Elizabeth II holds up a carrot, and Elizabeth the horse wolfs it down. At which point a wonderful smile breaks out on the most famous face on the planet. It’s a well-worn cliché to talk about the Queen looking ‘radiant’ but that is the only word to describe her look. There’s an obvious, unspoken connection with her namesake.
This is the Queen as the world seldom sees her. But as she prepares to celebrate a very personal milestone, it’s a side of the sovereign we are all about to enjoy. For much of the last year, during which the Queen has become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, a small television documentary team has been granted privileged access to the Queen and to those who know her best.
The result is Our Queen At Ninety, a historic two-hour ITV documentary which will be broadcast for the first time on Easter Sunday. Like the record-breaking monarch it celebrates, it’s a programme with a record of its own since it includes contributions from more members of the Royal Family than any royal documentary ever made.
We will hear how the Queen has gently guided and encouraged successive royal generations – in the words of those born into the family and those married into it, including the Duchess of Cambridge, giving an interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010, along with the Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex.
We will see the inspiration the Queen has been – and continues to be – to so many people all over the world, be they charity workers, David Beckham or the winners of the Rugby World Cup.
We will see her energy and her sense of humour. There’s a moment of regal mischief as the Queen, in evening gown, tiara and Garter sash, gathers with her family in a Buckingham Palace ante-room. ‘If we open the door,’ she asks, ‘do you think there is anybody there?’ Whereupon a page opens the door, there’s an almighty trumpet fanfare and 600 diplomats are standing in line waiting for a handshake.
What the other royals think of the Queen: Robert Hardman goes behind the scenes of special televised tribute filmed over a year as the monarch prepares to celebrate her 90th birthday
A candid new documentary reveals candid insights into the Queen's life as she turns 90
It features interviews with more members of the royal family than ever before including the Duchess of Cambridge
Our Queen At Ninety airs on Easter Sunday, 27 March, at 8pm on ITV
By Robert Hardman For Weekend Magazine
19 March 2016
Daily Mail
There is no greeting line today. No one is expecting her to say something or unveil something. For an hour or so, she can put all her other thoughts aside in the company of a handful of trusted companions.
A few months short of her 90th birthday, the Queen has just finished riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle on a favourite fell pony called Emma. It’s a cold winter’s day and she is back on her own two feet, in a headscarf and jodhpurs, and wandering among the four-legged residents of Windsor’s Royal Mews.
These are not racehorses or cavalry horses or carriage horses – the sort we usually associate with the monarch. These are the horses which she and other members of her family ride themselves. Accompanied by the man in charge of these stables, Terry Pendry, the Queen has a bag of treats: carrots. She stops in front of a magnificent specimen, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by the name of Elizabeth.
A candid new documentary featuring more royals than ever before reveals some never before seen insights into the Queen's life as she reaches her 90th birthday. The Duchess of Cambridge reveals that her son Prince George calls his great-grandmother the Queen Gan-Gan
The Duchess of Cambridge gives a solo interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010 to Prince William, who also features in the insightful royal documentary. He said he values the support and protection the Queen has given him to 'carve my own path'
Her Majesty The Queen at work in Buckingham Palace reading daily correspondence from her 'red box' of official papers
Elizabeth II holds up a carrot, and Elizabeth the horse wolfs it down. At which point a wonderful smile breaks out on the most famous face on the planet. It’s a well-worn cliché to talk about the Queen looking ‘radiant’ but that is the only word to describe her look. There’s an obvious, unspoken connection with her namesake.
This is the Queen as the world seldom sees her. But as she prepares to celebrate a very personal milestone, it’s a side of the sovereign we are all about to enjoy. For much of the last year, during which the Queen has become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, a small television documentary team (of which I have been a part) has been granted privileged access to the Queen and to those who know her best.
The result is Our Queen At Ninety, a historic two-hour ITV documentary which will be broadcast for the first time on Easter Sunday. Like the record-breaking monarch it celebrates, it’s a programme with a record of its own since it includes contributions from more members of the Royal Family than any royal documentary ever made.
The Duchess says that the Queen gave her gentle guidance towards being in the public eye after she married William
The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge are seen attending the Diplomatic Reception hosted by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace in November 2015 during the documentary
The Queen with Prince Philip at last year’s Braemar Gathering which the entire royal family is said to be big fans of
The Queen attends the 100th Annual General Meeting of the Women's Institute at the Royal Albert Hall and cuts a centenary fruit cake with Julie Clarke, chairwoman of the WI's North Yorkshire West Federation, the Princess Royal and the Countess of Wessex (right)
We will hear how the Queen has gently guided and encouraged successive royal generations – in the words of those born into the family and those married into it, including the Duchess of Cambridge, giving an interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010, along with the Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex.
