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Documentary, Queen Mary: How She Saved The Royals
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00:00:00of all the recent royals there's one who may have done more to save the monarchy than any other
00:00:11queen mary wife of king george v and grandmother of our current queen today she may have been
00:00:19largely forgotten but her influence on britain has been huge there's no doubt she helped save
00:00:26the monarchy our country today would not have been the same without her from unpromising beginnings
00:00:34the whole experience of her childhood was about being embarrassed by her mother she rose to become
00:00:42the power behind the throne helping to steer the country through two world wars the great
00:00:48depression of the 1920s and 30s and the abdication crisis which threatened to bring down the monarchy
00:00:55i have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility what mary felt was okay
00:01:04if that's what my son wants and he wants to marry wallace simpson he can but she's not going to get
00:01:11the title royal highness but how did this paragon of conservatism become an unlikely modernizer and
00:01:18along with her husband helped redefine the role of royalty they played a role really on the world
00:01:25stage which she made a huge impact on the idea of the monarchy as a global brand how was she able to
00:01:33become the first royal to reach out to the working classes mr house an unemployed minor and he and his
00:01:39family have the pleasure and honor of sharing queen mary over their house it wasn't any longer enough to just
00:01:46do a wave and she and joe's the fifth were the first of the royals to interact with the general public
00:01:57and why was she such a huge influence on our current monarch mary exuded that duty exuded that
00:02:05steadfastness exuded that uniting a nation and that's exactly what queen elizabeth has done throughout
00:02:12her reign this is the truly remarkable story of a queen who not only reshaped royalty but had a
00:02:19profound effect on the whole country the truth is mary's influence is still around today we would be a
00:02:27very different world i think if she had not been around and married her king
00:02:32december the 15th 1948 the christening of four-week-old prince charles
00:02:46sat resplendent next to the queen her grandmother queen mary matriarch of the windsor clan and a living link
00:02:55between the victorian era and our present monarch however four years later she would be mourned by the
00:03:04nation her devotion to the monarchy her services to britain her enduring influence on the age which
00:03:11she graced these created supreme values which will not be forgotten
00:03:23but who was the woman that helped steer the crown and the country through some of the most tumultuous
00:03:29times in our history and how did she almost single-handedly ensure the monarchist survival
00:03:36when the great royal houses of europe were toppling like cards mary or may as she was nicknamed as a
00:03:47child was born in 1867 the eldest of four children her mother princess mary adelaide known as fat mary
00:03:57was a cousin of queen victoria her father was a european prince who had been bestowed the ceremonial
00:04:04title the duke of tech after a castle in southwest germany mary was actually born in the same room in
00:04:13kensington palace where queen victoria had been born and queen victoria did actually come and visit her
00:04:18and say she was a fine infant with a good quantity of hair mary's parents had been granted their apartment
00:04:25in kensington palace by queen victoria to live up to their status as minor royalty they spent lavishly
00:04:33but didn't possess the fortune to maintain their grand lifestyle when mary was just 16 her family
00:04:41was threatened with bankruptcy and driven into exile there came a point when the techs really basically
00:04:47ran out of money so they had to decamp rather quickly to florence to avoid their creditors
00:04:53this of course was brilliant for princess may because she was very very cultured and so going
00:04:58around all those wonderful galleries she literally absorbed information and emerged from that phase
00:05:04as a very cultured young woman mary's interest in art and culture would stay with her throughout her life
00:05:13however her upbringing had another more sobering effect on shaping the future queen's personality
00:05:19i think the whole experience of her childhood really for may was about being embarrassed by her
00:05:27mother who was loud and enormous and extravagant and her father who was also very extravagant but also
00:05:34slightly mad and eventually in fact went insane and so i think she's very influenced by this she grows up
00:05:42to have a sort of immense desire for respectability may grew up to really need order and control and a sense
00:05:52of routine and a sense of things being calm organized following protocol it was order and it was decorum and
00:06:03all of those kind of things uh felt were very important to me and it was monarchy that best represented
00:06:10the virtues that mary held dear virtues that hadn't gone unnoticed by queen victoria as victoria
00:06:18approached the end of her long reign she was preoccupied with the future stability of the monarchy
00:06:25her eldest son and future king edward birth name albert edward was a notorious womanizer his
00:06:32heir and victoria's grandson albert victor who everyone knew as eddie also displayed a worrying
00:06:38lack of suitability for the top job eddie was not the sharpest pencil in the box uh he had a reputation
00:06:45for being both quite dim and also sort of useless and floppy and sort of fragile and queen victoria felt
00:06:54he needed a wife who was going to kind of support him basically and make sure that he did his duty
00:07:02queen victoria set her mind to finding a good-looking girl she had to be good-looking because he likes
00:07:09beautiful women and the woman who queen victoria decided had the perfect combination of beauty and
00:07:17breeding for her grandson princess mary for mary there was something really central about knowing your
00:07:25position knowing your duty and knowing what you had to do and queen victoria could see this she recognized
00:07:31this in the young princess victoria then was this great matchmaker she saw in may exactly the kind of
00:07:39calming stabilizing influence victor albert or eddie needed
00:07:47mary's devotion to the monarchy also made her an ideal future queen
00:07:52she truly believed that royalty had been ordained by god to do good and to be embodiments of more
00:08:05dutiful ways of doing things so there was almost a religious certainly a vocational element to her
00:08:13thinking and her attitude queen victoria saw in may a woman who was very like herself very determined
00:08:23very intelligent and someone who thought above all about duty by december 1892 victoria's matchmaking
00:08:32proved successful prince eddie proposed for mary the engagement offered the chance to restore the
00:08:39damage done to her family's reputation by their financial difficulties and place herself at the center of
00:08:45royal affairs royal matches were really about uniting royal families together she wanted to help her family
00:08:54her parents and so when this uh opportunity of of this very good marriage came up you know she really
00:09:02had no choice but to say yes at the time there was no question of somebody falling in love and getting
