The Queen (2009) s01e02 Episode Script
Us and Them
It is the Queen who appoints the judiciary and the head of the Church of England.
Without the Queen as head of state, the military could take charge.
Her Majesty starts her busy day talking to her private assistant about the forthcoming diary appointments.
The Prime Minister, ma'am.
The Prime Minister arrives to meet the Queen.
It is the moment when democracy and monarchy meet.
Did you have a good trip, Prime Minister? The sovereign has no power to alter the Prime Minister's plans but is entitled to be consulted, to encourage or to warn.
In 1969, the Queen took the biggest step into PR the royal family had ever taken by letting TV cameras enter her world.
Never before had the private face of the monarchy been so publicly exposed.
It was a sensation.
But the smiling royal faces concealed a deepening problem.
The future of the royal family was under threat.
They were running out of money.
Equally worrying, their popularity was on the wane The Labour Government was harbouring factions who wanted to get rid of the monarchy altogether.
If the monarchy and all its prostituted entourage are dumped into the garbage can of history, as I think is quite likely before the century is out, there will be far fewer sleepless nights on British pillows than many would like to think.
18% of the population, the highest figure ever in British history, agreed with them.
Recent opinion surveys would seem to suggest that people are getting a little apathetic about the whole royalty business.
Do you agree with that'? The Queen was visiting the administration block and some students started banging on the windows, shouting âQueen out!" It was while the Palace was most worried about the survival of the monarchy itself that a terrifying attack on Princess Anne would bring home to the Queen just how vulnerable she really was.
No! Would you join me on the balcony, Prime Minister? By 1969, the Queen had already been on the throne longer than her father But the days of blind reverence to the British establishment were over.
Britain was changing, all the way up to Downing Street.
Harold I/Ifilson's Labour government harboured fiercely socialist ministers and MPs who would be happy to see the royal family stripped of its status and power forever.
In his cabinet he had a group of left-wing middle-class intellectuals - Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Richard Crossman, Barbara Castle - who had grave doubts about the whole institution and who certainly felt that the powers of the monarchy should be restricted.
But at the same time, the Queen needed more money from Labour.
Her civil list income had been unchanged throughout her reign.
Some on the left reckoned they could see the real purpose behind the new authorised documentary.
When I was a kid, the royal family was sort of surrounded by a veneer of mystery and yet, when television came on the scene, people wanted to poke their nose into it and get involved.
There is a saying, those who live by the sword die by it, and those who live by the camera can also fall flat on their face.
Did you enjoy the film, Prime Minister? It was very well made, ma'am.
You've always been a great advocate for the power of television.
It binds the nation together, ma'am.
Your coronation was a lesson to us all.
We are hopeful this documentary film will do a similar job.
Let us hope so.
The royal family is going to have to work quite hard at retaining the loyalty and affection of a large proportion of the British people.
Our public work can be taken for granted.
It seems prudent to remind the people how much we do.
The film achieves that unquestionably.
But making that film of the royal family opened them up in a new light and led eventually to an exposure of various details about the royal finances which, I'm not surprised, they would far rather have kept secret.
The only danger is that those more private scenes will also provide ammunition.
Ammunition? Charles fishing, playing his cello, your husband landing his helicopter.
Some people may take a less generous view of those things.
Is that what your cabinet will think? I have surrounded myself with strong personalities and I would suggest you steel yourself for some debate on the value of the monarchy.
That the Queen's survival was under threat was underlined five months later when The Times revealed to the public what the royal family had been aware of for some time.
They were overspending their government allowance.
In short, money was running out.
Ma'am, the situation is becoming serious.
I trust we have the Prime Minister's support.
The indications are he'd prefer to keep royal finances off the political agenda.
Off the agenda? A shrewd move, perhaps, given the current financial situation and the make-up of the Cabinet.
We are not accustomed to pleading.
The Prime Minister cannot sit on the fence forever.
The money is only the beginning.
If they can stop that, reduce it even, everything will start to crumble.
Unfortunately for the Queen, the times could not be worse for royalty to be asking for a pay rise.
Here we have the monarch at the time, when workers, year in, year out, are being told to take a pay cut, in reality, set against the rate of inflation, comes along in the middle of this and she says, âLook, we can't live properly here at the Palace.
âWe've got all these places to uphold, all over Britain, Scotland, âhere, there and everywhere.
âWe can't even buy a new flag to fly over the castle.
" Now, come on! The question of the royal finances was at its most sensitive when Prince Philip did what he became infamous for, putting his foot in it.
Your Highness, the recent news dispatched from London begins this way.
Queen Elizabeth has not had a pay raise for nearly 18 years, a situation that none of her subjects would tolerate for a moment.
Is that creating an awkward situation? Very.
We're going into the red next year.
You're going into the red next year? Yes.
Inevitably, if nothing happens, we shall either have to I don't know, we may have to move into smaller premises, who knows'? You've had to close down certain large houses, such as Sandringham, haven't you? I understand from this dispatch.
No, not altogether.
We've closed down We had a small yacht which we had to sell and I shall probably have to give up polo-playing soon, things like that.
Philip's intenvention couldn't have come at a worse time.
I don't see what all the fuss is about.
He was telling the truth, wasn't he? Yes, but If we're going broke, we're going broke.
There are different ways of putting it.
I won't have to sell any horses, will I? This isn't about horses, Anne.
There are factions that don't support us.
Aren't there always? Rather more than usual, and in higher positions.
It's hard to know who to trust.
We must tread carefully.
All of us.
Morning, ma'am.
Terry.
What a ghastly jumper.
Ignore her, Terry.
I rather like it.
Princess Anne was her father's favourite of the children and that was partly because she shares a lot of Prince Philip's attributes.
Slightly looked like him, you know, fairly horse-faced.
And her tendency was to think, you know, ânaff off' to anybody who was being tiresome.
Like all the royals, Anne seemed to be stepping to a different beat from the rest of Britain.
But they still knew how to mount a spectacle.
I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liegeman of life and limb and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto thee, to live and die against all manner of folks.
Charles's investiture was watched by an audience of 500 million and any politician watching would realise that not giving the Queen what she wanted could cost votes.
So Harold Wilson smartly sidestepped the royal financial crisis and played for time.
He had a plan, but he first had to sell it to the Queen herself.
Sorry I'm a little late, ma'am.
Prime Minister.
It's been a long day, as you can imagine.
There was a lively Cabinet.
This is not an ideal moment to be raising the subject of royal expenditure, nor were we exactly hoping to present the problem in terms of yachts and polo ponies.
No.
Mr Crossman and others in the Cabinet remain of the view that for the richest person in the country not to pay a single penny in income tax is a matter Prime Minister.
I'm sure Mr Crossman has his opinion.
I would rather hear a more considered, balanced view.
Well, of course, I can see both sides of the argument.
But there is a genuine sense of grievance that we need to be aware of.
Contrary to what some may think, our public engagements, ceremonies, promotions of British businesses, are not arranged solely for my personal benefit.
