decision Southern Rhodesia (now part of Margaret was faced with a stark choice: Zimbabwe), while it had been arranged renounce the marriage, or renounce that Townsend would take a new job her royal life. At the end of October, as the British Air she made her decision Attache in Brussels. When Margaret £6,000 Annual income and informed ($17,000) that the Archbishop Margaret would have lost had of Canterbury, learned that he would have left the she married Townsend. Dr. Geoffrey Fisher. UK by the time she On October 31, after “ We were both exhausted… we returned, she collapsed. The Palace, a meeting with Townsend, she issued felt mute and numbed at the center of this maelstrom.” including the Queen herself, were her statement: “I would like it to be PETER TOWNSEND against the match, but when she known that I have decided not to reached the age of 25 Margaret would marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.” be able to marry without permission It was signed “Margaret” but had been from the monarch. written by Peter Townsend. Opposition to the marriage AFTER As Margaret approached her 25th After issuing her statement that she birthday, tension mounted. On would not marry Townsend, Margaret October 14, the Palace issued a was left to nurse her broken heart. statement that no announcement Asked if she had been sacrificed to the concerning Princess Margaret’s personal institution of monarchy, the Queen’s future was at present contemplated. private secretary Martin Charteris Various constitutional and religious replied, “She sacrificed herself.” issues seemed to block any prospect of a union. Meanwhile Prime Minister LAST FAREWELL Anthony Eden had told the Queen that Margaret and Townsend saw one another any marriage between the two would sporadically for a few years afterward. Their not receive parliamentary sanction and last meeting, till they met again in the that if it took place, a bill would be set 1990s, came in December 1958. Townsend out to deprive Princess Margaret of came for tea at Clarence House, where the her rights of succession, her title, Princess was chaperoned by her mother. The and her Civil List entitlement. meeting lasted about half an hour and left Margaret in tears. Hounded by the press As speculation about their marriage mounted to fever pitch, Margaret and Townsend found themselves at the center of a media circus. Here the press wait for them to leave a dinner party in late October 1955. 155
DECISIVE MOMENT December 25, 1957 3:00 p.m. The First Televised Christmas Message The Christmas broadcast had served to provide a powerful connection between the monarch and the people since the 1930s. In 1957, Elizabeth II was eager to use the latest technology to connect even more directly with the public. On Christmas Day 1932, George V inaugurated one of the most deeply embedded of British yuletide customs—the royal Christmas message (see pp.88–89). The message was delivered via radio to millions of listeners. Elizabeth II continued this tradition, bringing to it her own love of television. She was a great fan of the new medium: after returning from her 1954 tour of the Commonwealth, she delayed appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace until she had finished watching English actress and singer Gracie Fields in the BBC’s Welcome Home Ball. By 1960, there were 50 TV sets in the Palace. The year 1957 would mark the 25th anniversary of the first Christmas broadcast on radio. Richard Webber, the BBC’s head of outside broadcasting, recalled: “In television, we were keen to do everything that radio had done, so we asked the Palace if the Queen would consider reading the message live on television. She was a young monarch keen to enter into the spirit of the new era, and approved of the idea.” The broadcast would be made live from the Long Library at Sandringham. Elizabeth went from a single run-through into a live broadcast, in which she read from the teleprompter. She was filmed throughout by a single camera, which panned in during the speech. Toward the end of the broadcast, she was to quote some lines from English writer and preacher John Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress and pick up a book as a prop. The Queen was the only one to notice that it was the wrong book, a detail that would not have been apparent to viewers, but she made sure that the correct volume was fetched from the library. “ I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you… But now at least for a few minutes I welcome you into the peace of my own home.” ELIZABETH II, ROYAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE, 1957 Gathering around to watch Millions of viewers watched Elizabeth II’s 1957 Christmas message. She struck a chord with her audience by saying: “My own family often gather round to watch television as they are this moment, and that is how I imagine you now.” 157
QUEEN AND MOTHER 1960–1980 Hybrid tea rose named “Silver Jubilee” in honor of Elizabeth II’s 25 years on the throne
1960–1980 QUEEN AND MOTHER 1960–1980 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 FEBRUARY 3, 1960 MARCH 10, 1964 FEBRUARY DECEMBER 22, 1966 APRIL 20, 1968 British Prime Minister Elizabeth II gives Prince Charles Rhodesia leaves Enoch Powell delivers Harold Macmillan birth to her third starts his two-term the Commonwealth, his “rivers of blood” makes his “winds attendance at having illegally declared speech, warning of the of change” speech son, Edward. Geelong Grammar independence the dangers of increased to the South African School in Australia. year before. immigration. parliament, heralding the SEPTEMBER 27, 1968 decolonization of Africa. US musical Hair opens in London following repeal FEBRUARY 19, 1960 MARCH 27, 1966 MAY 28, 1967 of theater censorship the Elizabeth II gives Football World Cup Aviator and sailor Francis previous day. birth to her second trophy, which was stolen Chichester completes JUNE 21, 1969 son, Andrew. in London, is found by a solo around-the-world Royal Family documentary dog; England wins World sailing voyage. airs on BBC, followed by Cup at Wembley on July a second transmission 30, 1966. on ITV a week later. MAY 6, 1960 MAY 11, 1962 OCTOBER 15, 1964 The Queen with JULY 2, 1967 An investiture chair Princess Margaret 13-year-old Prince Charles The Labour party comes to Prince Andrew and the The Queen and JULY 1, 1969 marries Antony starts at Gordonstoun power under Harold Wilson. baby Prince Edward Prince Philip visit Investiture of Armstrong-Jones, School in Scotland. Ottawa for the Charles as Prince later created Earl JANUARY 25, 1965 OCTOBER 21, 1966 Canadian centennial. of Wales at of Snowdon. AUGUST 6, 1962 Churchill dies, state funeral Aberfan disaster in Wales; Caernarfon Castle. Jamaica becomes independent. follows six days later. massive mudslide kills 116 JULY 4, 1967 OCTOBER 21, 1960 children and 28 adults as England and Wales AUGUST 1969 The Queen launches it buries a school. decriminalize male Northern Ireland riots the UK’s first nuclear homosexuality. mark climax of year of submarine. JUNE 1963 JUNE 1965 escalation of sectarian Government minister John Queen presents Member of SEPTEMBER 20, 1967 and nationalist conflict 1960 Profumo resigns after the Order of the British Empire The Queen attends the known as the Troubles. Elizabeth allows her involvement in a sex scandal. (MBE) to each of the Beatles. launching ceremony of portrait to be used the ocean liner Queen on currency for OCTOBER 1963 Elizabeth II (QE2). the first time. When Prime Minister Harold MacMillan steps down due Launch of to ill health, the lack of the QE2 a replacement sparks a constitutional crisis. The Queen is advised to appoint Alec Douglas- Home. £1 note; design first issued in 1960 MAY 31, 1961 NOVEMBER 25, 1963 South Africa leaves the The Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth after other represents the Queen at the nations reject its apartheid funeral of assassinated US policy and white South president John F Kennedy. Africans vote for a republic. 160
QUEEN AND MOTHER Two decades of upheaval and transition at home and abroad former overseas territories, changing social mores at home, and the brought an era of rapid change to which the Royal Family managed breakdown of her sister’s marriage. The public would get its first to adapt, even as it expanded, with the Queen, Princess Margaret, intimate look at royal life, while national joy over the Silver Jubilee and Princess Anne all having children. The Queen would face celebrations would soon be overshadowed by private tragedy as multiple challenges, including the widespread decolonization of a terrorist atrocity struck close to the heart of the royals. 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 JUNE 19, 1970 JUNE 5, 1972 JANUARY 1974 JANUARY 21, 1976 1978–1979 Ted Heath becomes Prime Funeral of the Queen’s Miner’s strike forces Prime The Concorde begins Widespread strikes by Minister after shock victory uncle, Duke of Minister Heath to introduce transatlantic flights. public-sector unions, for Conservatives. Windsor, formerly three-day week and leads to together with the coldest Edward VIII. collapse of government and winter in 16 years makes JULY 1970 general election; this in turn what the papers call “the Following visits to Fiji, Tonga, results in hung parliament and Winter of Discontent.” New Zealand, and Australia, fresh elections, returning Queen Elizabeth tours Canada; Harold Wilson to power. JULY 25, 1978 the following month Charles World’s first test-tube baby, and Anne are guests of Coin commemorating the Louise Brown, is born in President Nixon in Washington. Queen’s Silver Jubilee Oldham, Greater Manchester. JANUARY 1971 NOVEMBER 20, 1972 JANUARY–JUNE 1976 JUNE 6, 1977 MAY 1979 First Commonwealth The Queen and Prince Cod War between the The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Margaret Thatcher Heads of Government Philip celebrate UK and Iceland erupts reaches a climax. The becomes Prime Minister. meeting takes place their silver wedding due to differences over extended celebrations in Singapore. anniversary. fishing rights. include home and foreign AUGUST 27, 1979 tours, Armada beacon The IRA assassinates 1971 JANUARY 1, 1973 chain, Thanksgiving Service Earl Mountbatten along Anne wins the European The UK joins the at St. Paul’s Cathedral, with three others. Eventing Championship, European Economic nationwide street parties, and later BBC Sports Community (EEC). Thames River procession, Personality of the Year. and Jubilee walkway. FEBRUARY 15, 1971 NOVEMBER 14, MARCH 19, 1976 Decimalization in UK 1973 Princess Margaret and and Ireland, with Princess Anne her husband, the Earl introduction of marries Captain of Snowdon, separate. new money. Mark Phillips. Stamp commemorating the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s silver wedding anniversary MARCH 20, 1974 SUMMER 1976 Attempt to kidnap A heatwave brings Princess Anne is foiled. longest drought and hottest summer on record for the UK. NOVEMBER 11, 1975 DECEMBER 31, 1976 JUNE 15, 1977 Mountbatten’s Governor-General The Prince’s Trust— Gleneagles Agreement funeral procession of Australia sparks a Prince Charles’s charity marks the start of sports constitutional crisis when for young people—is boycott of South Africa. NOVEMBER 21, 1979 he fires the Australian officially launched. Sir Anthony Blunt, the prime minister. NOVEMBER 15, 1977 Queen’s art adviser, is Princess Anne gives named as a Soviet spy The wedding of Princess birth to Peter, her first and the fourth man in Anne to Captain Mark Phillips child and the Queen’s the Cambridge spy ring. first grandchild. 161
1960–1980 The Childhood of the Princes and Princess The Queen’s four children are not at all like each other, despite their similar upbringing. Part of this is probably due to their very different experiences in childhood, as well as the considerable age gap between them. Mother and children F ew families of the postwar the same way as any other mother Royal plaything Queen Elizabeth with 4-year-old era have had to contend with did. I just think it’s extraordinary This miniature version of an Aston Martin DB5, famous Andrew and the infant Edward, anything like the level of scrutiny, that anybody could construe that that from the James Bond movies, was presented to Prince the youngest princes, fascination, adoration, and criticism might not be true.” Andrew in 1966 by the car company. It had rotating photographed by Cecil that apply to the British Royal Family. license plates and a functional smoke screen. Beaton in 1964. These unique pressures and influences Charles’s education have shaped the four children of “This [has been] a memorable year BEFORE Queen Elizabeth II in different ways. Charles’s father, Philip, was determined for the principality... I have decided that the little prince should not be to mark it further by an act which will, Prince Charles’s earliest years were During the childhoods of Charles and spoiled, but toughened up. Part of this I hope, give as much pleasure to all rather lonely and he missed out on Anne, their mother had only recently would be achieved by his education, Welshmen as it does to me. I intend a close maternal relationship, since he become Queen, a role that she embraced and he was sent to a series of suitable to create my son Charles Prince of saw his parents very little. wholeheartedly. She dedicated herself institutions. His first school was Hill Wales today.” to service, the Commonwealth, touring, House, where a 1957 report described SOLITARY BIRTHDAY and the daily business of monarchy, him as, “A good, average schoolboy.” Philip had absolutely no doubt Before Elizabeth acceded to the throne, she while at the same time deferring to Later that year he became a boarder at that the proper destination for his was already leaving her children behind her husband in matters of parenting. Cheam School, Headley, Hampshire. son when he turned 13 would be to go on long overseas tours. When By the time Andrew and Edward came His parents were eager that he be Gordonstoun, the experimental school Philip was posted to Malta in 1949, Elizabeth, along in 1960 and 1964, the Queen treated like any other schoolboy, but that had done so much