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In May 1935, Britain celebrated
the Silver Jubilee

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of King George V
and his Consort, Queen Mary.

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Despite the tribulations
of George's reign,

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the Royal family
had never been more popular.

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George had steered
the monarchy through

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the catastrophe of
the First World War
and its chaotic aftermath.

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While the crowned heads of Europe
were falling,

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he had preserved
and strengthened his own dynasty.

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But the King hadn't done it alone.

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Throughout his reign,
he had relied upon

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the support of his wife,
Queen Mary -

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the present Queen's
formidable grandmother.

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Queen Mary was
tremendously important.

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She was there as the one pillar
of the monarchy.

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She became a sort of rock around
which the royal family focused.

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Like her husband,

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Mary was a deeply conservative
product of the Victorian era.

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She was also a ruthless survivor,

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who was prepared to sacrifice
anything - including her own son -

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to protect the monarchy.

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Control and restraint
and responsibility and duty -

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these were all the things
that she had to stand for,

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and she felt her son
had let her down.

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And when her husband
King George died,

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it was Queen Mary's
steely resolve that helped

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to rescue a troubled dynasty,
reinvent it for the modern age,

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and shape the character of
our own Queen Elizabeth.

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In December 1948, the Royal family
came together at Buckingham Palace

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to celebrate the christening of
the newest member of their dynasty.

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As he squinted out at the cameras,
the newborn Prince Charles

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couldn't have been
in a safer pair of hands.

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Ramrod straight and tough as nails,

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Queen Mary had been a symbol
of strength and continuity

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across four generations
of monarchy -

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as grandmother to a queen...

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..mother to two kings...

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..and a Queen Empress
in her own right.

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And yet, for a matriarch who became
the acme of regal decorum

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Queen Mary didn't start life
as very royal at all.

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Born Princess Victoria Mary
of Teck in 1867,

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she was given the nickname May
because of the month of her birth,

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a name that stuck.

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But although Princess May's mother
could boast that she was

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directly descended
from King George III,

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her grandfather -
a German Royal Duke -

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had done the unthinkable
and married for love.

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Princess May suffered from the fact
that her grandfather
had married below his level.

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Her grandfather married
only a countess, so a commoner,

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and that had meant

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they were taken from
the rank of Royal Highness

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down to Serene Highness,
so she was only a Serene Highness

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which really mattered
in royal circles.

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And other members of
the royal families rather thought

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she was always a little bit
below the quality line.

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Princess May's position
was very invidious, actually,

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because she was sort of royal -
a very difficult position to be in.

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Certainly, as the Princess
grew older,

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various German royal families
made it quite clear

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that they did not consider her
an equal or appropriate match,

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but certainly one thing
she did take from that

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was the importance of position.

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If her inferior blood seemed
to make May unsaleable
on the marriage market,

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there was further humiliation
to be endured

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in the form of May's fun-loving
mother the Duchess of Teck -

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better known to
smart London society as Fat Mary.

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Mary's mother was enormous.
I mean, she was absolutely vast
as a structure,

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not only as a human being,
but also in her character.

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Mary Adelaide was extremely loud,
and liked nothing more

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than making a public spectacle
of herself. She loved crowds,

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and she'd go out in her carriage
and wave,

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which was, I think,
regarded as rather vulgar

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by the rest of the royal family.

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She wanted to be this
great social figure

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and entertain all the politicians
and the great leading lights
and stars of society.

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I mean, they became a couple
that most visiting royals

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would pop in and say hello,
you know, they were pretty central,

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but always in this sort of
slightly anarchic way.

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Entertaining grandly,
spending madly,

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she lived the high life,
she ordered satin ball gowns,

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she went to the opera, she went
to balls, she went shopping -

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didn't do very much
for the bank balance at all.

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In 1883,
the bank manager came calling.

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Up to their ears in debt,
the Teck family were forced

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to sell off the silver
in a mortifying public auction.

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"Public notice of sale
by auction at Knightsbridge,

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"by command of
the Duke and Duchess of Teck.

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"Valuable ornamental furniture,
lights, bronzes, clocks,

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"paintings and other effects
may be viewed at Kensington palace.

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"Catalogue - one shilling."

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It was humiliating
to the last degree.

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To a 16-year-old girl -

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it's an age at which you feel
terribly embarrassed anyway -

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to see her all her family's
possessions being publicly sold,

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and bills in the Pall Mall Gazette
saying this.

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And of course, London society
gossiped about this the whole time.

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The chaotic world of May's parents

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carried the unmistakeable whiff
of Hanoverian excess,

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and it gave May a lesson
in Victorian decorum
that she would never forget.

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Princess May had to witness
her parents

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being sort of dunned for debts,

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and tradesmen lounging downstairs
waiting for payment,

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and the sort of humiliation
of it all,

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and in her I think it created
a desire to retreat

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to a sense of order,
where everyone knew what was what.

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Mary responded to this
terrible parental embarrassment

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by becoming completely
the opposite of her incredibly
embarrassing parents.

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She devoted herself
to being the absolute epitome
of duty and control,

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and absolutely sort of
willed herself

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to be this very correct person
who never did anything out of place.

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With angry creditors
snapping at their heels,

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in 1883 May's family exchanged
the splendours of Kensington Palace

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for exile - and social death -
in Florence.

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But life in the wilderness
brought unexpected rewards.

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For Princess May herself,
going to Florence was the best thing

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that could have happened to her.

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At 16, Florence was, in a sense,
her Damascus moment.

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Her eyes were opened to
the magnificence of this city -

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the galleries, the cathedrals,
the churches and so on -

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and she developed a knowledge of
history and modern history.

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So that, by the time she returned
to London at the age of 18,

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she operated on
a completely different level

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to other members of the royal family.

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May emerged from her exile
an unusually cultured
and practical princess.

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And although not out of
the top drawer of royalty,

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her attributes didn't go unnoticed
by the one person who mattered -

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the matchmaker in chief.