I'd be grateful if you'd convey that to Mr Crossman and his comrades.
No-one could question how hard you work for our country.
But I cannot emphasise enough that to open a debate now over royal finances would be divisive, potentially catastrophic.
For your government? For you.
This is not an argument I would like to pick with my cabinet right now, that's true.
But it will also be considerably more dignified to keep the matter above politics, to leave it to a cross-party committee, when the nation is in a calmer mood.
And then, Prime Minister? What will your position be'? Ma'am, the monarchy is not something I would ever choose to put a price on.
I will do all I can to support you in this.
I see.
I'd be grateful if your husband kept that from the Cabinet.
Thank you, Prime Minister.
But Harold Wilson's support would not save the Queen or the country as she entered the most turbulent years of her reign so far.
In 1970, popular support for the Queen was waning.
One lonely voice still shouting Labour.
On top of that, in a shock result, her new unlikely ally, Harold Wilson, was toppled in favour of the less malleable figure of Edward Heath.
The Queen has asked me to form the next government.
And I am indeed proud to accept.
But her biggest worry was cash.
The royal family was going into the red.
A new cross party committee had started poring over every penny the royals spent to see if they were giving Britain value for money.
And committee members like Willie Hamilton were scrutinising every detail.
The gracious message of May 19th, 1971, represented the most insensitive and brazen pay claim to be made in the last 200 years.
With Willie Hamilton on the committee, a burning light was shone into the darkest comers of royal expenditure.
For the royals, it was an uncomfortable experience.
The staff at the Palace were not used to discussing royal finances in public.
They found it was regrettable, it was undesirable.
Equally, they had sense enough to see that if they didn't co-operate, they weren't going to get money.
And so their object obviously was to present the facts in as discreet and as favourable a light as possible.
When do we receive the party from Japan? Um, October, I believe, ma'am.
Well, we must ask the Emperor to bring a bottle.
Ma'am'? How many bottles of wine are consumed in the Palace each quarter'? Do they think I drink it all myself? These are state banquets, but they prefer we offer the Emperor lemonade.
It is horribly intrusive, ma'am.
Every light bulb, every laundry bill, is nothing to be left private? Will they choose which of their Sovereign's duties they wish to support and which they do not'? But if the Civil List is protected and increased If! We have sheets dating back to Queen Victoria, blankets from William IV.
Did they report their laundry bills to Parliament, were their families suddenly hounded by accountants? Indeed not, ma'am.
The Queen did receive a pay rise, but inflation would quickly take the shine off it and she would never again be able to keep secret where the money really goes.
Amongst others, Willie Hamilton would be watching and counting every penny spent, not just by the Queen but by her children too.
If we take two miners earning £20 a week each, they are making £2,000 a year between them and they will have to work 50 years, both of them, before they will make in a full working life, digging in the bowels of the earth, as much as we give to this young twerp in a year.
The truth is, she weren't too much bothered about her subjects then.
Some of them were starving.
She was more concerned about making sure that at Buckingham Palace and at Sandringham and Balmoral, everything would be hunky dory.
Soon after, miners rejecting their pay deal went on strike for the first time in 50 years.
While the Queen was now earning £1 million a year, the miners were earning £25 a week.
Heath had promised to stand up to the unions.
This was his test.
Let Ted Heath get down that shaft and let him have a go at it.
If he's that good, let him have a go.
The Queen's half a million pound pay rise started to feel symbolic of a worsening social divide.
Britain was going to war with itself.
To be in Britain at a time at which the country was visibly cracking, and threatening to break up into warring fragments, must, for the Queen, have been deeply worrying and upsetting.
To save coal stocks, the government turned off the power for nine hours a day.
Britain was in blackout and a three-day week.
The Queen made it quite clear that insofar as the country was suffering, that we working in Buckingham Palace would suffer too.
And the power cuts, when they affected SW1, affected Buckingham Palace and so the candles came out and we did our work by candlelight.
Come.
The Prime Minister, your Majesty.
Thank you.
Prime Minister.
Ma'am.
Oh! Oh, I am so sorry, Prime Minister.
Please, have a lamp.
Thank you, ma'am.
It rather reminds one of the war, don't you think? Except of course we're not at war.
We are not, ma'am.
So, what news from the front? By now nearly half the country was starting to feel that the royals weren't worth the money and questions about the cost of royal engagements were breaking out into protests.
The Queen had to face her angriest opponents in person.
The trouble began as a crowd of about 500 students took over a room in the McRobert Centre and shouted, jeered and swore as the Queen arrived.
The Queen was visiting the administration block and some students started banging on the windows shouting, âQueen out.
" The scenes came during a four-hour visit to the university.
Groups of students, many drinking beer and wine, were almost everywhere the Queen went.
Obscene songs were sung and a stink bomb was thrown as students protested at the amount of money spent on the visit.
Ma'am.
At a time when the monarchy could have pulled Britain together, it was looking more irrelevant than ever.
Do you think you'll make a good housewife? Can you cook, for example? I'm not totally useless, I was quite well educated one way or another.
But hope was at hand.
The distraction of a royal romance.
Princess Anne and her horse riding companion, Mark Phillips, announced their engagement.
When you were a teenager, did you have any idea of the sort of girl that you would like to marry'? No, I No, I didn't.
I wasn't very clever with girls as a teenager.
Mark Phillips had a nickname which pervaded the press but also elements of the royal family.
And the nickname was 'fog' because he's thick and wet.
And the view then was she'll boss him around because she'll boss around anybody she's married to, and he was not quick on his feet.
He was quick on a horse but that's different and there were a lot of sort of slightly louche jokes about him, horses and Princess Anne.
When you speak to Charles, can you tell him to stop being mean about Mark? Mean'? Fog.
He's not thick, you know.
It's quite something he's taking on, this family.
I hope he feels welcome.
And Westminster Abbey.
Given the choice, I'm sure we'd prefer a small quiet church.
Anne, you know how important this is.
For the family.
I sort of wish it wasn't.
I do know that, Anne.
But this is a time when we all have to do our duty.
I do, you mean.
Sorry, I didn't mean I know.
Your wedding will bring people together.
The country is very divided.
It will restore faith.
Duty first, self second.
Of course, Mummy.
I don't think the Queen would have tolerated the idea that her daughter should have a small, modest wedding in Crathie Church because she knows, and always has done, that ritual and ceremony are kind of the entertainment value of the royal family is important to the monarchy.
This had to be, you know, this is us, we do royal weddings and we do them big.
There's been so much excitement.
I'm told people have spent a fortune on souvenirs.
Plates, mugs, tea-towels.
And lavatory roll.
What'? Anne and Mark toilet roll.
It was in the papers.
The Lord Chamberlain never approved that.
I'm sure he didn't, but it's our faces all right.
But people will be I'm afraid that's the point, Mummy.
A poll in the Sunday Minor found that 87% of people didn't think the taxpayer should pay for Princess Anne's honeymoon yacht and that nearly four in every ten wanted to get rid of the monarchy altogether.