to shape his unencumbered by little Charles, had enjoyed a was older, wiser, more assertive, and, the truth of his unique status would own character. The children at carefree few months there as an officer’s according to various biographers wife. Charles celebrated his third birthday with a and royal journalists, determined “ We would like our son and daughter tea party at Buckingham Palace and a buggy to provide a warmer and more to grow up as normally as possible ride around Green Park, while his parents were maternal environment. This, along so that they will be able to serve you away on a tour of Canada. with significant innate differences in and the Commonwealth faithfully.” the siblings in temperament and GREETING WITH A HANDSHAKE intellect, and the wide gap in age, ELIZABETH II, CHRISTMAS BROADCAST, 1958 After Elizabeth came to the throne, she threw meant that Charles would have a very herself into the role, and five months after the different experience from his younger slip out occasionally, such as the Gordonstoun endured a tough routine coronation embarked on a tour that saw her brothers, and turn out to be a very time when, wanting to write home, of cold showers and cross-country separated from her children for different person from them. he enquired, “I know my mother is runs, intended to build character. almost six months. When the children and the Queen, but how do I put that Charles described the prospect as Elizabeth were reunited in Tobruk, in Libya, Conflicting views on childhood on the envelope?” “pretty gruesome,” and, reportedly, he as the royal couple made their way back to was deeply unhappy during his time Britain at the end of the tour, she greeted The early years of Charles and, to a In 1958, in a surprise move, the there, despite being made head boy. Charles by shaking his hand. lesser extent, Anne were characterized Queen announced that she was His stay at Gordonstoun was marked by a degree of emotional distance from making her son the Prince of Wales: their parents. It is worth noting, by one headline-grabbing however, that Princess Anne incident when he got in vehemently disagrees with Charles’s trouble for ordering a cherry rather bleak assessment of his brandy at the age of 14, at a mother’s lack of affection. hotel in Stornaway. While “I’m not going to speak for Charles was in Scotland, back anyone else,” Anne told one at Buckingham Palace his interviewer, “but I simply future was being mapped out, don’t believe there is any with a 1965 summit to plan evidence whatsoever to suggest that she wasn’t Bondi beach bum caring. It just beggars belief. Prince Charles, during his 1966 sojourn We as children may have in Australia, smiles broadly as he is not been too demanding, in fitted with the distinctive bathing the sense that we understood cap of the Sydney Surf Club, worn by what the limitations were in lifeguards on Bondi Beach in Sydney. time and the responsibilities In this ceremony, he was made an placed on her as monarch... honorary member of the club. but I don’t believe that any of us, for a second, thought she didn’t care for us in exactly 162
THE CHILDHOOD OF THE PRINCES AND PRINCESS his higher education and career—a Guides—with little Anne as a founding School in Ascot before Gordonstoun. Princess Anne summit to which he was not invited. member. In 1963 Anne went to Edward was born in 1964, and for A portrait of Soon Prince Charles had become the Benenden School, Kent, to board, the first time, Prince Philip was Princess Anne on first heir to the throne to sit public and soon fell in love with the world of present at the birth. Edward was a her 19th birthday, by examinations, winning a place at horse trials and eventing (see pp.186– quiet child who loved listening to photographer Norman Trinity College, Cambridge. 87), winning her first trials in 1969. Swedish music group ABBA and Parkinson, who also Irish radio and TV personality Terry photographed her Private Tutoring Andrew and Edward Wogan. While Andrew went straight on her 21st birthday, into the navy, Edward was awarded her engagement, and Meanwhile, Anne’s early childhood Prince Charles was big brother to a place at Jesus College, Cambridge, her wedding. took place out of the public eye, two little princes, who would follow despite poor exam results, which with private tutoring. Mindful of him to Gordonstoun. Andrew was sparked accusations of special In their the difficulties facing a young princess educated by a governess up to the age treatment. After university he joined childhood, in terms of meeting other children, of 8, keeping him close to home—a the Royal Marines as a university cadet Charles was her aunt, Princess Margaret, prompted notable departure from the course but found the training too arduous a loving older the formation of a new Buckingham followed with Charles—and then and dropped out. brother to Anne, whose tomboy Palace Brownie Pack—a unit of Girl went to Heatherdown Preparatory spirit and no-nonsense pluck he admired, but to Andrew and Edward he was a more remote figure, more like an uncle. Today the relationship between the royal siblings has somewhat cooled. According to a former aide, quoted by the London Daily Telegraph, in later life, “There was very little contact between them actually, save at family gatherings and events. Communication used to be dealt with by households—private secretaries. They were very un-close, leading independent lives.” AFTER Prince Charles retains fond memories of the time he spent studying in Australia at the age of 17. DOWN UNDER From February to July 1966, he spent two terms at Timbertop, a remote campus of Geelong Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia. Despite the fact that Timbertop, too, was tough, it was an experience the Prince enjoyed very much, in contrast to his miserable time at Gordonstoun. SHREDDED SHEEP On one field trip to New Guinea, after seeing examples of the folk art of the Papuan people, the Prince expressed concern about pre-industrial societies losing their traditional ways of life. This experience gave him an introduction to the study of anthropology, which may have helped to foster some of his later concerns and pursuits. Charles also tried his hand at sheepshearing, but admitted to the press, “I made rather a mess of it and left a somewhat shredded sheep.” Big brother, little brother Prince Charles entertains his little brother Edward, in a scene from the 1969 behind-the- scenes documentary film Royal Family (see pp.172–73). Edward is just 5 years old, while his big brother is nearly 21. 163
Against the Wall During an 11-day tour of West Germany in 1965, the Queen and Prince Philip visited the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz. Vast crowds turned out to see them.
1960–1980 Born 1948 The Prince of Wales “I only take on the most difficult challenges... to raise aspirations...” CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES Prince Charles’s full title is His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. This may sound as if he is a bastion of tradition and an archetype of conservatism, and in many ways he is, but he also represents a new breed of royal. Charles is a royal in the classic tradition of engagement and service, but with a distinctive and modern twist. An academic and thoughtful man, he was the first heir to the throne to be sent to school, the first to take public exams, one of the few to go to university rather than straight into the military, and the first to get a degree. Conservative radical Father and sons Prince Charles is seen here with his young sons princes Charles’s abiding concerns for the William and Harry at their Kensington home in 1985. conservation of traditions and As adults, the three are said to be very close and share the environment became apparent several common interests. early in his life. As a teenager attending school in Australia, he wrote technology, he confessed to be “in a an essay about the threat to traditional slightly difficult position,” as a result societies in New Guinea, while as an of his status. He still straddles uneasily undergraduate at Cambridge, he the line between personal opinion proposed a telling motion to the and official impartiality. university debating society in 1970: “This house believes that technological Formative influences advance threatens the individuality of man and is becoming his master.” Charles was close to his great-uncle Expressing concern about the march of Louis Mountbatten, and the pair had affectionate nicknames for one Man of contradictions another: “honorary grandfather” and In character, the Prince of Wales is humorous, “honorary grandson.” Charles had self-deprecating, intelligent, and passionately engaged never gotten a chance to know his real with a lot of issues, but also deeply insecure. He is grandfathers—King George VI died pictured here looking very relaxed during a visit when Charles was 4 years old, and to Pakistan in 2006. Prince Andrew of Greece and
THE PRINCE OF WALES Organic farming methodology is TIMELINE just one of a number of hobby horses for which the Prince is famous. He ■ November 14, 1948 Born Charles Philip promotes alternative medicine, Arthur George at Buckingham Palace to especially homeopathy. He famously Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. admitted to talking to his plants to help them grow. He holds strong views on ■ November 14, 1951 Celebrates his architecture, outspokenly criticizing third birthday without his parents, who buildings he finds distasteful—when he are in Canada on a royal tour. labeled a proposed National Gallery extension “a monstrous carbuncle on ■ February 6, 1952 King George VI dies; Charles the face of a much-loved and elegant becomes Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, friend”, the extension was scrapped. Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the To further his own taste in architecture, Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Prince Charles has developed a village at Poundbury in Dorset, with buildings ■ June 2, 1953 Attends coronation of his mother. that follow his architectural principles. ■ November 7, 1956 Starts school at Hill House in central London. ■ July 26, 1958 Charles is created Prince of Wales. Red Crow marvelous... Fortunately I landed... I Forging a new style of monarchy Prince Charles smokes a peace pipe—a ceremonial had visions of myself going round and pipe—during a royal tour of Canada in 1977. During round until eventually the fuel ran out.” With advancing years, the Queen has the visit, he was given the name “Red Crow,” an increasingly looked to Charles to serve Indian Chief of the Kainai tribe. As a father, Charles sought to bring up as a sort of co-monarch. He has moved his children very differently from how center stage in guiding royal strategy, Denmark, passed away four years he was brought up. He had a strong before Charles was born. He also had a desire not to create the sense of distance PRINCE OF WALES COAT OF ARMS difficult relationship with his father. and loneliness he experienced as a child. ■ May 1, 1962 Starts school at Gordonstoun Mountbatten would later attempt to Hobby horses in Scotland. matchmake his granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull, into the Royal Family, and Although a military career was not he vigorously promoted the match to for Charles, he did take to farming, Charles. But the young Prince had little particularly appropriate for one of Britain’s largest landowners. As Duke “He has spent an awful lot of his life ■ June 17, 1963 Causes media storm by ordering searching for a role, but I think cherry brandy at a hotel in Stornoway, Scotland. he does now feel fulfilled pursuing his various interests.” ■ February–July 1966 Spends two terms at Timbertop, a remote annex of Geelong Church of England Grammar School in Australia. PENNY JUNOR, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER ■ October 8, 1967 Starts studying archeology and physical and social anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge. interest in being tied down, and would of Cornwall, he owns massive estates Prince’s Foundation ■ July 1, 1969 Charles is invested as Prince of continue to be one of the world’s most (see pp.256–57), leading to one Charles speaks at the annual conference of the Prince’s Wales at Caernarfon Castle. eligible bachelors into his 30s. memorable quip from his father, who, Foundation for the Built Environment—now known as on being asked whether he was familiar the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community—in ■ June 23, 1970 Becomes first heir to the throne At his father’s insistence, Charles with the Scilly Isles, remarked, “I think 2010. Charles established the charity in 1986. to earn a university degree. pursued a career in every branch of the my son owns them.” Charles pursues military, arguably enjoying Royal Air organic farming, and started the ■ July 29, 1981 Marries Lady Diana Spencer. Force the most. In January 1969, multimillion-dollar Duchy Originals Charles made his first solo flight, and brand to market his own produce. ■ June 21, 1982 Birth of Prince William. later recalled, ”... it was absolutely pursuing a “slimming” agenda that ■ September 15, 1984 Birth of Prince Harry. DUCHESS OF CORNWALL sees the Royal Family pared down to a core of his parents and his own ■ December 9, 1992 Separates from Diana. CAMILLA direct family, moving his siblings and their offspring to the margins. Charles ■ August 28, 1996 Divorces Diana. The Duchess of Cornwall was born Camilla himself promises to be a new style of Rosemary Shand on July 17, 1947, in monarch, outspoken and an activist, ■ August 31, 1997 Diana dies in a car crash. London, into a well-connected, though not but this has raised serious political aristocratic, family. In 1973, she married and constitutional issues. These came ■ November 1998 Charles’s press secretary Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, and had two to a head in the 2015 court battle provokes a furore after an interview in which children, but they got divorced in 1995. In 2005, over the release of the “black spider” he suggests that the Prince would like the she married Charles in a civil ceremony, followed memos, the letters in the Prince’s Queen to abdicate in his favor. by a service of prayer and dedication in St. distinctive spidery handwriting that George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, presided he regularly fires off to government ■ April 9, 2005 Marries Camilla Parker Bowles. over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, ministers to argue policy or push an followed by a reception hosted by the Queen. agenda. “In defining his role as heir ■ November 2012 During a visit to Dumfries The Palace also announced that if Prince apparent,” says Catherine Mayer, his House in East Ayrshire, Charles reportedly says, Charles becomes King, Camilla will use the biographer, “the Prince has signaled “Impatient? Me? What a thing to suggest! style HRH Princess Consort. a redefinition of the monarchy. Yes, of course I am... I’ll run out of time soon.” Some courtiers—and the sovereign herself—fear that neither the crown ■ September 20, 2013 Passes the age of 64 nor its subjects will tolerate the years, 10 months, and 5 days to become the shock of the new.” likely holder of the record for oldest person to be crowned in British history, when he eventually succeeds the Queen, surpassing William IV, who became king in 1830. Charles is also the longest serving heir apparent. 167
