we have breaking news. good day this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington, continuing our coverage of the breaking news overseas. the global concern over the health of queen elizabeth ii. prince charles is now at bar -- balmoral castle. family members are heading there after learning from doctors that the monarch is under medical supervision. there's growing concern about her health, just two days after she fulfilled her royal duties by meeting with the new british prime minister, liz truss. joining me now, keir simmons and daisy mcandrew. keir, fill us in on the latest. the family assembles. these are grave moments. i can never recall another health update on the monarch other than during her brief episode of covid.

>> reporter: that's right. it's very unusual. that's why i think that this is a serious situation for the queen. the words that have been used by the palace are, of course, that the doctors -- her doctors are concerned for her majesty's health. of course, that is understated. inevitably, it's understated because in buckingham palace, they choose their words carefully. it was a short statement just after 7:30 eastern this morning. but it was a statement that said a lot. you have to read between the lines with these things. to fill in the blanks a little bit in terms of the members of the members of the royal family who are at balmoral or on their way, in these situations, with these royal -- whether we have royal news, so often we compare our own lives to theirs.

i think many people watching will think about their own families and moments when an elderly loved one is sick and when members of the family all head to their bedside or to their side. that will, i think, for many people watching, give them a sense of perhaps how serious this is. you mention that prince charles and the duchess of cornwall are there at balmoral already. also, the princess royal, princess anne, the queen's daughter is there. we believe that the earl and duchess of sussex may be on their way. prince william on his way. same for prince andrew, duke of york, and the earl and duchess -- the duke and duchess of sussex. we know the duke of sussex, harry, is going to balmoral. the duchess, meghan, is going to

stay in london. they were in europe for a number of occasions. we understand now that harry is heading to balmoral. meghan is not. we have this picture, don't we, of first a health update, as you mentioned, incredibly unusual. the very fact buckingham palace prepared to give an update on the queen's health. so often, those of us who cover these royal events get told by the palace, we're not going to give a running commentary on a member of the royal family's health. here they have. i think that is significant. then just the members of the family converging at balmoral, potentially significant. the messages from political leaders here in the uk, the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, the archbishop of caterbury paints a picture.

although, the queen is famously able to rally. we have heard occasions that she was tired and that she needed time to recover. then she did recover. that picture of her with the new prime minister liz truss this week, appointing to the new prime minister, she looked frail. she looked spritely. we will wait for news. since 7:30 this more than, we have heard very little from the palace. >> indeed. daisy mcandrew, you, of course, have observed and watched this extraordinary reign and the effect she has on the country, on the world. this is a family gathering at the bedside of a 96-year-old matriarch and sovereign.

there's no overstating her influence. not only in the uk, but from my own experience also when she comes to the u.s. >> absolutely. you've got these two dynamics ongoing simultaneously, a woman -- a great grandmother, 96-year-old, beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother but also a head of state. in some ways, if we are all coming to terms with the fact that this might be the beginning of the end -- of course, everybody is keeping everything hoped it's not. when she does die, it will literally be the end of an era. it will be the end of the elizabethian era. that will be a shock for this nation. who we are, how we see ourselves is very much wrapped up in who the head of state has been for the last 70 years. that level of continuity has

meant nobody has had to give much thought to what comes next. you've got the human story and you can see the senior members of the royal family rushing tole balmoral. that tells a story. this is a family that does not leave its duties for anything that's inconsequential. we know prince harry had a very, very important event that he was going to tonight, the well child awards. camila had a big event that she had to pull out of. so did princess anne. they have dropped what they were meant to be doing on behalf of the nation. they have rushed to balmoral. also, the political impact. politics is in turmoil. we have a new prime minister, as you were just mentioning. she was in the middle of an incredibly important first big policy announcement about the cost of living crisis when she was passed a note in the house of commons as was the leader of the official opposition. it was all caught on camera.

