something is going to happen to meghan along the same lines as happened to his mother. - every single time i see a camera, every single time i hear it click, it takes me straight back. - prince harry and meghan markle just announced that they are stepping back. - to be 100% royal, you have to sacrifice privacy and personal happiness. - i never thought that this would be easy. but i thought it would be fair. - harry is making this decision because he can't cope with the life that they're living. [indistinct reciting] female narrator: the house of windsor. ruled over by a dutiful queen, elizabeth ii. - god help me to make good my vow, and god bless all of you who are willing to share in it. narrator: as she watches her beloved grandson marry his american bride...

- i, harry, take you, meghan. [cheers and applause] narrator: a new generation breathes life into an ancient institution. for nearly 70 years, the queen has weathered scandal and tragedy. - we have some very sad news to bring you. princess diana has died. narrator: and battled to remain relevant and respected. - no institution should be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support. narrator: but in the 21st century, the pressures of being royal are more intense than ever. - prince harry and meghan markle, they're stepping back from their senior roles in the royal family. - i will not be bullied into playing a game that's killed my mum. narrator: as the queen nears the end of her reign, can she ensure the survival of the monarchy? [dramatic music] ♪ ♪

[quiet dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [melancholy music] ♪ ♪ - prince charles arrived in a cortege at the pitié-salpêtrière hospital, flanked by the presidential guard, a rare french tribute. narrator: only hours after learning of diana's death, charles flies to paris to retrieve her body. - prince charles was really obliterated by her death. he was absolutely stricken, absolutely stricken. he said, "i kept thinking of that young girl that i married." - he'd had difficulties with diana. their marriage had not worked. but he still loved her. she was the mother of his children. and this was the most shocking and terrible and ghastly thing to happen.

narrator: that night, charles returns to balmoral to be with his sons, william and harry. - charles's priority was those boys. he was desperately worried about them. they were at a very tender, difficult sort of age, 15 and 12. - i rang up queen elizabeth to say how awful, and that i hope the boys are all right. and--and she said, "i think they're in total shock. they haven't cried." - the immediate reaction of the royal family was to say, "we must hunker down, protect the children. "there will be formalities that--that will follow, but that's what we do." narrator: but the country is in no mood for formality. - [sobbing] - she was different. i'd say the rest were stiff. she weren't. she was like one of us.

one of the people. [plaintive music] ♪ ♪ - it's a shock. - the people felt so emotional about diana. it was because she had-- had an extraordinary connection with everybody. people felt a kinship with her. it was like your own beloved friend, mother, sister had died. - she was just a lovely person. we all hoped that we could be like her. - everybody loved diana. [sobbing] - people were crying in the street. men were sitting on park benches crying. it was a very un-british thing to do, the public mourning. - britain was completely consumed by this emotion, this grief, this sense of loss. - [indistinct speech and sobbing] - she was this beautiful young woman,

whose rise and then fall within the royal family had been played out very publicly. narrator: in the early hours of the morning, after news had broken of diana's death, the palace issued a short statement. - buckingham palace said, "the queen and the prince of wales were deeply shocked and distressed by this terrible news." - that was it. and to the population, to this grieving population, it seemed like nothing. - i think the public were waiting for the queen to lead the mourning. and she didn't. - and into this vacuum steps the prime minister tony blair. - i feel like everyone else in this country today. utterly devastated. she was the people's princess,

and that's how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and in our memories forever. thank you. - he coined this wonderful phrase about "the people's princess," and, um, it struck a chord, and it seemed to--to sum up the feelings of a country in a paralysis of grief, if you like, and shock in a way that the queen did not do. [quiet tense music] - the grief really mounts over the days to come. and when the queen doesn't come, when the queen says nothing, it seems like she is cold, unfeeling, so you see this real public relations disaster building up. - the monarchy is about symbolism. and the main symbol we wanted was a flag lowered to half mast out of respect of diana. and there was no flag flying on buckingham palace.

