Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in Balmoral 1939.Photo: BBC Studios
Queen Elizabethis looking back on her storied life with the help of herfamily’s home movies.
In the upcoming BBC documentary,Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, the monarch, 96, shares rare and personal details from her life as a young royal to her coronation day as viewers are treated to never-before-seen home movies of the Queen and the royal family over the years.
In the film, the Queen herself speaks of the joy she experiences rewatching old images of herself growing up — and hopes the current generation can appreciate that she was once a youthful princess!
“You always hope that future generations will find them interesting and perhaps be surprised that you, too, were young once,” she says in the groundbreaking new documentary, which will air on BBC and its streaming service iPlayer on May 29.
The Queen granted the film’s producers unprecedented access to her archives for the special broadcast, which kicks off herPlatinum Jubilee celebrations next weekin honor of her 70 years on the throne.
And, in a surprise move, the Queen recorded some of her own reflections featured in the film from Windsor Castle on May 19.
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“Like many families, my parents wanted to keep a record of our precious moments together. And when it was our turn with our own family we did the same. I always enjoyed capturing family moments,“Queen Elizabethsays in the documentary.
Princess Elizabeth in South Africa in March 1947.BBC Studios
Throughout the 75-minute show, which also features voiceovers culled from 60 of the Queen’s public speeches and her Christmas addresses, there are special behind-the-scenes moments. From seeing her dancing alongside her sister Princess Margaret in matching blue polka dot dresses to picnicking in the heather of Scotland with her parents and extended family, the documentary shows a side of the Queen that’s never been seen before.
Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at Royal Lodge Windsor 1940.BBC Studios
She’s shown at both her father’s coronation and in behind-palace-walls footage of her following her own coronation ceremony in 1953. Her children,Prince Charlesand Princess Anne, are also seen dashing around during an official photoshoot.
Princess Elizabeth Princess Margaret and Prince Philip Balmoral picnic 1946.BBC Studios
And, in a scene that could have come fromThe Crown,Prince Philipis shown rowing a young Princess Elizabeth across a loch in the Scottish Highlands before their wedding was announced.
The Queen’s own footage of a large rhino retreating into the bush below her vantage point during her historic visit to Kenya in February 1952 is also featured. The clip is especially poignant as the future monarch learned of her father’s death soon after that moment.
Princess Elizabeth with her uncle Prince George the Duke of Kent at Windsor Castle in the early 1930s.BBC Studios
It’s an “unparalleled historical record,” Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer of the BBC, says of the documentary.
The film allows the Queen to tell her real story “of her life as a princess through her own eyes and in her own words from across her reign. It’s incredibly moving to see just what Her Majesty has lived through,” Moore adds.
The Queen has been given the film to view — though palace sources will not say if she’s actually watched it.
Brothers Prince Edward The Prince of Wales and Prince Albert The Duke of York.BBC Studios
In snippets from her speeches, she is heard reflecting on how “faith family and friendship” have been both a constant and a source of “comfort and reassurance.” There have been “enormous changes” in her 70 years as Queen, she says and her great joy has been watching her children, grandchildren — and now great-grandchildren — grow up.
source: people.com