DECISIVE MOMENT September 20, 1967 The Launch of the QE2 The construction of the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)—the mighty new flagship of the famous Cunard Line—signaled both the end of one era and the start of a new one. The last great passenger ship to be built on the Clyde River in Scotland, it marked the beginning of cruisers replacing liners. Just a few days before the launch of the shipping company Cunard’s latest and greatest ocean liner, the previous holder of that title, the Queen Mary, had made her last transatlantic crossing. This marked the transition from the old era of pre-aviation passenger shipping to a new age. In the early 1950s, liners carried over one million passengers a year across the Atlantic. By 1967, sea traffic had almost halved to around 600,000 journeys, while the airlines were carrying more than five million people each year. Accordingly, the 59,000-ton new ship was built to be very different from its predecessors. It was equipped for cruising as an end in itself, with nearly 1,000 cabins, restaurants on the upper decks with sea views, cocktail bars, nightclubs, and a theater. As Sir John Brocklebank, chairman of Cunard, had announced in 1962, “She must be a top flight cruise ship... with a concept in advance of any existing ship.\" The great mystery to be revealed on the day of the launch was the name of the vessel, known up to that point simply as Q4. The presence of the Queen’s sister at the launch led many to conclude it would be named the Princess Margaret. However, written on the slip of paper that was handed to the Queen with the name of the ship on it was simply “Queen Elizabeth.\" It was she who chose, by the act of declaring it aloud, that the ship would be known as the Queen Elizabeth the Second. The Queen pressed the button to release a bottle of white wine (which Cunard always uses in preference to champagne) to smash against the bow. Soon the huge ship began to gather pace down the slipway, reaching 22 mph (35.4 kph) before entering the water stern- first and sending a 2-ft- (60-cm-) high wave washing across the Clyde. “ Like her great predecessors, the new liner will write a further chapter in the history of ocean travel.” BRITISH PATHÉ NEWSREEL COMMENTATOR, 1967 Ready for launch The QE2, with its vast bulk of the hull and lower superstructure, is poised for its launch on September 20, 1967.Thousands of tons of drag chains were used to slow the mighty ship's descent and prevent her from crashing into the far bank of the Clyde. 169
1960–1980 BEFORE Charles is Invested as the Prince of Wales Charles began studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1967. As the Although Charles had been made Prince of Wales 11 years earlier in 1958 when he was 9 years day of the investiture approached, old, it was deemed better to wait until he had grown to manhood before unleashing all the he left Cambridge and went to pomp and pageantry of the investiture ceremony on him. Wales to prepare. LIFE AS A STUDENT Charles spent his first year at Trinity College, Cambridge, studying archeology and physical and social anthropology. He studied history for another year and then, in April 1969, left The title of Prince of Wales, who, having slain Llywelyn ap Gruffud, appoint a Welshman, when he actually traditionally, though not always, the last independent Prince of Wales, meant his preverbal infant son. By held by the heir to the throne, promised the people of Wales a prince 1301, Edward had indeed invested the has a long but contentious history. “who spoke not a word of English.” title on his son, the future Edward II. According to legend, it was Edward I This led them to believe he would This legend extends to the origin of the CHARLES AT CAMBRIDGE IN 1969 motto of the Prince of Wales, Ich Dien, usually translated as Cambridge to study Welsh and the history “I serve.” According to one of the Principality at the University College of Welsh tradition, when Edward I Wales in Aberystwyth, in a move to improve presented his newborn son his appeal to the Welsh public. to the Welsh assembly, he proclaimed in Welsh Eich dyn, WELSH BLOOD IN HIS VEINS which means “Behold the At the time there was considerable man.” The more general belief controversy stirred by Welsh nationalists, is that Ich Dien was the motto who questioned the legitimacy of an under the plume of John, King English Royal being installed as of Bohemia, who was slain by their prince. One newspaper reported the Black Prince—Edward of that the Welsh “are sick and tired of having Woodstock, Prince of Wales, the skeletons of long-dead princes dug up eldest son of Edward III—at and rattled before them.” Charles responded Crécy in northern France in by pointing out that he was “descended 1346. According to Brewer’s three times over from the original Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Welsh princes. My grandmother, Queen when the Black Prince Elizabeth, is descended twice over through defeated John of Bohemia, both sides, so I seem to have quite a lot of he assumed the slain King’s Welsh blood in me.” Three weeks before the motto in a show of modesty, investiture, Charles gave a speech in Welsh to indicate that “he served at Aberystwyth, but it failed to dissuade under the king, his father.” militant Welsh nationalists from staging bomb attacks on government and Delayed ceremony military buildings. Charles became Prince of Accoutrements of office Wales when he was only Charles kneels before his mother, the Queen, to receive 9 years old, and it was felt the accoutrements of his new office. He is holding the that the investiture ceremony ceremonial sword and the gold rod, and wearing would be too much for him the newly fashioned coronet of Welsh gold. at that young age. Accordingly it was decided to wait until 170 he was older, and so the investiture was planned for 1969, when he would be almost 21 years old. Caernarfon Castle in North Wales was chosen as a suitably spectacular backdrop for a ceremony intended to entertain and impress. Lord Snowdon, husband of Princess Margaret, was appointed Constable of Caernarfon Castle and given the task of devising and arranging the ceremony, a job he took on with gusto, inventing an array of pomp and pageantry. Snowdon ordered 4,000 chairs upholstered in bright scarlet
CHARLES BECOMES THE PRINCE OF WALES Impressive backdrop singers, a very memorable ‘Goon,’ With its tall polygonal towers, and eminent film stars. All these people sheer scale, and dominating have been inspired in some way by this presence, the 13th-century heritage.” The mention of a “Goon” is Caernarfon Castle proved to a reference to Harry Secombe, a Welsh be the perfect venue for the member of the cast of The Goon Show, investiture ceremony. an offbeat radio comedy of which Charles has always been a huge fan. for the guests—these were later sold bridge on the road from Porthmadog titles including the by the Ministry of Works for £12 ($29) to Caernarfon Castle a month before Principality of Wales In addition to the 4,000 guests at the each in an attempt to recover some of the ceremony. This would then be and the Earldom castle and some 90,000 people on the considerable cost of the ceremony. blamed on British security services of Chester. He was the streets of Caernarfon, the investiture Snowdon devised for himself as (to what end is unclear). However, presented with the was witnessed by a television audience constable a costume in Lincoln the unlikely scheme was aborted at accoutrements of his of 19 million people in the UK and green, which he later described as new offices, including up to 500 million around the world. a cross between “a cinema usherette a sword, new coronet This is believed to be the largest from the 1950s and the panto of Welsh gold, mantle, TV audience ever gained for an character Buttons.” This caused some gold ring, and gold event in Wales. The event was controversy with the arch-traditionalist rod. In formal response used to market Wales at a time of Sir Anthony Wagner, Garter King of to the Queen, he upheaval and change for the Welsh Arms. Snowdon also modernized other pledged: “I, Charles, economy, and against a backdrop aspects of the ceremony, introducing Prince of Wales, do of increasing Welsh nationalism. a transparent plexiglass canopy for the become your liege man A year-long promotional campaign dais where the Prince would be of life and limb and called “Croeso [Welcome] ‘69” invested, so that TV cameras could earthly worship was built around the investiture. capture the event. and faith and truth I will bear unto you to live and die AFTER Gunpowder, treason, and plot against all manner of folks.” After this the Queen led Charles to Despite nationalist opposition, the The investiture would not have Queen Eleanor’s Gate overlooking investiture seemed popular with happened at all, had a plot by foreign the square to present him formally the Welsh. On the day, a poll in the powers been duly executed. This at to the crowd. Western Mail newspaper reported least was the tale of Russian defector that 74 percent of people were glad Major Vasili Mitrokhin, who smuggled “It is with… pride and emotion the investiture was taking place and the information out of archives that Charles would be Prince of Wales. in the Soviet Union that I have received these during the 12 years STINT WITH DRAMATICS he worked for the symbols of office.” Later that year, Charles returned to Trinity KGB (the Soviet College, Cambridge, for the final year of his foreign intelligence PRINCE CHARLES, IN RESPONSE TO THE LOYAL ADDRESS FROM THE PEOPLE OF WALES degree. A fan of dramatics, Charles service), before became involved with the college acting defecting to Britain the last minute, leaving the British A loyal address from the people of society, memorably appearing during a show in 1992. It was security services to cope solely with Wales was read out in Welsh and standing in a garbage can. In November 1969, revealed in 1999 homegrown Welsh nationalists. In English by the President of Aberystwyth he turned 21 and came into the colossal that Mitrokhin’s one incident, two Welsh extremists, University, where Charles had studied income due from his estates as the Duke trove of smuggled Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, Welsh. The president explained that of Cornwall. He was now one of the documents outlined were killed when the bomb they were the Principality looked forward to most substantial landowners a fantastical plot carrying exploded prematurely. It is a period when the Prince would in Britain 256–57 ❯❯. to disrupt the believed that they were targeting the associate himself personally with investiture. Code- railroad line that would bring the royal its tradition and language, its CHARLES GIVES A MOCK WEATHER FORECAST named Operation train to Caernarfon. aspirations and problems. He IN A DRAMATIC PRODUCTION Edding, the plan concluded by stating, “In this called for the Loyal addresses confidence and hope we greet him destruction of a and declare our loyalty.” In turn, On July 1, 1969, however, the Charles responded in both languages, event went off without telling the crowd: “It is with a certain a hitch. Prince sense of pride and emotion that I have Charles was received these symbols of office, here invested with in this magnificent fortress, where no one could fail to be stirred by its Chairs for sale atmosphere of time-worn grandeur, The scarlet chairs nor where I myself could be unaware commissioned for of the long history of Wales and its the ceremony were determination to remain individual emblazoned with and to guard its own particular the triple ostrich heritage—a heritage that dates back feathers of the Prince into the mists of ancient British of Wales crest. The history, that has produced many chairs, sold off by the brave men, princes, poets, bards, government, are now scholars, and, more recently, great valuable collectables. 171