00:09:08married it was you just married who you were told to marry her date was set for the wedding but mary's
00:09:17prospects would be cruelly dashed between 1889 and 1892 the world was struck by an influenza pandemic
00:09:26which claimed the lives of around a million people even the royal family weren't immune
00:09:32just weeks before mary and eddie were due to get married he was taken seriously ill when the family
00:09:40were going to congregate at sunringham in early 1892 tragedy struck eddie contracted the flu which
00:09:48later developed into pneumonia and on the 14th of january 1892 he died the family had originally decided
00:09:58to meet at sunringham to celebrate the union but instead it became more of a mourning party
00:10:05princess mary had been struck by the first of several tragedies that would mark her life
00:10:11however once again queen victoria would play matchmaker and rescue her prospects
00:10:18the man victoria had in mind was now in direct line to the throne almost at once queen victoria
00:10:25starts lobbying for her to marry george who is the second son now george i think initially was really
00:10:32shocked by this you know he had loved his brother and he felt it was all too soon but queen victoria
00:10:38was very bossy he actually went off to greece with his mother in order to try and avoid having to do
00:10:45anything about it but in the end he gave in little more than a year after the death of her fiance eddie
00:10:52mary was now engaged to his younger brother george whilst they were brought together by circumstance
00:11:00in her new fiancee mary had found a kindred spirit george was very very different than his brother
00:11:07rather than being wayward um dissolute lifestyle george was much more measured much more ordered
00:11:15much more well behaved and so in that sense him and may were a well suited match like eddie george had
00:11:23trained as a naval officer but unlike his elder brother george adored the regimentation and formality of life
00:11:31in the armed services george was very straight-laced and he liked to keep things simple he understood his position
00:11:39as now second in line to the throne and this was reflected in mary duty ran to her core and she
00:11:46understood what was expected of her as a new member of the royal family mary and george were married in
00:11:53july 1893 at saint james's palace in london what started out as an arranged marriage would last for over
00:12:0140 years and come to redefine the role of monarchy i think that they were so much alike in their sense
00:12:09of duty and responsibility but considering this was really an arranged marriage i mean who would have
00:12:16thought that this would turn out to be you know one of the the greatest uh couples the monarchy has ever
00:12:21seen mary and george would have to wait another 17 years before they came to the throne
00:12:28however with the country in the grip of unrest and division how would the new queen help save the
00:12:34monarchy and help it become a global brand she understood that the world was changing and that
00:12:43the monarchy had to change with the world
00:12:57mary of tep or queen mary as she would later become was grandmother to our current queen and the woman
00:13:04credited with helping to save the monarchy
00:13:06the reverence for the crown she displayed as a young woman saw her being hand-picked by queen
00:13:15victoria to marry her grandson george the future king however in the early years of their marriage
00:13:23mary's surroundings weren't as palatial as she'd hoped for they lived in a modest cottage on the
00:13:30sandringham mistake which was a wedding present and this suited george very much he liked shooting
00:13:37he liked all kinds of country pursuits what he did in those years was to shoot whatever bird happened
00:13:43to be in season at the time of the year now i don't think queen mary was particularly interested
00:13:49in outdoor country sports but she was a very dutiful wife and so she accompanied him you know wherever
00:13:55he was mary would give birth to six children including two future kings but after the death
00:14:02of queen victoria in 1901 george was now next in line to the throne that meant taking on more
00:14:09responsibilities he and may soon demonstrated a more modern style of royalty when edward the seventh
00:14:17became king this had a huge impact on the life and role of mary may and george they became as apparent
00:14:28and they were to have a role which was increasingly important to the precision and the perception of the
00:14:34monarchy in particular they played a role really on the world stage they went on a six month tour of
00:14:41india which made a huge impact on the idea of the monarchy as a i suppose a brand as a global brand
00:14:52however for mary and george the dedication to their royal duties came at the expense of their children
00:15:00she was not a natural mother she was more sort of committed perhaps or duty-bound to the institution
00:15:07of monarchy into the royal family rather than her own children who were brought up by governesses i think
00:15:13certainly affection wasn't something that she displayed lavishly but ultimately family was about
00:15:21the firm and it was about the royal family it was about doing your duty and i think ultimately that came
00:15:27above everything else in may 1910 edward the seventh passed away after just nine years on the throne
00:15:36his son george was now king and mary was queen however the changing of the guard also seemed to
00:15:42herald a return to the 19th century ideal of monarchy edward the seventh was a very colorful king and so
00:15:52his death marked a sudden change particularly then with the accession of george and mary who was seen as
00:16:01complete opposite they were very much seen as a very conventional couple committed to each other and
00:16:09to a much more victorian morality despite their different outlooks george was overawed by the
00:16:18prospect of replacing his father as king shortly after edward's death george confided in his diary
00:16:24i have lost my best friend and the best of fathers but god will help me in my responsibilities and
00:16:32darling may will be my comfort as she has always been he dreaded becoming a king but for him duty was
00:16:39everything and so he knew he had to step up to the mark and for that i think may was very very important
00:16:48because although they had this rather strange stiff marriage he knew that she would always support him
00:16:55and she did on the 22nd of june the following year huge crowds lined the streets of westminster to
00:17:05witness george's coronation with mary at his side the coronation was an amazingly well choreographed
00:17:13traditional ceremony and for somebody like may she had a great interest and understanding of
00:17:18the historical significance of the coronation and the whole history of monarchy and for her she feels
00:17:24her life has changed by this completely but despite the joyous scenes of the coronation day the future of
00:17:30the monarchy itself was far from assured the rise of democracy meant the old order was under threat
00:17:38many of the crowned heads of europe often related to the british royal family would soon be swept away
00:17:44by the great war back at home the country was in political turmoil george came to the throne a quite
00:17:54inauspicious time there was a growing sense that the constitution needed reform that the house of lords