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In 1891, Queen Victoria
needed a solution

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to a tricky family problem -
her grandson, Prince Eddy.

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The scandal-prone prince was
everything that May was not.

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Dissolute and dim,
he lived the life of a wastrel,

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gambling and womanising.

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Finding a match for Eddy
on the marriage market

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wasn't going to be an easy matter.

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Queen Victoria went through all
the princesses in Europe one by one,

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and she dismissed them
all as, variously,

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Catholic, idiotic,
thick, ghastly and ugly,

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and the person she came up with
in the end was May,

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because she thought
that May had backbone.

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Here she is, she's good-looking,

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she believes in the monarchy
to the Nth degree

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and she's very strong
and very dutiful.

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I think all of that wraps up
to being a pretty good idea
for Prince Eddy.

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In December 1891,
the betrothal was announced.

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The Princess had salvaged
her own prospects
and the honour of her family.

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Fat Mary was in seventh heaven.

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After all those years
of humiliation, of being put down,

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snubbed on the fringes of royalty,
here she is, she's got the plum.

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The plum was rotten.

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In January 1892, the Teck family
arrived at Sandringham

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to celebrate the forthcoming union
with their future in-laws.

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But during the visit,
the ever-unreliable Eddy
contracted pneumonia and died.

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The wedding party had
turned into a funeral.

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For May and her mother Mary
it was like

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having victory snatched away from
you at the absolute last minute,

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I mean, it must have been
just devastating.

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But Queen Victoria was quite
unsentimental about the whole thing,

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and very, very quickly
reckons that her good work

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in finding May
should not go to waste.

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All was not yet lost -
Eddy had a younger brother.

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A straight-talking
naval officer with an obsession
for order and routine,

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Prince George now stood
to inherit the throne.

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And if May was
good enough for Eddy,

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she was good enough
for his understudy.

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To our generation,

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the idea of marrying
the brother of your dead fiance

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seems rather bizarre,
not to say a little macabre,

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but the general assumption was
that the engagement to Prince Eddy

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had been motivated
by duty rather than passion.

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She saw a job
that she could do well,

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and I don't think she had
any self-doubt about that.

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After a suitable period of mourning,
the courtship rituals resumed

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and May transferred her affections
from the wild Prince Eddy

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to his dutiful brother George.

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"Dear George, I am very sorry
I am so shy with you.

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"It is stupid to be so stiff.

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"Really there is nothing
I would not tell you,

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"except that I love you
more than anybody.

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"And this I cannot
tell you myself, so I write it
to relieve my feelings."

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In the spring of 1893,
May and George were married,

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and May took her place among
the very highest ranks of
British royalty...

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..in all likelihood
a future Queen of Great Britain,

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and Empress of the largest empire
the world had ever seen.

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But the marital home, a mere cottage
on the Sandringham Estate

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was hardly the palace
she might have imagined.

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People made disparagingly
sneering remarks about it

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and described it as
a glum little villa.

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The drawing room was very small,

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you couldn't get more than
about two or three people in it.

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And, of course, George loved
this because he hated entertaining,

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and it was a wonderful excuse
not to have lots of people
to stay and to dinner.

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And he had the whole thing
furnished by Maples,

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which was the sort of
John Lewis of the day.

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And this was terrible for May,
because it meant that

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the one thing she really
enjoyed doing - decorating -
she wasn't allowed to do.

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She hoped to make a real show,

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and when you consider
that they possessed

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vast amounts of fantastic furniture

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and all these marvellous things
that had come down to them,

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it was extraordinary.

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George wanted to be

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in a simple squire's house
with the mottos on the wall,

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like,
"A stitch in times saves nine,"

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and living a simple kind of life.

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But it was a pretty odd
kind of existence.

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George's idea of fun
was blasting game birds
from the skies over Sandringham.

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Her husband's passions left his
cultivated wife decidedly cold.

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After one particularly dull
shooting party, she confided...

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"It was so stiff I could have
turned cartwheels for sixpence."

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For 17 years, the Princess
endured the tedium
of the Norfolk shooting parties.

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It was all a long way from the
galleries and churches of Florence.

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Princess May,
the future Queen Mary,

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was intellectually
and up to a point

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emotionally starved in her marriage.

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She was far more
intelligent than the King,

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she had a far wider range
of interests.

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Left to herself,
she would have travelled around.

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Instead, if she did want to go
and look at a cathedral
or museum or something,

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she was regarded as being
a slightly absurd eccentric.

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She's much better educated
than George is,

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she's much more interested
in things like books,
and she knows about art...

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She's pretty much the closest
the royal family gets
to an intellectual.

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George has no interest
in that at all,

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all he wants to do is shoot
and put in his stamps.

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She couldn't bear going out
on the grouse moors

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for days and days at a time looking
like she was having a nice time,
but she did it.

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May also did her duty
in the marriage bed.

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In little over ten years
she produced six children

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including a male heir
and four spares.

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But in the claustrophobic
confines of York Cottage

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she always deferred to her husband,

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and there was little room
for a loving mother
to express her feelings.

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"We used to have a most
lovely time with her alone,

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"always laughing and joking.

234
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,560
"She was a different human being
away from him."

235
00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,680
The children lived this very,
very strange existence.

236
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,320
It's almost like a ship,
with their father as captain

237
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,160
marching up and down
the quarter deck,

238
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,000
who frightened his children,
intimidated them,

239
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,480
and when they got things wrong
he punished them.

240
00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,480
And it was difficult
for May to intercede,

241
00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,560
because she had an extraordinary -

242
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,400
almost unimaginable
to ordinary people's minds -

243
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,480
an extraordinary reverence
for the monarchy.

244
00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,920
I think Queen Mary
loved her children.

245
00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,360
It's just that there
was no question of her

246
00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:07,000
taking their part
against her husband,

247
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,080
that was absolutely
never going to happen.

248
00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:14,120
And when he was dressing them down
or when he was disappointed in them,

249
00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:16,680
I think they were sort of stuck.

250
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:27,120
In 1910, May traded in the Norfolk
cottage for a real palace.