They're lucky.
They're lucky.
If my daughter got married, she couldn't have anything like that.
I think her husband should be able to keep her.
But he's only a poor soldier.
My man is just a poor railwayman.
Will you be here for the royal wedding? Yes, we will.
Are you looking forward to that'? Very much so.
She's a very beautiful woman.
She knows her own mind and she stands up to things and that's very necessary.
I'm all for a republic myself.
Yeah.
Why? Any particular reason? I'm against any hereditary sort of handing down of power and wealth.
As the wedding drew closer, Heath's stand-off with the miners entered a new and dangerous phase.
Britain started to slip into its worst economic recession since the 1930s.
It is as though the fabric of politics and society is coming apart.
You have strikes, you have rampant inflation, you have rising unemployment, you have political extremism.
There was a real palpable sense of gloom and of decay and of crisis.
We were running out of electricity, we were running out of coal.
I mean, the whole thing in fuel was really disastrous.
But we couldn't persuade the mining industry to come round and be sensible.
Edward Heath was running out of options.
He was only a short time away from calling in the army, to the honor of the Queen.
So Mr Heath, what do you propose as a next step'? After much discussion with my Cabinet colleagues, I propose to introduce a state of emergency.
And when would this state of emergency commence? The 14th, ma'am.
The 14th? The debate begins on the 13th, ma'am, when the miners begin their overtime ban.
So the actual state of emergency would come into force the following day, 14th November.
Princess Anne's wedding day.
It's not ideal, ma'am.
It really was not merely a declared state of emergency, it was an emergency.
Because the miners' threat to call a national strike in effect would have pulled the plug on the British economy and the country could not have existed for long.
Then it did seem not necessarily so much to Heath, but certainly some of his colleagues, that the end of society was very, very close.
It really was a disastrously dangerous position.
But as the day of Anne's wedding finally dawned, the Queen took a deep breath and continued as if nothing else mattered.
What happens with the British people is when there's a huge crisis, economic or war crisis or something, they tend to cluster for sort of comfort and continuity and certainty around the royal family.
So it was a very popular wedding and she looked good and he looked handsome and there was actually a much bigger audience, so to speak, and the coverage in the papers than a lot of us suspected there would be.
The moment we've all been waiting for and how lovely she looks.
Now, we expected something quite different and we certainly got it today.
Look at that wonderful gown.
£23.
50 to take home, that's what we take home for five shifts.
We have to go without things.
We have to go without, for instance, a turkey at Christmas.
I, Mark Anthony Peter.
Take thee, Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise But not everyone watching was wishing the royal couple well.
In his south London bed-sit, a 26-year-old burglar with psychiatric problems called Ian Ball had his own designs on the Queen's daughter.
To thy wedded husband To thy wedded husband To have and to hold, for richer, for poorer.
For richer, for poorer.
In sickness and in health.
In sickness and in health.
To love, cherish and to obey.
Till death us do part.
Till death us do part.
Over at the Old Bailey, as Anne and Mark said their vows, six members of the IRA were convicted of detonating car bombs.
They would be quickly replaced by others soon to start the deadliest ever terrorist campaign on mainland Britain.
The threat to the royal family was to become more real than it had ever been.
The Queen would never be as vulnerable as she was in 1974.
At first, she escaped on a foreign tour, leaving a country tearing itself apart as the fight between Heath and the unions came to a stand-off.
While she was away, 11 people died when an IRA bomb exploded on a coach canying army personnel and their wives on the M62.
Amongst the wreckage at the back of the coach, some of the debris of the explosion that killed 11, a wristwatch with the strap torn off.
Days later, the Queen flew home to give permission for a general election.
It was to be fought under the slogan Who Rules Britain, Heath or the Miners? It's time for you to speak with your vote.
It is time for due to say to the extremists, the militants and to the plain and simple misguided, âWe've had enough.
" As Ian Ball, the lone fantasist with an obsession with Princess Anne, learnt how to fire a gun, the Queen waited anxiously to learn who was going to be her next Prime Minister.
What? Sorry to disturb, ma'am, we have the results.
Mr Heath has a majority? No, ma'am.
Mr Wilson? No, ma'am.
My word.
Labour have 301 seats, the Conservatives 297, the rest, well, as you see.
So who can command the Commons'? Ma'am, I have sought constitutional advice on the matter.
The sovereign must observe the classical doctrine that we have a government.
As long as Mr Heath is able to stay in power, he must be allowed to do so.
So I am to be a spectator? For the moment, ma'am.
The Prime Minister is Prime Minister until he resigns.
When this happens, the monarch must act.
I see.
Please try to unconfuse the PM's office and ask them to let us know their plans at the earliest convenience.
Ma'am, Mr Heath is on his way to the Palace now.
17 hours after returning to Number 10, those who'd braved the weather which by now included heavy rain, got their reward, a brief sighting of the PM as he left Downing Street before the four-minute drive through the night for the historic meeting with the Queen.
It was up to Ted Heath to see if he could cobble together some kind of working arrangement to keep his Premiership going.
So that's why he spends the weekend having talks with Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party, to see if they can, you know, patch up some kind of coalition.
Yes And what does the monarchy do? OK, they might have the odd conversation here and there, put the feelers out, whatever, whatever What is the scenario the Queen is likely to be faced with'? But they really don't do anything.
And I think that's to the Queen's credit, actually, and to the monarchy's credit.
After a nerve-racking 24 hours, her old friend and ally was back.
He's in his element in this sort of situation.
He's got that serious prime-ministerial look on his face but he's not Prime Minister yet, by a long chalk.
We'd really all been through a battle.
I mean, it hadn't been like a general election.
It was a bit like the First World War over again in certain respects.
And it was pretty obvious to a lot of people, not just politicians, that Wilson, who was very clever and very acute, he would win.
We've got a job to do.
We can only do that job as one people.
And I'm going right in to start that job now.
Surprisingly, for a British monarch, the ousting of a Conservative Prime Minister wasn't a calamity.
Wilson had proved himself an ally she could rely on.
Good old Mr Wilson, this very conservative figure whose response to all the turmoil of the '70s is, âWell, you know, let's keep everything quiet.
" That's what the Queen wants, 'cause the one thing she doesn't want is somebody who's gonna stir everything up and pit people against each other.
So he's ideal from the Queen's point of view and of course, he's not Ted Heath.
Normality resumed.
The Queen prepared to rejoin the royal tour of Asia.
Mr Wilson understands the Commonwealth, not so besotted with Europe.
And he assures me he'll end the strike.
And that's the most important thing.
Bring people together again.
What? You fly home from the other side of the world, change Prime Ministers, fly straight back.
Shouldn't you maybe slow down a bit? Are you saying I'm too old? No, but Don't worry about me.
How are you and Mark getting on? Mark's adapting, you know, to being one of us.
It takes time.
We've got a charity thing on Wednesday, riding for the disabled.
