Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen – The story of Queen Elizabeth II in her own words, featuring never-before-seen home movie footage from her childhood up to her 1953 Coronation at the age of 27. It features a clip marking the first extended visit of Prince Philip to Balmoral in 1946, while the couple’s engagement was still not public and depicts Princess Elizabeth as a young mother with Prince Charles and Princess Anne spending time with their grandparents, the King and Queen.
With the Queen having lived her life in the spotlight, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d seen all the filmed footage there was of her. Every smile, hat and headscarf. But this 75-minute special offers viewers something genuinely new: never-before-seen clips from private home movies, shot by the royal family and with new narration from the monarch herself.Among the highlights are scenes from 1946 featuring Princess Elizabeth at Balmoral, showing the camera the engagement ring that hadn’t yet been displayed to the public.
In there too are clips of her as a young mother to Prince Charles and Princess Anne, with their grandparents the King and Queen. What will emerge is a story not just of a woman destined to be queen, but of a unique family and marriage, too. It’s sure to make for a classy start to the BBC’s platinum jubilee celebrations. Explore hundreds of private home movies shot by the Royal Family, including footage of the Queen’s life from being pushed in a pram by her mother to her coronation at the age of 27 in 1953.
Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until Philip’s death in 2021. They had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, as well as Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth has reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom’s accession to the European Communities and withdrawal from the European Union.
The number of her realms has varied over time as territories have gained independence, and as some realms have become republics. Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to the People’s Republic of China in 1986, the Russian Federation in 1994, the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and visits to or from five popes.