251
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:45,560
With the death of Edward VII,
May's husband became King.

252
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,080
In keeping with the dignity
of her new position as Consort,

253
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,360
at her coronation in Westminster

254
00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:55,840
Princess May took the name
Queen Mary.

255
00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:09,760
Mary wasn't now just
a queen married to a king.

256
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:14,040
She was also an empress, wife of
the greatest emperor in the world.

257
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,560
In 1911,
shortly after the coronation,

258
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,920
she and her husband
travelled to India

259
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,920
to receive the homage
of their distant subjects
at a ceremonial court.

260
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:32,120
Suddenly, this relatively
self-effacing woman is centre stage

261
00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:36,320
of this massive crowd
all the way round,

262
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,840
with enormous numbers of
cavalry going one way

263
00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,960
and princes going the other,
all of them falling on their knees
in front of her.

264
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:47,600
There they are in their
purple velvet cloaks,

265
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,000
the crowns on their heads,
they seat themselves
on two gold thrones,

266
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,280
the have these jewelled princes
coming and paying homage.

267
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,520
And after they had left,
the crowds rushed on to the ground
where they'd been

268
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,800
and kissed the very earth
on which they'd walked.

269
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,800
I think that had the most
tremendous effect on her.

270
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,120
On the plains of India,
Mary had found her true calling.

271
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,840
The one-time social untouchable had
been reincarnated as a living deity,

272
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,880
and Mary was determined
to put her new role to good use.

273
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:35,040
In 1914, Britain was plunged
into the most catastrophic
war in its history.

274
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:39,760
The slaughter on the battlefields
touched the lives

275
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:41,600
of every British family.

276
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:50,320
With a world war on their doorstep
and the nation facing disaster,

277
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,320
these were testing times for
the monarchy.

278
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,040
Queen Mary's response was
both patriotic and practical.

279
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,240
Mary very much does see her
position as Queen as being

280
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,880
an opportunity to identify
the monarchy with charity,

281
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,800
she plunges into all sorts
of charitable activities.

282
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,080
And she doesn't just do it,

283
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,680
she organises everybody else
to do it on a huge scale.

284
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,920
She was an incredibly successful
and impressive organizer.

285
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,120
There was
Queen Mary's Needlework Guild,

286
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:30,760
there was
the Relief Clothing Guild,

287
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,040
there was the National Relief Fund.

288
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:38,440
In many ways,
during the First World War,
Queen Mary came into her own.

289
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,120
"I appeal to all women
who are in a position to do so

290
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:47,200
"to organise a collection
of garments for soldiers and sailors

291
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,880
"who will suffer
on account of the war.

292
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:56,760
"All parcels should be
addressed to Friary Court,
St James's Palace, London."

293
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,800
Prodded by Mary, the nation's women
took up their knitting needles.

294
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,880
A mountain of clothing for
the troops descended on the palace.

295
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:18,080
Mary's Needlework Guild
continues the tradition to this day.

296
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:21,920
She has certainly left
her mark on us.

297
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:24,560
The object of the guild

298
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,840
remains the same today
as it did in Queen Mary's time.

299
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:34,120
It's to collect new clothing and
linen that goes only to UK charities.

300
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,480
Today, all the clothing that has
been collected during the past year

301
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:48,480
we start to pack up, so from 12.30
there will be complete chaos in here.

302
00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:07,240
During the First World War,
Queen Mary had an army
of people working for her.

303
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,400
She was incredibly hands-on,
and people were on shifts, I think,

304
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,360
when it got really busy and the
packages were going out all the time.

305
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,640
This is a book produced covering
the work Queen Mary did

306
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:22,040
during the war years.

307
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,680
On this page it show articles

308
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,840
received at St James's Palace
since August 1914.

309
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,200
Blankets, rugs and quilts - 25,565.

310
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,440
Caps - 10,252.

311
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,040
Shirts - 224,686.

312
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,000
Operation shirts - 61,000.

313
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,960
Pyjamas - 113,000.

314
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,240
Shoes and slippers - 40,460.

315
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:48,480
Bed socks and operating stockings -
72,715.

316
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:54,400
So, in all a total of over
15 million articles
went out in that package.

317
00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:02,280
She recognised that she was in
an immensely powerful position

318
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,360
to actually look after her subjects.

319
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,760
She felt that she really could
make a difference.

320
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,920
The Queen's charitable work
not only helped to cement the ties

321
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,360
between the monarchy
and the millions of women

322
00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:22,160
who were mobilised to help
the war effort.

323
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:27,240
It also helped to reinvent
the royal family in the national
consciousness as a force for good.

324
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:35,160
But with victory overseas secured,
Mary and George faced a new crisis.

325
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:45,320
The First World War had been
catastrophic for the old system
of European monarchies.

326
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,880
Across Russia and Europe,
royal houses were falling

327
00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,000
and the spread of communism
threatened a complete rupture
with the past.

328
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:02,200
There was this fear that communism
would have an impact
on British society,

329
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,600
it would manifest itself particularly
in the trade union movement

330
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,040
and periodically, of course,
the Labour Party sang The Red Flag.

331
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:14,040
They were very worried that what
this presaged was the revolution,

332
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,640
the guillotine set up
in Trafalgar Square -
that was the nightmare.

333
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,240
The war was followed by recession
in the industries that had built
the weapons of victory.

334
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:32,640
Many men returned from the trenches
to a bleak world of unemployment
and poverty.

335
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:40,000
With industrial unrest
and militant socialism on the rise,

336
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,240
the King and Queen took action
to strengthen their links
with their people,

337
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,360
not as individuals,
but as a team.

338
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,360
For a Queen Consort,
this was a daring new departure.

339
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,720
One of the most important things
they do is to go together,

340
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,320
both of them playing a part,
to mining districts

341
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:05,880
in the North of England or Wales,
trying to see for themselves,
trying to talk to the people.

342
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,800
And what's interesting is
this is a new take on the monarchy.