They've made a film.
Well, if it's dull, don't let Mark sneak a nap.
They watch us in the dark.
Wouldn't the papers love that'? It's got horses in it, Mummy.
We'll both be wide awake, I promise.
Bon voyage.
Find time to rest.
Days after the Queen had returned to Indonesia, Anne was returning home from her charity film premiere.
the water jump? No, I'm not, including the water jump.
I've done that course a hundred times.
Princess Anne and Captain Phillips drove back in the official car, along the Mall towards Buckingham Palace.
What the blazes is he playing at? Stay put, OK'? When I was first fired at, I didn't really realise that I'd been shot in the shoulder.
I was probably more upset because my gun had jammed.
Please get out of the car.
What'? Come with me.
No.
Switch off the engine.
Stay where you are.
It'll only be for a couple of days.
Get off! Stop! I'm not coming with you.
Get out of the car.
Not bloody likely.
By then, Ian Ball was pointing his gun to Princess Anne and speaking to her.
And she, obviously very bravely, was chatting back to him.
What do you want from me'? I want two million.
I haven't got two million! Then he obviously got distracted, which is why I was able to get into the vehicle.
Go, go! The chauffeur got shot and I managed to get into the car to get between him and her.
That was it, really, so I just kept going.
Put the gun down or I'll shoot.
Open the door, open the door! He was pointing his gun towards the back of the car.
Open the door! No! So I just stuck my right hand out in front of him.
And I thought well, if we kick a door open, it'll hit him.
Then he shot me in the abdomen.
What the hell are you doing? Come with me.
I'm not moving.
Come with me! Last chance.
After the shooting, the Mall is completely closed off here tonight.
Up behind me here, um, several dozen police cars, I gather about 100 policemen drafted in The Provisional IRA were extremely active in that time, so one's first thoughts were always the obvious ones, you know, what if? We realised just how near to a really terrible tragedy it had been.
When I heard about how she dealt with it all, I actually felt sorry for the gunman.
Because she was very cool, very tough, and there are certain people who, like Princess Anne, don't put up with these sort of things.
But I don't think she even thought of herself as being brave, you know, that's what one does.
I'm very sorry to hear about Anne's terrible experience.
You must be No, we've spoken.
Anne's fine.
I'm very pleased to hear it, ma'am.
Now you need not go through all these.
They have to be done.
Ma'am, if you wish, we could cancel today's engagements.
Don't be silly.
There are just one or two matters of finance you might care to Don't tell me, more expenses so that we have to justify every penny, when our children I'm sorry.
Not at all.
Ma'am'? It's nothing.
Ma'am, you've had a terrible shock.
No-one could be expected to go on working flat-out in the middle of an exhausting tour, when their own daughter had been subjected to such a Would you leave me for a moment'? Ma'am.
Cancel nothing.
Very good, ma'am.
Security has been tightened at Heathrow for the first royal arrival since the attempted kidnapping of Princess Anne.
This is partly because security precautions were increased at the beginning of the year.
The Queen returned to England to find Anne safe.
When they met, Princess Anne had been visiting her private detective in hospital.
But amidst the celebration, more familiar troubles were about to resurface.
And they're all recovering? Yeah, it's a miracle no-one was killed.
Everyone says how calm you were.
Calm? I was furious.
He ripped my dress! Don't joke about it.
He watched the wedding, you know, on television.
Anne, I am so sorry.
It's not your fault.
You wanted a quiet wedding.
You were right, it was my duty, what the people wanted.
Well, most people.
The politicians, the lefties.
It's good to fight back.
Politicians? I'm more worried about madmen with guns.
And Mr Wilson.
He was genuinely concerned.
Politicians need us, Anne.
Even the Labour ones.
Well, we don't need them.
Oh, yes, we do.
Are we in the red again? So what happens now'? I'm sure Mr Wilson will help.
Harold Wilson was in for a major shock.
Britain was in deep recession and he'd just had to concede a massive pay settlement to the miners.
But just three years after getting a rise of over 100%, the royals were about to ask for more.
The miners had won, but could the Queen still get what she wanted? By 1975, it was clear that the breakdown in society that the establishment had feared was never going to happen.
One of Wilson's first jobs had been to get the miners back into work by giving them what they wanted - a 35% pay rise.
Only three years after the Queen's salary had been doubled, the royals now wanted Wilson to do something similar for them.
Harold Wilson had no doubt at all that they needed it, they deserved it and they were going to get it.
But he didn't realise that he had a fight on his hands.
But with the country going back to work, there was less anger to stir up and the Republicans were no longer so in tune with the mood of the British public.
The pay raise that's been announced Yes.
If you're going to keep the monarchy, yes, we've got to pay for that and no more.
You know, it doesn't just go on her It goes on her whole household.
And, if you like, the money that they say is just going to the Queen is, in fact, going to run the institution of the monarchy, so it's not bad value.
Her Majesty the Queen comes to Dyce near Aberdeen to start Britain's first flow of oil on its way south to the Grangemouth refinery.
And as the Queen pressed the button to begin the pumping of North Sea oil, the recession started to look like it wouldn't last forever.
After the rockiest years of her reign so far, the Queen had proved herself a formidable survivor.
Coming to stay with her at Balmoral, surely her old ally Harold Wilson wasn't going to deny her now? The royal finances is a topic I was hoping not to discuss in Cabinet again.
Nor was I hoping to bring it up again so soon.
Inflation is a curse of us all, ma'am, but I must advise you, it means a further scrutiny.
Really? The Select Committee were so horribly intrusive.
Utterly undignified.
I appreciate that.
I can't imagine any MP would enjoy having his finances looked into so closely.
All the same, the extent of your private fortune did remain private.
As it should.
You're lagging behind.
Someone showed me that photograph of you as a little boy standing outside 10 Downing Street.
I was eight when that picture was taken.
First time I'd ever been in London.
My dad asked me where I wanted to go, first on my list.
Before Buckingham Palace? Ah! Equal first.
Your boys haven't followed you into politics? As it happens, ma'am, no.
My children have no choice.
No, their job chooses you.
The life.
They will serve their country as I have done.
I'm quite sure they will.
Nevertheless, where public money is involved, there's always As you know, we are not just another government department.
This cottage is close to Queen Victoria's favourite walk.
Shall we'? Why not? It's always changing.
As is everything around it changes.
Through the seasons, the path is always the same.
I do understand there will be some voices of resistance in the Cabinet.
Yes, yes, undoubtedly.
Or at least there would be if I were to put it to them.
To the surprise of his own Cabinet, Wilson made a statement in the House of Commons requesting a further rise in the Civil List.
90 voted against any rise at all but a clear majority voted in the Queen's favour.
I think she was probably rather grateful to Harold Wilson because he managed to blag the Civil List through in the face of a lot of opposition from his own party.
I'm not sure she would have formally thanked him but she would have made it known to him that she was grateful.
The Queen's popularity amongst the electorate was starting to rise again and there would be 20 years before the Republicans would ever enjoy such support in or out of government again.
