Princess
Anne gives rare interview for new BBC documentary
HRH
The Princess Royal has granted a rare interview for the landmark
new documentary Queen & Country, BBC ONEs definitive history
of The Queens 50 years on the throne.
In
the interview Princess Anne talks candidly about her childhood,
growing up in the media spotlight and about speculation that her
mother was uncaring and that her family are not on good terms with
each other. Other interviewees in the series include Baroness Thatcher,
John Major, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and many others who have been
close to The Queen.
Queen
and Country also includes unique home videos filmed by the Queen
of family life and new contemporary footage, including unseen film
of the Royal Family celebrating The Queen Mother's 101st birthday,
which contributes towards an intimate and often surprising portrait
of The Queen.
Talking
about allegations her mother was uncaring, Princess Anne says: "I
simply dont believe that there is any evidence whatsoever
to suggest that she wasn't caring. It just beggars belief. We as
children may have not been too demanding in the sense that we understood
what the limitations were in time and the responsibilities placed
on her as monarch in the things she had to do and the travels she
had to make it. But I don't believe any of us for a second thought
that she didn't care for us in exactly the same way as any other
mother did. I just think it extraordinary that any body could construe
that that might not be true."
She
also denies that the Royal Family don't get on: "Judging by
some families I think we are all on pretty good speaking terms after
all this time and that's no mean achievement for quite a lot of
families. I think we all enjoy each other's company."
Princess
Anne also talks frankly about her childhood and the idyllic time
spent on the Royal Yacht Britannia. However, she recalls some of
the more difficult elements of growing up as a member of the Royal
Family. She had strong reservations when The Queen agreed to allow
cameras into their family home with the Royal Family programme of
the 1960s: "I never liked the idea of the Royal Family film.
I always thought it was a rotten idea. The attention that had been
bought on one ever since one was a child, you just didn't want any
more. The last thing you needed was greater access."
In
March 1970, The Queen did her very first walkabout. Princess Anne
says how much she hated this: "A 19 year old suddenly being
dropped in the middle of the street and being told to go and pick
on someone and talk to them - fun? - no, I dont think so."
The
series is written and presented by William Shawcross, the award-winning
writer and royal commentator. It includes unseen footage of The
Queen at a number of engagements including an audience with Prime
Minister Tony Blair, one of her garden parties, a private reception
at Buckingham Palace, off duty with her dogs on the moors at Balmoral
and with her horses at Sandringham. Home movie footage of The Queen
as a child is also shown for the first time.
Revelatory,
authoritative and entertaining, Queen & Country is both a candid
portrait of the Queen and an absorbing study of the changing face
of the monarchy and of Britain during the past half-century.
Queen
& Country starts on BBC ONE on 1 May at 9.00pm.
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