The Queen has hailed Elizabeth II’s “overriding sense of duty” and ability to “carve her own role” in a man’s world, as the royal family prepares to mark the centenary of her birth.
In a new BBC documentary exploring her life and legacy before what would have been her 100th birthday on Tuesday, Camilla paid tribute to Elizabeth’s dedication to her role as monarch for more than 70 years. “I think duty has overridden everything,” she said of the late Queen, who died in September 2022 aged 96. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody have a sense of duty like she had.”
Camilla, 78, also praised Elizabeth’s poise at becoming Queen aged 25 when George VI died unexpectedly on February 6, 1952, while Elizabeth and the future Prince Philip were on a tour in Kenya. On her return Elizabeth was greeted by Winston Churchill and members of his government.
“It must have been so difficult, being surrounded by much older men. There weren’t women prime ministers or women presidents. She was the only one, so I think she carved her own role,” Camilla said.
Queen Elizabeth opens the new Victoria Line on the London Underground, March 1969EVENING STANDARD/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Serving in the Auxilliary Territorial Service during the Second World WarBBC
Recalling the Platinum Jubilee birthday parade in June 2022, three months before she died, Camilla said: “I remember there were thousands and thousands of people lining streets, lining The Mall. We were all looking for something to cheer us all up … So it was an incredible jubilee. She was very much centre stage. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everybody was in a good mood.”
The documentary, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century, will be on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday. Exploring how Britain evolved during Elizabeth’s record-breaking reign, it includes contributions from friends, family, world leaders and historians including Barack Obama, Sir Tony Blair, Sir David Attenborough, her eldest grandson Peter Phillips, Sir Tom Jones and Dame Helen Mirren, who played Elizabeth in the 2006 film The Queen.
Watch Attenborough’s reflections in the documentary:
Mirren said: “She’d become such an intrinsic part of the tapestry of our life, it was as if you were going to pull a thread and the whole thing was going to fall apart.”
Blair closely advised Elizabeth after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the royal family faced a wave of public criticism for not immediately returning to London, choosing instead to stay in Scotland for several days with the young Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12.
Speaking of Elizabeth’s return to London and live address to the nation from Buckingham Palace on the eve of Diana’s funeral, which calmed the public mood. Blair said: “She had a real sense of what her role should be and what it represented particularly, as the country went through the most difficult time. And her genius was in a way to steer the monarchy through that whilst not really changing much herself … She was not ‘a’ Queen, but ‘the’ Queen. I don’t think we’ll see her like again.”
The programme also explores the late Queen’s leadership in times of national crisis, including the Covid pandemic during which Philip died of old age in April 2021, aged 99. Strict national Covid restrictions were in place for his funeral on April 17 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, which had only 30 guests.
Downing Street had offered to waive some restrictions for the royal family, including the social distancing and “family bubble” that meant that only those living in the same households could sit together. But the Queen refused and followed the guidelines observed by the public. It led to one of the defining images of her reign, head bowed, wearing a black mask, sitting alone as she mourned her husband of 73 years.
JONATHAN BRADY
Peter Phillips, who walked in the funeral procession between William and Harry before attending the service, said: “All you wanted to do was to go and give her a hug. You couldn’t do it.”
Obama and his wife, Michelle, forged a close bond with Elizabeth following their state visit to the UK in 2011. “What struck me in every conversation that I had with her was the weight of her experience,” Obama said. “She did understand the sweep of history. That gave her a respect on the world stage. The combination of the sense of duty with a very human quality of kindness and consideration, and sense of humour. I think that’s what made her so beloved, not just in Great Britain, but around the world. By virtue of her having known every world figure through the entire 20th century, she’s a link to history.”
At the state banquet with President Obama in May 2011ANWAR HUSSEIN/GETTY IMAGES
Friends of the late Queen also reflected on the impact of becoming heir to the throne aged ten in 1936, when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. Lady Anne Glenconner, a lifelong friend and one of Elizabeth’s six maids of honour at her coronation in 1953, described it as “a turning point in her life,” after which she adopted the mantra of “you don’t give up”. Attenborough, another close friend, who marks his own centenary next month, said of Elizabeth’s role as monarch: “It was in the manner of her bones. She was regal.”
This week the royal family will undertake engagements marking the centenary. On Monday the King and Queen will visit a new exhibition at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, showcasing Elizabeth’s fashions.
On Tuesday Charles and Camilla will be joined by members of the royal family at the British Museum to view the final design for the planned Queen Elizabeth Memorial at St James’s Park, the Princess Royal will open the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in Regent’s Park, and the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to join the King and Queen for a Buckingham Palace tea party. Guests from several of Elizabeth’s patronages will attend, including figures from Cancer Research UK, the Jockey Club, the Royal Kennel Club and the Army Benevolent Fund.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will mark the centenary privately.
The King has become royal patron of the Queen Elizabeth Trust, a charity launched for the centenary that will focus on regenerating community spaces that bring people together. The government has provided £40 million of seed funding for the project, which was inspired by Queen Elizabeth’s belief that “everyone is our neighbour”
Lord Janvrin, Elizabeth’s former private secretary, who chairs the Queen Elizabeth memorial committee, said: “I hope this new charity will encourage people to remember the life and service of the late Queen by recognising the importance she attached to strengthening that sense of engagement and belonging amongst local communities.”
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