- well, they must be very, very cold-hearted not to have a flag up. - one of their biggest failures was sticking rigidly to protocol that a flag only flies if the queen is in residence. that was a real error of judgement. - very, very, very disgraceful, i find their behavior. very disgraceful. - what do you think, madam? - i think it's disgusting that they have not appeared or said a word. - there was a vehemence to it. there was an undercurrent of real hostility and anger. this was the most criticism the queen had ever received, really, in her reign. - just one hour ago, the queen, accompanied by princess margaret, left balmoral. they were driven by the duke of edinburgh on their way to buckingham palace. narrator: five days after diana's death, the queen returns to london. grief has turned to anger.

she is advised her silence cannot continue. - and now, to london. the monarch, queen elizabeth ii, is about to address her nation for the only the second time apart from her yearly christmas broadcasts. - she has always hated giving live speeches. but she agreed that was the most effective thing to do. - what i say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, i say from my heart. - she used that key phrase-- "i as a--as a grandmother." she was bringing herself, william and harry, into our living rooms. - first, i want to pay tribute to diana myself. she was an exceptional and gifted human being. i hope that tomorrow we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at diana's loss, and gratitude for her all too short life.

- nobody knew quite what the funeral was going to bring, what the mood was gonna be, how were the public going to react. - the queen has gotta lead her family in the face of public anger and animosity. it's make or break time.

[soft discordant music] ♪ ♪ - the gun carriage emerged slowly from kensington palace shortly after 9:00 this morning.

there were only two perceptible sounds-- horseshoes on tarmac and human wailing. [scattered wailing and shouts] - the day of the funeral, the procession comes past buckingham palace, and the queen comes out and stands and waits while the funeral procession goes past. the queen bows to nobody, um, ever. and here is the queen making a bow to her daughter-in-law. narrator: the cortege is then joined by prince charles, his father prince philip, diana's brother earl spencer, and the two young princes, william and harry. - we were all astonished to see william and harry following their mother's coffin on that gun carriage. - william was being stalwart. harry looked like he was just suffering. i mean, literally, he was too young to hide anything.

- people were stunned by the sight of that wreath on the top of the coffin, the white lilies, and the simple word, "mummy." [mournful music] [bell rings] ♪ ♪ - i stand before you today, the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning, before a world in shock. narrator: watched by millions around the world, diana's brother, charles spencer, gives the eulogy. - william and harry, we all care desperately for you today. how great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine. narrator: spencer vows that his family will protect william and harry, and honor diana's wishes for her sons. - we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering

these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned. - he was throwing down the gauntlet, really, at the monarchy. charles was absolutely furious because he regarded this as an attack on him, as somebody who had stifled her spirit and perhaps stifled the spirit of his boys. - i'm so proud to be able to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable, diana-- whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds. - it sounded, to us, inside the abbey, like the patter of rain on the roof. and then it got louder and louder, and we thought, "a thunderstorm? hailstorms?" no. [cheers and applause]

it was clapping from the many, many thousands outside. and the applause went right through those famous great west doors, and up the abbey. [dramatic music] - i think it reflected the mood of the nation at the time. and they felt that this woman had suffered at the hands of the royal family. - prince charles felt a lot of fear. i mean, he really kept saying, "they're going to blame me." he felt that the public would turn on him and blame him for her death. and he was absolutely right about that. - he was utterly vilified. the public felt that if he had loved diana properly, then she would never have been in that tunnel with dodi fayed, and she would therefore not have been killed. - he had to know that the majority of people in the country, especially the women, would've said, "you did that to her. you weren't in love with her, you were in love with somebody else."

that's how angry people were. [horse hooves clopping] narrator: in the months after the funeral, it's the woman diana blamed for the breakup of her marriage who becomes the target of public hostility: camilla parker-bowles. - the public were still madly in love with diana and diana's memory, and every time they heard mention of camilla, it brought back a bad memory. narrator: by now, charles's relationship with camilla was common knowledge, but it still had to be conducted behind closed doors. - the queen knew precisely how damaging camilla and her relationship with charles had been for the monarchy. - the queen was utterly ruthless. i mean, in that period, she and phillip made it absolutely clear that camilla was not welcome, and they would not be seen with her. [dramatic music] - on charles's 50th birthday, the queen gave a party for him