00:18:01needed to be reformed sensitive to public opinion soon after george came to the throne
00:18:08he was asked by the liberal government of the day to assert the supremacy of the commons
00:18:13over the house of lords king george v actions were visibly saying to the people the royal family
00:18:24is here for all the people it's not here for the aristocracy george and mary not only had to cement
00:18:35their popularity at home they were also faced with the task of holding together the british empire
00:18:42which counted around a quarter of the world's population as its subjects nationalist movements
00:18:48all over the empire were agitating for independence nowhere more so than india to strengthen the monarchy's
00:18:57home in 1911 the royal couple returned there to be anointed emperor and empress during the lavish ceremony
00:19:05in delhi practically the entire indian nobility swore their allegiance to the crown they were the only
00:19:13emperor and empress of india to actually go there as british monarchs so i was really an important way of
00:19:20trying to maintain that glue within the empire between the mother country britain and those countries
00:19:28around the world the visit to india proved a welcome diversion from the problems that were mounting
00:19:35for the new king and queen back at home the country was racked by social division and the suffragette movement
00:19:42was fighting for women to be given the vote during the epsom derby of 1913 as mary and george looked on
00:19:51one protester emily wilding davison ran onto the track and was hit by the king's horse
00:20:01tragically she died four days later from her injuries
00:20:05this brought home very very acutely the threat of social reform to the monarchy but also made it
00:20:13personal the country was also beset by strikes as the working classes became increasingly unhappy with
00:20:21their lot despite mary's victorian outlook she and george realized the social changes underway
00:20:28threatened the stability of the monarchy they were determined to avoid the fate
00:20:33that would befall their european cousins mary and george realized that there was a job of work to do to
00:20:41find a place for the monarchy in the midst of these great uh tides of social and political unrest and
00:20:51agitation they were instinctively conservative but they knew that they needed to be amongst the people
00:21:00aligning themselves with the social strife the troubles the life really of many of the factory
00:21:08workers who were looking for an improvement in their conditions the couple embarked on a series of
00:21:15visits to working-class communities in some of the poorest parts of the country there are really quite
00:21:22serious strikes railway strikes miners strikes which seem to sort of threaten to paralyze the economy
00:21:28and uh george v and queen mary really believe that the crown has a part to play in kind of making
00:21:35contact reaching out to the working classes and to the industrial areas so for the first time um the king
00:21:43and the queen may always insist on accompanying him to these visits as someone who believed that the role of
00:21:50the monarchy was to set an example to the working classes mary was an unlikely modernizer she understood as
00:22:00did king george v that the world was changing and that the monarchy had to change with the world it wasn't
00:22:10any longer enough to just
00:22:16do away and she and george v were the first of the royals to interact on a consistent basis
00:22:26not only with their courtiers and fellow royals but with the general public queen mary's first call is at
00:22:35the garth unemployed social service club where she sees the men weaving and their wives making grapefruit
00:22:40marmalade years later queen mary would demonstrate her common touch when she undertook a tour of the
00:22:46mining villages of south wales queen mary insisted that she go to a miner's cottage so what happened
00:22:53was she went to the miner's cottage visited the miner and perched on his kitchen stall and drank a cup of
00:22:59tea he and his family had the pleasure and honor of showing queen mary over their house including even
00:23:04the scullery what she felt very strongly was that if she was seen as being very friendly with the
00:23:10working classes chatting with a miner in his kitchen drinking a cup of tea the queen herself that it would
00:23:17strengthen the monarchy mary would display a surprising affinity with the working classes throughout her
00:23:23life but just four years into her and george's reign war was looming mary's example during the conflict
00:23:32would help unite the country and preserve the institution to which she devoted her life
00:23:39she without question helped save the monarchy when so many royal families around europe no longer existed
00:23:53the monarchy queen mary's influence on the modern day monarchy is huge in times of crisis our queen is
00:24:03a figurehead to the nation just like her grandmother was over a century ago the monarch is a point around
00:24:10which the people can unite for example most recently the queen in her coronavirus speech together we are
00:24:17tackling this disease and i want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute then we will
00:24:25overcome it king george and queen mary are seen as the brains behind this hands-on style of monarchy
00:24:32that we see today having that monarch who is actually just there for the good of the people
00:24:38and keep the country going that's really key and george and mary recognize this
00:24:43king george and queen mary were catapulted into the center of their first national emergency
00:24:51on the 4th of august 1914 when britain declared war on germany and it seems incredible that it should
00:24:58have started with such a relatively unimportant event as the assassination of the archduke leopold of
00:25:03austria world war one not only threatened the future of the country but also the crown the
00:25:10incident that began the war was a shooting of a royal that really was quite shocking to them and
00:25:17i think they felt very strongly that it was a possibility that people would want to throw them
00:25:21off their thrones queen victoria had imagined that if she simply married her children into enough european
00:25:29royal families then there would never be a war but here was the kaiser who of course was queen victoria's
00:25:35grandson beginning a war with george v for george i don't think he ever imagined he'd be a wartime king
00:25:43european monarchs related to king george was stripped of their crowns including his cousin
00:25:49czar nicholas ii of russia could the british royal family be next the kaiser of germany the czar of russia
00:25:58and royals all over europe lose their thrones and some of them are assassinated the british crown wasn't
00:26:03as secure as it needed to be it had come under threat it was in danger and george and mary needed
00:26:08to do something about it this wasn't their only problem almost nine million troops from the british
00:26:17empire were sent into battle and the death toll at home and abroad was quickly rising
00:26:25so many people died with so many families lost relations there's never been such a tremendously awful
00:26:32wipeout of talented well-educated sound people was a terrible terrible loss of life as war raged on
00:26:40and with the crown under threat king george was in a precarious situation queen mary is often credited
