Fans of the Queen have shared their enjoyment on social media as BBC documentary – Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen revealed a rare glimpse at her life from young girl to monarch. The show, aired on Sunday night, shows clips spanning her life from being a baby pushed in a pram by her mother to her Coronation in 1953 at the age of 27.
The 75-minute programme is largely narrated by the Queen herself, using clips and newsreel audio from her speeches to explain what viewers are seeing. The Queen granted the BBC unprecedented access to hundreds of home-made recordings shot by her, her parents and the Duke of Edinburgh, which have been kept held privately by the Royal Collection in the British Film Institute (BFI) vaults.
Liz Goodacre @TheLGLibrary tweeted: “Royal family archive videos and history on TV now. You don’t need to be a royalist to appreciate the history. Great stuff. #PlatinumJubilee #TheUnseenQueen.” This was a sentiment that appeared to be echoed by many on the social media platform.
Clarissa Reilly @clarescastle urged: “If you’re not watching #TheUnseenQueen Hotfoot it over to BBC1 right now. I highly recommend. Fabulous and fascinating unseen footage, but most special of all, narrated by Her Majesty herself. A thing of wonder for royal fans and constitutional monarchists. #PlatinumJubilee”
Sir J @jxs606 Tweeted they were “Tearing up here with that address to the children in wartime from the Queen as a child herself. #TheUnseenQueen” Filmmakers listened to more than 300 of the Queen’s speeches, spanning over eight decades, to make the film in which she refers to her grandfather, George V, as “Grandpa England”.
At the age of 96 and after a 70-year reign that has probably seen her become one of the most photographed women in the world, the Queen recorded a personal message to introduce the documentary. Grainy black-and-white footage of a young Princess Elizabeth with her uncle Prince George, The Duke of Kent, who died in a plane crash in 1942 while on active service, and the King’s last visit to Balmoral in 1951 are among the rare moments captured in the documentary.