at buckingham palace, to which camilla was not invited. - charles, tonight's-- tonight's party is a tribute to all that you have achieved. narrator: the queen's praise for her son conceals tension behind the scenes. - charles was being told by his mother, the way this--this whole situation is solved is camilla must go. narrator: but less than 18 months after the death of diana, charles openly defies the queen. - the british media had been tipped off by charles's press secretaries that there would be a departure picture. narrator: prince charles is about to make a very public statement to his mother and to the british people. [cheers and applause] - suddenly, there was this game-changer of a moment when charles and camilla appeared on the steps and paused for that image.

prince charles was saying, "this woman is going to be by my side, whether you like it or not."

[mournful bagpipe music] ♪ ♪ - the sound a piper playing a lament heralded the departure of princess margaret's coffin.

narrator: at the age of 71, the queen's sister, princess margaret, dies after years of ill health. - margaret was the queen's closest companion in many ways. i mean, she had been there with her when suddenly their father had to step up and become king. - elizabeth and margaret really were totally devoted to one another. the queen was always the big sister. she was always looking out for margaret. - she was able to confide in her. they were best friends as children, and they'd still remained extremely close. narrator: and just seven weeks after the death of her beloved sister, the queen suffers another devastating loss. her mother, queen elizabeth, dies at the age of 101.

- it was horrible for the queen. her mother and her sister, the two closest women to her, two people who she could really talk to were gone. - for the queen, it wasn't just the loss of a mother, which was deeply important to her, the loss of an advisor and a counsellor, but it was the loss of a contact with the past. - the queen mother embodied much of the 20th century history of britain, who'd married into the family in the 1920s, who'd been there through the abdication, through the second world war. - the queen mother was the most influential figure and the guiding light for her daughter. she was key in creating the blueprint for monarchy that her daughter would follow, and would, for the rest of her life, uphold. - ever since my beloved mother died over a week ago,

i have been deeply moved by the outpouring of affection which has accompanied her death. i thank you for the support you are giving me and my family as we come to terms with her death and the void she has left in our midst. - [indistinct shout] - on the day of the funeral, the queen was being driven back from westminster abbey, and spontaneously everybody began to clap. [cheers and applause] - there was an outpouring of feeling for the queen, who had to deal with first the death of her sister, and then the death of her mother. - the queen mother had occupied this position of being the beloved grandmother. this beloved status, at that moment, transferred to the queen. - [indistinct speech]

- it felt like a significant shift, and in fact, you can almost date the resurgence in the queen's popularity from that summer of 2002. [cheers and applause] narrator: the golden jubilee, celebrating the 50th year of the queen's reign, takes place just two months after the queen mother's funeral. - for a million people to go out on the streets of london and to express love for the queen, after all the tragedies and mistakes of what had happened before, it was a big turning point, very important moment. [fireworks exploding] - i do think it was partly a sense of expelling that emotion that had built up post-diana. it was a kind of national sigh of relief that we'd worked through that somehow.

narrator: joining the royal family for the celebrations is camilla. - it was just the beginning of her acceptance by the royal family, which sort of conferred some respectability on her. - the queen was not getting any younger. would it be better to have an unmarried charles on the throne with this woman hidden away in the background, or possibly a married charles? [indistinct insistent chatter] - in the end, it just looked too undignified that this couple, by then, you know, in their 50s, were not allowed to become man and wife. do you really want, you know, the heir, the future king, just to have a mistress on the side? [dramatic music] narrator: after centuries of opposition to divorcés remarrying, the church of england relaxes its rules.

with the constitutional obstacle removed, charles and camilla are finally married. [applause] - the secret of the success of the royal family has always been reflecting the age in which they live. the queen and prince philip reflect their generation. charles and camilla reflect theirs. we now live in a world where divorce is commonplace, where plenty of people have stepparents. these things happen. and they've happened in the royal family. narrator: charles and camilla's relationship is no longer a scandal, so the press shifts its focus to the young princes. the hunt is on for the next royal fairy tale. - [indistinct speech] - um, no, i don't think so.