00:26:46as being his most trusted advisor and her wisdom and knowledge would become critical for the survival of
00:26:53the monarchy he was very concerned about the millions of his subjects who were losing so many loved ones and
00:27:01he relied tremendously on his wife she had been taught a lot about history by her governors and she would
00:27:09offer examples of how other royals had coped in different times with her by his side he felt confident
00:27:17enough to make decisions and bring us through the war in 1918 rationing was rolled out across the country
00:27:27under queen mary's guidance the new austerity measures were implemented at buckingham palace
00:27:32the royal family would now experience the hardships of war alongside their people queen mary had a
00:27:39reputation for being fantastically frugal she felt that the royal family had to be seen living very simply
00:27:47she turned off the heating in buckingham palace and kept the lights down low and you know served
00:27:52completely horrible sort of grim food like lots of blemange this was a clever and popular move by the
00:28:00queen but driven by her duties and the survival of the crown work didn't stop there her selfless nature
00:28:08would leave a lasting legacy mary was brought up by her mother to always think of others who didn't have
00:28:15the same advantages that they had and despite being shy she attached herself to numerous charities
00:28:24she passed this on to the queen mother she passed it on to our queen and i suppose you could compare
00:28:31all three of them to a stick of rock and that wherever you broke it they were duty ran all the way through
00:28:37queen mary followed in her mother's footsteps and became patron of the london needlework guild in 1897
00:28:46during the war years the queen took charge the needlework guild collected garments and articles
00:28:51of clothing to send to soldiers veterans and their families the queen mother was the next patron of the
00:28:57organization and princess mary the princess royal and later princess margaret were also members
00:29:02queen mary's drive and commitment was an inspiration to others especially women world war one saw the
00:29:11first female police officers and by 1918 almost a million women were employed in munitions war this was
00:29:18the first war in which women were playing an active role and mary woody saw it as her key role to really
00:29:25encourage this and to be part of the woman's effort in the country she set up a fund which was for
00:29:33unemployed women because their men folk were off fighting in the war or sadly killed and so they would
00:29:41organize areas where they could actually develop careers and do things and get paid for them
00:29:48this had never happened before
00:29:49queen mary became a beacon of hope especially to those affected by the tragedies of war as she
00:29:58visited the wounded the press and public were won over by her tender ways qualities which are seen
00:30:04today in her granddaughter the queen this was very difficult for her because she was shy reticent
00:30:12and didn't have small talk nonetheless she felt it was her duty what happened in one hospital was the
00:30:19head came down to her and said oh your majesty would you really kindly spend some time with a sailor
00:30:26most of his face has been burnt off and he feels very very low she sat very close by him
00:30:33talked to him for a long while and he seemed to be calm i always think of queen mary as like behind
00:30:41the scenes of really making sure that this monarchy not only survived but that it thrived it wasn't all
00:30:51sort of pomp and circumstance and being waited on hand and foot she was able to go out there and see
00:30:57what in a sense normal life was like and then bring that um into the monarchy
00:31:03queen mary made an impressive impact alone but when she was with the king the strength of the crown
00:31:11really started to soar i think it was very clear to her that they couldn't be like victoria with
00:31:17victoria's wars be in the palace far away from it that because people were dying on the western front
00:31:24women and men that it was vital that the monarchy played a role for morale but also to strengthen the monarchy itself
00:31:31on the streets of war-torn britain they started to shape a new relationship with the public
00:31:39they walked the war they were very much sort of in and amongst londoners showing solidarity and in
00:31:47that sense bolstering the national mood and national unity they mixed with more people and effectively
00:31:53they began what we now know as a royal walkabout with crowns across europe falling left right and center
00:32:00they knew that actually these changes need to be permanent to ensure the british crown did not
00:32:05before the same fate i think that that was really the start of where we see the monarchy and the royal
00:32:11family today looking back at how well received queen mary and king george were at that time a perfect
00:32:20example is really kate and william smiling laughing together visiting the charities you can say the same
00:32:26thing for queen elizabeth ii and prince philip with thousands of troops losing their lives anti-german
00:32:34feeling was rife and the royal family's background was soon brought into question as war weariness set
00:32:41in there were some very very outspokenly nationalistic newspapers who intimated that actually the rich royal
00:32:49family was too german and actually it secretly had sympathy with its german relatives when the royal family
00:32:57were at windsor castle there were many reports given to the police that they were shining out lights
00:33:02from windsor castle two german u-boats to come and invade
00:33:06actually when the police investigated it was the lights of the local vicar going home his car lights
00:33:13the king had to take action
00:33:15in 1917 he changed the royal family name
00:33:18name from the german dynasty of sax coburg gota to windsor after the much-loved castle
00:33:26that rename was a huge statement of englishness that george and mary knew that the survival of the
00:33:36monarchy they had to really cut ties with that german background and it was that revolutionary act
00:33:44tarried out by george supported by mary which saw this rebrand of the monarchy for mary of course
00:33:51her parents had both deep german roots and it might have been a little bit painful for her to reject
00:33:57her heritage however she would have done this gladly because she was willing to do almost anything to
00:34:03ensure the survival of the crown it was the end of an era for the royal family they had steadied the crown
00:34:11and the house of windsor was officially born by 1918 millions of soldiers had lost their lives
00:34:21but at 11 am on the 11th of november the war finally came to an end
00:34:29a day that would become known as armistice day
00:34:34there is in london a sort of mad rush of people to buckingham palace
00:34:40and the king and the queen are called out again and again onto the balcony
00:34:46during a war or anything tragic you want to be able to look at something within your own country that
00:34:52is steadfast that is continuity that is strong and that during that period was queen mary and king george
00:35:00the british royal family had retained the support of the nation and unlike some of their european cousins
00:35:06avoided the downfall of the crown there were people in british politics who rather hoped they might be
