Inside the life of Elizabeth II with royal biographer Robert Hardman

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The late Queen Elizabeth was perhaps the most recognised woman on the planet for 70 years. She was on our coins, our stamps, our screens. Well, she died on this day four years ago now. And this year marks the centenary of her birth. Journalist, filmmaker and author Robert Hardman has had extraordinary access to the British Royal family, including the late Queen, as the only biographer to interview all its senior members. His best-selling biography, Charles III, New King, New Court, The Inside Story, is considered a landmark work. And he joins long-time royal commentator and journalist, Emily Andrews, in London to explore the real influence of the late Queen and how the role of the monarchy is changing, perhaps especially since her death.

Emily Andrews (2:33)

Well, hello, everybody.

I wanted to start with the late Queen's legacy and say the special relationship, which I hope has been somewhat mended by that important visit. Would that have happened if it wasn't for the Queen? And is that the whole point of monarchy, soft diplomacy?

Robert Hardman (2:51)

That's very well put, Emily. And thank you all for coming tonight. Yes, I mean, to her, to the Queen, the transatlantic alliance, it was sort of central to her worldview because as a young princess, there she is as a teenager watching her father, who was never born to be king, who became king because he had to in 1936 and just three years later, the country's catapulted into war.

And she's watching her father handling the gravest existential crisis that this country has ever faced, knowing that at any minute the enemy could invade and that if they did, the Windsors could very easily go the way of the Romanovs. And that's still kind of common parlance. I mean, the Romanovs is still very much in daily conversation. Years later, I remember the first time I ever interviewed Prince Philip, and he suddenly said, yes, I remember Cousin Demetri. He killed Rasputin, you know. So the 20th century royal story is writ large in their minds. And for her, it's terrifying. I mean, the dartroil family nearly got kidnapped in May 1940 And so to her, suddenly America, America is all things glamorous.

She loves Hollywood films. She loves Hollywood musicals. But when America enters the war, it's like the cavalry coming to the rescue. And to her, all the way through her life, keeping that relationship going was absolutely vital. She saw that as very much part of her role. And so, you know, when previously, so this isn't the first time, by the way, now, that Washington and London have been at loggerheads politically. It happened in 1956 over Suez, which was a terrible bust up. What did we do? We sent the monarch on a state visit to the USA, and it was a triumph. And so there's a sort of slight element of deja vu.

Emily Andrews (4:38)

Do you think some of the courtiers look back, actually, to 1957, almost not as a blueprint, but to look at, obviously, different times? Well, same as we still got Suez and the Straits of Hormuz, haven't we?

Robert Hardman (4:49)

Yeah, the Middle East have all gone away, causing a rift between Washington and London. Yeah, absolutely. That was definitely at the back of their minds. You know, we hear that phrase, special relationship, and actually the Foreign Office try and they don't use it. I mean, they think it's inappropriate and try and discourage it.