We will see the inspiration the Queen has been – and continues to be – to so many people all over the world, be they charity workers, David Beckham or the winners of the Rugby World Cup.
We will see her energy and her sense of humour. There’s a moment of regal mischief as the Queen, in evening gown, tiara and Garter sash, gathers with her family in a Buckingham Palace ante-room. ‘If we open the door,’ she asks, ‘do you think there is anybody there?’ Whereupon a page opens the door, there’s an almighty trumpet fanfare and 600 diplomats are standing in line waiting for a handshake.
Above all, we will see a monarch who, dare one say it, is not quite as thrilled about a birthday with a round number as everyone else. For if there is one overarching impression after all our filming, it is that the Queen is focusing firmly on business as usual.
In the course of making this film, we have been delighted that so many people who really know the Queen have found time to discuss how much she means to them. And the more we listen to her family, the more we see the subtle but steady way in which the Queen has trained up one royal generation followed by another – and is now on to a third.
The Duke of Cambridge certainly remains eternally grateful for the way his grandmother has given him time and space to prepare for the future. ‘Growing up, having this figurehead, having this stability above me, has been incredible,’ he says. ‘I’ve been able to explore, understand, carve my own path. I greatly appreciate and value that protection.’
The Duke offers several shrewd observations on the way his grandmother approaches the job that will one day be his – and some entertaining anecdotes, too. Having accompanied the Queen on many engagements, he is well aware that pretty much anything can happen in the presence of the sovereign.
‘A lot of people get very excited and nervous around her and I’ve seen some very comical moments,’ he says. ‘I’ve seen people literally faint in front of her. And it’s quite a startling moment as to what to do – when you faint in front of the Queen.’
A more common problem (and it’s one which can afflict the brightest and most confident people) is simply being lost for words. ‘There’s a lot of trembling knees – and people can’t talk sometimes,’ says the Duke. ‘It’s quite difficult talking to people when they can’t talk. You don’t get very far. I don’t get past the hellos!’
If royal duties are challenging for those who grew up in the fold, the Queen understands that it’s harder still for those who are new to walkabouts and state occasions. One person with fresh memories of all that is the newest recruit to the royal frontline.
‘I think there is a real art to walkabouts,’ says the Duchess of Cambridge, smiling as she adds, ‘Everyone teases me in the family that I spend far too long chatting. So I’ve still got to learn a little bit more – and pick up a few more tips.’
The Queen's sense of humour shines through in the documentary, seen here making the Duchess Of Cambridge laugh
The Queen feeds carrots to her namesake steed Elizabeth at Windsor’s Royal Mews
The Queen riding Emma, one of her favourite fell ponies, at Windsor Great Park
In her first solo interview, the Duchess explains how the Queen has gone out of her way to help her adjust to life in the family spotlight since she married Prince William in 2011. ‘She’s been very generous,’ she says. ‘I feel she’s been a gentle guidance really for me.’
This is the Queen as the world seldom sees her. But as she prepares to celebrate a very personal milestone, it’s a side of the sovereign we are all about to enjoy. For much of the last year, during which the Queen has become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, a small television documentary team has been granted privileged access to the Queen and to those who know her best.
The result is Our Queen At Ninety, a historic two-hour ITV documentary which will be broadcast for the first time on Easter Sunday. Like the record-breaking monarch it celebrates, it’s a programme with a record of its own since it includes contributions from more members of the Royal Family than any royal documentary ever made.
We will hear how the Queen has gently guided and encouraged successive royal generations – in the words of those born into the family and those married into it, including the Duchess of Cambridge, giving an interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010, along with the Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex.
We will see the inspiration the Queen has been – and continues to be – to so many people all over the world, be they charity workers, David Beckham or the winners of the Rugby World Cup.
We will see her energy and her sense of humour. There’s a moment of regal mischief as the Queen, in evening gown, tiara and Garter sash, gathers with her family in a Buckingham Palace ante-room. ‘If we open the door,’ she asks, ‘do you think there is anybody there?’ Whereupon a page opens the door, there’s an almighty trumpet fanfare and 600 diplomats are standing in line waiting for a handshake.
What the other royals think of the Queen: Robert Hardman goes behind the scenes of special televised tribute filmed over a year as the monarch prepares to celebrate her 90th birthday
A candid new documentary reveals candid insights into the Queen's life as she turns 90
It features interviews with more members of the royal family than ever before including the Duchess of Cambridge
Our Queen At Ninety airs on Easter Sunday, 27 March, at 8pm on ITV
By Robert Hardman For Weekend Magazine
19 March 2016
Daily Mail
There is no greeting line today. No one is expecting her to say something or unveil something. For an hour or so, she can put all her other thoughts aside in the company of a handful of trusted companions.