00:35:12able to get rid of the monarchy after world war one but uh they were disappointed from a position in 1914
00:35:20when the monarchy looked to be very much on the ropes through the actions of mary and george in the war
00:35:27it left the monarchy after the war stronger perhaps than it had ever been the people had recognized
00:35:35actually the good work the royals had been doing during the war that secured the british monarchy
00:35:40for the future george and mary had modernized it they'd made a new dynasty and they'd saved the british
00:35:46crown queen mary's devotion to duty through the great war had helped save the monarchy for now
00:35:55although it wasn't long before her strength and support would prove critical to the crown once again
00:36:02the country was bankrupt the country was in a terrible mess there was massive unemployment
00:36:07they had a very sticky situation on their hands and i think that george fifth was worried
00:36:13there might be a revolution
00:36:24the role of royal consort is often a difficult one prince philip has spent 68 years at the queen's
00:36:32side and in that time has become her rock guiding advising and supporting the monarch
00:36:40and more than a century ago this was the job of the queen's grandmother queen mary
00:36:45she like philip made the role her own queen mary definitely shaped the role of queen consort there
00:36:55were more royal visits she helped him write his speeches i have much pleasure in declaring the dark
00:37:02open for you and of course she used her bookish ways as one of the cleverest members of the royal family
00:37:08we've possibly ever had to actually influence her husband and the way he dealt with politics she was
00:37:14very quietly the power behind the throne probably in a very similar way that um the queen mother uh
00:37:22supported george the six with mary as his committed consort king george had emerged more popular than ever
00:37:29from the great war however the celebrations were short-lived
00:37:35just a few months later their youngest son john who had epilepsy
00:37:40passed away she writes in her diary that she's very sorry and that it's incredibly sad
00:37:46but she never refers to him again i think that she felt very deeply that it was her job to remain
00:37:52strong both in public but also for her husband and for the family and for the crown along with their
00:38:00personal problems post-war britain presented the house of windsor with a new set of worries throughout
00:38:06the later years of the king's reign 600 million pound has been spent in unemployment payment the country
00:38:17was bankrupt in a terrible mess there was massive unemployment they had a very sticky situation on
00:38:24their hands and i think that george v was worried there might be a revolution the world really shifted
00:38:32and george and mary were aware of that and they had to shift with it it's under king george and queen
00:38:38mary that the working classes demand for more representation that women get the vote and that everything
00:38:44becomes a more egalitarian society and this very much i think is sort of antithetical to this pair
00:38:52of great conservatives to come beside over this period of huge social change king george and queen mary
00:38:59was seen by many including their family as unlikely modernizers but to keep themselves relevant and
00:39:06revered by the public they began to embrace the changing face of britain they were conservative
00:39:13with a small c um so much so that their son david said that they were waging a private war with the
00:39:2320th century although they didn't like change they understood that it had to be done one of the biggest
00:39:32changes was in 1924 when james ramsey mcdonald became the first labour prime minister the king makes this
00:39:40very strong attempt to befriend the labor prime minister and the queen too plays an important
00:39:46part in trying to um uh you know invite the labor wives to court and make them feel at home this is
00:39:52politically really important with this huge political and social change happening all around them it was
00:39:59the british public who really needed convincing by the crown george and mary really go out to try and
00:40:07and win over the british public be seen to be visiting all sorts of different parts of britain
00:40:13they were seen at industries fairs visiting charities visiting hospitals traveling quite a lot through
00:40:19england um and and being seen much more widely the public appearances endeared the king and queen to
00:40:27their people and crucially the press pathe news would record what they were doing the british public would get to know them much better
00:40:35better than previous generations than it had been possible queen mary understood the value of publicity
00:40:44she regarded it as her royal duty to cooperate with the press she would always stop and let a photographer
00:40:55get his photograph with their reputation on the rise the king and queen decided to go one step further
00:41:03and use technology to bring their voices straight to their people if monarchy was to survive it had to
00:41:11reach the working classes and the working classes had to back it up this is what george v and queen mary
00:41:19understood in a way that many other monarchs did not understand hence why many of them ceased to exist
00:41:29in 1923 the king and queen recorded a message for empire day together
00:41:39on this day my people in all parts of the world join to celebrate their unity and to draw closer the common kind
00:41:49time would hold them together think always of what you can do to make your home happy the spirit of the
00:41:56good home is one of the best things in the world the emergence of a more modernized monarchy with both
00:42:03king george and queen mary at the forefront had been well received but as the king's health deteriorated
00:42:11he looked to the queen to take on a more prominent role in 1928 particularly he suffered from a really
00:42:18bad episode with his lungs queen mary sat by his bedside helped nurse him through the worst of it
00:42:24and she was actually recognized by one of the king's doctors when he was asked who had saved the king's
00:42:30life he quite simply replied the queen he really did suffer from periods of great exhaustion and in some sense
00:42:37the energy of the monarchy as had been so visible during the early years of uh the reign really now
00:42:47was uh focused on mary throughout the 1930s queen mary increasingly took center stage keeping up the
00:42:57popularity of the crown was vital for its survival i am happy to name the ship the queen mary
00:43:05queen mary's unwavering commitment to the crown and support to her husband didn't go unnoticed
00:43:13in 1930 he opened up to his wife in a touching and personal letter i can never sufficiently express my
00:43:22deep gratitude to you darling may for the way you have stood by me this is not sentimental rubbish
00:43:28but what i really feel they were an extremely devoted couple they could have been mr and mrs george
00:43:38windsor in serbiton they were so doubtworth in terms of their personal relationship in 1932 the palace
00:43:51was contacted by the bbc with an innovative idea they asked if the king would be willing to record
00:43:57a christmas message to the nation now he'd already been approached a decade earlier but the king had
00:44:04declined not thinking it was such a good idea but fast forward 10 years and it seems that queen mary
00:44:11might have whispered in george's ear recognizing that actually a radio message could be a really good way
