HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1926–2022
On the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, a special documentary featuring contributions from HM King Charles III, her children, public figures, and those who worked with her. With previously unseen archive footage from the Queen's collection.
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Self
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Self (archive footage)
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19 Sep 2022
Coverage of the State Funeral of HM the Queen, including the service from Westminster Abbey and the procession of Her Majesty’s coffin through London, the journey of The Queen’s coffin to Windsor, the procession to St. George’s Chapel and the Committal Service.
18 Sep 2022
Following the announcement from Buckingham Palace of the death of Her Majesty The Queen, we examine how Queen Elizabeth II balanced her duties as head of both her family and her country
07 Jul 2014
Today, few people's clothes attract as much attention as the royal family, but this is not a modern-day paparazzi-inspired obsession. Historian Dr. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, reveals that it has always been this way. Exploring the royal wardrobes of our kings and queens over the last four hundred years, Lucy shows this isn't just a public fascination, but an important and powerful message from the monarchs. From Elizabeth I to the present Queen Elizabeth II, Lucy explains how the royal wardrobe's significance goes far beyond the cut and color of the clothing. Royal fashion is, and has always been, regarded as a very personal statement to reflect their power over the reign. Most kings and queens have carefully choreographed every aspect of their wardrobe; for those who have not, there have sometimes been calamitous consequences. As much today as in the past, royal fashion is as much about politics as it is about elegant attire.
05 Aug 2013
Lucy Worsley gets into bed with our past monarchs to uncover the Tales from the Royal Bedchamber. She reveals that our obsession with royal bedrooms, births and succession is nothing new. In fact, the rise and fall of their magnificent beds reflects the changing fortunes of the monarchy itself.
22 May 2022
Queen Elizabeth has worked with 14 Prime Ministers, including holding confidential weekly meetings. It is not known whether she has influenced her Prime Ministers, or what happens when they clash.
24 Apr 2007
Documentary examining the medieval myth of the Philosopher's Stone, a Holy Grail-type relic which supposedly held the key to alchemy and immortality. Many noted alchemists and adventurers searched obsessively for the artifact hoping to learn its powerful secrets, a quest which allegedly drove some to madness and others to celestial encounters.
31 May 2012
This fascinating documentary reveals the behind the scenes story of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, drawing on rare archive footage and made using eyewitness accounts of participants and historical experts.
20 Nov 2017
Kirsty Young celebrates the 70th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip by examining the longest royal marriage in British history through key moments. She looks at how every step of their life together has been played out in the glare of publicity and in service of the nation, while steering it through decades of change.
17 Oct 1911
Extraordinary pictures of an accident with a royal audience at Middlesbroughs magnificent Transporter Bridge.
01 Jan 1959
A bright outlook in Birkenhead for a thriving British enterprise.
27 Jan 1997
Honeymooners, tourists and surfers flock to Hawaiian shores every year, but life wasn't always serene in the tropical paradise. In the 1890s, the islands -- ruled by Queen Liliuokalani -- faced financial ruin thanks to colonial business interests and the U.S. government, which rescinded Hawaii's preferential sugar market position. "The American Experience" recounts the events and intrigues that resulted in the monarch's ouster ... at gunpoint.
01 Jan 2011
News of the engagement of Britain's Prince William and Catherine Middleton stirred hearts worldwide. This close-up on the future king and his bride-to-be captures the romance of their courtship and the excitement leading up to the royal nuptials.
24 Jul 2017
A fresh and revealing insight into Princess Diana through the personal and intimate reflections of her two sons and her friends and family.
30 Jan 2017
After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are for the first time seeing the light of day. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest reigning king. George III may be chiefly remembered for his madness, but these private documents reveal a monarch who was a political micromanager and a restless patron of science and the arts, an obsessive traveller who never left southern England yet toured the world in his mind and a man who was driven (sometimes to distraction) by his sense of duty to his family and his country. Featuring Simon Callow and Sian Thomas as the voices of King George and Queen Charlotte.
13 Sep 2009
Documentary telling the story of Balmoral, the royal family's most private residence. For over 150 years this Scottish castle has been home to royal traditions of picnics, stag hunting and kilts. From prime ministers to Princess Diana, life at this tartan-bound holiday home has not appealed to everyone. But there is another story of Balmoral, of how the royal family has played a role in shaping modern Scotland and how Scotland has shaped the royal family. Queen Victoria's adoption of Highland symbols, from tartan to bagpipes, helped create a new image for Scotland. Her values, too, helped strengthen the union between Scotland and England. Ever since, Balmoral has been a place that reflects the very essence of the royal family.
30 May 2022
Decades after her untimely death, Princess Diana continues to evoke mystery, glamour, and the quintessential modern fairy tale gone wrong. As a symbol of both the widening fissures weakening the British monarchy and the destructive machinery of the press, the Princess of Wales navigated an unparalleled rise to fame and the corrosive challenges that came alongside it. Crafted entirely from immersive archival footage and free from the distraction of retrospective voices, this hypnotic and audaciously revealing documentary takes a distinctive formal approach, allowing the story of the People’s Princess to unfold before us like never before.
28 Apr 2023
A documentary special that provides a rare view into the real Charles behind the headlines… told in his own words.
01 Oct 1971
Britain and Turkey had not always enjoyed the ‘special’ friendship referred to in the commentary. Their armies were on opposing sides in the First World War and there had been disagreementt over the future of Cyprus in the run up to the settlement of 1960. In the 1960s relations improved and this reciprocal tour (the President of Turkey, Cevdet Sunay, had paid a state visit to the United Kingdom in November 1967) was regarded as a milestone in the bilateral alliance between the two countries. The camera affords the viewer a prime vantage point by which to marvel at the splendour of the pageantry and contemplate every nuance of gesture and sartorial detail. As we linger on the bejewelled Queen waiting patiently at the British Embassy in Ankara to greet her guests we wonder what it might be like to be in her shoes.
01 Jan 2005
Filmed over the course of a year in an "upstairs-downstairs" fashion, this fascinating program provides a behind-the-scenes look at life inside Windsor Castle -- the world's largest inhabited castle -- via unprecedented camera access. Highlights include a visit from French President Jacques Chirac; the Queen's arrival for the Order of the Garter ceremony; and the high-profile celebration of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles's nuptials.
13 May 2020
Lucy Worsley tells the story of the royal photograph, showing how the royal family worked with generations of photographers to create images that reinvented the British monarchy.