Without the Queen as head of state, the military could take charge.
Her Majesty starts her busy day talking to her private assistant about the forthcoming diary appointments.
The Prime Minister, ma'am.
The Prime Minister arrives to meet the Queen.
It is the moment when democracy and monarchy meet.
Did you have a good trip, Prime Minister? The sovereign has no power to alter the Prime Minister's plans but is entitled to be consulted, to encourage or to warn.
In 1969, the Queen took the biggest step into PR the royal family had ever taken by letting TV cameras enter her world.
Never before had the private face of the monarchy been so publicly exposed.
It was a sensation.
But the smiling royal faces concealed a deepening problem.
The future of the royal family was under threat.
They were running out of money.
Equally worrying, their popularity was on the wane The Labour Government was harbouring factions who wanted to get rid of the monarchy altogether.
If the monarchy and all its prostituted entourage are dumped into the garbage can of history, as I think is quite likely before the century is out, there will be far fewer sleepless nights on British pillows than many would like to think.
18% of the population, the highest figure ever in British history, agreed with them.
Recent opinion surveys would seem to suggest that people are getting a little apathetic about the whole royalty business.
Do you agree with that'? The Queen was visiting the administration block and some students started banging on the windows, shouting âQueen out!" It was while the Palace was most worried about the survival of the monarchy itself that a terrifying attack on Princess Anne would bring home to the Queen just how vulnerable she really was.
No! Would you join me on the balcony, Prime Minister? By 1969, the Queen had already been on the throne longer than her father But the days of blind reverence to the British establishment were over.
Britain was changing, all the way up to Downing Street.
Harold I/Ifilson's Labour government harboured fiercely socialist ministers and MPs who would be happy to see the royal family stripped of its status and power forever.
In his cabinet he had a group of left-wing middle-class intellectuals - Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Richard Crossman, Barbara Castle - who had grave doubts about the whole institution and who certainly felt that the powers of the monarchy should be restricted.
But at the same time, the Queen needed more money from Labour.
Her civil list income had been unchanged throughout her reign.
Some on the left reckoned they could see the real purpose behind the new authorised documentary.
When I was a kid, the royal family was sort of surrounded by a veneer of mystery and yet, when television came on the scene, people wanted to poke their nose into it and get involved.
There is a saying, those who live by the sword die by it, and those who live by the camera can also fall flat on their face.
Did you enjoy the film, Prime Minister? It was very well made, ma'am.
You've always been a great advocate for the power of television.
It binds the nation together, ma'am.
Your coronation was a lesson to us all.
We are hopeful this documentary film will do a similar job.
Let us hope so.
The royal family is going to have to work quite hard at retaining the loyalty and affection of a large proportion of the British people.
Our public work can be taken for granted.
It seems prudent to remind the people how much we do.
The film achieves that unquestionably.
But making that film of the royal family opened them up in a new light and led eventually to an exposure of various details about the royal finances which, I'm not surprised, they would far rather have kept secret.
The only danger is that those more private scenes will also provide ammunition.
Ammunition? Charles fishing, playing his cello, your husband landing his helicopter.
Some people may take a less generous view of those things.
Is that what your cabinet will think? I have surrounded myself with strong personalities and I would suggest you steel yourself for some debate on the value of the monarchy.
That the Queen's survival was under threat was underlined five months later when The Times revealed to the public what the royal family had been aware of for some time.
They were overspending their government allowance.
In short, money was running out.
Ma'am, the situation is becoming serious.
I trust we have the Prime Minister's support.
The indications are he'd prefer to keep royal finances off the political agenda.
Off the agenda? A shrewd move, perhaps, given the current financial situation and the make-up of the Cabinet.
We are not accustomed to pleading.
The Prime Minister cannot sit on the fence forever.
The money is only the beginning.
If they can stop that, reduce it even, everything will start to crumble.
Unfortunately for the Queen, the times could not be worse for royalty to be asking for a pay rise.
Here we have the monarch at the time, when workers, year in, year out, are being told to take a pay cut, in reality, set against the rate of inflation, comes along in the middle of this and she says, âLook, we can't live properly here at the Palace.
âWe've got all these places to uphold, all over Britain, Scotland, âhere, there and everywhere.
âWe can't even buy a new flag to fly over the castle.
" Now, come on! The question of the royal finances was at its most sensitive when Prince Philip did what he became infamous for, putting his foot in it.
Your Highness, the recent news dispatched from London begins this way.
Queen Elizabeth has not had a pay raise for nearly 18 years, a situation that none of her subjects would tolerate for a moment.
Is that creating an awkward situation? Very.
We're going into the red next year.
You're going into the red next year? Yes.
Inevitably, if nothing happens, we shall either have to I don't know, we may have to move into smaller premises, who knows'? You've had to close down certain large houses, such as Sandringham, haven't you? I understand from this dispatch.
No, not altogether.
We've closed down We had a small yacht which we had to sell and I shall probably have to give up polo-playing soon, things like that.
Philip's intenvention couldn't have come at a worse time.
I don't see what all the fuss is about.
He was telling the truth, wasn't he? Yes, but If we're going broke, we're going broke.
There are different ways of putting it.
I won't have to sell any horses, will I? This isn't about horses, Anne.
There are factions that don't support us.
Aren't there always? Rather more than usual, and in higher positions.
It's hard to know who to trust.
We must tread carefully.
All of us.
Morning, ma'am.
Terry.
What a ghastly jumper.
Ignore her, Terry.
I rather like it.
Princess Anne was her father's favourite of the children and that was partly because she shares a lot of Prince Philip's attributes.
Slightly looked like him, you know, fairly horse-faced.
And her tendency was to think, you know, ânaff off' to anybody who was being tiresome.
Like all the royals, Anne seemed to be stepping to a different beat from the rest of Britain.
But they still knew how to mount a spectacle.
I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liegeman of life and limb and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto thee, to live and die against all manner of folks.
Charles's investiture was watched by an audience of 500 million and any politician watching would realise that not giving the Queen what she wanted could cost votes.
So Harold Wilson smartly sidestepped the royal financial crisis and played for time.
He had a plan, but he first had to sell it to the Queen herself.
Sorry I'm a little late, ma'am.
Prime Minister.
It's been a long day, as you can imagine.
There was a lively Cabinet.
This is not an ideal moment to be raising the subject of royal expenditure, nor were we exactly hoping to present the problem in terms of yachts and polo ponies.
No.
Mr Crossman and others in the Cabinet remain of the view that for the richest person in the country not to pay a single penny in income tax is a matter Prime Minister.
I'm sure Mr Crossman has his opinion.
I would rather hear a more considered, balanced view.
Well, of course, I can see both sides of the argument.
But there is a genuine sense of grievance that we need to be aware of.
Contrary to what some may think, our public engagements, ceremonies, promotions of British businesses, are not arranged solely for my personal benefit.