[brisk dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - ladies and gentlemen, their royal highnesses, prince william and prince harry. [cheers and applause] narrator: ten years after the death of diana, her sons host a charity concert to celebrate their mother's life. - hello, wembley! [cheers and applause] - the concert for diana was the first time, really,

that we saw her two sons grown up and conducting something themselves. - this evening is about all that our mother loved in life-- her music, her dance, her charities, and her family and friends. narrator: in the crowd that day is william's girlfriend, kate middleton. they'd met during their first year at st andrews university in scotland. - kate was really remarkable, because she was quintessentially middle class, as opposed to upper class. traditionally, the royals have looked to the aristocracy when eying up suitors for young british royals. - they actually spent four years together at st andrews, at times living with one another, and really, really getting to establish a relationship. - prince william would go to the middletons' home

and spend a lot of time with them. he felt very at home there, and he could see how normal families worked. - i know diana discussed with william. and she said, "whatever you do, "you must get to know the person you marry. she must be your friend, first and foremost." narrator: after seven years together, william proposes to kate. - when you go out with someone for quite a long time, you do get to know each other very, very well. you go--you go through the good times, you go through the bad times. - the queen and prince philip are very close to william. and allowing william to live with kate before they got married, and also to marry a middle class girl who was not a princess or anything-- all of those things bespeaks to the fact that they learned. [light dramatic music] - and good morning from london. millions of people here and across the globe waiting and watching for the moment prince william

and kate middleton walk down the aisle. - the kate-william wedding looked spectacular. it was the first time that westminster abbey had been used for a big state wedding for some decades. yet again, the royals were lifting the mood and giving us a fantastic international spectacle. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ narrator: two years after their wedding, prince william and kate welcome their first child, a boy. - here we go, there it is. the happy couple with the baby. narrator: prince george is third in line to the throne. the succession is secure. - william has embarked on family life, he's the perfect prince. but now, the light redirects itself onto his younger brother, harry. - prince harry had a few troubled years as a teenager. there'd been issues about drugs and late-night drinking.

he had been at a friend's fancy dress party, unwisely dressed as a nazi, and he was pilloried in the press. - for many years, harry, there's no doubt he drifted. and he didn't really have a-- a clear sense of purpose and direction. - [indistinct shout] narrator: at the age of 20, prince harry joins the armed forces, but he is determined that this won't be a ceremonial role. he serves two tours of duty in afghanistan. - [indistinct speech] - prince harry loved being in afghanistan. he was right on the frontline. he slept in hammocks. he was treated like an ordinary person. and he found, um, a family in the army. [indistinct radio chatter] - he was a captain, he had a job to do, he had men to lead, and that's what he did. that was probably the first time in his life that he really felt like himself.

- i think when he joined the military, that was the making of him. and it has shaped him, in--in the way that he looks at life, in the way that he looks at other people, in his sense of duty. [cheers and applause] narrator: harry's military experience inspires him to start a charity for wounded veterans. - over the past eight years, i witnessed the whole cycle of life-changing injury. i can only begin to imagine how challenging the journey of recovery is. - whatever you might perceive of the privilege that comes with being a prince, prince harry's had a difficult upbringing. his mother was tragically killed at a very young age. that's an incredibly difficult thing for a young person to have to deal with. - william and harry came to take on one of the mental health charges, and it was fascinating, really, how they used their own personal experiences, like the loss of their mother, to talk about mental health. - we never--we never really talked about it, we never really talked about, um, losing our mum

at such a young age, and when you speak to other people's families and little kids and stuff, you think, "wow, you know, i don't want them to have to go through the same things." - but, you know, even harry and i, over the years, have not talked enough about, you know, our mother. you know, we-- - no, never enough. shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years has had a-- a quite serious effect. all of a sudden, all of this grief that i'd never processed started to come to the forefront. i've probably been very close to a complete breakdown on--on numerous occasions. - for someone in prince harry's position to say that, you now hear a lot of people saying that has had a huge impact on society feeling more comfortable talking about mental health. - he wanted to really break the taboo, to give others the chance to seek help without, uh, being ashamed. [gentle dramatic music] narrator: at a charity event in canada,