343
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,480
Monarchs had gone on sort of
visits to Lancashire or whatever,

344
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,560
but basically it was a question
of driving through crowds of people
in a big car.

345
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,840
George and Mary - particularly Mary -
are actually trying

346
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,240
to sort of talk to people
and visit communities,
and much more engaged.

347
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,760
This was nothing less than a new
formula for a modernised monarchy -

348
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:37,600
a combination of public relations,
meeting and greeting the people,

349
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,840
and at the same time preserving
the ancient mystique of royalty.

350
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:47,200
For Mary, it was a balancing act
that required all the skills
of a first-class actress.

351
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,120
One of the things about Queen Mary

352
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,880
is that she had a very strong
performance instinct.

353
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:03,920
She saw the roles of
King and Queen as roles
that needed to be played correctly.

354
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,280
She never made the mistake
of thinking,

355
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,520
"Because I'm Queen, that's enough."

356
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:13,400
She was always asking absolutely top
level of performance from herself.

357
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,960
Like every good actress, Queen Mary
was meticulous in her costume

358
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,880
and honed her stage look
to perfection.

359
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,480
Queen Mary, of course,
looked the part.

360
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,960
She wore tiaras...

361
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:37,960
earrings...

362
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,080
..necklaces, chokers,
ropes of pearls.

363
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,800
There would be brooches.

364
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,880
There would be the riband
of the Order of the Garter,

365
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,200
the Diamond Star of
the Order of Garter,

366
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:54,840
the family orders.

367
00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:00,320
Her evening gown
was reinforced with buckram

368
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,680
so that it could take
the weight of the jewels.

369
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,200
You know, she was...

370
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:12,120
like a magnificent
walking Christmas tree, really.

371
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,240
She used her jewels
almost like a uniform,

372
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,480
they were absolutely marvellous,
and they were a kind of armour.

373
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:23,680
She presented

374
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,720
an image of magnificence
that fitted -

375
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,760
she was, after all, a Queen Empress,
and she played up to that.

376
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,480
The once-shy Princess grew
into a formidable figure.

377
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,520
Officials responsible for organising
the Queen Empress's royal visits

378
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,720
needed to be quick on their toes.

379
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:49,080
Queen Mary was invited
to open a ward and plant a tree
in one of the South London hospitals.

380
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,280
They rolled out
the red carpet for her,

381
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,920
she walked along it, she came
to the end of the red carpet.

382
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:59,600
But, alas, there was six feet
of raw earth between
herself and the spade.

383
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,680
She wouldn't budge.

384
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,040
And the quick-witted
hospital administrator

385
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,080
shot to the other end of the carpet,
cut six feet off
and put it at her feet,

386
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,120
and she duly walked upon this
red carpet and planted the tree.

387
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,840
ANNOUNCER: 'A golden day
for the Silver Jubilee,

388
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,440
'and the spectacle
of a nation exalted.'

389
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:33,600
In 1935, Britain celebrated
King George and Queen Mary's
Silver Jubilee -

390
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,080
25 years on the throne.

391
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,960
Few could have thought
that this conservative couple

392
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,600
would successfully steer
the monarchy through a period
of such turbulent change.

393
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,880
But George and Mary's instincts
for combining duty
and subtle modernisation

394
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,600
had hit precisely the right note.

395
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,880
The awkward young couple
brought together

396
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,120
by a piece of dynastic business
had grown into a loving partnership.

397
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,720
I don't think they were
sort of madly in love,

398
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,120
I don't think it was that.

399
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,280
But I think a sense
of common purpose

400
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,120
and a real belief
in what they were doing.

401
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:27,000
I think the fact that
they had such joint belief

402
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,240
in the value of their role did
bring them very close together.

403
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,800
"I can never sufficiently
express my deep gratitude to you,

404
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,480
"darling May, for the way you have
helped and stood by me.

405
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:50,200
"This is not sentimental rubbish,
but what I really feel."

406
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,440
The King and Queen's reign had been
an undoubted public triumph.

407
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:59,280
But there was one area
of royal life in which
they had failed spectacularly.

408
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:05,160
George and Mary had neglected
to provide a loving family life

409
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,760
in which their children
could thrive.

410
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,400
The heir to the throne

411
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:24,160
was this handsome, charming,
glamorous young man.

412
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,720
He was a pin-up boy
around the world.

413
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:33,800
And the public, all they knew
was this smiling wonderful face.

414
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,040
But the other side to this was that

415
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,920
David displayed a sort of petulance,

416
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:44,360
that if he wanted it, he could
have it - it was his by right.

417
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,640
And that went contrary
to all notions of service

418
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,240
that the monarchy stood for.

419
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,160
George and Mary's eldest son,
David, Prince of Wales,

420
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:58,200
had been alienated
by his bullying father,

421
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,440
and for emotional support felt
unable to turn to his mother.

422
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:06,040
Instead of imbuing him with
their sense of duty and tradition,

423
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,760
they had produced a Prince
more like George's brother,

424
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,600
the late Prince Eddy,
than George himself.

425
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:18,240
King George V believed that
being King was a full-time job,

426
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,160
a 100% job, and everything
was second to it.

427
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:26,160
But the Prince of Wales was convinced
that he had every right

428
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:30,240
to do what he wanted to do with
his private life, to indulge himself
when he wanted to.

429
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,560
And this meant that, more and more,

430
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:37,160
King George V sort of lost faith
in his son.

431
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,240
In January 1936, worn down
by years of service,

432
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,800
and desperately anxious
about the succession,

433
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,840
George V took to his bed
at Sandringham.

434
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,840
As the end of the King's life
approached,

435
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,720
his wife and sons gathered
at his beloved Norfolk estate.

436
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,480
For over 40 years,

437
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,160
Mary had been unflinching
in her support of her husband.

438
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,720
As she contemplated
an uncertain future,

439
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,160
Mary summoned up
her iron composure.

440
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,760
When the King dies,

441
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,680
it must have been
a hammer blow to Mary,

442
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,080
but that sense of duty
boards up again in her back.