I'd be grateful if you'd convey that to Mr Crossman and his comrades.
No-one could question how hard you work for our country.
But I cannot emphasise enough that to open a debate now over royal finances would be divisive, potentially catastrophic.
For your government? For you.
This is not an argument I would like to pick with my cabinet right now, that's true.
But it will also be considerably more dignified to keep the matter above politics, to leave it to a cross-party committee, when the nation is in a calmer mood.
And then, Prime Minister? What will your position be'? Ma'am, the monarchy is not something I would ever choose to put a price on.
I will do all I can to support you in this.
I see.
I'd be grateful if your husband kept that from the Cabinet.
Thank you, Prime Minister.
But Harold Wilson's support would not save the Queen or the country as she entered the most turbulent years of her reign so far.
In 1970, popular support for the Queen was waning.
One lonely voice still shouting Labour.
On top of that, in a shock result, her new unlikely ally, Harold Wilson, was toppled in favour of the less malleable figure of Edward Heath.
The Queen has asked me to form the next government.
And I am indeed proud to accept.
But her biggest worry was cash.
The royal family was going into the red.
A new cross party committee had started poring over every penny the royals spent to see if they were giving Britain value for money.
And committee members like Willie Hamilton were scrutinising every detail.
The gracious message of May 19th, 1971, represented the most insensitive and brazen pay claim to be made in the last 200 years.
With Willie Hamilton on the committee, a burning light was shone into the darkest comers of royal expenditure.
For the royals, it was an uncomfortable experience.
The staff at the Palace were not used to discussing royal finances in public.
They found it was regrettable, it was undesirable.
Equally, they had sense enough to see that if they didn't co-operate, they weren't going to get money.
And so their object obviously was to present the facts in as discreet and as favourable a light as possible.
When do we receive the party from Japan? Um, October, I believe, ma'am.
Well, we must ask the Emperor to bring a bottle.
Ma'am'? How many bottles of wine are consumed in the Palace each quarter'? Do they think I drink it all myself? These are state banquets, but they prefer we offer the Emperor lemonade.
It is horribly intrusive, ma'am.
Every light bulb, every laundry bill, is nothing to be left private? Will they choose which of their Sovereign's duties they wish to support and which they do not'? But if the Civil List is protected and increased If! We have sheets dating back to Queen Victoria, blankets from William IV.
Did they report their laundry bills to Parliament, were their families suddenly hounded by accountants? Indeed not, ma'am.
The Queen did receive a pay rise, but inflation would quickly take the shine off it and she would never again be able to keep secret where the money really goes.
Amongst others, Willie Hamilton would be watching and counting every penny spent, not just by the Queen but by her children too.
If we take two miners earning £20 a week each, they are making £2,000 a year between them and they will have to work 50 years, both of them, before they will make in a full working life, digging in the bowels of the earth, as much as we give to this young twerp in a year.
The truth is, she weren't too much bothered about her subjects then.
Some of them were starving.
She was more concerned about making sure that at Buckingham Palace and at Sandringham and Balmoral, everything would be hunky dory.
Soon after, miners rejecting their pay deal went on strike for the first time in 50 years.
While the Queen was now earning £1 million a year, the miners were earning £25 a week.
Heath had promised to stand up to the unions.
This was his test.
Let Ted Heath get down that shaft and let him have a go at it.
If he's that good, let him have a go.
The Queen's half a million pound pay rise started to feel symbolic of a worsening social divide.
Britain was going to war with itself.
To be in Britain at a time at which the country was visibly cracking, and threatening to break up into warring fragments, must, for the Queen, have been deeply worrying and upsetting.
To save coal stocks, the government turned off the power for nine hours a day.
Britain was in blackout and a three-day week.
The Queen made it quite clear that insofar as the country was suffering, that we working in Buckingham Palace would suffer too.
And the power cuts, when they affected SW1, affected Buckingham Palace and so the candles came out and we did our work by candlelight.
Come.
The Prime Minister, your Majesty.
Thank you.
Prime Minister.
Ma'am.
Oh! Oh, I am so sorry, Prime Minister.
Please, have a lamp.
Thank you, ma'am.
It rather reminds one of the war, don't you think? Except of course we're not at war.
We are not, ma'am.
So, what news from the front? By now nearly half the country was starting to feel that the royals weren't worth the money and questions about the cost of royal engagements were breaking out into protests.
The Queen had to face her angriest opponents in person.
The trouble began as a crowd of about 500 students took over a room in the McRobert Centre and shouted, jeered and swore as the Queen arrived.
The Queen was visiting the administration block and some students started banging on the windows shouting, âQueen out.
" The scenes came during a four-hour visit to the university.
Groups of students, many drinking beer and wine, were almost everywhere the Queen went.
Obscene songs were sung and a stink bomb was thrown as students protested at the amount of money spent on the visit.
Ma'am.
At a time when the monarchy could have pulled Britain together, it was looking more irrelevant than ever.
Do you think you'll make a good housewife? Can you cook, for example? I'm not totally useless, I was quite well educated one way or another.
But hope was at hand.
The distraction of a royal romance.
Princess Anne and her horse riding companion, Mark Phillips, announced their engagement.
When you were a teenager, did you have any idea of the sort of girl that you would like to marry'? No, I No, I didn't.
I wasn't very clever with girls as a teenager.
Mark Phillips had a nickname which pervaded the press but also elements of the royal family.
And the nickname was 'fog' because he's thick and wet.
And the view then was she'll boss him around because she'll boss around anybody she's married to, and he was not quick on his feet.
He was quick on a horse but that's different and there were a lot of sort of slightly louche jokes about him, horses and Princess Anne.
When you speak to Charles, can you tell him to stop being mean about Mark? Mean'? Fog.
He's not thick, you know.
It's quite something he's taking on, this family.
I hope he feels welcome.
And Westminster Abbey.
Given the choice, I'm sure we'd prefer a small quiet church.
Anne, you know how important this is.
For the family.
I sort of wish it wasn't.
I do know that, Anne.
But this is a time when we all have to do our duty.
I do, you mean.
Sorry, I didn't mean I know.
Your wedding will bring people together.
The country is very divided.
It will restore faith.
Duty first, self second.
Of course, Mummy.
I don't think the Queen would have tolerated the idea that her daughter should have a small, modest wedding in Crathie Church because she knows, and always has done, that ritual and ceremony are kind of the entertainment value of the royal family is important to the monarchy.
This had to be, you know, this is us, we do royal weddings and we do them big.
There's been so much excitement.
I'm told people have spent a fortune on souvenirs.
Plates, mugs, tea-towels.
And lavatory roll.
What'? Anne and Mark toilet roll.
It was in the papers.
The Lord Chamberlain never approved that.
I'm sure he didn't, but it's our faces all right.
But people will be I'm afraid that's the point, Mummy.
A poll in the Sunday Minor found that 87% of people didn't think the taxpayer should pay for Princess Anne's honeymoon yacht and that nearly four in every ten wanted to get rid of the monarchy altogether.