INSIGHT June 21, 1969 Royal Family One of the television events of the postwar era, the remarkable 1969 behind-the-scenes documentary Royal Family changed the way the world saw the monarchy and was subsequently broadcast in 140 countries. Traditionally, Buckingham Palace had been very wary of the media, at best keeping them at arm’s length, but Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, had long advocated a more open approach for the Royal Family. He recognized that the ever-increasing clamor for access would need a higher degree of proficiency in dealing with the media, especially in the younger royals. He was supported by a few of the more progressive Palace staff, who recognized that the monarchy itself might be threatened as young people increasingly came to see them as irrelevant and old-fashioned. It was against this background that the idea for a documentary was planned by the Queen’s new Press Secretary, William Heseltine. In the wake of the announcement of the forthcoming investiture of Prince Charles, Heseltine recalled, there was “an unsolicited rush of requests from the media for... features about the young Prince... The Queen and Prince Philip decided that a biography of such a young man was not likely to be a very interesting one.” Instead it was suggested that a more general documentary would be an “icebreaker.” Then then BBC Controller David Attenborough worried that a documentary of the Royal Family would “kill the monarchy” by “damaging the mystique” upon which it relied. However, the project went ahead nonetheless, with producer Richard Cawston and his team following the family at official engagements and in private from June 1968 to May 1969. The resulting film was first broadcast on June 21, 1969, when it was watched by an audience of 23 million, and repeated on commercial television eight days later. “ A television film designed to show something of the role for which the heir to the throne was being educated and prepared...” WILLIAM HESELTINE, PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN Filming the documentary The Royal Family, observed by a camera, try to act natural. Princess Anne looks less enthusiastic than the others. She later said “I never liked the idea of Royal Family... The attention which had been brought upon one ever since one was a child… you just didn’t need any more.” 173
1960–1980 Born 1950 his interrogation after being arrested, Ball told the police: “There is one good The Princess thing coming out of this: you will have Royal to improve on her protection.” “ Princess Anne … [is] a Wedding portrait No titles for children formidable girl... Princess Anne and her future husband Captain She is a challenge.” Mark Phillips, photographed before their wedding, Princess Anne and her husband went on once again by her favourite photographer to have two children. Peter Mark PHOTOGRAPHER NORMAN PARKINSON, 1981 Norman Parkinson. Andrew Phillips was born on November 15, 1977, at St. Mary’s Hospital, F amed for her down-to-earth been particularly closely involved with dashing cavalryman who shared her Paddington, and christened at a service manner and relentless work ethic, the creation of The Princess Royal’s love of equine sports—Captain Mark conducted in the Music Room of Anne has achieved success in Trust for Carers, Transaid, and Riders Phillips of the Queen’s Dragoon Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop sports, campaigned tirelessly for social for Health. Other significant roles Guards—they conducted their of Canterbury on December 22, 1977. causes, and fought to give her children have included being President courtship in private for some years. Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips was born as normal an upbringing as possible. of the British Olympic Association on May 15, 1981, also at St. Mary’s and a UK member of the International By early 1973, the news had spread, Hospital. She was christened at Windsor The hardest working royal Olympic Committee, and working on leading the Palace to issue an official Castle by the Dean of Windsor on the London Olympics committee. Anne statement on Anne’s behalf in February: July 27, 1981. Zara followed her mother Since Princess Anne embarked on is often described as “the hardest “We are not engaged and there is no in a highly successful riding career, public life in the late 1960s, she has working royal”: she undertakes over prospect of an engagement.” However, becoming the Three-Day Event carved out a distinctive role for herself 600 official engagements each year, an engagement was in fact announced European Champion in 2005 and as a tireless and able advocate for both in the UK and overseas. Asked just three months later; Mark had winning the World Championships in charity. She has been closely associated what she would have done if she’d not proposed in April at the Badminton 2006. On June 13, 1987, the Queen with the Save the Children fund, the been a princess she said she’d like to horse trials, and on May 29, the Palace created Anne Princess Royal, the title presidency of which she accepted in have been a long-distance truck driver. released the news. Anne insisted that traditionally given to the monarch’s 1970. In the course of her work for the she wanted a quiet wedding, but on eldest daughter. However, Anne decided organization she has visited more than Private life the morning of November 14, 1973, at the start of her children’s lives not to 70 countries, including Indonesia, as she rode in the glass coach to burden them with titles, which means China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Like her mother, Princess Anne takes a Westminster Abbey, 1,800 guests that Peter Phillips is the first grandson Malawi, Botswana, and Madagascar. dim view of the public fascination with waited for her there, and 500 million of a monarch not to have a title. In addition, she is associated with over and media intrusion into her private people watched on television. 200 charities, among which she has life. So when in 1968 she met a Save the Children Kidnap attempt Princess Anne at the launch of the International Save the Children campaign. The purpose of the On March 20, 1974, a dramatic attempt campaign was to bring attention to the mortality was made to kidnap the Princess. Four of children under 5 years of age. people, including protection officers, were shot by lone gunman Ian Ball, who then attempted to drag Anne from her car on the Mall, near Buckingham Palace. According to the official investigation: “Ball then came around to the side of the car, pointed a gun at Princess Anne, and said, ‘I want you to come with me... because I want £2 million ($4.6 million). Will you get out of the car?’” The Princess replied, “[Not] bloody likely; and I haven’t got £2 million.” The conversation went on for some time. “It was all so infuriating,” the Princess said. “I nearly lost my temper with him, but I knew that if I did, I should hit him and he would shoot me.” Nearby pedestrians and policemen intervened to foil the kidnap attempt. In Kidnap survivors Anne visits police officer Michael Hills at St. George’s Hospital in London. Hills was shot in the stomach while trying to intervene during the attempt to kidnap the Princess on the Mall.
“[I’m] not everyone’s THE PRINCESS ROYAL idea of a fairy-tale princess.” TIMELINE ■ August 15, 1950 Born at Clarence House, PRINCESS ANNE London; baptized Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise Second time around at Buckingham Palace on October 21. ■ 1962 Has a run-in with French paparazzi while In April 1992, Anne’s first marriage on vacation, signaling the start of her spiky was dissolved, and in December, relationship with the press. she married Commander Timothy ■ 1963 Joins Benenden School, Kent, Laurence—now Vice Admiral as a boarder. Laurence—of the Royal Navy in ■ 1967 Attends the State Opening of Parliament a private ceremony at Crathie for the first time. Church (see pp.150–51), near ■ 1968 Meets Lieutenant Mark Phillips of the Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Queen’s Dragoon Guards at a party to The Church of England forbids celebrate Britain’s gold medal for eventing the remarriage of divorcees, so at the Mexico Olympics. Anne’s second marriage was ■ May 1969 Accompanies the Queen and the under the auspices of the Church Duke of Edinburgh to Austria; this is her first of Scotland. She was the first state visit. British Royal since Henry VIII to ■ June 21, 1969 The documentary Royal Family divorce and remarry (see pp.28–29). airs—Princess Anne has strong reservations about it. Fantastic in fur ■ 1970 Becomes President of the Save the In this photograph of Princess Anne, Children fund. taken by Norman Parkinson for Vogue ■ September 4, 1971 Wins the individual title magazine in 1973, she is wearing at the European Championship 3-day event, white fur and the Festoon Tiara, a gift and is voted the BBC’s Sports Personality from the World Wide Shipping Group. of the Year (see pp.186–87). ■ May 29, 1973 Buckingham Palace announces Anne’s engagement to Lieutenant Mark Phillips. ■ November 14, 1973 Marries Captain Mark Phillips in the “wedding of the decade.” ■ March 20, 1974 Ian Ball attempts to kidnap the Princess, shooting four people in the process. ■ 1975 Wins a silver medal in the individual and team events at the European Eventing Championship. ■ July 1976 Competes in the Montreal Olympics as part of the British equestrian team. ■ November 15, 1977 Birth of Peter Phillips. ■ May 15, 1981 Birth of Zara Phillips. ■ June 13, 1987 The Queen creates Anne the Princess Royal. ■ 1989 Announces separation from Mark Phillips. ■ April 1992 Divorces Mark Phillips. ■ December 12, 1992 Anne marries Commander Timothy Laurence of the Royal Navy. WEDDING OF ANNE AND TIMOTHY LAURENCE ■ May 17, 2008 Peter Phillips marries Miss Autumn Kelly. ■ July 30, 2011 Zara Phillips marries England rugby player Mike Tindall. 175
DECISIVE MOMENT 1970 The Royal Tour Today it seems the most natural thing in the world for any royal visit to be marked by an informal meet and greet with a crowd of well-wishers. However, when Elizabeth II first went “walkabout” in New Zealand in 1970, it signalled a radical break with centuries of tradition. Elizabeth II's 1970 visit to New Zealand and Australia was particularly notable for inaugurating what has now become an integral royal tradition—the “walkabout,” an event where royals meet and greet crowds in person. In fact, the first royal walkabout was arguably not Elizabeth's, but one led by her father and mother in Canada in 1939. On May 21 of that year, they charmed the Canadian people when, after unveiling the national war memorial in Ottawa, they plunged into a crowd of over 6,000 veterans and spent 30 minutes interacting with them in person. Lord Tweedsmuir, Canada's governor general, related how: \"One old fellow said to me, 'Aye, man if Hitler could just see this.’ It was wonderful proof of what a people's King means.” The official story of Elizabeth II's walkabout in New Zealand was that the Queen spontaneously broke protocol when she spied a group of schoolchildren waiting to greet her. However, the walkabout was in fact far from impromptu. \"It didn't happen by accident,\" admitted William Heseltine, who had just been appointed the new press secretary to the Queen. \"We were thinking, 'How can we make this a bit different so it's not just a repeat of the rather anticlimactic visit in 1963?' Out of our deliberations came the idea of closer contact with the public at large—who'd mostly been the recipients of little more than a wave or smile—rather than just mayors, councillors, and politicians.” Back home in England, the Queen did her first walkabout in Coventry, and it was a huge success. A new royal tradition had been born, and soon politicians were emulating it, and have done so ever since. “ The most important thing of all was that it got a name— ‘ the walkabout’… it had a romantic aura…” WILLIAM HESELTINE, PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN Breaking traditions The Queen, with her trademark bag on her arm, goes \"walkabout\" among a crowd of schoolchildren in New Zealand in 1970. The choice of a bright primary color for her dress is very deliberate, as the Queen has always believed that part of her role is to be visible. 176
Full kilt This Royal Family portrait—taken in 1972, on their annual summer vacation at Balmoral—is part of a series to mark the silver wedding anniversary of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
1960–1980 BEFORE The Prince’s Trust In 1976, Charles spent nearly 10 In the early 1970s a young, idealistic prince saw the opportunity to make a real, sustained months in command of minesweeper difference to the lives of young people who had not enjoyed similar advantages to his own. HMS Bronington, following a He set up the Prince’s Trust and, 40 years on, it is still changing lives. lieutenant’s course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. I n 1972 a young Prince Charles a meeting. Pratt later recalled how of young offenders go camping in the RETIRING FROM MILITARY SERVICE heard something on the radio that he “met this young, enthusiastic, and Peak District, Derbyshire, Charles paid In December, Charles retired from active grabbed his attention. On BBC idealistic person.” Charles told him for their train fares and sent camping military service, although he continued Radio 4’s Today program, he listened that he wanted to do something to equipment that he had borrowed from to be promoted in all three branches of the to an interview with George Pratt, the help young people like those Pratt the Armed Forces. armed forces. By 2006 he was an Admiral in second-ranked probation officer in had talked about. the Royal Navy, General in the Army, and Air London, talking about the challenges Birth of the Trust Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force. facing troubled youngsters. Prince At this point the Prince was still Charles believed firmly that it was serving in the navy, and he started This went on for some time with IN CHARGE ON HMS BRONINGTON his duty to help those less fortunate off on a small scale, channeling his Charles remaining incognito but, than he was. He also had a strong efforts through Pratt, who put the eventually, the Prince was encouraged sympathy for people of his own word out for funding applications. to come out of the shadows when generation who needed support and These applications would be sent in a it was suggested to him that his public to believe in themselves. diplomatic bag to the Prince, wherever involvement would help raise the he was stationed. Charles would read Enthusiastic and idealistic nearly every one, and where he Keeping it real thought he could help, he would Prince Charles poses for a photograph with local young Not long after the radio broadcast, disburse, via Pratt, anonymous small people who take part in the Prince’s Trust activities Pratt received a phone call from the gifts of cash and equipment. On one during a visit to Surrey County Cricket Club. The Prince’s private secretary to arrange occasion, for instance, to help a group Trust helps over 100 young people a day.