00:44:17of getting the people to hear them they set up a recording studio at sandringham and they had the
00:44:24king's favorite wicker chair there he sat down rather too hard and went through the seat of the chair
00:44:31so that was hastily put together again and he addressed his people through one of the marvels of modern
00:44:40science i am enabled this christmas day to speak to all my peoples throughout the empire and it was a
00:44:50massive massive massive success and it was then carried on by george vi and of course um the queen
00:44:57today by the king's silver jubilee in 1935 the popularity of the crown had reached an all-time
00:45:07high a golden day for the silver jubilee king george and queen mary had triumphed through adversity
00:45:14and become an inspiration to the people of britain the jubilee was spectacular it was an outpouring
00:45:21really of gratitude to them of support very different from edward seventh but crucially had
00:45:30given britain what it needed at that time steadfast duty loyalty a sense of service and it was that
00:45:38that would become i think one of their greatest legacies there are rather nice stories of queen mary
00:45:43in floods of tears for her was something very unusual because she was so moved by the reception
00:45:48that she and the king had received however behind the scenes there was a worry the king's health was
00:45:56in decline and on the 20th of january 1936 things took a turn for the worse he was at sandringham his
00:46:05favorite place in the whole world he was getting weaker and weaker and eventually
00:46:10he died at 11 55 and there's always said that he was given a lethal injection by his doctor of morphine
00:46:20and cocaine so that he could die just before midnight so that it could be in the first edition of the
00:46:28the london times which was his favorite newspaper what she wrote very very soon after king george died revealed
00:46:38so much about her she said the sunset of his death tinged the whole world's sky
00:46:47i think the comment she made was so poetic beautiful and incredibly moving
00:46:57on the 28th of january 1936 the funeral took place and people from all over the country lined the streets
00:47:06to pay their respects to their beloved king
00:47:09and so we turned the last page of this chapter of sorrow in sadness he passes his majesty king george
00:47:18v mourned by the whole world the nation was distraught they went into mourning everybody was in mourning
00:47:26there was this figure that to their mind represented continuity and stability and suddenly he was no longer
00:47:33there as long as he lived he was the guiding star of a great nation when he died the little children
00:47:41cried in the street king george with queen mary by his side had transformed the british monarchy
00:47:49setting the house of windsor a high standard for the future the death of george v ended a progressive
00:47:56period for the british monarchy he and mary had decided what was necessary to take the royal family
00:48:02forward and to secure the monarchy for the future i don't think we would be speaking about king george
00:48:09v in the same way that we talk about him now in present day if it hadn't been for queen mary and
00:48:15her influence on him steadfast strong clever and having his ear britain now had a new king edward d8 but
00:48:25king george v was still on the forefront of everyone's minds and the future of the crown was again
00:48:32put into question his passing left a huge hole and a huge sense of unease really about what was to come
00:48:43people were shaken and no one obviously more than mary herself even in her grief queen mary continued
00:48:54shaping the british monarchy and her commitment to the crown remained as strong as ever even when it was
00:49:00under threat from her own son she couldn't understand how somebody was prepared to throw away all his
00:49:07heritage and all the things that people expected of him for the sake of one woman
00:49:20for queen mary duty and the crown came above all else even family she and george had five sons
00:49:29two of them would go on to become king the first was edward when his father passed away
00:49:35he became edward the eighth and i say of the king
00:49:39me by launching a ship yes he said that's a woman's job not a man edward was very handsome he was small in
00:49:46stature but very good looking he was suave he was intelligent beautifully dressed he was an innovator of
00:49:54fashion everything he wore people copied popular among the people edward seemed the perfect fit for the
00:50:02role of king but he did not share his mother mary's views on the importance of duty edward was not bound by
00:50:11by protocol by expectation in the way that mary always had been edward ultimately saw personal happiness as
00:50:21his right and mary saw that that always had to be subjugated to duty and service
00:50:30much of this was down to edward's childhood although they had triumphed in their reign as parents mary
00:50:39and george failed to instill their own values in their firstborn son george and mary were basically
00:50:46disastrous parents they just couldn't show any warmth to their children she was i think quite a cold
00:50:53person she didn't really know how to talk to her children certainly not when they were young mary was
00:51:00particularly strict with her eldest son prince edward and there had been quite a lot of elder sons in the
00:51:05past who'd misbehaved been profligate had mistresses that was not what she wanted she and george really
00:51:12saw it as their role to bring in this very moral very strict type of monarchy
00:51:17but their strict and distant parenting style appeared to have the opposite effect edward couldn't
00:51:26have been more different to his mother he was young experimental fun entertaining he was
00:51:33really a party boy edward was always having affairs especially affairs with married women
00:51:39couldn't really settle down she couldn't bear the fact that he was having a lot of relationships
00:51:46with people she didn't consider was suitable one of edward's lovers caused more concern for mary
00:51:53than all the others edward fell in love with walrus simpson a glamorous divorced american and it was the
00:52:00divorce that was the sticking point and the problem was if you were king was that you were head of the
00:52:06church of england you could not marry a divorcee in the church of england it was not seen as acceptable
00:52:11as well queen mary was very very worried i mean she didn't
00:52:16joanna kolen-san boto-bukemasu kutakisu kima nasi harikanitu konto shiha nya kito hikasaki marisa
00:52:27gensanaki harikaniki kira imosige siu
00:53:35I think for one moment that he was going to try and marry Wallace,
00:53:53but she didn't like the influence that Wallace had over her son,
00:53:58who she knew was perhaps quite weak.
00:54:00And here was this very strong American lady that seemed to have bewitched him.
00:54:05But before being crowned king, what Mary didn't realize was that Edward had already decided he wanted to marry Wallace.
00:54:14One time he thought he could have a morganatic marriage, so he could be king and be married to Wallace Simpson, but she wouldn't be queen.
00:54:22That wasn't acceptable to Edward. He wanted to marry her absolutely all out.
00:54:26He wanted Wallace to be Queen Wallace.
00:54:29And also the morganatic wife was not acceptable to some parts of the empire as well.
