When
Queen Elizabeth II gave her rousing CCP-Virus speech, you could tell she was
her father’s daughter (he was King George VI, the subject of The King’s Speech). She watched her father rally his nation first-hand, with the full
knowledge she would one day succeed him. Viewers learn how World War II shaped young
Princess Elizabeth into the iconic monarch we recognize today in the one-hour
special, The Queen at War, produced and directed by Christopher Bruce, which
premieres tomorrow on PBS.
Princess
Elizabeth was only 13 years-old when the war broke out, but she was already
keenly aware of her altered destiny. Unlike other privileged aristocratic
children, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were never shipped off to the
Americas for safe-keeping. As a result, they were keenly aware of the dangers
of the Blitz. In fact, a German bomb nearly killed her parents, when it fell on
Buckingham Palace. Ironically, that narrow miss was considered a blessing by
the royal family, because it allowed them to console bombed-out East-Enders as
equals. Tragically, they also shared their countrymen’s sense of loss when
Elizabeth’s beloved uncle, Prince George, the Duke of Kent became the first Royal
to die in military service in approximately 450 years.
Young
Elizabeth was rarely further than Windsor, unless she was on a morale boosting
tour, which was often. She also followed in her father’s footsteps, making
war-time broadcasts to British children abroad. However, Elizabeth really felt
like she had joined the war effort in earnest when she enlisted in the
Auxiliary Territorial Services (somewhat equivalent to the WACS), making her the
first woman in the Royal Family to serve full-time in active military service.
The
Queen at War will
definitely give viewers keen insight into the Queen’s famous stiff upper lip
public persona and her iron resolve. It will also inspire genuine waves of new
respect. Princess Elizabeth looks so young in the archival footage and still
photos Bruce and editor Laurence Williamson intelligently and effectively incorporate
throughout the program. It is rather amazing to imagine how much responsibility
she assumed at such an innocent age.
Frankly,
it is equally hard to imagine how Harry and Meghan Markle could stomach asking his
grandmother (who served her country in uniform and personally visited grieving
families during the Blitz) to let them step down from their royal duties,
because the tabloid press is too mean. On the other hand, just how little must she
think of their abilities to tell them: “look, just go to Canada and be done
with it.”
Watching
the Queen’s recent speech and Bruce’s chronicle of her wartime experiences
could make us all Royalists again. She is undeniably a leader, who always put
her country first. Bruce and company create an effective time capsule of the
era and Phyllis Logan (from Downton Abbey) is a perfect choice for
narrator. The resulting history lesson is quite informative and often quite
stirring (especially since the parallels between the blitz and the CCP-Virus
lock-down are inescapably obvious right now). Highly recommended (particularly
for these trying times), The Queen at War airs tomorrow night (5/5) on
most PBS outlets.
