UnElisabetta newborn and in a wheelchair, pushed by the Queen Mother, and then a child, intent on jumping rope or playing ball with her father George VI and sister Margaret. Only a few moments of the sovereign’s earliest years, immortalized in videos remained private until now and collected in Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen (Elizabeth, hidden queen), a new documentary from the British broadcaster Bbc.
The special permission granted by Queen Elizabeth
The 75-minute program will be broadcast in Great Britain on Sunday 29 May, on the eve of the celebrations for the Platinum Jubileeand includes images filmed by various members of the Royal Family, including Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, hitherto hidden in the archives of the British Film Institute. The 96-year-old queen granted unprecedented permission to the documentary’s authors, who were able to view hundreds of reels of material.
From childhood to the Coronation
The intimate and often touching images show a young and carefree Elisabeth. Like when she posed in her early twenties with Prince Philip, at Balmoral, in 1946, and their engagement had not yet been made public, and then as a novice mother with little Carlo and Anna. This is followed by scenes of family on vacation, rare moments away from court formalities, up to the days of the Coronation, in 1953, at the age of just 27.
Elizabeth and Philip on their honeymoon in Hampshire, November 23, 1947 (Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth will be delighted with the result
As Elizabeth herself comments at a point in the documentary, taking up a phrase that was said to her by Prime Minister Windston Churchill, “Looking further back in time, one can see more and more into the future”. In fact, numerous excerpts from the images comment on the images most famous speeches of the sovereign, chosen from over three hundred delivered over eight decades and examined by the producers of the documentary. And an intervention recorded for the occasion, about ten days ago.
“I too was young once”
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