They're lucky.
They're lucky.
If my daughter got married, she couldn't have anything like that.
I think her husband should be able to keep her.
But he's only a poor soldier.
My man is just a poor railwayman.
Will you be here for the royal wedding? Yes, we will.
Are you looking forward to that'? Very much so.
She's a very beautiful woman.
She knows her own mind and she stands up to things and that's very necessary.
I'm all for a republic myself.
Yeah.
Why? Any particular reason? I'm against any hereditary sort of handing down of power and wealth.
As the wedding drew closer, Heath's stand-off with the miners entered a new and dangerous phase.
Britain started to slip into its worst economic recession since the 1930s.
It is as though the fabric of politics and society is coming apart.
You have strikes, you have rampant inflation, you have rising unemployment, you have political extremism.
There was a real palpable sense of gloom and of decay and of crisis.
We were running out of electricity, we were running out of coal.
I mean, the whole thing in fuel was really disastrous.
But we couldn't persuade the mining industry to come round and be sensible.
Edward Heath was running out of options.
He was only a short time away from calling in the army, to the honor of the Queen.
So Mr Heath, what do you propose as a next step'? After much discussion with my Cabinet colleagues, I propose to introduce a state of emergency.
And when would this state of emergency commence? The 14th, ma'am.
The 14th? The debate begins on the 13th, ma'am, when the miners begin their overtime ban.
So the actual state of emergency would come into force the following day, 14th November.
Princess Anne's wedding day.
It's not ideal, ma'am.
It really was not merely a declared state of emergency, it was an emergency.
Because the miners' threat to call a national strike in effect would have pulled the plug on the British economy and the country could not have existed for long.
Then it did seem not necessarily so much to Heath, but certainly some of his colleagues, that the end of society was very, very close.
It really was a disastrously dangerous position.
But as the day of Anne's wedding finally dawned, the Queen took a deep breath and continued as if nothing else mattered.
What happens with the British people is when there's a huge crisis, economic or war crisis or something, they tend to cluster for sort of comfort and continuity and certainty around the royal family.
So it was a very popular wedding and she looked good and he looked handsome and there was actually a much bigger audience, so to speak, and the coverage in the papers than a lot of us suspected there would be.
The moment we've all been waiting for and how lovely she looks.
Now, we expected something quite different and we certainly got it today.
Look at that wonderful gown.
£23.
50 to take home, that's what we take home for five shifts.
We have to go without things.
We have to go without, for instance, a turkey at Christmas.
I, Mark Anthony Peter.
Take thee, Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise But not everyone watching was wishing the royal couple well.
In his south London bed-sit, a 26-year-old burglar with psychiatric problems called Ian Ball had his own designs on the Queen's daughter.
To thy wedded husband To thy wedded husband To have and to hold, for richer, for poorer.
For richer, for poorer.
In sickness and in health.
In sickness and in health.
To love, cherish and to obey.
Till death us do part.
Till death us do part.
Over at the Old Bailey, as Anne and Mark said their vows, six members of the IRA were convicted of detonating car bombs.
They would be quickly replaced by others soon to start the deadliest ever terrorist campaign on mainland Britain.
The threat to the royal family was to become more real than it had ever been.
The Queen would never be as vulnerable as she was in 1974.
At first, she escaped on a foreign tour, leaving a country tearing itself apart as the fight between Heath and the unions came to a stand-off.
While she was away, 11 people died when an IRA bomb exploded on a coach canying army personnel and their wives on the M62.
Amongst the wreckage at the back of the coach, some of the debris of the explosion that killed 11, a wristwatch with the strap torn off.
Days later, the Queen flew home to give permission for a general election.
It was to be fought under the slogan Who Rules Britain, Heath or the Miners? It's time for you to speak with your vote.
It is time for due to say to the extremists, the militants and to the plain and simple misguided, âWe've had enough.
" As Ian Ball, the lone fantasist with an obsession with Princess Anne, learnt how to fire a gun, the Queen waited anxiously to learn who was going to be her next Prime Minister.
What? Sorry to disturb, ma'am, we have the results.
Mr Heath has a majority? No, ma'am.
Mr Wilson? No, ma'am.
My word.
Labour have 301 seats, the Conservatives 297, the rest, well, as you see.
So who can command the Commons'? Ma'am, I have sought constitutional advice on the matter.
The sovereign must observe the classical doctrine that we have a government.
As long as Mr Heath is able to stay in power, he must be allowed to do so.
So I am to be a spectator? For the moment, ma'am.
The Prime Minister is Prime Minister until he resigns.
When this happens, the monarch must act.
I see.
Please try to unconfuse the PM's office and ask them to let us know their plans at the earliest convenience.
Ma'am, Mr Heath is on his way to the Palace now.
17 hours after returning to Number 10, those who'd braved the weather which by now included heavy rain, got their reward, a brief sighting of the PM as he left Downing Street before the four-minute drive through the night for the historic meeting with the Queen.
It was up to Ted Heath to see if he could cobble together some kind of working arrangement to keep his Premiership going.
So that's why he spends the weekend having talks with Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party, to see if they can, you know, patch up some kind of coalition.
Yes And what does the monarchy do? OK, they might have the odd conversation here and there, put the feelers out, whatever, whatever What is the scenario the Queen is likely to be faced with'? But they really don't do anything.
And I think that's to the Queen's credit, actually, and to the monarchy's credit.
After a nerve-racking 24 hours, her old friend and ally was back.
He's in his element in this sort of situation.
He's got that serious prime-ministerial look on his face but he's not Prime Minister yet, by a long chalk.
We'd really all been through a battle.
I mean, it hadn't been like a general election.
It was a bit like the First World War over again in certain respects.
And it was pretty obvious to a lot of people, not just politicians, that Wilson, who was very clever and very acute, he would win.
We've got a job to do.
We can only do that job as one people.
And I'm going right in to start that job now.
Surprisingly, for a British monarch, the ousting of a Conservative Prime Minister wasn't a calamity.
Wilson had proved himself an ally she could rely on.
Good old Mr Wilson, this very conservative figure whose response to all the turmoil of the '70s is, âWell, you know, let's keep everything quiet.
" That's what the Queen wants, 'cause the one thing she doesn't want is somebody who's gonna stir everything up and pit people against each other.
So he's ideal from the Queen's point of view and of course, he's not Ted Heath.
Normality resumed.
The Queen prepared to rejoin the royal tour of Asia.
Mr Wilson understands the Commonwealth, not so besotted with Europe.
And he assures me he'll end the strike.
And that's the most important thing.
Bring people together again.
What? You fly home from the other side of the world, change Prime Ministers, fly straight back.
Shouldn't you maybe slow down a bit? Are you saying I'm too old? No, but Don't worry about me.
How are you and Mark getting on? Mark's adapting, you know, to being one of us.
It takes time.
We've got a charity thing on Wednesday, riding for the disabled.
They've made a film.
Well, if it's dull, don't let Mark sneak a nap.