443
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,920
And she stands away from the body

444
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,040
and goes over to her eldest son

445
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:34,280
and does obeisance to him
as her new King.

446
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,480
And he can't cope with it.

447
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,960
David pretty much fell apart.

448
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,240
Here was the new King distraught
at the death of his father,

449
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,400
whilst he'd been yearning for the day
when he was free of him.

450
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,560
On 21st January 1936,

451
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,880
David was proclaimed
King Edward VIII.

452
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,320
The high and mighty Prince,

453
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:13,480
Edward Albert Christian George
Andrew Patrick David,

454
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:14,880
is now...

455
00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,320
As he watched the proclamation from
a side window at St James's Palace,

456
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,200
a pale figure in the window beside
him was a portent of trouble ahead.

457
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:26,880
As the Prince of Wales,

458
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,120
Queen Mary's eldest son
had had numerous mistresses -

459
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,760
none of whom
he seriously considered marrying.

460
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,160
But the King's latest lover

461
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,720
represented a threat
of a different order.

462
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:43,360
Chic, shamelessly modern
and exuding sexual power,

463
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,480
Wallis Simpson couldn't have been
more alarming.

464
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,280
They thought that she was common
and brash and gold-digging.

465
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:55,120
The rumours abounded that
when she went out to visit David,

466
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,360
she started doing wild belly dances

467
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:01,000
and that she antagonised the staff
and did outrageous things.

468
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,560
Well, all of that is conjecture.

469
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:05,600
But what they really didn't like

470
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:07,920
was that she already had
two husbands.

471
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:10,600
In the eyes of Queen Mary,

472
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:14,280
she was somebody who should ideally
be kept out of England altogether.

473
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:15,840
If she got into England,

474
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,280
on no account should be received
in the smarter drawing rooms.

475
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,920
Even if she penetrated
into smarter drawing rooms,

476
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,160
she certainly shouldn't
be allowed at court.

477
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:28,120
And the remote idea that she could
conceivably be considered

478
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,480
as a wife for
the future King of England

479
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,920
was, to her, something
so inconceivably shocking

480
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,440
as to be not merely unmentionable
but unthinkable.

481
00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:44,400
On 3rd December 1936,

482
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,720
news of the crisis appeared for
the first time in the London press.

483
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:55,360
Isolated from her son, who had
kept her at arm's length throughout,

484
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:56,840
Queen Mary was aghast.

485
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:04,000
"Darling David, this news
in the papers is very upsetting.

486
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,040
"I would much like to see you.
Won't you look in some time today?

487
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,680
"I shall only be out from 3 to 5."

488
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,560
Determined to make a public display
of business-as-usual,

489
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,200
Queen Mary drove to survey
the smoking ruins

490
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,320
of a famous London landmark
destroyed by fire.

491
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,000
It wasn't only the Crystal Palace
built by her forbears

492
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,960
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
that was collapsing around her.

493
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:46,400
Later that afternoon, Mary drove to
Marlborough House and met the King.

494
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:54,080
When King Edward VIII finally
made it clear to his mother

495
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,360
he was going to marry Mrs Simpson,

496
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:01,600
I think it must have been,
for her, the most painful

497
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,120
and the most terrible blow
that can be imagined,

498
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,960
because it set at naught everything
which she held most sacred.

499
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,320
Because of her upbringing,
because of the immense honour

500
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,480
which she felt had been done her

501
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,680
when she married
the future King of England,

502
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,000
it seemed to her inconceivable

503
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:26,520
that her elder son should
put his own private gratification,

504
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,880
his marriage to
this impossible woman,

505
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:30,880
ahead of his duty.

506
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,840
On 10th December 1936, the King
turned his back on his birthright.

507
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:43,080
EDWARD VIII: 'A few hours ago,

508
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,800
'I discharged my last duty

509
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,960
'as King and Emperor.'

510
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:55,240
On the Windsor Estate,
Queen Mary listened in horror.

511
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:58,000
'I have found it impossible

512
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,760
'to carry the heavy burden
of responsibility

513
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,600
'and to discharge my duties as King

514
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,280
'as I would wish to do

515
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,560
'without the help and support

516
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,160
'of the woman I love.'

517
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,600
'His Former Majesty,
King Edward VIII

518
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:25,160
'did declare his
irrevocable determination

519
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,160
'to renounce the throne

520
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,040
'for himself and his descendents.'

521
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:34,360
As far as she was concerned,

522
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:38,360
you know, they lived lives of
great privilege and importance,

523
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,720
but the price was that
you couldn't do as you liked.

524
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:43,840
It was a simple deal.

525
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,120
I think that is why
the whole abdication crisis

526
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,160
was so profoundly painful,

527
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:57,240
that she, this exemplar of moral
probity and uprightness and order,

528
00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:02,800
should have the child who takes this
twice-divorced, you know, whatever.

529
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:08,360
I think it really
went like a sword through her.

530
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,760
In a letter to her son,
now Duke of Windsor,

531
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:22,000
Mary offered a rare glimpse
of her innermost feelings.

532
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,680
"It seemed inconceivable
to those who had made

533
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:29,120
"such sacrifices during the war
that you, as their King,

534
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,960
"refused a lesser sacrifice.

535
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:33,840
"After all, all my life,

536
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,720
"I have put my country
before anything else.

537
00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:38,960
"And I simply cannot change now."

538
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:45,560
I'm sure that we are all...

539
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:53,720
..happy to feel
that the generosity...

540
00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,840
It was a supreme irony that
just as King George, a second son,

541
00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,720
had reluctantly taken up
the burden of kingship

542
00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:01,640
from a dissolute elder brother,

543
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,680
so now the stammering Bertie should
be forced into the role he dreaded

544
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,720
by his older brother.

545
00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:10,600
Can you imagine
what it was like for Bertie?

546
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,840
Not being given any guidance
or clarity, no structure of support.

547
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:16,240
He's alone.