A few months short of her 90th birthday, the Queen has just finished riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle on a favourite fell pony called Emma. It’s a cold winter’s day and she is back on her own two feet, in a headscarf and jodhpurs, and wandering among the four-legged residents of Windsor’s Royal Mews.
These are not racehorses or cavalry horses or carriage horses – the sort we usually associate with the monarch. These are the horses which she and other members of her family ride themselves. Accompanied by the man in charge of these stables, Terry Pendry, the Queen has a bag of treats: carrots. She stops in front of a magnificent specimen, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by the name of Elizabeth.
A candid new documentary featuring more royals than ever before reveals some never before seen insights into the Queen's life as she reaches her 90th birthday. The Duchess of Cambridge reveals that her son Prince George calls his great-grandmother the Queen Gan-Gan
The Duchess of Cambridge gives a solo interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010 to Prince William, who also features in the insightful royal documentary. He said he values the support and protection the Queen has given him to 'carve my own path'
Her Majesty The Queen at work in Buckingham Palace reading daily correspondence from her 'red box' of official papers
Elizabeth II holds up a carrot, and Elizabeth the horse wolfs it down. At which point a wonderful smile breaks out on the most famous face on the planet. It’s a well-worn cliché to talk about the Queen looking ‘radiant’ but that is the only word to describe her look. There’s an obvious, unspoken connection with her namesake.
This is the Queen as the world seldom sees her. But as she prepares to celebrate a very personal milestone, it’s a side of the sovereign we are all about to enjoy. For much of the last year, during which the Queen has become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, a small television documentary team (of which I have been a part) has been granted privileged access to the Queen and to those who know her best.
The result is Our Queen At Ninety, a historic two-hour ITV documentary which will be broadcast for the first time on Easter Sunday. Like the record-breaking monarch it celebrates, it’s a programme with a record of its own since it includes contributions from more members of the Royal Family than any royal documentary ever made.
The Queen attends the 100th Annual General Meeting of the Women's Institute at the Royal Albert Hall and cuts a centenary fruit cake with Julie Clarke, chairwoman of the WI's North Yorkshire West Federation, the Princess Royal and the Countess of Wessex (right)
We will hear how the Queen has gently guided and encouraged successive royal generations – in the words of those born into the family and those married into it, including the Duchess of Cambridge, giving an interview for the first time since her engagement in 2010, along with the Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex.
We will see the inspiration the Queen has been – and continues to be – to so many people all over the world, be they charity workers, David Beckham or the winners of the Rugby World Cup.
We will see her energy and her sense of humour. There’s a moment of regal mischief as the Queen, in evening gown, tiara and Garter sash, gathers with her family in a Buckingham Palace ante-room. ‘If we open the door,’ she asks, ‘do you think there is anybody there?’ Whereupon a page opens the door, there’s an almighty trumpet fanfare and 600 diplomats are standing in line waiting for a handshake.
Above all, we will see a monarch who, dare one say it, is not quite as thrilled about a birthday with a round number as everyone else. For if there is one overarching impression after all our filming, it is that the Queen is focusing firmly on business as usual.
In the course of making this film, we have been delighted that so many people who really know the Queen have found time to discuss how much she means to them. And the more we listen to her family, the more we see the subtle but steady way in which the Queen has trained up one royal generation followed by another – and is now on to a third.
The Duke of Cambridge certainly remains eternally grateful for the way his grandmother has given him time and space to prepare for the future. ‘Growing up, having this figurehead, having this stability above me, has been incredible,’ he says. ‘I’ve been able to explore, understand, carve my own path. I greatly appreciate and value that protection.’
The Duke offers several shrewd observations on the way his grandmother approaches the job that will one day be his – and some entertaining anecdotes, too. Having accompanied the Queen on many engagements, he is well aware that pretty much anything can happen in the presence of the sovereign.
‘A lot of people get very excited and nervous around her and I’ve seen some very comical moments,’ he says. ‘I’ve seen people literally faint in front of her. And it’s quite a startling moment as to what to do – when you faint in front of the Queen.’
A more common problem (and it’s one which can afflict the brightest and most confident people) is simply being lost for words. ‘There’s a lot of trembling knees – and people can’t talk sometimes,’ says the Duke. ‘It’s quite difficult talking to people when they can’t talk. You don’t get very far. I don’t get past the hellos!’
If royal duties are challenging for those who grew up in the fold, the Queen understands that it’s harder still for those who are new to walkabouts and state occasions. One person with fresh memories of all that is the newest recruit to the royal frontline.
‘I think there is a real art to walkabouts,’ says the Duchess of Cambridge, smiling as she adds, ‘Everyone teases me in the family that I spend far too long chatting. So I’ve still got to learn a little bit more – and pick up a few more tips.’