00:54:34And he's told very clearly that you either don't marry her or you abdicate.
00:54:41Edward was forced into a corner.
00:54:46When it was looking likely that he would abdicate, Queen Mary stepped in.
00:54:50The dutiful dowager queen was not prepared to allow the personal life of her son to affect the reputation of the crown.
00:55:00When Queen Mary realized that he really was going to give everything up for Wallace Simpson,
00:55:06she summoned him to Marlborough House, where she was living, and said,
00:55:10You've got to reconsider. You must, you cannot do this.
00:55:13She just couldn't believe that he could do it.
00:55:16To be placed in the position of having to choose between love and a throne is one of life's most tragic dilemmas,
00:55:23even if the dilemma is of the king's own making.
00:55:26But Edward's decision was made, and only five months prior to his coronation,
00:55:32on December 11th, 1936, Edward D. Eights addressed the nation.
00:55:37I have found it impossible to carry a heavy burden of responsibility
00:55:42and to discharge my duties as king, as I would wish to do,
00:55:51without the help and support of the woman I love.
00:55:56Well, Queen Mary could not believe that anyone, being a king of England,
00:56:04would give it up for anybody or anything.
00:56:08She had given up her whole life for the crown.
00:56:12And here was this son of hers just chucking it over.
00:56:17It was a huge crisis, and here again was a chance for the monarchy to crush and crumble into the ground.
00:56:27Mary put monarchy before family, and with the reputation of the crown under threat,
00:56:33she had a hand in ensuring Edward was revoked of his royal duties
00:56:37and exiled, along with Wallis Simpson, to France.
00:56:41She loved her son, but if he abdicated, that meant she could no longer see him.
00:56:46He was an exile, she would not go to his wedding.
00:56:49If he was to have children, she would not meet them.
00:56:51Well, I think what Mary felt was, if that's what my son wants,
00:56:56and he wants to marry Wallis Simpson, he can.
00:56:59But she's never going to be a royal highness to me,
00:57:02and she is not going to get the title royal highness,
00:57:05and he can stay out of this country because I've got to help my second son
00:57:10take his role as king, and I don't want my first son interfering
00:57:15and trying to maybe stir up affection for himself because people loved him.
00:57:20Edward was given the title Duke of Windsor
00:57:23and was not allowed to return home without permission.
00:57:27His brother Bertie, the Duke of York, became King George VI.
00:57:31He was the second of Queen Mary's sons to become king
00:57:34and was known for his stammer and shy, retiring nature.
00:57:39Everybody thought he was going to be a shambles
00:57:41and that his inadequacies would jeopardize the continuity of the monarchy.
00:57:47It was a huge personal crisis for Queen Mary.
00:57:50Everything that she and her husband had built up together
00:57:53potentially could bring the whole monarchy down.
00:57:57Mary, as dowager queen, had to do something that no other dowager queen had done.
00:58:03Most dowager queens, after their husband dies,
00:58:06really, they get to step back from the public role,
00:58:10and that simply wasn't the case for Mary.
00:58:12She was expected to be out there, to be showing her support for her son, for George VI.
00:58:20And on the 12th of May, 1937, Queen Mary's support was on full display
00:58:25at the coronation of King George VI, breaking with age-old tradition.
00:58:30Mary made a very significant decision, and that was to go to George VI's coronation.
00:58:36And that was something that dowager queens do not do.
00:58:40They do not go to the coronation of the successor.
00:58:43She broke precedent left, right, and centre.
00:58:47She was giving the message loud and clear to people all over the world,
00:58:55I back my youngest son as king.
00:58:59Because there was some doubt as to whether George VI would be able to even fulfil the role adequately.
00:59:07However, thanks to the support of his mother, Mary,
00:59:11George would quickly prove to be a powerful symbol of courage and fortitude
00:59:15at the outbreak of the Second World War, just two years into his reign.
00:59:21For the second time in the lives of most of us, we are at war.
00:59:31George, in those activities through the war
00:59:34that him and the later Queen Mother performed
00:59:37were very much inspired by Mary leading from the front,
00:59:42showing a sense of solidarity with people
00:59:46and guiding her son through another war
00:59:51that left, once again, the monarchy strengthened by it,
00:59:55not undermined as it may well have been.
00:59:59Mary was ruthlessly determined to protect the monarchy,
01:00:02even putting it above her son.
01:00:05By instilling the same principles and dedication in Queen Elizabeth,
01:00:09Mary would prove to be a huge influence.
01:00:13I have to tell you, I do not think that she would have made
01:00:16as good a queen as she has made
01:00:19had she not had her grandmother's influence.
01:00:23Queen Mary weathered many storms in her time as consort to George V.
01:00:36Public scrutiny, war and political change all threatened the monarchy.
01:00:42But despite the chaos of the world,
01:00:44her sense of duty to the crown
01:00:46was something she was keen to pass on to future royal generations.
01:00:50Mary was very aware that Elizabeth would be queen one day,
01:00:56that she was next in line to the throne.
01:00:58Queen Mary, I think, had a real sense of responsibility
01:01:01in instilling in the young Elizabeth
01:01:02the kind of values which she knew
01:01:05would ultimately be needed if the monarchy was to endure.
01:01:10Mary felt very strongly that Elizabeth should be having more education
01:01:13in history, in geography, learning about her country.
01:01:17And she took it upon herself to take Elizabeth and Margaret
01:01:21out on outings to galleries and to really try and show them around
01:01:26because Princess Elizabeth's parents were a little bit distrustful of education.
01:01:32Mary also felt that as future queen,
01:01:36Elizabeth's education should include etiquette.
01:01:39The first thing she taught young Princess Elizabeth
01:01:42was to sit up straight and to sand straight, not to fidget.
01:01:48And she made sure that the pockets of the princess's coats
01:01:52were sewn up so she couldn't put her hands in her pockets.
