Aside from the sometimes fractious relationship with Margaret, and in stark contrast to the beginning of her reign, the latter years of 1950s were relatively free from strife – a situation which finally allowed Elizabeth to settle into her role as Queen. With the help of her personal secretary and a legion of trusted advisors, the new monarch succeeded in establishing for herself a comfortable working routine, which has more or less continued unchanged to this day, and which provides the framework and support necessary to allow her to carry out her gruelling schedule of royal duties effectively.
When she is not travelling on State visits, Her Majesty’s weekdays are usually spent at Buckingham Palace, and invariably begin over a breakfast of tea and toast in the company of the Duke of Edinburgh and her beloved corgis. It is at this time of the day that the Queen, poring over the Racing Post newspaper, allows herself a little time to indulge in her passion for horse-racing, an enthusiasm inherited from her mother. Once she finishes breakfast, the Queen’s working day begins in earnest – and it is anything but predictable. A virtual slave to the royal diary, she may be called upon to undertake any number of royal duties: endless meet-and-greets and plaque-unveiling events; innumerable charitable and sporting occasions; and countless investitures, ensure that no two days in the life of Elizabeth II are ever the same.
Queen Elizabeth II on a state visit to Yugoslavia (1972)
However heavy her workload, the Queen has to find time to deal with the contents of her red leather despatch boxes, which she attends to in the privacy of her office. Sent daily to the Palace from the government offices in Whitehall, these boxes contain a variety of governmental missives, many of which are top-secret. Referred to as ‘Reader No. 1’ by her intelligence services, the Queen is privy to everything from minutes of Cabinet meetings and Foreign Office cables to top-level State secrets. Efficient as always, Elizabeth has, over the years, become adept at digesting and comprehending a large amount of information in a short space of time. And unlike her Uncle David – whose indiscretion was such that the authorities were forced to censure some of the more sensitive information – she recognizes the importance of confidentially, and takes her responsibilities in this regard very seriously.
Another immutable fixture in her diary is the weekly audience with her Prime Minister – of whom there have twelve thus far, the first being Winston Churchill. These meetings, which usually take place at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, are a confidential forum for the Prime Minister and the Sovereign to discuss frankly the issues of the moment. Over the years, there has been much speculation about what exactly is said in these meetings, but, the Queen’s personal opinions are not, and never have been, a matter for public consumption.
An Expanding Family
If the last years of the 1950s saw Elizabeth becoming increasingly confident in the execution of her queenly duties, the following decade saw her grow into the other defining role of her life – that of mother to a growing family. The 1960s brought the arrival of two more sons – the first children to be born to a reigning monarch since Queen Victoria’s time. Prince Andrew was born in 1960, followed by Prince Edward in 1964. Although her supposed distanced approach to motherhood has often been commented on, Elizabeth is said to have cherished any time spent with her family, being as it was the perfect antidote for her demanding professional life.
In fact, Elizabeth’s perceived reserved nature may well have been a deliberate ploy on her part to promote family harmony. Mindful that Philip is obliged to take a back seat to her in public, and conscious of his disappointment at being unable to pass his surname on to his children, Elizabeth purposely deferred to her husband when it came to decisions regarding her children’s upbringing. While this tactic may have backfired on occasion – not least when she acquiesced to Philip’s choice of Gordonstoun as a school for their sons, a place where Charles in particular was extremely unhappy– for the most part, Elizabeth succeeded in maintaining the delicate balance between her private and public lives.
Another example of the Queen’s willingness to comply with Philip’s wishes was evident in 1969 when, against her better judgement, she agreed to take part in a ground-breaking television documentary which aimed to give the public unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Elizabeth and her family. The camera crew had spent twelve months filming, capturing many candid and informal moments, including the Queen walking her corgis and partaking in a family barbeque. Although the resulting 105-minute Royal Family programme was a huge ratings success, it brought mixed blessings to its subjects.
While the documentary depicted a normal, happy and well-adjusted family life, which went some way towards rehabilitating Elizabeth’s ‘distant mother’ image, many of the programme’s detractors argued that it destroyed much of the mystery around the British monarchy. In addition, the documentary also proved to be a watershed moment in the relationship between the Royal Family and an increasingly intrusive media. Like a guest who outstays his welcome, once the television cameras were invited in, they proved very reluctant to leave.