that was the moment they were told something serious was going on. this isn't -- don't be under any illusions this is just the queen having an off day. this is a very serious moment. >> we just saw some pictures of the members of the royal family, we have confirmed, arriving through those gates, the stone gates at balmoral. let's talk about balmoral and the importance of that place for her. a place associated with queen victoria, whom she revered for her life of service. i have had the privilege of being there once for a wonderful occasion. this is where she retreats every august. but this is an unusual extended period in balmoral. this is a place very special. she has been there for at least one or more of her pregnancies. much earlier in her life. it's a place that is very much at home. it's where she loves being out and about, the hunt.

we know all of those special moments. keir? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. there are places, there are palaces that the queen uses. buckingham palace a good example. the royal family don't love buckingham palace particularly. it's kind of a huge office as well as a residence. then there are the places they truly love and that have history woven into them in ways that endear them to members of the royal family and queen. balmoral and windsor castle are those two, really. she loves scotland. she loves the outdoor life. we have talked about her passion for horse riding. she likes places away from the city. it also gives her a degree of privacy. there's a famous documentary, which hasn't been shown so much recently, of the royal family having a grill, a barbecue as we

call it here. that out in the fields. that was at balmoral. there's a lot of family history for her there, both the royal family and her family. yes, it is a place that she will feel enormously at home. that, of course, is a good thing for somebody who is 96 and clearly struggling right now as we have been told in the statement. the doctors monitoring her. she's under medical supervision. there's, of course -- this happens just in the palace, in the buildings and also in the lives of the royals. there's this split screen between the private side and the public side. to give you an example of that, william and kate this week taking their children, george, charlotte and louis, to their new school. an experience that every parent

watching will understand and know. then this news about the queen, william's grandmother, and william heading to balmoral to see her while kate, as we understand it so far, potentially staying with the children. it conjures up an experience that so many watching will have had. again, for the royal family, it's one of their roles, isn't it, to reflect our own lives in their lives. that being said, of course, it is -- their lives are nothing like our lives. she will have the top -- some of the top doctors around her. she will be looked after and monitored. because not only is she a mother and a grandmother and great grandmother, she's the monarch. >> stay with me. joining us now also, nbc news royal contributor, wilford

forecast, katty kay. >> talk to us about this great grandmother and mother. the sovereign who has known every american president since truman, with the exception of lbj, and has had such a close relationship with others in the united states, others in the philanthropy community and in the horse community in kentucky. she has close ties here, personal ties. >> well, she certainly does, as you say, ties that reach the very top to those heads of states and government to the presidents that she has met down the years. i think what's perhaps most remarkable is she has such a big reach to everyday people in america and around the rest of the world. not just here in the united kingdom. i think that is unique to her.

yes, as the british sovereign in the many years ahead, that will likely continue to a degree. but almost certainly to a lesser degree. her personal appeal, both because of the longevity of her reign. she's the longest serving british monarch, more than the combined reign of her four immediate predecessors. the way she reigned gracefully and with poise earned her enormous respect around the world, including as you said, in america. what is remarkable about those relationships she built with u.s. presidents is she only has soft power. she doesn't have the hard power that they carry as both head of government and head of state. and yet clearly, has commanded their respect and gained their affection despite that. >> when we go back and think about everything that's happened since her coronation, since she got the word that her father had

passed and she was in kenya with prince philip, and had to return back to discover -- to, of course, assume her duties, but all that she has witnessed, all the history, she has such great knowledge, which does not assert itself in terms of policy, but she's been with some of these prime ministers and we think about winston churchill, she learned so much from him during those transitional years, but also she imparted so much wisdom to succeeding prime ministers and privately even to american presidents. >> i think that's true, andrea. remember, this is a person who was not born to be queen. when she was born, she never expected that she would be in the line of succession and would take over. it was only because her uncle abdicated. it wasn't in the tradition of the british royal family to educate the heir apparent.