548
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:18,680
But he has got his mother,

549
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,520
and when the time comes
for the abdication,

550
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,600
Bertie collapses
into the arms of his mother.

551
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:28,920
Queen Mary later confided

552
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,080
that the new King sobbed
on her shoulder for a whole hour.

553
00:39:35,240 --> 00:39:37,960
In the weeks leading up to
the coronation,

554
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:41,200
Mary acted to bolster
the resolve of the new King.

555
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:48,360
In May 1937, she staged
a dramatic break with royal protocol

556
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:51,520
in a public show of support
for her second son.

557
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:04,880
By tradition, Dowager Queens
don't attend the coronation.

558
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,440
But nevertheless, Queen Mary
felt that her duty

559
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,600
was to support the King.

560
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,880
And she did that rare thing of
breaking with precedent

561
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,360
by asking permission
to attend the coronation.

562
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:16,360
And so the fact that

563
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:19,640
the mother figure is there
at the time of the coronation

564
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:21,600
blessing her son
and granddaughters,

565
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,320
the fact that he takes the name
George VI -

566
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,360
following on from his father -

567
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,120
it gives great feeling
of continuity and stability,

568
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,600
and I think that's what she saw
was her mission at that point.

569
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:42,440
When you look at those
coronation balcony scenes,

570
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,440
Queen Mary is clearly there,
incredibly important.

571
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:49,400
She was there as the one pillar
of the monarchy.

572
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,640
She became a sort of rock around
which the royal family focused.

573
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:55,880
So, when people looked up there,

574
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,800
they thought,
"Well, it's all right, then."

575
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:00,640
She was one symbol of the old days.

576
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,640
On 3rd June 1937,

577
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:16,280
the Duke of Windsor married
his twice-divorced American

578
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:18,400
at a rented chateau in France.

579
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:23,200
Queen Mary chose to spend the day
quietly at her residence in London.

580
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,440
Not a single member of her family

581
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:30,920
was permitted to share
her son's happy day.

582
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,360
When you realise how much
she loved her eldest son

583
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,760
and all the hopes and aspirations
that she must have pinned on him

584
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:42,040
for the first 40 years
of his life,

585
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:46,840
suddenly to change all of that
and freeze him out of her life,

586
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,640
tells you that she must have been
a very steely character.

587
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:55,280
But that was how she was bought up.
Control and restraint

588
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,840
and responsibility and duty.

589
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,200
These were all the things
that she had to stand for

590
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,680
and she felt that
her son had let her down,

591
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,640
so why on Earth should she bend?

592
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,040
With her eldest son
out of the country,

593
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,840
Mary moved to bolster the position
of her second son, the new King.

594
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,520
There was real fear
when Duke of Windsor went abroad

595
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:27,000
that he would, in some way,
steal the new King's thunder.

596
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:30,240
I mean, after all, he was
an immensely charismatic figure.

597
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:31,640
He looked the part.

598
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,920
He was articulate, as compared
to poor stammering George VI.

599
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,960
And so they had to keep
the Duke of Windsor at bay.

600
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:45,520
Forming an alliance with
the new Queen Elizabeth,

601
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,720
the two women chose
as their battleground

602
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,920
the question of Wallis Simpson's
royal status.

603
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,440
David - the Duke of Windsor,
as he now is -

604
00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:01,400
really believed that Wallis
was entitled to the letters HRH,

605
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,000
which would have given her
a royal title as Duchess,

606
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,800
and people would have
curtseyed to her.

607
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,600
And that meant everything -
it meant the whole world.

608
00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:18,160
Queen Mary, a woman who had once
been shunned by royalty

609
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,640
on account of
her own inferior status,

610
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,240
now seized upon protocol
as her weapon,

611
00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:25,080
and acted to ensure that

612
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:27,720
Wallis was denied
her rightful royal title.

613
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,840
She knew that the Duke of Windsor
would not come back to England

614
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,480
if his wife is going to be
treated as non-Royalty.

615
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,920
He's not going to allow
his wife to be offended.

616
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:46,680
So, as long as she is not HRH,
effectively they are exiles.

617
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:55,720
I think it's quite clear that Mary
wanted to keep Wallis and David

618
00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:59,560
out of the country to protect
her second son and his wife.

619
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:13,000
The Duke and the Duchess' exile
lasted for the rest of their lives

620
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,120
and created a bitterness
between mother and son

621
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,280
that never fully cleared.

622
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,520
Years later, the Duke
wrote to his wife that

623
00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:25,280
"the fluid in his mother's veins
was as cold as ice".

624
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,400
In 1939, for the second time
in Queen Mary's life,

625
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,240
Britain went to war with Germany.

626
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,320
With Hitler's bombers
threatening London,

627
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,160
thousands of schoolchildren
headed for the countryside.

628
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,800
But they weren't the only ones
to be evacuated.

629
00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,960
Wartime London was no place
for the 72-year-old Dowager Queen.

630
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:02,920
For the next five years,

631
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,520
her home was to be Badminton House
in Gloucestershire,

632
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,280
the home of her niece,
the Duchess of Beaufort.

633
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,160
Together, with 63 members

634
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:18,440
of her household and their families,

635
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,640
Queen Mary formed a caravan
to Badminton.

636
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,600
I think the Duchess of Beaufort, her
niece, was absolutely horrified

637
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:32,640
when she saw all the furniture vans
arriving, as Queen Mary

638
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:35,640
lumbered up the drive
at the beginning for the war

639
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:37,280
for this very long stay.

640
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:38,920
It must have been
a daunting prospect.

641
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,400
For the first time since her
marriage to her domineering husband,

642
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,240
Mary was free to be herself.

643
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:49,880
And from the chrysalis
of royal decorum

644
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:53,360
emerged an eccentric butterfly.

645
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:57,000
While war was raging outside,

646
00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:01,080
Mary started her own
battle...against a wall-creeper.

647
00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:07,960
She decided that the ivy
growing up the house

648
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:09,440
was something to be deplored

649
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:11,760
and she waged a personal campaign
against it.