They watch us in the dark.
Wouldn't the papers love that'? It's got horses in it, Mummy.
We'll both be wide awake, I promise.
Bon voyage.
Find time to rest.
Days after the Queen had returned to Indonesia, Anne was returning home from her charity film premiere.
the water jump? No, I'm not, including the water jump.
I've done that course a hundred times.
Princess Anne and Captain Phillips drove back in the official car, along the Mall towards Buckingham Palace.
What the blazes is he playing at? Stay put, OK'? When I was first fired at, I didn't really realise that I'd been shot in the shoulder.
I was probably more upset because my gun had jammed.
Please get out of the car.
What'? Come with me.
No.
Switch off the engine.
Stay where you are.
It'll only be for a couple of days.
Get off! Stop! I'm not coming with you.
Get out of the car.
Not bloody likely.
By then, Ian Ball was pointing his gun to Princess Anne and speaking to her.
And she, obviously very bravely, was chatting back to him.
What do you want from me'? I want two million.
I haven't got two million! Then he obviously got distracted, which is why I was able to get into the vehicle.
Go, go! The chauffeur got shot and I managed to get into the car to get between him and her.
That was it, really, so I just kept going.
Put the gun down or I'll shoot.
Open the door, open the door! He was pointing his gun towards the back of the car.
Open the door! No! So I just stuck my right hand out in front of him.
And I thought well, if we kick a door open, it'll hit him.
Then he shot me in the abdomen.
What the hell are you doing? Come with me.
I'm not moving.
Come with me! Last chance.
After the shooting, the Mall is completely closed off here tonight.
Up behind me here, um, several dozen police cars, I gather about 100 policemen drafted in The Provisional IRA were extremely active in that time, so one's first thoughts were always the obvious ones, you know, what if? We realised just how near to a really terrible tragedy it had been.
When I heard about how she dealt with it all, I actually felt sorry for the gunman.
Because she was very cool, very tough, and there are certain people who, like Princess Anne, don't put up with these sort of things.
But I don't think she even thought of herself as being brave, you know, that's what one does.
I'm very sorry to hear about Anne's terrible experience.
You must be No, we've spoken.
Anne's fine.
I'm very pleased to hear it, ma'am.
Now you need not go through all these.
They have to be done.
Ma'am, if you wish, we could cancel today's engagements.
Don't be silly.
There are just one or two matters of finance you might care to Don't tell me, more expenses so that we have to justify every penny, when our children I'm sorry.
Not at all.
Ma'am'? It's nothing.
Ma'am, you've had a terrible shock.
No-one could be expected to go on working flat-out in the middle of an exhausting tour, when their own daughter had been subjected to such a Would you leave me for a moment'? Ma'am.
Cancel nothing.
Very good, ma'am.
Security has been tightened at Heathrow for the first royal arrival since the attempted kidnapping of Princess Anne.
This is partly because security precautions were increased at the beginning of the year.
The Queen returned to England to find Anne safe.
When they met, Princess Anne had been visiting her private detective in hospital.
But amidst the celebration, more familiar troubles were about to resurface.
And they're all recovering? Yeah, it's a miracle no-one was killed.
Everyone says how calm you were.
Calm? I was furious.
He ripped my dress! Don't joke about it.
He watched the wedding, you know, on television.
Anne, I am so sorry.
It's not your fault.
You wanted a quiet wedding.
You were right, it was my duty, what the people wanted.
Well, most people.
The politicians, the lefties.
It's good to fight back.
Politicians? I'm more worried about madmen with guns.
And Mr Wilson.
He was genuinely concerned.
Politicians need us, Anne.
Even the Labour ones.
Well, we don't need them.
Oh, yes, we do.
Are we in the red again? So what happens now'? I'm sure Mr Wilson will help.
Harold Wilson was in for a major shock.
Britain was in deep recession and he'd just had to concede a massive pay settlement to the miners.
But just three years after getting a rise of over 100%, the royals were about to ask for more.
The miners had won, but could the Queen still get what she wanted? By 1975, it was clear that the breakdown in society that the establishment had feared was never going to happen.
One of Wilson's first jobs had been to get the miners back into work by giving them what they wanted - a 35% pay rise.
Only three years after the Queen's salary had been doubled, the royals now wanted Wilson to do something similar for them.
Harold Wilson had no doubt at all that they needed it, they deserved it and they were going to get it.
But he didn't realise that he had a fight on his hands.
But with the country going back to work, there was less anger to stir up and the Republicans were no longer so in tune with the mood of the British public.
The pay raise that's been announced Yes.
If you're going to keep the monarchy, yes, we've got to pay for that and no more.
You know, it doesn't just go on her It goes on her whole household.
And, if you like, the money that they say is just going to the Queen is, in fact, going to run the institution of the monarchy, so it's not bad value.
Her Majesty the Queen comes to Dyce near Aberdeen to start Britain's first flow of oil on its way south to the Grangemouth refinery.
And as the Queen pressed the button to begin the pumping of North Sea oil, the recession started to look like it wouldn't last forever.
After the rockiest years of her reign so far, the Queen had proved herself a formidable survivor.
Coming to stay with her at Balmoral, surely her old ally Harold Wilson wasn't going to deny her now? The royal finances is a topic I was hoping not to discuss in Cabinet again.
Nor was I hoping to bring it up again so soon.
Inflation is a curse of us all, ma'am, but I must advise you, it means a further scrutiny.
Really? The Select Committee were so horribly intrusive.
Utterly undignified.
I appreciate that.
I can't imagine any MP would enjoy having his finances looked into so closely.
All the same, the extent of your private fortune did remain private.
As it should.
You're lagging behind.
Someone showed me that photograph of you as a little boy standing outside 10 Downing Street.
I was eight when that picture was taken.
First time I'd ever been in London.
My dad asked me where I wanted to go, first on my list.
Before Buckingham Palace? Ah! Equal first.
Your boys haven't followed you into politics? As it happens, ma'am, no.
My children have no choice.
No, their job chooses you.
The life.
They will serve their country as I have done.
I'm quite sure they will.
Nevertheless, where public money is involved, there's always As you know, we are not just another government department.
This cottage is close to Queen Victoria's favourite walk.
Shall we'? Why not? It's always changing.
As is everything around it changes.
Through the seasons, the path is always the same.
I do understand there will be some voices of resistance in the Cabinet.
Yes, yes, undoubtedly.
Or at least there would be if I were to put it to them.
To the surprise of his own Cabinet, Wilson made a statement in the House of Commons requesting a further rise in the Civil List.
90 voted against any rise at all but a clear majority voted in the Queen's favour.
I think she was probably rather grateful to Harold Wilson because he managed to blag the Civil List through in the face of a lot of opposition from his own party.
I'm not sure she would have formally thanked him but she would have made it known to him that she was grateful.
The Queen's popularity amongst the electorate was starting to rise again and there would be 20 years before the Republicans would ever enjoy such support in or out of government again.