THE PRINCE’S TRUST profile of the program. Accordingly, to young people. And he really cares AFTER in December 1976, Charles formally about making a difference to them. launched the Prince’s Trust. Looking You talk to young people—somehow In 2006 the Trust turned 30, and back in 2013, Charles explained, they understand it, because he has to celebrate a special 30th Birthday “The belief that every young person been the one person over the last 37 concert took place at the Tower deserves a chance to succeed, no years that has consistently stood up of London, together with a matter what their background, led for them.” Charles himself reflects: documentary, The Prince of Wales: Up me to set up the Prince’s Trust back “You can see how it is possible to turn Close, and a three-hour live televised in 1976.” The Trust started with 21 pilot young people’s lives around and give event featuring an interview with all projects around the UK. Examples them self-confidence, self-worth, and three princes—Prince Charles, Prince included a grant for a 19-year-old self-esteem.” William, and Prince Harry. woman to run a social center for the Haggerston Housing Estate (a housing Three feathers Success stories TECH SAVVY project) in east London; a grant for two The logo of the Prince’s Trust is based on the Prince In 2009 the Trust launched its new website, ex-offenders to start a fishing club; funds of Wales’s badge, specifically the insignia of the Among all the statistics of the Trust’s achieving over five million page views that to rent swimming pools in Cornwall to three ostrich feathers, which comes from the “shield good work, individual success stories year. It also embraced the social media train young lifeguards; and money to set of peace” of the Black Prince in the 14th century. stand out. Arnold Sebutinde was sent age by launching a Twitter account. up a self-help bicycle repair program. to jail at the age of 22 and faced a young people—a program to help difficult path when he was released. RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT Since these modest beginnings, the young people put together the He recalls, “I’d seen a television report When it was established in 1976 the Trust Prince’s Trust has flourished, becoming business model and initial funding about how the Trust supports young awarded £7,417 ($14,800) in grants. By one of the most important charities to start their own businesses. Within people, but I was worried it might 1977 that had risen to £30,000 ($51,000) a in Britain. Part of its success has been three years, 1,000 businesses were turn me away as soon as I mentioned year, and by 2013 an amazing £47 million due to its fund-raising ability, with a trading, and 80 percent survived the my criminal record. Instead, they ($94 million) a year, with two-thirds of that first year of existence (a high success invited me to join their Enterprise coming from donations and fund-raising. This 750,000 The number rate compared to normal start-ups). program.” Workshops, a loan, money has a huge impact on the young of young Since the launch of the start-up and a business mentor helped him to people supported by the Prince’s Trust. It has people helped directly by the program, the Prince’s Trust has helped start a successful business capitalizing helped 750,000 young people since 1976 Prince’s Trust since 1976. more than 80,000 young people set on his artistic talent. “The Trust was and supports over 100 more each day; in up a business. there for me at a time of greatest need 2014, for instance, the charity supported 58,000 particular emphasis on using rock and has opened so many doors for vulnerable young people across the UK. music to raise money. In 1982 the me.” Arnold has since been invited to Trust held its first fund-raising concert, Clarence House as a Trust ambassador, with Status Quo. The same year the first Prince’s Trust Rock Gala was “Every young person deserves a A higher-profile Trust alumnus is held at the Dominion Theatre on chance to succeed, no matter Hollywood star Idris Elba, who was London’s Tottenham Court Road, what their background...” only able to attend theatre school featuring Madness, Joan Armatrading, thanks to a grant from the Prince’s Phil Collins, Kate Bush, and Pete PRINCE CHARLES, 2013 Trust. “It was the Prince’s Trust that Townshend. In 1996 the Trust held a made it possible,” he says. “It was huge rock concert in Hyde Park—the In 1998, the Trust marked the Prince’s and reflects, “I’ve gone from being a life-changing experience for me first one allowed there in over 20 years. 50th birthday year with a £40 million the guy whom society didn’t think and taught me the importance of ($64 million) appeal. This amount was was safe to walk our streets to being charity—of being there for people Milestones matched by the government to raise a a guest at one of our finest palaces. when they need it most.” total of £80 million ($128 million). In I’m proof that with the right help In 1983 a key platform of the Trust 1999 a reorganization saw various Trust you can make it back from the brink. Investing in the future was launched with the business charities brought under one umbrella That is what the Prince’s Trust has Prince Charles spoke on the subject of “Invest in Futures” start-up program for unemployed as the Prince’s Trust, and the Queen done for me.” at the Prince’s Trust Gala in February 2013. In 2007, a granted the Trust a Royal Charter, £20 million ($30 million) loan was taken out from his DECISIVE MOMENT generally regarded as the stamp of foundation for the purchase of Dumfries House, Ayrshire, approval of a stable and successful for the nation. This loan was repaid in full by 2012. A MISSED OPPORTUNITY? institution embedded in public life. In 2000 the organizational structure of the In 2010, senior officials at Clarence Trust changed, with the introduction of a House, the Prince of Wales’s household director and council for each region. By from where his many different interests 2001 the total number of young people and charities are supervised, were helped in some way by the Trust reached engaged in a massive reorganization 400,000, and in 2003 the 10,000th of the Trust. This was primarily intended Development Award was made. to consolidate all the different offices under a single roof in one of the Standing up for young people redeveloped railroad sheds at King’s Cross, London. Up to £200,000 The personal involvement of the Prince ($300,000) was spent on architects’ makes a real difference to the work of plans, and an offer was made on the the charity. Martina Milburn, the chief property, but the plan fell through. executive of the Trust, explains, “I’ve According to one biographer, the sat with him in prisons, I’ve sat with journalist Catherine Mayer, this was him on sink estates, I’ve sat with him because “internal conflicts [at Clarence in classrooms when he’s been talking House] scuppered the plan after it was already significantly advanced.” 181
The Silver Jubilee Meeting the people The Queen on a royal walkabout in Camberwell, As with her coronation in 1953, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee offered the nation a South London, greeting well-wishers young and chance to forget gloomy headlines and enjoy a day of national celebration, with old, all brandishing flags, during her Silver Jubilee street parties being held across the land. year, in June 1977. BEFORE A s the Queen’s reign approached value of sterling plunged. Just as at the around the Commonwealth. On its jubilee year, she might have time of the coronation, the approaching February 10,she embarked on a Five years before the Jubilee festival, been forgiven for wondering Silver Jubilee was seen as a chance to world tour, starting in Fiji. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip whether things had improved much distract the nation from its misery. celebrated another royal milestone: since the start of her rule, a time of On May 4, the Queen received a loyal their silver wedding anniversary. rationing, bitter winters, and grim Theme of unity address from both Houses of Parliament, economic news. The notorious “winter and in her controversial, forthright, and SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY of discontent” was just a couple of The celebrations began on February 6, heartfelt reply she ignored her advisers’ To commemorate the Queen and Prince years away, and Britain was riven with 1977, the anniversary of the Queen’s counsel to avoid addressing the topic of Philip’s silver wedding anniversary, a special 25 recession, civil strife, and the looming accession to the throne. The palace pence coin was minted, and a thanksgiving prospect of the weakening or breakup and the government together the possible breakup of the Union. service was held at Westminster Abbey. In her of the Union in the face of imminent had planned an ambitious Making direct reference to those Christmas message for the year, the Queen devolution referenda. There were series of events and tours agitating for devolved spoke of how, “My whole family has been strikes, the oil crisis, the three-day for the jubilee year. The deeply touched by the affection you have shown week, runaway inflation and, by Queen declared that Commemorative coin to us when we celebrated our silver wedding…” 1977, mass unemployment. The UK unity was the theme This coin is unique in featuring no was in such dire economic straits that of the Jubilee, and that inscription or date on the reverse. 182 the country had to get a loan from the she wanted to be seen by Vast numbers were minted and International Monetary Fund after the as many of her subjects as issued for the Jubilee, and despite possible, both in the UK and its size the coin only had a face value of 25 pence.