650
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,680
Worse still, she recruited
all her ladies in waiting,

651
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,920
anyone who came to the house
practically found themselves

652
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:19,840
helping to chop or tear down ivy.

653
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,440
But the Duke of Beaufort
rather liked his ivy.

654
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:27,680
What he felt when he saw Queen Mary
leading these raging operations

655
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:31,200
to completely eliminate the stuff,
I don't know.

656
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,600
With the Duke's ivy under control,

657
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,640
Mary now set her sights on the
Duchess' favourite garden feature.

658
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,160
Queen Mary took against -
seriously took against -

659
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,880
the cedar tree that was
outside her sitting room.

660
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:50,200
And she was being bothered
by the insects

661
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,800
that she maintained
infested this tree.

662
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,320
And she wanted it taken down.

663
00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,360
The Duchess of Beaufort
did not want this tree taken down.

664
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:01,920
She liked it.

665
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:06,720
And it reached the point
where she just had enough,

666
00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:11,480
and she said, "That tree
comes down over my dead body."

667
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:14,840
And Queen Mary didn't mention
another word about it.

668
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:23,120
The Queen also made a lasting
impression in the village.

669
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:28,200
My dad found a job with Queen Mary
as one of her chauffeurs,

670
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:30,440
which was lovely.

671
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,720
He would tell me that
when he picked the Queen up,

672
00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:38,920
wherever they were going,
if they met a serviceman

673
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:43,240
she would say, "Bartholomew,
pull up and pick him up."

674
00:47:43,240 --> 00:47:45,640
And he'd come and sit in.

675
00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:48,520
And he probably had
the shock of his life

676
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,160
when he saw Queen Mary was in there.

677
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:53,960
If it was an American, he'd say,

678
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:57,680
"You're a royal?! You're a Queen?"

679
00:47:57,680 --> 00:47:59,680
Couldn't believe it, you know.

680
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:09,600
I think you can see
an element in her widowhood

681
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:13,120
of a certain loosening of the stays.

682
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,720
She'd done her job,
she'd handed the baton on,

683
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:18,800
the institution was strong
and so on.

684
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:23,640
And you do sense that not having
the King there all the time

685
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:26,720
allowed her to entertain herself
a bit more.

686
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:28,960
She used to go to the theatre
far more.

687
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,880
And I think you do see her
having a little bit more fun.

688
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:39,520
Without her husband, Mary was
also able to throw herself

689
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:42,440
into her abiding passion
for art and antiques.

690
00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:46,640
She set about improving
and documenting

691
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:50,120
the royal family's vast,
somewhat chaotic collection.

692
00:48:51,720 --> 00:48:55,440
She built up the most
fantastic collection.

693
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:58,840
Her priority was family history.

694
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:02,680
She would have preferred
a bad portrait of George II

695
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:03,920
to a Tintoretto.

696
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:08,360
It was always this
re-enforcement of her royalness.

697
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:11,240
She didn't have to get interested
in the royal family

698
00:49:11,240 --> 00:49:13,640
when she married into it.
She WAS interested in it

699
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:16,880
and its history
and its institutions and everything.

700
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,720
And I think the collecting
was an offshoot of that.

701
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:24,800
Queen Mary's enthusiasm

702
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,480
for collecting antiques and curios
was boundless,

703
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:32,520
as unwitting hostesses
discovered to their cost.

704
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,120
The sensible hostess,

705
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,120
if she had some particularly
desirable objects in a cabinet,

706
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:39,480
would hide them
before the Queen came

707
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,000
because the Queen would look at them

708
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,920
and she might easily say,

709
00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:46,880
"I've got a pair of that at home

710
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:51,280
"and I've always thought how
terribly lonely it looks by itself."

711
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,640
And the reluctant hostess
would have to say,

712
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,720
"Oh, Your Majesty, I do hope
you will accept this from me."

713
00:49:56,720 --> 00:50:01,320
And she did acquire quite
a number of objects like that.

714
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:03,800
Those who received Queen Mary

715
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:08,280
could be alarmed at the prospect of
a visit from a haughty kleptomaniac.

716
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:10,280
But her reserved public manner

717
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:13,120
concealed a much more
relaxed personality.

718
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:17,200
Queen Mary telephoned my father
and said she wanted to come to tea.

719
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:20,600
And, I mean, she was hugely dignified

720
00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:26,120
and I think that everyone
was quite alarmed by her in a way.

721
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:28,080
Certainly deferred to her.

722
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:31,920
But she came in and they were
getting a bit worried as to how

723
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:34,400
they were going to entertain her,

724
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,560
so they had a music box which
they put on the table beside her

725
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:42,400
and it played
Yes, We Have No Bananas.

726
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,800
And she was immediately delighted.

727
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:47,680
And my father used to say that

728
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:50,920
she spoke with
quite a strong German accent

729
00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:55,640
and she sat there, drumming her
fingers on the table and singing.

730
00:50:55,640 --> 00:51:00,480
"Yah, ve have no bananas,
ve have no bananas today."

731
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:05,880
But as far as the music box goes,
she didn't attempt to remove it,

732
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:08,400
so perhaps she didn't think
it was that pretty.

733
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:12,440
# Yes, we have no bananas

734
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:16,720
# We have no bananas today. #

735
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:29,920
There was one crucial royal mission
still to be accomplished.

736
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,200
From the very beginning,
Mary was determined

737
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:35,200
to pass on her sense of duty
and reverence for the monarchy

738
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:40,080
to her granddaughter, Princess
Elizabeth, the future Queen.

739
00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:42,960
When you read the newspapers
and diaries

740
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:45,760
of the little Princess Elizabeth
growing up,

741
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,360
it is extraordinary
the amount of time

742
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:50,400
that she spent with Queen Mary.

743
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:54,160
She spent more time with Queen Mary
in her first year

744
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,960
than she did with her own mother.

745
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,840
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

746
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:08,920
were excellent, conscientious,
caring, affectionate parents.

747
00:52:08,920 --> 00:52:13,760
They didn't attach very much
importance to education.