even if she had been born the heir apparent, she wouldn't have been sent off to university. it's common now, all of the grandchildren have gone to university. prince charles went to university. she didn't go to university. she was educated by a private tutor. when she became queen, she had a lot of learning to do. over the course of seven decades, having met as many presidents as she has, having met as many prime ministers, having traveled to 150 countries, she learned a lot about global affairs. remember, some people have said they met her and they have been struck by how in-depth her command of policy is. this is somebody who is not political. she understands the working of government. she understands global affairs and has taken a keen interest in doing it. because of her nature, because she's dutiful and hard working, two days ago she was with the new british prime minister,

classic queen elizabeth to be working right up until this health crisis, she was there. because she's so hard working and dilly gent, she takes the job very seriously, she made it her business to learn. in the course of doing that, she has had things she can impart. it strikes me how keen american presidents who do have hard power are to go and meet queen elizabeth. part of it is the thrill of meeting the queen, but it's her longevity and the amount of wisdom she has accrued over the last seven decades. >> absolutely. when we showed that picture of her waiting the arrival of liz truss, the new prime minister, previously the foreign secretary, she was as she does at balmoral, wearing the tartan, which she does, to my knowledge, when she is there in scotland. that's the way she's attired. the first american president i covered who was visiting with

her was ronald reagan. it was on a note worthy trip. a state dinner at windsor. they were going horse back riding. it was the end of his first big trip to europe. noteworthy because it was the distress of nancy reagan that he started that day, the state dinner in windsor, started that day in france at a g7 meeting and then, in fact, israel invaded lebanon and there was a crisis that day, then went to rome and saw the pope, then went to windsor for the state visit. as glorious as that state dinner was, it was famously nancy reagan then chided the staff -- chided is a calm word for what went on for the way they overscheduled what they viewed as the elderly president. of course, he is younger than joe biden is now. that trip to windsor was the

start of a relationship with ronald reagan. an estate dinner in san francisco. other viters as well. over the years, so many visits with american presidents. from your observation, one of the most noteworthy was the one with donald trump, where he broke protocol and stepped in front of her majesty when they were reviewing the troops. >> yeah. i was covering that event. he kept her waiting for a start. he walked in front of her majesty, which you just -- you don't do. i don't know if he hadn't been briefed properly. i guess he hadn't been briefed properly. the staff around him certainly didn't do what was expected. you know what is remarkable about the queen? she's unflappable in those situations. she sort of almost doesn't

really care that much. it doesn't matter to her. i have heard people say when things go wrong, she likes it best. her sense of humor kicks in in events like that. she's seen it all. she's met everybody. she's lived through so many global crisis. she's lived through personal crises in her own family. i suspect donald trump walking in front of her is not going to ruffle too many feathers for the queen. she is not that kind of person. she's had so much experience that she can kind of rise above it all. it's interesting you mention ronald reagan. she would never express a preference. but i have heard from people who follow her more closely that ronald reagan was one of her favorite american presidents. if they bonded over one thing, it was their love of horses. i think he was the only american president to have spent the night at windsor castle, which was an indication how much she appreciated his company. it was the riding. if there was one thing she loves

more than her duty to her country, it's her horses. she spends time in america with horse trainers. i was at the kentucky derby once when she was there. not that long ago. she owns horses. she races horses. she loves her horses. so did ronald reagan. that was a bond between the two of them. >> absolutely. from all of our reporting. you saw it firsthand, certainly. daisy, let's talk about her extraordinary influence over her people. partly at the beginning because she had the experience in world war ii with the royal family. they did not leave london. they were there during the blitz. she served in uniform. she was an automobile mechanic. i think that was a very strong connection, was it not, to the british people, to stay strong and carry on and that whole tradition of that generation? >> you are absolutely right.

that sent such a strong message. i am here, we the royal family are here with you. if you are putting your lives at risk, then so are we. it was very unusual that they didn't send the two young princesses out of london to get away from the threat of london, which was being bombed so heavily. we know that buckingham palace was bombed three times during the war. famous pictures of the young princesses, margaret and elizabeth, with their parents in the rubble of buckingham palace. that photograph was meant to send the message that we're all in this together. the queen has sent lots of messages over the years that haven't been said out loud but have been understood. she's not somebody who is extravagant. she always wants it to appear to be as frugal as possible, which, of course, if you are a monarch