THE SILVER JUBILEE “ The cheerful crowd was symbolic of... people who greeted us wherever we went this Jubilee year.” QUEEN ELIZABETH II, CHRISTMAS MESSAGE, 1977 national assemblies, she told the biggest crowds ever seen there, and After the service, at a Corporation of Family affair combined Houses of Parliament: “I continued to draw vast numbers London lunch at the Guildhall, the The Queen and the entire Royal Family greeted the number Kings and Queens of England wherever she went. In Lancashire, Queen gave another heartfelt speech, crowds from the balcony at Buckingham Palace on and of Scotland and Princes of Wales over a million came out to see her thanking “all those in Britain and the June 7, 1977. By contrast, 35 years later Prince Charles among my ancestors and so I can readily in a single day. Commonwealth who through their insisted on a “slimmed down” family group on the understand these aspirations. But I loyalty and friendship have given me balcony for the Diamond Jubilee. cannot forget that I was crowned Queen Light the beacons strength and encouragement during of the United Kingdom of Great Britain these last 25 years,” and also “to the boat. Accordingly, the Sex Pistols tried to and of Northern Ireland. Perhaps this The climax of the Jubilee year came on many thousands who have sent me crash the royal party by sailing down the Jubilee is a time to remind ourselves June 7, proclaimed a public holiday by messages of congratulations on my Thames while playing their controversial of the benefits which the union royal decree, with a glorious procession single, but they were eventually forced has conferred, at home and in our to St. Paul’s for a thanksgiving service. Jubilee service to shore where they were arrested. international dealings, on the inhabitants The day before, the Queen herself Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, with other members of all parts of the United Kingdom.” initiated the Armada beacon chain, an of the Royal family, joined 2,700 other guests at St. Paul’s Continued celebrations homage to the beacons lit across the Cathedral during the service of thanksgiving. Home tours nation in the time of Elizabeth I to On June 9 came the final event of the warn of the approach of the invading silver jubilee, that and their good wishes main week of the Jubilee celebrations, On May 17, the Queen began a series force of the Spanish Armada. The for the future.” As thousands celebrated with a river procession along the of home tours, designed, as she Queen lit a huge bonfire in Windsor with street parties across the nation, the Thames, from Greenwich to Lambeth. told Members of Parliament, to Great Park, which was followed by 100 Queen went on: “My Lord Mayor, when At Lambeth, the Queen opened the demonstrate that she was “Queen of other beacons being lit from Land’s End I was 21, I pledged my life to the service Silver Jubilee Walkway and the new the whole United Kingdom.” In six to Shetland, many on the sites of the of our people and I asked for God’s help South Bank Jubilee Gardens, and then, tours, over three months, she covered original beacons. to make good that vow. Although that following a magnificent fireworks all parts of the UK, from Scotland to vow was made in my salad days, when I display, the Queen traveled back to Northern Ireland, clocking up 7,000 On Tuesday, June 7, over a million was green in judgment, I do not regret Buckingham Palace by carriage and miles (11,200 km). No other sovereign people watched the Royal Family nor retract one word of it.” Later, the appeared several more times on the had visited so much of the country in progress to St. Paul’s Cathedral. At Royal Family made an appearance on balcony to delight the waiting crowds. so little time. The Queen toured 36 the Cathedral a service of thanksgiving the balcony of the palace, to the acclaim counties, starting in Glasgow, with the was attended by guests, including of a vast crowd. Soon afterward the Queen visited international heads of state and Wimbledon for the tennis championships, Golden miles current and former prime ministers of Anarchy on the Thames and her presence is widely credited with The Gold State Coach passing Buckingham Palace on Britain. The service began with Ralph inspiring the British player Virginia the way to St. Paul’s Cathedral for the Silver Jubilee Vaughan Williams’s arrangement of the But not all of Britain was in a mood to Wade to win the ladies’ singles title. service of thanksgiving, with members of the Queen’s hymn “All People That on Earth Do celebrate. The Sex Pistols, who had burst Guard in the background. Dwell,” which was played at the onto the scene with their anarchic punk AFTER Queen’s coronation in 1953. rock, and their iconic antiestablishment song “God Save the Queen” had been The extraordinary scenes in London banned from radio stations. Their in early June did not mark the end manager Malcom Mclaren had the idea of the Jubilee events. After the UK of combining a piece of “situationist” celebrations, the Queen was soon performance art with a publicity stunt, back on the road, visiting Canada and teamed up with Richard Branson, to open Parliament, and then on to whose Virgin label was the only one the West Indies. who would sign the Sex Pistols, to hire a A SPECIAL YEAR The combined distance of the Queen’s Jubilee year itinerary is estimated at 56,000 miles (89,600 km). But perhaps the best event of this special year, from a personal perspective, had come on November 15, when the Queen was delayed on her way to an investiture by a phone call from her daughter Anne, telling her that she had just become a grandmother for the first time 296–97 ❯❯. 183
Party like it’s 1977 Residents of Fulham, southwest London, show their support for the Queen (affectionately dubbed “Betty”) during her Silver Jubilee year, 1977. Street parties were held across the country.
INSIGHT 1969–1976 Princess Anne's Equestrian Career Princess Anne's grit and determination drove her to prove herself at the grueling sport of equestrian eventing. She went on to achieve glory in Britain as well as in Europe. Princess Anne first tasted eventing success in 1969 at age 18, riding Queen Elizabeth II's horse Royal Ocean. She had started training just a year earlier under coach Alison Oliver. Anne saw eventing as “a way of proving that you had something that was not dependent on your family, a way of being judged on what you did rather than having even more assumptions made.\" In 1971, after coming fifth at the Badminton horse trials in April, Anne was selected to ride in the European championships at Burghley in September. However, her buildup to the competition was threatened by an operation on an ovarian cyst. Despite this, Anne won the three- day eventing championship on September 4. Riding the horse Doublet, she achieved a clear round in show-jumping to win the gold. Anne capped a year of remarkable personal achievement by winning the national press accolade for Sportswoman of the Year in November, followed by being voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December. She went on to win silver at the European Championships in 1975, before being selected for the British Olympic team in Montreal in July 1976. Although Anne did not win a medal at Montreal, she completed the course despite being knocked out and concussed in a fall during the cross-country. The Princess's response to accusations that she sometimes lacked royal decorum at events was blunt: “Horses and eventing are part of my private life—that's outside working hours. If people choose to think that I'm going to behave in the same way at a highly competitive event, where the pace is fast and the hazards are testing… they expect too much.\" Anne's achievements would be matched 34 years later by her daughter Zara Phillips (see pp.286–87). “ [Eventing] is the one thing... that has got nothing to do with my position, my money or anything else.” PRINCESS ANNE The Princess's horse Anne crosses an obstacle on her horse Doublet at the 1972 Crookham Horse Trials. Doublet was a gift to the Princess from her mother Elizabeth II. The horse's career ended when he broke one of his legs during routine exercise in 1974 and had to be destroyed. 187
1960–1980 Born 1930 Died 2002 Princess Margaret “ The dark princess, if you like.” LORD CHARTERIS, ELIZABETH II’S PRIVATE SECRETARY M argaret Rose of York was born 30 charitable and professional bodies, children: David, born on November Rock and roller in August 1930 in Scotland. which spanned a diverse range of 3, 1961, and Sarah, born on Margaret was known to keep eclectic company. Here She was christened in October organizations, such as the Girl Guides May 1, 1964. she is seen enjoying a meal with Mick Jagger, lead the same year, in Buckingham Palace’s Association, the English Folk Dance singer of the Rolling Stones, at a restaurant in the private chapel, with her Uncle David and Song Club, the Winnipeg Art However, the marriage seemed to be West Indies in December 1976. (Edward, the Prince of Wales), among Gallery, and the National Society for built on a shaky foundation—Margaret others, present as a godparent. the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. had supposedly accepted Armstrong- a senior royal since that of Princess The Princess was particularly fond of Jones’s proposal a day after discovering Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and From her earliest years, Princess music and ballet—she became the first that Townsend was getting married to Gotha in 1901. Margaret was characterized as flighty President of the Royal Ballet in 1957 a Belgian woman. Still, Margaret and and capricious (see pp.106–107). Her and also headed the Sadler’s Wells Armstrong-Jones appeared a stylish Dark princess grandmother, the Dowager Queen Foundation. Yet her dedication to couple at the heart of the swinging Mary, told a friend during World sixties. They mixed with a variety of By 1974, Margaret had already begun War II that Margaret was “so people, from aristocrats and artists to a relationship with Roddy Llewellyn, a outrageously amusing that one can’t bohemians and rock stars, and were landscape gardener 17 years her junior. help encouraging her.” Margaret began As the affair became progressively her public life at the age of 18 and “She was a plaything... warm public, Margaret began to drink heavily went on to become patron of over and disappeared on increasingly long and demonstrative, made to be jaunts to her vacation home on the Caribbean island of Mustique. Her love cuddled and played with.” affair with the Caribbean can be traced back to her royal tour of the West Indies MARION CRAWFORD, GOVERNESS, DESCRIBING MARGARET AS A CHILD in February 1955, which inspired a calypso tribute, with lines including: royal duties was often overshadowed credited with helping to break down “Lovin’ sister of Queen Lilibet, is the by the intricacies of her private life, social barriers between commoners Princess Margaret! Like to dance, like to and as she grew up, she came more and the aristocracy. sing, like to try anything!” By the and more under the intense glare of 1970s, however, public opinion had media scrutiny. Sadly, the marriage started to fall turned against the Princess, with calls apart by the early 1970s, as both Royal soap opera partners were suspected of Margaret’s agonizing, lonely, and having frequent very public dilemma over whether affairs. The couple to choose love for an “unsuitable” separated by 1976, man—Group Captain Peter although the Townsend—over her royal status marriage was not dominated headlines in the 1950s formally dissolved (see pp.154–55). But happiness seemed until 1978—the within the Princess’s grasp some time first divorce of later, when she became involved with photographer Antony Armstrong- Happy exterior Jones. The two were married in 1960, Margaret and Antony and Armstrong-Jones was created the Armstrong-Jones pose Earl of Snowdon by the Queen a year with their children in later. The couple went on to have two what appears to be a relaxed family portrait. Belle of the ball There were already Margaret attends a film premiere at the Odeon great tensions in the Theatre at Leicester Square in London in 1958. With marriage at the time her slim waist and vivid blue eyes, the Princess was the photograph considered a great society beauty. was taken. 188
to strike her from the Civil List—a list PRINCESS MARGARET of individuals to whom money was paid by the government—and TIMELINE denunciations as a “royal parasite.” It ■ August 21, 1930 Born at Glamis Castle appeared that public preconceptions had been stacked against Margaret from the in Scotland. very beginning. “One of the functions ■ November 29, 1934 First public appearance of the Royal Family in the minds of the people is to be the continuing story at the wedding of her uncle, Prince George. of Peyton Place,” explained Lord ■ January 20, 1936 George V dies and Edward “When my sister and VIII comes to the throne. I were growing up, ■ December 11, 1936 Edward VIII abdicates, she was made out to be the goody-goody and Margaret’s father becomes King. Margaret one. That was boring, is styled “The Princess Margaret.” so the Press tried to ■ 1937 Becomes a Brownie in the 1st make out I was Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack. wicked as hell. ” ■ 1944 First meets Peter Townsend, Battle of Britain war hero and, later, equerry to the King. PRINCESS MARGARET ■ May 8, August 15, 1945 Joins her sister to walk incognito among the crowds on both Victory in Charteris, formerly the Queen’s private Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day. secretary, referring to a long-running ■ January 31–May 11, 1947 Tours southern soap opera of sex, secrets, and family Africa with her parents and sister, chaperoned intrigue, “And of course in that story by Townsend. there is always somebody who is not ■ August 21, 1951 Celebrates her 21st birthday actually behaving as they should be... with a party at Balmoral. The dark princess, if you like.” ■ February 6, 1952 Death of her father, George VI. ■ 1953 Peter Townsend secures a divorce and Decline and fall proposes to Margaret; her sister, the Queen, refuses to give them permission to marry. In later years, Margaret’s heavy ■ October 31, 1955 Renounces Townsend. drinking and smoking took a ■ 1957 Becomes first President of the toll on her health. The Princess Royal Ballet. had a stroke while on vacation in ■ May 6, 1960 Marries Antony Armstrong- Mustique in 1998, followed by more Jones at Westminster Abbey. debilitating strokes in 2001. She suffered restricted mobility, partial MARGARET AND ANTONY ARMSTRONG- paralysis of the face, as well as JONES AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF blindness, and finally died in THEIR ENGAGEMENT February 2002, with her two ■ November 3, 1961 Birth of son, David, children by her side. Among Viscount Linley. the tributes on her death were ■ May 1, 1964 Birth of daughter, Lady Sarah. words from the Pope, who, ■ 1973 Introduced to landscape gardener Roddy “hoped the Princess would find Llewellyn. in death the peace that had ■ 1976 Media storm after publication of photos so often eluded her in life,” of the Princess and Llewellyn cavorting in and from one of her oldest swimsuits on Mustique. friends, Lord St. John of ■ May 1978 Marriage to Snowdon dissolved. Fawsley, who said, “After ■ 1985 Has part of her left lung removed. a turbulent life she had ■ February 24, 1998 Has a stroke on Mustique. come into port some years ■ 2001 Further debilitating strokes leave her ago and had achieved partially blind and with mobility problems. happiness and serenity ■ February 9, 2002 Dies at King Edward VII until this cruel illness Hospital, London. struck her down.” Style icon Margaret was known for her inventive and fashionable style. She has inspired designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Christopher Bailey, whose Spring 2006 collection for Burberry is said to have been inspired by Margaret’s 1960s look.