harry introduces the world to the woman who will change his life forever, actress meghan markle. - he was able to find somebody that he connected with, somebody that had the same passion for helping others. - meghan markle seemed an unlikely candidate. certainly, in the history of the monarchy, um, divorced americans have not fared so well. but times change. - here they are, prince harry and meghan markle. this will be their first official photo shoot as an engaged couple. - meghan was like a breath of fresh air, she was fantastic. no, she wasn't the shy, retiring royal girlfriend. - if meghan markle was the slightest bit nervous about stepping out in front of the british public for the very first time, it didn't show. - and we're particularly happy. uh, it's been our first royal foundation event with meghan.

- women don't need to find a voice; they have a voice. they need to feel empowered to use it. and people need to be encouraged to listen. - the young royals are a real pr boost to the royal family. they--they're modern, attractive. so i think that they really renovated the royal brand. - we in the press started talking about the fab four. what could they achieve together? they seemed a great and very dynamic unit. but it didn't last very long.

[tense music] ♪ ♪ narrator: on a beautiful spring day, thousands gather as meghan markle arrives at windsor castle to marry prince harry. - it was very different to anything we'd seen before with royal weddings. it had a gospel choir, it had the bride walking herself up the aisle. it had an american bishop delivering the address. - the late dr. martin luther king once said, and i quote, "we must discover the power of love." - meghan was bringing some of her black heritage

to the table. it speaks to her sense of self. [cheers and applause] - i think the queen as a grandmother was delighted for harry, but both charles and william were cautious. there was a sense that harry needed to be careful to make sure meghan knew what she was getting into. - the tabloids have a very contradictory relationship with the monarchy. on the one hand, they're very celebratory of the institution. they--they like to celebrate births, marriages. and yet, there is another side to this relationship. and that is, having built these individuals up, the tabloid journalists love to tear them down. there was animosity because she was different. there are questions that hang over her, about what has come before. what is her history?

what is her past? - meghan has been married before, she's had a career, and she has ideas of her own. - she is a very strong-minded, ambitious professional woman. - all of that seems to be supremely irritating to the british press. - there were a series of incidents which got them bad publicity. - harry and meghan are seen as publicly extravagant, taking private jets to go holidaying. - meghan took a very expensive flight to america and had a very expensive baby shower. - it's interpreted as hypocritical because they regularly talk publicly about the importance of, uh, becoming better environmentalists. narrator: the criticism mounts after the couple's baby, archie, is born in may, 2019. [camera shutter clicking] - there is a sort of unwritten contract

that the british public helps to fund the royal family in exchange for little glimpses of babies and family life. - but they didn't want to talk about where the baby was born. they didn't want the press covering the christening. - i think the public were confused about the way they decided to, uh, withhold information. and i think people felt that there is an element of obligation on harry and meghan's part to offer a little bit more. narrator: the couple is determined to guard baby archie from the media intrusion. but scrutiny of their own lives is harder to control. - thinking back to the time when harry and meghan first got together, there was, uh, tabloid, uh, speculation that used highly racialized imagery. [dramatic music] - there is this terrible criticism of meghan.

it's racist, it's sexist, it calls her an outsider, it calls her exotic, there's talk about her from gangland. there was a tabloid story that she came "straight out of compton," a part of los angeles which had a fairly rough reputation. that allusion with all of that racialized baggage-- it's very potent. - i read stuff from certain writers who said, "well, we can absolutely understand why he's in love with her and why he fancies her, but you don't marry her." it is racism, it's totally racial. - i do think that a lot of the press coverage of meghan markle has been, you know, extraordinarily sour, um, misogynist, and i would say implicitly racist. ♪ ♪ - that must've been a shock to her and very wounding.

