Rare, private home movies
of the Queen, filmed by members of the royal family, will be broadcast for
the first time ahead of the Platinum Jubilee.
Her Majesty will be seen
showing off her engagement ring during Prince Philip’s first extended
stay at Balmoral in 1946 before their engagement had been publicly announced,
and as a young mother to Prince Charles and Princess Anne, along
with her own parents the King and Queen as doting grandparents.
The BBC’s 75-minute
film, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, shows the baby princess being
pushed in a pram by her mother, the then Duchess of York and reveals
behind-the-scenes footage from her first-ever trip abroad, a tour of South
Africa with her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her sister Princess
Margaret.
Princess Margaret and Princess
Elizabeth with their beloved father King George VI on board HMS Vanguard in 1947
Filmmakers searched through
400 reels of film, which have been held privately by the Royal Collection Trust
in the vaults of the British Film Institute.
The unique documentary shows
the Queen as a child, a young girl and a mother in the lead up to her
Coronation and tells the story of her life in her own words, drawn from some
300 of her speeches.
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A 20-year-old Princess Elizabeth enjoying a visit to South Africa in 1947
Other rare moments include her
grandfather George V, known to The Queen as “Grandpa England”,
sailing with The Queen Mother off the Isle of Wight in 1931, and footage of
Princess Elizabeth with her uncle Prince George, The Duke of Kent, who
tragically died in a plane crash in 1942 while on active service – and a
poignant glimpse of the Royal Family at Balmoral in 1951, The King’s last visit
there.
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A beaming Princess Elizabeth shows off her new engagement ring soon after Prince Philip’s marriage proposal at Balmoral in 1946
Simon Young, the BBC’s
Commissioning Editor for History says: “This documentary is an
extraordinary glimpse into a deeply personal side of the Royal Family that is
rarely seen, and it’s wonderful to be able to share it with the nation as we
mark her Platinum Jubilee.”
