A Jubilee Tribute to The Queen by The Prince of Wales
2012 BBC One
To launch its Diamond Jubilee weekend, BBC One broadcast a personal tribute to Her Majesty The Queen by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In this unique film, the Prince reflects on various public events and private family moments during the sixty years of The Queen’s reign, and explores previously unseen photographs and cine films from her private collection – many of them shot by The Queen herself. The filming took place at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Highgrove and Balmoral, under the direction of John Bridcut, who worked with the Prince on Charles at 60: The Passionate Prince (BBC One, 2008) and The Prince and the Composer (BBC Four, 2011). It is a Crux Production for the BBC, in association with Rare Day.
This film is now available on DVD, and can be purchased from this website.
FILM CREDITS
| Photography | Jonathan Partridge, Vaughan Matthews |
| Sound | Dave Holmes, Paul Paragon |
| Archive Producer | Cat Dixon |
| Production Co-ordinator | Joanna Gatcum |
| Production Manager | Emily Renshaw-Smith |
| Film Editor | Emma Lysaght |
| Colourist | Vicki Matich |
| Online Editor | Luke Carter |
| Dubbing Mixer | Matt Skilton |
| Executive Producer | Peter Dale |
| Produced and directed by | John Bridcut |
The film was first screened on Friday 1 June on BBC One, and was repeated twice three days later, again on BBC One.
The main picture on this page comes from cine film believed to have been shot by The Duke of Edinburgh en route from Entebbe to London in February 1952, immediately after The Queen's accession. It is copyright Buckingham Palace.
REVIEWS
'Probably the most intimate look at the Queen throughout her reign'
'First picture of Elizabeth as Queen comes to light'
'A poignant discovery that brought a tear to Charles' eye ... the climax of a ground-breaking hour-long documentary'
'He provided an affectionate, candid and emotional commentary to the pictures, offering a rare insight into family life behind closed doors'
'...the chord that was unexpectedly touched by John Bridcut's BBC One film with the Prince of Wales. It was a simple idea: Charles, gentler and more open than we have yet seen him, reviewed home movies and photo albums from his childhood and family life, many of them long unseen. Of all the commemorative, reflective (and sometimes glutinously sycophantic) programmes on air, it struck to the heart. [...]
'Here was Charles, my own greying generation, ruefully observing his infancy and boyhood on the screen and coming (as we all do, usually too late) to an empathetic understanding of his parents. [...]
'For me, as a fellow traveller through time in Charles's generation, the power lay in seeing a man – not a perfect character or always a wise one – looking back across the buffeting of the years. He has had personal mistakes, hostilities and disappointments like all of us, only in public: like us all, he has to accept and finally smile at them'