01:01:56And she also taught them the royal wave with a handkerchief.
01:01:59And Elizabeth said to Margaret,
01:02:01handkerchiefs are for waving, not for blowing your nose on.
01:02:04Queen Mary must indeed have rejoiced in the later years of her life
01:02:07to see her granddaughter developing those same royal qualities
01:02:10which she in her time had exemplified.
01:02:13Here is a charming picture,
01:02:14the older generation and a sovereign of the future.
01:02:17But above all, Mary wanted to instill in her
01:02:20what it meant to be royal,
01:02:22as depicted in this stirring scene from Netflix's The Crown.
01:02:27Monarchy is God's sacred mission to grace and dignify the earth,
01:02:32to give ordinary people an ideal to strive towards,
01:02:35an example of nobility and duty to raise them in their wretched lives.
01:02:40Monarchy is a calling from God.
01:02:45This wasn't a job to her.
01:02:47And she felt that she had been chosen to do this.
01:02:50And she instilled that in the young Princess Elizabeth,
01:02:53that duty was all important and self was not important.
01:02:57It was duty and you were a special person.
01:03:01You'd been picked out to do this
01:03:03and you had to do it for the best of your ability all your life.
01:03:08And it would not be long before the young Elizabeth
01:03:11would have to perform that duty
01:03:13when in 1952, King George VI passed away at only 56 years old.
01:03:19The death of George VI in 1952 was a great shock to Queen Mary.
01:03:25But no one expected him to die so young.
01:03:29I think she was quite broken by the death of her son
01:03:32and also the end of his reign into which she'd put so much effort.
01:03:36I do think that the death of George VI had a great effect on Queen Mary
01:03:40and really you start to see a rapid decline in Queen Mary,
01:03:45even though it was her beloved granddaughter who was on the throne,
01:03:48even though she'd been devoted to Elizabeth ever since she was a little girl.
01:03:53Sadly, soon after the death of King George VI
01:03:57and only ten weeks before Elizabeth's coronation, Mary passed away.
01:04:02Queen Mary has for so long been a familiar presence
01:04:05in Britain's way of life.
01:04:06Her standards have so greatly helped to build British ideals of conduct
01:04:09that it will be both strange and sad
01:04:12not to see her in the future
01:04:13taking her accustomed part in the life of the nation.
01:04:16I think it was a moment of great sadness
01:04:18and so soon after the death of the King
01:04:21she represented such an ideal
01:04:23of how people should comport themselves
01:04:26and a sense of duty
01:04:27and a sense of dedication
01:04:29of support for her husband, her son, her granddaughter.
01:04:33But even after the death of Queen Mary, her strong sense of duty remained.
01:04:39She understood the likelihood was that she might die before the coronation
01:04:45and she gave instructions that should she die before it
01:04:51that it was to proceed.
01:04:53Queen Mary understood that the role of royalty
01:05:00is to not only embody all the interests of all the people in your country
01:05:07but to be self-abnegating.
01:05:13At only 27 years old, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned
01:05:18but without the grandmother she so heavily relied upon.
01:05:22I think that the young Queen Elizabeth
01:05:25would have been very, very upset
01:05:27by the death of her grandmother
01:05:30so that she could ask her advice.
01:05:33But what she did have,
01:05:35what she did use and take on board
01:05:38and repeat
01:05:39was her grandmother's sense of duty
01:05:42her grandmother's resolve
01:05:44that it was a very important role she had.
01:05:49In her role as the new Queen
01:05:51it was evident
01:05:52she resembled the ideals and values
01:05:55of her grandmother.
01:05:57I have to tell you
01:05:58I do not think
01:05:59that she would have made
01:06:01as good a Queen
01:06:02as she has made
01:06:04had she not had
01:06:06her grandmother's influence
01:06:08and one of the proofs of that pudding
01:06:11that is in the eating
01:06:13is that whenever Lilibet has had the choice
01:06:17between her personal preferences
01:06:20and the good of the monarchy
01:06:22she has invariably taken
01:06:24the good of the crown.
01:06:28Mary left a great legacy
01:06:30through her sheer determination
01:06:32and dedication to duty
01:06:33by building a stronger monarchy
01:06:36in a time driven by war
01:06:38political turmoil
01:06:40and social change.
01:06:42At the age of 94
01:06:44it's apparent that Mary
01:06:45still resonates with the Queen today.
01:06:49Just recently
01:06:49the speech that she gave
01:06:51to the nation
01:06:52on the coronavirus
01:06:53right there
01:06:54the brooch that she's wearing
01:06:55is Queen Mary's brooch
01:06:57and you can only sense
01:06:58that she specifically
01:06:59and purposely chose that brooch
01:07:02because Mary exuded
01:07:04that duty
01:07:06exuded that steadfastness
01:07:08exuded that uniting a nation
01:07:10and that's exactly
01:07:12what Queen Elizabeth
01:07:12was doing
01:07:14and has done
01:07:14throughout her reign.
01:07:16Mary's devotion
01:07:17to the crown
01:07:18and the nation
01:07:19during times of crisis
01:07:20have had a considerable impact
01:07:22on how the monarchy
01:07:24is viewed today.
01:07:25If Queen Mary were alive now
01:07:27she would say above all
01:07:29that she had succeeded
01:07:31because Queen Mary's
01:07:33great vision
01:07:33her great aim
01:07:34the ambition
01:07:35was that the monarchy
01:07:37would continue.
01:07:38She helped lead the country
01:07:40through two major wars
01:07:42and she's generally
01:07:43and she's generally
01:07:43opened up
01:07:44to the subjects.
01:07:47I think she helped
01:07:48to save the monarchy
01:07:49looking back
01:07:50I don't think
01:07:51she could have realised
01:07:52how important
01:07:54she really was.
01:07:56We would be
01:07:56a very different world
01:07:57I think
01:07:58if she had not been around
01:07:59and married her king.
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