[indistinct yelling and cheering] narrator: in september 2019, harry and meghan undertake a royal tour of southern africa. - i want to you know that, for me, i am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of color, and as your sister. [cheers and applause] narrator: as the couple prepares to return home, meghan shares her feelings about the pressure she is under. - can you put up with this? can you deal with it? - it's not enough to just survive something, right? like, that's not the point of life. you've got to thrive, you've got to feel happy, and i think i really tried to adopt this british sensibility of a stiff upper lip, but i think that what that does internally is probably really damaging. i never thought that this would be easy.

but i thought it would be fair. narrator: for prince harry, the media frenzy surrounding his new family triggers painful memories. - every single time i see a camera, every single time i hear a click, every single time i see a flash, it takes me straight back. it's the worst reminder of her life, as opposed to the best. [camera shutters clicking] - always in the back of his mind he has that terrible fear that something is going to happen to meghan along the same lines as happened to his mother. - if it was me, i would figure out what i'm going to do next, for the sake of meghan and the sake of my child. because that's what matters here. - i'll always protect my family. i'll not be bullied into playing a game that's killed my mum.

[dramatic music] - breaking news tonight. the duke and duchess of sussex have announced that they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family. - harry, harry, harry! narrator: prince harry and his wife meghan want to redefine their roles and split their time between britain and north america. - harry is making this decision because he can't cope with the life that they're living.

[quiet dramatic music] meghan has probably felt under siege. and harry, i think, has quite rightly tried to protect his wife. - i want you to hear the truth from me, as much as i can share-- not as a prince, or a duke, but as harry. i have grown up feeling supported from so many of you, and i watched as you welcomed meghan with open arms. the uk is my home, and a place that i love. that will never change. but i hope that helps you understand what it had to come to, that i would step my family back from all i have ever known, to take a--take a step forward into what i hope can be a more peaceful life. - harry is six times removed. so they are way down the line of succession.

to be a royal, you have to sacrifice a degree of privacy and personal happiness. and harry or meghan just don't want to sign up to it. - prince harry's statement brings to the fore a central question about what being a member of the royal family is all about. you know, is it a birthright? is it a duty? or is it a job? [brisk tense music] narrator: but prince william, second in line to the throne, is embracing his role as future king. - william is the responsible one, doing the duty, going through the motions, and that is really rather important. - william is the future head of the firm, and the firm is what matters. narrator: william and kate now have three children: prince george and princess charlotte, who's two years younger, and prince louis, born in 2018.

- if you look to william and kate, they don't look like they want to change the monarchy. they're more about continuity. - we saw very clearly in the recent christmas photograph that the line of succession goes from elizabeth to charles to william and then to george. - it's very hierarchical. every member of that line of succession understands their place. and i think that tells you an enormous amount about the way that family operates. [triumphant music] narrator: the house of windsor is at a crossroads. in a world where deference is no longer the norm, how does the royal family remain relevant? - the queen belongs to a different era. monarchy was much more secure when she came to the throne. it wasn't challenged in the way that i think it is today. - the royal family is caught in this bind between the need,

on the one hand, to modernize and embrace modernity, but at the same time to maintain those traditional elements of the monarchy as well. - the monarch is only there by consent of the people. if the people really, really, really don't want a monarchy, then our monarchy will disappear. [solemn music] ♪ ♪ narrator: for over a century, the windsors have been the custodians of a monarchy that stretches back nearly 1,000 years. [cheers and applause] it has survived abdication, family rifts, bitter divorce, and tragedy. and holding it together for nearly 70 years

has been queen elizabeth ii. - i think the queen will be remembered as the most resilient public figure of recent times. famous from the moment she was born, through the immense changes of modern britain, and to serve the people >> public bigger of recent times famous from the moment she was born through the immense changes of modern britain. and to serve the people all that time. this is a remarkable achievement >> i don't >> think greens >> changed one >> iota suits >> the day sheep okay. i'm queen she's an example to everybody. had to do a job throughout your life >> she's >> being steadfast in her duties and never let us and she never will i think there's something comforting about that level of stability it makes one wonder what on earth will happen to the royal family. wants the queen dies

>> if the winds are to survive the vow taken by elizabeth, the second the longest reigning monarch in british history is a model for her successes >> i can whether it be long or short shall be devoted to service is motto, which have been borne by many of my ancestors. and noble motto >> i said >> hello and welcome everyone. i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company