living in multiple palaces and castles, isn't that easy. there has been that side of her. you are talking about castles. you were mentioning balmoral being a special place to the queen. it reminded me of a few stories over the years about how much she loves balmoral. it's been referred to as her happy place many times. the day that i was reporting for you guys of prince philip's funeral, she issued an old photograph of them on the locks -- there's a lock in balmoral. one of her corgies is named after the lock. she's known to go out -- her personal dresser, one of her best friends in the world, has written before about how the queen loves to star gaze at balmoral. she told her where to go and stand at midnight to get there

and look up at the sky and get the best view of the stars. she's also been seen running around -- this isn't that long ago -- running around balmoral with great big butterfly catchers trying to get bats out of the rooms and set them free. it's somewhere she always said she can really be herself. she can relax. there's a big jigsaw puzzle at balmoral for when she arrived. she won't have the photograph to help her. she plays patience. she loves the outdoor pursuits. there used to be stag hunting. this is someone that she's truly, truly happy and feels very free. she doesn't go on foreign holidays to beaches or caribbean islands. this is her summer holiday. that's the way she likes it. >> which is such wonderful

context for those who are praying and wishing her well. to know she's truly home. wilford, let's expand on that, if you will. the importance of family, the importance of balmoral, of place. >> well, balmoral, as everyone has been saying, is clearly one of her happy places, of course, wherever any of us spend our holidays is always considered a homely place in that regard. i think it's interesting to note, of course, that balmoral is personally and private i will owned by her majesty, the queen. unlike buckingham palace and windsor castle which are state owned and official residences. i think that's why it was a surprise initially this past week that she would appoint the new prime minister at balmoral as opposed to at buckingham

palace. what's interesting with that in mind now, two days later, when we know how frail she is, as the doctors put it they are concerned for her, is that she would receive the new prime minister at all, that she would commit to official duties while she was not feeling so well. don't forget, that was just two days ago that she was still doing her official duties. perhaps the most important official duty that there is, given what we know now that her condition was not so good. that commitment to duty has never waive erd. i think as you point out, the commitment to her family. she's ultimately a mother, grandmother and great grandmother as well as being a head of state and monarch. that is one of the most significant developments to date is one of the reasons why the nation, i think, is nervous. not only that statement we got this morning but the fact that all of the senior royals are traveling to see her. most recently, we saw those live

pictures of some of those suvs, the range rovers arrive bringing in the latest members of the family that landed in aberdeen an hour or so ago. >> in fact, we just had a picture -- a still photo of prince andrew, which says -- speaks to what you are saying. prince andrew there in the car. prince andrew, despite scandals here in the states and elsewhere, was still one of her favorites. she was under pressure to -- under pressure to go through some punishment of him, withdrawal of some of his duties. as you can see there, that is prince william as well, i believe, in the car with prince andrew. prince edward is in that car.

i don't think you see prince william. i can see prince edward, i think in the back seat. looks like in the front seat what would be the passenger seat there if the photo -- yeah, if the photo is not reversed that would be prince andrew. pointing out that she stuck by prince andrew as long as she could, despite all the troubles that he has been experiencing. >> certainly. absolutely. i think the key point is that at the moment, i don't think that is reflective of how supportive she is of official roles for him or bringing him back into the fold in a more meaningful way. i think when someone is unwell, what we are seeing is a mother is unwell and her children want to be by her side. she probably wants them to be by her side. i don't think they are traveling to see her right now in any official role. i do think it's worth noting,

despite some of the question marks when prince andrew escorted her, of course, to the memorial service for her late husband, that the big step that was taken in recent years was stripping him of major titles and stripping him of official duties. i think that still rings louder than any other small step of endorsement that some people might read things as, including today. i think what we're seeing right now are the children of a mother wanting to be by their side as opposed to anything official. >> appropriately, this is a family. a family first and foremost. thank you so much. thanks to daisy, keir. we will take a brief break. you see the gates of balmoral closed. as the family is gathering, others are on their way from the airport in aberdeen, having come from london. prince harry will be going without the duchess of sussex,

meghan markle staying behind in london. the others are gathering. for now, at least, kate is still behind, because she's got the first day of school with her children. she's a mother first. the royal family is all gathering right now. we are waiting to see the condition of her majesty, queen elizabeth ii. we will have more in a moment, including the latest from the white house. her reign spanning 14 u.s. presidencies. you are watching a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. reports. this is msnbc.