The Queen feeds carrots to her namesake steed Elizabeth at Windsor’s Royal Mews
The Queen riding Emma, one of her favourite fell ponies, at Windsor Great Park
In her first solo interview, the Duchess explains how the Queen has gone out of her way to help her adjust to life in the family spotlight since she married Prince William in 2011. ‘She’s been very generous,’ she says. ‘I feel she’s been a gentle guidance really for me.’
One day still sticks out in the Duchess’s mind – 8 March 2012. It was Day One of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the United Kingdom. And the Duchess was minus her husband – on duty with the RAF in the Falkland Islands – as she joined the Queen and Prince Philip in the East Midlands.
‘The most memorable engagement for me, I suppose, was an away-day to Leicester. I went without William so I was rather apprehensive about that,’ says the Duchess, in conversation with the director of the programme at Kensington Palace. While describing herself as a ‘very small element’ in such an important day for the Queen, the Duchess says that the Queen was ‘very supportive’.
‘The fact she took the time to make sure that I was happy – and looked after me – shows just how caring she is.’
She also explains how excited the Queen was by the arrival of Princess Charlotte last May. ‘It’s very special having a new little girl. I feel very, very lucky that George has got a little sister. The Queen was really thrilled that it was a little girl and I think as soon as we came back here, to Kensington, she was one of our first visitors.’
The Duchess reveals that two-year-old Prince George has a special name for his great-grandmother. ‘He calls her Gan-Gan,’ she says, adding that ‘Gan-Gan’ is particularly attentive whenever the younger Cambridges are staying with her. ‘She always leaves a little gift or something in their room when we stay. And that just shows, I think, her love for her family.’
One of many poignant voices in the film is the man who was at the front of the queue at the first investiture of the Queen’s reign in 1952. Private Bill Speakman was, therefore, the recipient of the first of an estimated 400,000 honours she has bestowed as monarch.
And he was in pride of place for a very good reason. He was receiving the Victoria Cross for heroism during the Korean War.
‘I don’t know what the odds were but it was a bloody lot and we just fought and we fought and we fought,’ recalls Bill, now 88. ‘I got hit twice. I didn’t realise till they said, “Bill, you’ve got a hole in your shoulder and you’ve got a hole in your leg.” That’s when I hit the ground. I fainted.’
Prince Harry says that he has asked his grandmother many years what her secret is but she refuses to tell
Queen Elizabeth II departs from Buckingham Palace in London for a day of engagements as the historic documentary enjoyed privileged access to her and to those who know her best during the year in which she has become our longest-reigning monarch
David Cameron says ‘When you go and see Her Majesty The Queen, as some of my predecessors have said, you always leave feeling at least six inches taller'
That's not all. Read the rest of the article: Our Queen At Ninety documentary follows The Queen as she turns 90 | Daily Mail Online
‘The most memorable engagement for me, I suppose, was an away-day to Leicester. I went without William so I was rather apprehensive about that,’ says the Duchess, in conversation with the director of the programme at Kensington Palace. While describing herself as a ‘very small element’ in such an important day for the Queen, the Duchess says that the Queen was ‘very supportive’.
‘The fact she took the time to make sure that I was happy – and looked after me – shows just how caring she is.’
She also explains how excited the Queen was by the arrival of Princess Charlotte last May. ‘It’s very special having a new little girl. I feel very, very lucky that George has got a little sister. The Queen was really thrilled that it was a little girl and I think as soon as we came back here, to Kensington, she was one of our first visitors.’
The Duchess reveals that two-year-old Prince George has a special name for his great-grandmother. ‘He calls her Gan-Gan,’ she says, adding that ‘Gan-Gan’ is particularly attentive whenever the younger Cambridges are staying with her. ‘She always leaves a little gift or something in their room when we stay. And that just shows, I think, her love for her family.’
One of many poignant voices in the film is the man who was at the front of the queue at the first investiture of the Queen’s reign in 1952. Private Bill Speakman was, therefore, the recipient of the first of an estimated 400,000 honours she has bestowed as monarch.
And he was in pride of place for a very good reason. He was receiving the Victoria Cross for heroism during the Korean War.
‘I don’t know what the odds were but it was a bloody lot and we just fought and we fought and we fought,’ recalls Bill, now 88. ‘I got hit twice. I didn’t realise till they said, “Bill, you’ve got a hole in your shoulder and you’ve got a hole in your leg.” That’s when I hit the ground. I fainted.’
Prince Harry says that he has asked his grandmother many years what her secret is but she refuses to tell
Queen Elizabeth II departs from Buckingham Palace in London for a day of engagements as the historic documentary enjoyed privileged access to her and to those who know her best during the year in which she has become our longest-reigning monarch
David Cameron says ‘When you go and see Her Majesty The Queen, as some of my predecessors have said, you always leave feeling at least six inches taller'
That's not all. Read the rest of the article: Our Queen At Ninety documentary follows The Queen as she turns 90 | Daily Mail Online
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