1960–1980 ROYAL RESIDENCE St. James’s Palace Although no monarch has lived in St. James’s Palace since George III moved his family to Buckingham House in 1762, it remains the official residence of the sovereign and is the home of several members of the Royal Family. It is also used for many official functions. S t. James’s Palace was built on the The gift proved deeply unpopular Since then, it has been used for a orders of Henry VIII between with Parliament and she was soon number of royal weddings, including 1531 and 1536, on the site of asked to move from the palace. those of Queen Victoria and George V. a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Lesser, one of the more obscure Charles I was tried for high treason Both chapels have been used for the members of the Catholic canon. At the in 1649 during the English Civil War. lying-in-state of members of the Royal time, Henry was evidently much in He stayed at St. James’s Palace the Family—the coffins of the Queen love with his wife, Anne Boleyn—the night before his execution in nearby Mother and Princess Margaret were initials “H” and “A,” entwined in a Whitehall. With the monarchy laid in the Queen’s Chapel, while the lover’s knot, are a common motif at abolished, the Protestant Oliver coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, was the palace, carved into fireplaces. Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, set before the altar in the Chapel turned the palace into a barracks. Royal, so family and friends could pay Queen’s Chapel their respects in private. Restoration The Queen’s Chapel at St. James’s Weekly Sunday services take place Palace was the brainchild of James I, Following the restoration of the English at either the Chapel Royal or the who commissioned the architect Inigo monarchy in 1660, Charles II, who had Queen’s Chapel, which remain active Jones to design it. The chapel, which been born in St. James’s Palace, had it places of worship. They are the only was completed in 1626, was used by restored. Inspired by the extravagant parts of the palace open for services. Queen Henrietta Maria, the Catholic royal gardens he had seen during his wife of his son Charles I. exile in France, he had the gardens Working palace landscaped around a long canal. He King James was also responsible for also opened the park to the public, and In addition to being used for a number ordering the draining and landscaping it became a notorious rendezvous spot of official functions, St. James’s Palace of the palace grounds, now St. James’s for secret lovers’ trysts, including that contains the London residences Park, creating lakes, and introducing of Charles and his mistress Nell Gwynn. of the Princess Royal and Princess exotic animals, such as camels, Alexandra. Various royal offices crocodiles, and an elephant. In 1698 the palace became the are also based here. administrative center of the monarchy Religious conflict after Whitehall Palace was destroyed in The Palace and the Chapel Royal a fire. Years later, George I and George The exterior of St. James’s Palace today has changed Existing tensions between Catholics II found it convenient to keep their little from the time of this illustration from 1812 and Protestants in England were mistresses here. (below left). A general view of the interior of the exacerbated when, in 1638, Charles I Chapel Royal, where the christening of Prince George gave St. James’s Palace to his mother- Chapel Royal of Cambridge took place in 2013 (below right). in-law, Marie de Medici. She was not only the former queen of France, a The Chapel Royal at St. James’s was recent enemy, but also a Catholic. built by Henry VIII from 1531 for his marriage to Anne of Cleves in 1540. ST. JAMES’S PALACE CHAPEL ROYAL 190
Garden design This color engraving, c.1690, by Dutch dratsman Johannes Kip (1653–1722, shows the design of the gardens at St. James’s Palace, with the formal landscaping, avenues of trees, and a deer park.
1960–1980 BEFORE The Assassination of Lord Mountbatten Mountbatten spent decades at the very highest levels of British A tragedy that rocked the Royal Family to its core, the 1979 assassination of Louis Mountbatten statecraft, involved in machinations on his boat took the lives of one of the great figures of postwar British history, along with relating to many major issues of those of his grandson and son-in-law’s mother, and a young Irish crew member. post-war British history. L ouis Mountbatten was a was at any time contemplated,” the Family affair PLOTS AND SCHEMES fascinating character in some reply went, “it would in my opinion be The entire Royal Family Having served as First sea lord and chief of the of the great dramas of the asking too much to say in effect that was present for the defense staff, Mountbatten was approached 20th century, from World War II we can guarantee his safety while in funeral of Mountbatten. allegedly in the late 1960s by rogue MI5 to Indian independence and the this country.” Mountbatten refused to Here the Queen and agents plotting a right-wing coup to partition, but his final act would heed warnings anyway, protesting that Prince Philip lead the overthrow a possible Labour government prove to be part of the grim tragedy he was used to giving orders, not taking Queen Mother and under Harold Wilson. More pertinently to of the Northern Irish Troubles—the them. But, according to his biographer Charles; behind them his assassination, Mountbatten was also period of unrest and terror attacks Richard Hough, “Second only to his are Andrew in his involved in making peace advances to arising from the ongoing political and cousin, Queen Elizabeth II, there was midshipman’s uniform representatives of Ireland, approaching sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. no more attractive victim for the IRA and Edward. the Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom. (Irish Republican Army)—a militant Mountbatten had a home in Ireland organization that wanted a united THE WRONG MAN? (in Eire), just across the border from independent Ireland—than this widely According to papers in the National Northern Ireland. “I have a place in admired and much loved Englishman.” Archives in Dublin, Mountbatten told the Eire, Classiebawn Castle in County Irish ambassador to London, Donal O’Sullivan, Sligo,” Mountbatten told the Empire Attack on the boat “that he hoped the policies of Edward Heath’s Club of Canada in 1967, “and I and government would ultimately achieve Irish my family could not be treated with At the height of the Troubles, an unity.” If it is true that Mountbatten greater friendship by the Irish.” This audacious plot was hatched by the supported the policy of reunification, it may have been true, but many IRA. Early on August 27, 1979, makes his death at the hands of the IRA questioned the wisdom of one of Thomas McMahon—one of the IRA’s a particularly bitter irony. the highest grandees in the British experienced bombmakers—planted a establishment residing in a part of the huge bomb on Lord Mountbatten’s EARL MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA country where his presence was likely 29-ft (9-m) fishing boat Shadow V, to be seen as a provocation. As early as which was moored in the harbor at LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN 1960, Mountbatten’s estate manager, Mullaghmore, near Classiebawn Patrick O’Grady, raised questions with Castle. Shortly afterward, McMahon Born on June 25, 1900, Mountbatten the Irish police, the Garda, about the was stopped at a police checkpoint and was Queen Victoria’s great-grandson, Earl’s safety. “While everything points taken into police custody on suspicion Elizabeth II’s second cousin, and Prince to the fact that no attack of any kind of driving a stolen vehicle. He was later Philip’s uncle. He had a distinguished on the Earl by subversive elements found to have on his clothes flakes of naval career in both World Wars, after green paint from Lord Mountbatten’s which he was appointed by Winston boat and traces of nitroglycerine. Churchill to take a lead role in Combined Operations, a special At around 11 a.m., Mountbatten and executive developing radical ideas five others—his elder daughter, and technologies to help the war Patricia, her husband, Lord Brabourne, effort. As Supreme Allied Commander Brabourne’s 83-year-old mother, in Southeast Asia, he oversaw the the Dowager Lady Brabourne, and the reconquest of Burma. After the war, 14-year-old identical-twin sons of he was appointed the last Viceroy the Brabournes, Timothy and Nicholas and First Governor General of India. Knatchbull—joined 15-year-old local crew member Paul Maxwell on board 192 the Shadow V. Maxwell took the helm Happier times Mountbatten and his family enjoy a quiet day’s fishing on board his fishing boat, Shadow V, nine years before it would become the scene of his grisly death.