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-denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake? no, bryan. -denied. -how about we all get quotes to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no. all eyes are on balmoral castle in scotland where there is growing concern about queen elizabeth's health. all four of her children, including the potential king charles, are with the british monarch. harry, william are there as well. the queen has met 13 of the last 14 u.s. presidents, all except lbj. most recently, president biden, going all the way back to 1951 when she visited then harry truman. she went horse back riding with

ronald reagan. joining me now, kristin welker, michael beschloss and mark landler. the president has been briefed about the queen's health. >> reporter: we just learned that moments ago from john kirby, let me read you what he had to say. it's worth noting the president this morning was holding a call with u.s. allies to discuss ukraine. this was raised during that call, according to kirby. he said, his and the first lady's thoughts are with the queen and her family. the president did in that video conference that the president is having, as this conversation was going on, convey to the prime minister truss, who was on the video conference, that he and dr. biden are thinking of the queen and the people of the united kingdom.

this does come as you point out, president biden met with the queen last year. it was his first meeting with her as president. it was significant, because it came at a time when he was there for the g7 summit, but also when he was trying to reinforce the united states appliances. that reinforced what has been referred to so many times as a special relationship between the u.s. and the uk. let me read you what president biden had to say about their conversation. he said they talked about everything from russia and china, personal matters as well. he added, quote, she was very generous. i don't think she would be insulted, but she reminded me of my mother. in terms of the look of her, and just the generosity. she was very gracious. of course, that was the second time that he had met her. he met her in 1982 when he was a senator. again, just reinforcing the special relationship between the u.s. and the uk. he became the 13th president to meet with the queen, as you

point out. her meetings include a special meeting in 1961 with the kennedys when they traveled to england. former president john f. kennedy describing that meeting as one that was a delightful evening. of course, as you have been talking about throughout the hour, that iconic image of her horseback riding with president reagan. she met the more recent presidents as well, presidents clinton. george w. bush holding a state dinner for her which was significant. she met with president obama and former president trump. >> there were other less formal moments in all of this, michael beschloss, you may recall, bush 41 took her to memorial stadium in baltimore, the old baltimore orioles stadium. i was there that night. she stayed for three innings. famously, joe dimaggio was there. you could consider him american baseball royalty, for sure.

at one point, sitting in front of me, he passed a baseball several seats up to her majesty, wanting an autograph, which is what he wanted to do. he has done that at state dinners. it was passed back by her private secretary, her cousin, saying her majesty does not sign baseballs. i can't say that she enjoyed the baseball that much. it was a very, very hot night in baltimore. secret service had taken the effort for security to plexiglas in the owner's box on a very hot night when it was usually open air. of course, there was no circulation at all. she was dressed quite formally. as were all of the americans trying to impress. there were other moments with bush 41, the rose garden and the podium with the hat. that was when she failed to put

the box for her to stand on. she came out to speak next to president bush, herbert walker bush, and all you could see was the queen as royal hat, floating above the podium. that's one of the pictures. that's one of the more flattering pictures. some of the others you could not see anything but the hat. michael, the relationship that she's had with american presidents was part of her relationship with world leaders. she knew them all. going back so many decades. >> she sure did. >> also famously prime ministers like margaret thatcher. >> that is for sure. you are right. as you were talking about seeing the baseball game in baltimore, hovering behind that was the history of 1814, the battle of fort mchenry, the star spangled banner when americans and british soldiers were fighting over whether the british would take back the united states and

make it into colonies again. obviously, they lost. when we waged the revolutionary war, the central purpose was so that we wouldn't have a king or queen. no one would give us orders. we would be a democratic republic, small d. the interesting thing is that what queen elizabeth ii shows what we miss from that. we certainly don't want a dictator in this country. but what we don't have is what the british people do have, which is as you know, every time a prime minister has had to make a tough decision over the last number of decades, he or she will go and talk to queen elizabeth ii. the queen -- it's like talking to eleanor roosevelt or winston churchill or john kennedy or the other world figures she has known. she was drawing on her experience of the cold war and