748
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,840
Queen Mary did take it seriously.

749
00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:19,080
I mean, she discovered with horror
one year

750
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:22,360
that the little princesses'
summer reading list,

751
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:27,560
which had been drawn up by the Queen
Mother, consisted of 17 novels -

752
00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:29,640
all of them by PG Wodehouse.

753
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:34,320
Queen Mary would quietly arrange
tours of Windsor Castle

754
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:36,960
and then make sure that,
as they went round,

755
00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:39,200
they received lessons
about everything.

756
00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:41,840
And just before
the crucial coronation of '37

757
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:46,040
after the abdication,
she got out this enormous tableau

758
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:49,120
of, I think, one of
the Georgian coronations,

759
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:51,600
and explained every single detail.

760
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:54,040
The symbolism of the orb
and the sceptre

761
00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:56,680
and King Edward's throne
and all that sort of thing,

762
00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:00,520
so that these
very receptive little girls,

763
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:03,360
and the future Queen in particular,
absorbed it all.

764
00:53:09,240 --> 00:53:11,200
Mary didn't only
instil the princesses

765
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,720
with a sense of their heritage.

766
00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:16,760
She also taught Elizabeth
how to be a queen.

767
00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:20,840
There's a very telling story of

768
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:25,120
how the little princess was
with her grandmother at the theatre,

769
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:28,120
and said, "Well, Granny,
we'd better stay afterwards

770
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:31,080
"because everybody will want
to see us and wave to us."

771
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:33,200
And Queen Mary took her
straight home

772
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:36,080
because she thought she was
getting too big for her boots

773
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,680
and that was the wrong way
to look at being royal.

774
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:40,960
That being royal,
at the end of the day,

775
00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:43,560
is about being shy,
it's about being modest,

776
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,400
and you won't survive
unless you understand that

777
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:48,520
and put that into practice.

778
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:02,680
In 1952, Mary's second son,
King George VI, died

779
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:05,880
and the granddaughter she cherished
became Queen.

780
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:12,600
Mary,

781
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,760
her daughter-in-law Elizabeth,

782
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:16,880
and her granddaughter -

783
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:18,920
three Queens united in grief.

784
00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:25,440
And at the age of 84,
Mary faced one last battle

785
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:28,560
to protect the dynasty
she had helped to create.

786
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:33,960
Queen Elizabeth II
had married Prince Philip

787
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:37,560
whose family name was Mountbatten.

788
00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:40,200
Philip's uncle,
the ambitious Earl Mountbatten,

789
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:45,080
considered that the Windsor dynasty
was now at an end.

790
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:52,440
We're told just 12 days
after the death of King George VI,

791
00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,280
Lord Mountbatten
had been crowing and boasting

792
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:58,320
about, "The House of Mountbatten
now reigned."

793
00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:01,600
The Queen, who had spent a lifetime

794
00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:04,640
fighting to build and protect
the House of Windsor

795
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:07,320
now rose in its defence.

796
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:12,480
Windsor was a perfect name as far
as Queen Mary herself was concerned.
She felt it was English as apple pie,

797
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:16,560
so when she heard it was now
going to be called Mountbatten,

798
00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:19,440
she was absolutely incandescent
with rage.

799
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:21,400
She immediately protested

800
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:25,320
to Churchill's private secretary,
John Colville,

801
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:29,520
and the whole thing came up in front
of Churchill and he said no.

802
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:31,840
"Windsor is the name
and that is how it will stay."

803
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:42,640
Queen Mary had ensured
that the name of Windsor

804
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:45,080
would be carried forward
by her descendents.

805
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:48,480
But Mary didn't live to see
her granddaughter crowned.

806
00:55:56,000 --> 00:55:59,920
In March 1953, just 10 weeks
before the coronation,

807
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:02,120
Queen Mary died.

808
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:07,200
With duty and tradition
uppermost in her mind as ever,

809
00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:10,120
Queen Mary left instructions
that no period of mourning

810
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:13,680
should be permitted to interfere
with her granddaughter's coronation.

811
00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:37,360
Queen Mary helped to raise the
British monarchy to a new level

812
00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:39,160
of affection and respect

813
00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:43,400
during a prolonged period
of conflict and crisis.

814
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:46,160
From a shy Victorian princess,

815
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:50,600
she became the matriarch of a
dynasty whose survival she ensured.

816
00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:53,840
And the values of duty and service
that she embodied

817
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:57,360
became the guiding lights
of our own Queen Elizabeth.

818
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:03,040
One of the miracles
of the British monarchy

819
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,280
is that it's thriving

820
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:07,480
in the 21st century.

821
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:11,600
And is so much in the style
of King George and Queen Mary

822
00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:15,640
and what they created
nearly 100 years ago now,

823
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:19,920
what they salvaged from the
catastrophe of the First World War.

824
00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:23,960
Mary's career was
incredibly fulfilled, yes.

825
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:26,960
I mean, she began as
a poor relation of royalty,

826
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:28,640
on the fringes of royalty,

827
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:31,480
and she ended up as a grand dame,

828
00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:34,520
but she played a huge part as Queen

829
00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:36,360
in transforming the monarchy.

830
00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:42,520
The present Queen Elizabeth II
was enormously influenced by her.

831
00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:45,480
The importance of duty.

832
00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:48,120
The Queen's withering look
that she can give

833
00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:49,960
when she is not amused.

834
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:55,080
But much more important,
the respect that our Queen has

835
00:57:55,080 --> 00:57:57,960
and understanding for
the symbolism of monarchy

836
00:57:57,960 --> 00:57:59,520
and the duty of monarchy.

837
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,400
And the fact that the crown
is a bigger thing than she is.

838
00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:06,440
All of this goes right back
to King George and Queen Mary

839
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:10,840
who said that
the monarchy has no meaning

840
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,360
unless it reflects its nation
and its people

841
00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:15,720
and it gives its people
what they want.

842
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:40,760
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

843
00:58:40,760 --> 00:58:44,840
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