THE ASSASSINATION OF LORD MOUNTBATTEN and set off around Mullaghmore Head Knatchbull and Paul Maxwell were on the details for his funeral as many AFTER to the fishing ground. A routine Garda killed instantly; Timothy was seriously members of the Royal Family are police patrol followed the progress of injured, while the Dowager Lady expected to do. He had outlined The events of August 27, 1979 elicited the boat out of the harbor. Brabourne died the day after. A few everything from the roles of more shock and condemnation. As the hours later, two bombs went off at than 500 Royal Navy and Royal world became aware of the situation The scene Warrenpoint in County Down, Marines personnel to his choice of in Ireland, the Royal Family reeled ambushing an army convoy and killing hymns. Interviewed on television under the weight of their loss. At 11:39 a.m., a bomb on board the at least 18 soldiers, in the single worst not long before his death, and asked boat was detonated by radio control, loss of life during the Troubles. A what kind of funeral he would like DEEP IMPACT just as it cleared the harbor wall. statement from the IRA said: “This to have, Mountbatten replied that At a memorial service held in December that operation is one of the discriminate he would wish it to be “a happy year, Prince Charles condemned the IRA 50 LB (23 KG) The weight ways we can bring to the attention of occasion.” The funeral parade, with as “the kind of subhuman extremist that of explosives in the bomb. the English people the continuing the coffin borne on a gun carriage, blows people up when he feels like it.” occupation of our country.” was led by his horse Dolly, riderless Richard Hough described what with her master’s boots reversed in In 2009, on the 30th anniversary of the happened next: “The boat disintegrated State funeral their stirrups, as was tradition. assassination, Timothy Knatchbull in a cloud of smoke and spume, and published From a Clear Blue Sky—an account countless fragments of timber and The death of such a highly placed Mountbatten’s daughter Patricia, of surviving the bombing. metal, rope and cushions, life jackets individual in such an appalling who had become Countess A narrative of loss, and shoes, filled the air and fell in manner called for a show of state Mountbatten of Burma on her trauma, and an oval pattern of splashes in the strength and solidarity, an opportunity father’s death, and her husband, reconciliation, it won sea.” Mountbatten, his legs blown amply afforded by Mountbatten’s Lord Brabourne, were still too badly the Christopher off, was pulled from the water still state funeral on September 5, 1979. injured to attend either this funeral Ewart-Biggs alive but died shortly after. Nicholas Mountbatten had left copious notes or that of their son, Nicholas. Memorial prize for promoting peace “ Life will never be the same Final journey and understanding Mountbatten’s funeral procession, with police in Ireland. now that he has gone.” and military escorts for the coffin, makes its way from Westminster Abbey to Waterloo Station. KNATCHBULL’S BOOK PRINCE CHARLES, DIARY ENTRY AFTER LEARNING OF THE DEATH OF HIS BELOVED GREAT-UNCLE
1960–1980 The Decolonization of Africa and the Caribbean The British Empire had already embarked on a transition to something new and different when Elizabeth came to the throne—a transition that she stewarded into a Commonwealth family that she has always cherished and nurtured. W hen Elizabeth was growing Caribbean. The Commonwealth was Zanzibar, the Gold Coast, and The magic of the moment up her father still ruled vast and populous; it covered a quarter Somaliland. But from the very start Harold Macmillan giving the “winds of change” territory that, viewed on of the world’s habitable surface and its of Elizabeth II’s reign, the changing address to the South African parliament, in which he a map, colored a large proportion population exceeded one-quarter of the relationship between the monarch and spoke against the host country’s policy of apartheid. of the world pink: the lands of the human race. A large proportion of it former and current British dominions British Empire. Much had changed by was not yet independent. Territories was made plain; the cabinet decided In its early days the Commonwealth the time she acceded to the throne— that were still British colonies or that Elizabeth’s accession proclamation seemed to be a successful and vibrant most notably the independence of protectorates included Northern and would not refer to the British Dominions project. In October 1957, Reader’s Digest the Indian subcontinent—yet even Southern Rhodesia, Malta, Malaya, or the Imperial Crown, and that she magazine was able to reflect that the in 1952 she could travel around Singapore, Jamaica and the British would not be “Queen of the British Queen “is as proud as her countrymen the world without leaving her own West Indies, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Dominions beyond the seas” but “Queen that, while the Communists have been territories. But this was a world in Tanganyika, the Sudan, Nyasaland, of her other Realms and Territories.” holding 100 million foreign people rapid transition; the Empire was transforming into a Commonwealth of nations, which, as the Queen herself said, “bears no resemblance to the Empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception...” A bridge across the world In the 1950s, the former empire comprised the Commonwealth—nations such Canada, Australia, and India—plus many other realms and protectorates, many of which were in Africa and the BEFORE The Commonwealth had existed in some form since 1924, but the independence of India meant that the former constitution of the Commonwealth would have to change. THE LONDON DECLARATION Issued on April 28, 1949, the London Declaration marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth ❮❮ 64–65. Recognizing the “impending constitutional changes in India,” the Declaration stated: “Accordingly the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon hereby declare that they remain united as free and equal members of the Commonwealth of Nations, freely cooperating in the pursuit of peace, liberty, and progress.” The last dance Queen Elizabeth II and the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, dance the shuffle at a ball held at State House, Accra, in November 1961. 194
THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN behind the Iron Curtain and giving In October 1960, a few months after Fly the flag AFTER them the treatment of Hungary, Britain a tense Commonwealth premiers’ The Commonwealth flag features a stylized globe has been freeing 500 million people conference held at Windsor in May, surrounded by a crescent of golden spears making In 1994, South Africa held the first from colonial ties, investing £100 where apartheid was criticized, South up the letter “C.” free and fair elections in its history, million ($280 million )a year in their African whites voted to jettison the after Nelson Mandela was freed and local industries, helping them to Queen as head of state and the new told him, “Danger is part of the job.” apartheid dismantled. That same year organize complete self-government, no republic left the Commonwealth. After arriving at Accra airport, her it rejoined the Commonwealth. strings attached.” By 1957, Britain’s route into town had to be lit by torches trade with her former territories had Meanwhile the “wind of change” because of a power failure. Royal QUEEN AND COMMONWEALTH nearly doubled and the territories’ own Macmillan had talked about in his correspondent Audrey Russell recalled, According to Kenneth Kaunda, a nationalist local revenues increased by 1,200 speech was pushing over a dozen “I was very anxious for the Queen. in Northern Rhodesia, the transformation percent. That same year the Queen, in black-majority regions from across To carry on in those circumstances from Empire to Commonwealth was a speech to the young people of the Africa and the Caribbean into showed her enormous courage.” only possible “because of the personality of Commonwealth, said, “You are nationhood. Nigeria and Somalia the Queen. Without that, many of us would growing up in a world which is as full gained independence in 1960, Contentious opinions have left.” During her reign, the Queen has Sierra Leone and Tanzania in 1961; paid more than 200 visits to Commonwealth After Northern Rhodesia was granted countries and has visited every country “ The wind of change is independence as Zambia in 1964, of the Commonwealth except Cameroon, the mostly white government of which joined in 1995, and Rwanda, which blowing… whether we like Southern Rhodesia pushed hard joined in 2009. for sovereignty, a demand that was it or not… growth of national refused by Britain under its policy The August 1979 Commonwealth of “no independence before majority conference was dominated by a row consciousness is a political fact.” rule.” While African premiers were over the future of Southern Rhodesia. strongly urging Britain to initiate British Prime Minister Margaret HAROLD MACMILLIAN, SPEECH TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT, 1960 immediate action against Southern Thatcher backed a proposal for the Rhodesia, Prince Philip, in a speech independence of Zimbabwe—the name of possibilities of adventure as it was in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and given to students in Edinburgh, shared Southern Rhodesia would take on after the days of my predecessor, Queen Uganda in 1962; Kenya in 1963, Malawi his personal views on the independence—under Bishop Abel Elizabeth I. What the world now needs and Zambia in 1964; the Gambia in crisis: ”... it is better to spin out the Muzorewa. The proposal excluded the most is a solid bridge between East and 1965; Botswana and Lesotho in 1966; solution of these difficulties with West. The British Commonwealth is Mauritius and Swaziland in 1968; patience, and with a bit of luck get 11,566,870 The surely such a bridge.” and after a long and bitter struggle, a better result than risk a bloodbath Zimbabwe in 1980. Most of these by forcing a pace.” The Labour Party combined land area in square miles The wind of change countries immediately joined MPs tabled a motion stating that (29,958,050 sq kilometers) of the Commonwealth. “royalty should not give expression current Commonwealth nations. It was in Africa, where British to contentious political opinions,” dominions and protectorates covered Danger is part of the job and Kenyan politicians joined in nationalists under Robert Mugabe and a huge proportion of the continent, the criticism. Joshua Nkomo, but it was argued that a that the reign of Queen Elizabeth II In 1961, the Queen defied security lasting peace was impossible without would see the most profound changes. risks and bomb threats to visit Ghana, them. The Queen played a significant From the late 1950s onward, a wave of previously the Gold Coast, the first backstage role in brokering a proposal newly independent nation states “black” colony in Africa to become for a conference in London to devise a spread across the continent, in many independent. The stakes were high; new constitution for Zimbabwe. cases peacefully but sometimes resulting a bomb blast five days before the visit in desperate struggles and violent cast it into doubt, but British diplomats upheaval. In 1957, the Gold Coast, feared that cancellation in West Africa, became independent would drive the new as the Republic of Ghana and joined country into the Soviet the Commonwealth; it was the first sphere of influence. majority-ruled African country to join. The Queen reportedly said, “If I were to The independence movement was cancel now, Nkrumah gaining momentum across Africa when [the Ghanaian on February 3, 1960, British Prime president] might Minister Harold Macmillan gave a invite Khrushchev, famous speech to South African and they wouldn’t Members of Parliament in Cape Town. like that, would they?” At the time, the ruling Nationalists When Macmillan were pursuing apartheid, and objected that it was Macmillan had aroused criticism too dangerous, she by agreeing to visit the country as their guest. But Macmillan disappointed the Honor guard white politicians as he told them bluntly The Queen inspects an honor that a “wind of change” was blowing guard at Entebbe, on arrival in through Africa. “Whether we like it or Uganda for the Commonwealth not,” Macmillan warned, “this growth Heads of Government Meeting of national consciousness is a political on November 21, 2007. These fact.” The Nationalists were outraged; meetings are the principal policy “We are the people who brought and decision-making forum for civilization to Africa,” blustered South the Commonwealth. African Prime Minister Dr. Verwoerd. 195
QUEEN AND GRANDMOTHER 1980–2000 1994 half-Sovereign, struck in 22-carat-gold, featuring the 1985 Raphael Maclouf portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
1980–2000 QUEEN AND GRANDMOTHER 1980–2000 1980 1984 1988 OCTOBER 17, 1980 APRIL 17, 1982 MAY 30, 1984 APRIL 3, 1987 MARCH 10, 1988 SEPTEMBER 19, 1990 The Queen makes a state visit The Queen and Canadian Prince Charles critiques The late Duchess of Prince Charles escapes an RAF flyby over to the Vatican to meet Pope Premier Pierre Trudeau sign modern architecture in a Windsor’s jewels sell for avalanche in Switzerland Buckingham Palace John Paul II. the Proclamation of the controversial speech made £31 million at an auction that kills one of his commemorates the Constitution Act, 1982 giving during the 150th anniversary in Switzerland; the entire companions, Major Hugh 50th anniversary of JUNE 13, 1981 Canada the power to amend celebrations of the Royal proceeds of the sale are Lindsay, former equerry the Battle of Britain. A 17-year-old youth fires its own Constitution. Institute of British Architects donated to the Pasteur to the Queen. shots at the Queen in the Mall (RIBA). The speech would lead Institute in Paris. as she rides to the Trooping JUNE 7–9, 1982 to the proposed plan for an the Color ceremony. US President Ronald Reagan addition to the National visits the UK. Gallery being scrapped. Trooping the Color Birth of Princess Beatrice SEPTEMBER 15, 1984 The Princess of Wales gives birth to Prince Harry, her second son. APRIL 29, 1986 AUGUST 8, 1988 NOVEMBER 28, 1990 The Queen attends the The Duchess of Margaret Thatcher funeral of the Duchess York gives birth to resigns as Prime of Windsor, widow of Princess Beatrice, Minister. The Chancellor Edward VIII. her elder daughter. of the Exchequer, John Major, becomes the JULY 29, 1981 JUNE 21, 1982 JULY 23, 1986 Marriage of Prince Andrew AUGUST 31, 1989 new Conservative Prince Charles marries The Princess of Wales gives Prince Andrew marries and Sarah Ferguson Princess Anne and Prime Minister. Lady Diana Spencer in birth to Prince William, her Sarah Ferguson in Captain Mark Phillips St. Paul’s Cathedral. elder son and second in Westminster Abbey. They JUNE 15, 1987 separate after 16 years JANUARY 16– line of succession. become the Duke and Prince Edward, Princess of marriage. FEBRUARY 28, 1991 Duchess of York. Anne, and the Duke and British forces join a JULY 9, 1982 Duchess of York take part US-led coalition army An intruder finds his way OCTOBER 12–18, 1986 in TV gameshow The Grand to drive Iraqi troops out into the Queen’s bedroom The Queen and the Knockout Tournament. of Kuwait during the in Buckingham Palace. Duke of Edinburgh make Gulf War. a state visit to China. The Queen becomes the first MAY 17, 1991 British monarch to visit The Queen addresses the country. a joint session of the US Congress FEBRUARY 9, 1983 APRIL 1987 NOVEMBER 8, 1987 MARCH 23, 1990 in Washington, D.C. The British £1 coin, with The Princess of Wales Irish Republican Army The Duchess of the Queen’s head on the is photographed (IRA) bomb kills 11 in York gives birth obverse, replaces the holding the hand a Remembrance Day to Princess Eugenie, pound note. of an AIDS-infected service in Enniskillen, her second daughter.. man at the Middlesex Northern Ireland. MARCH 1983 Hospital, London. Prince and Princess of Commemorative stamp Wales take 9-month-old William along on their official tour of New Zealand and Australia. 198
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