being under the blitz in england in 1940 and surviving world war ii. the point is that in england, because of their system, if you have got someone elected to power, prime minister, who knows nothing about history and who cares nothing about history -- we have had one or two presidents in our history recently who cared nothing about history and know almost nothing -- they are required to meet with the queen in that case and she has said, this reminds me of the problem we had in world war ii or the problem that we had in the 1980s during the renewed cold war. it forced prime ministers and the british system to consult history. i would never want a monarch in this country. but i have to confess that i do miss that element. >> it's the continuity, the experience. michael, you have covered american presidents and now you

are covering, of course, what's happening in london. with the new prime minister, liz truss, who sort of fashions herself after margaret thatcher, even though she's very different from margaret thatcher and has not been at all as consistent in her own public policy views as margaret thatcher was. talk about the relationship between margaret thatcher and her majesty the queen. >> well, i think it was generally a very respectful relationship. similar to what prime ministers always try to have with queen ease elizabeth. it wasn't one without a few flashes of tension along the way. there was a well-known episode where the monarch and the prime minister had a different point of view on an issue involving the british commonwealth. that's been somewhat dramatized in the tv series "the crown." it's also said that margaret thatcher found invitations to

spend the weekend at balmoral to be sort of deeply unsettling for her. she didn't really like the queen did, enjoying slogging around the countryside. thatcher has talked about how she always seemed to show up with the wrong boots and not proper attire for a country weekend at balmoral. you know, a relationship marked fundamentally by a great deal of respect. two formidable women. but also two women with strong ideas who didn't necessarily always see eye to eye. of course, the queen, by custom -- she's been rigorous about it -- has stayed completely out of politics. even tensions over the commonwealth or any other issues are things that tend to emerge into the public only after the fact. it's not something the queen would ever have talked about, addressed in any public setting. >> mark, we should note that

despite those tensions, which were over apartheid, despite those tensions, that her majesty went to margaret thatcher's funeral. that was signifying a level of respect. she had done that with winston churchill. but to do that signified her respect for thatcher in those final years. michael, mark and kristin welker, more to come on her majesty the queen as the royal family is gathered at balmoral castle. her family has now arrived there. you are watching special coverage. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ever wonder what everyone's doing on their phones? they're investing with merrill. think miss allen is texting for backup? no she's totally in charge. of her portfolio and daniel g. she's building a greener future and he's... running a pretend restaurant.

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let's go back to london to continue breaking news coverage about queen elizabeth's health. new images of the royal family arriving at bamoral, including prince william and andrew arriving. molly hunter joins me from our london bureau. welcome back to our live coverage, molly. let's talk about the arrival of the royal family.

you can see prince andrew in the front seat, edward -- prince edward in the back. >> that's right. in those pictures you see prince william driving his uncles in that car. that's the last contingent, we believe, of her children arriving at balmoral. we knew that prince william was traveling up without his wife kate and without their children. we believe that prince harry is traveling up separately from prince william and their uncles. he is heading up. the duchess of sussex is staying in london. we have not heard anything new since the original statement. i'm going to read it out one more time. it's so extraordinary. it was unprompted. it was not released in response to a cancellation of an event. it was not released in response to any big engagement we

expected to see the queen at. it said following further evaluation this more than, the queen's doctors are concerned for her majesty's health and remember mrended she remain under medical supervision. the queen remains comfortable and at balmoral. we believe with that car that prince william is driving, the rest of her children will be there, this is serious. not only was the palace signaling to the country that this was serious earlier with that statement, but the fact that her family have flown up to be with her at this time. we're not going to speculate, but suggests that this is quite serious and that the rest of the country is watching with increasing alarm and concern. >> molly hunter, thank you so much. joining us from "the washington post" columnist eugene robinson and national political correspondent mary jordan, both former london bureau chiefs for "the washington post." eugene, from your experiences in london over those years, the role of this sovereign, this

queen was so extraordinary. in fact, my recollection, she was the first to with ronald reagan commemorate the normandy invasion when we were there, the famous reagan speech. queen elizabeth was the world war ii survivor, of course, worked during the blitz, worked in uniform. among the allies, she really had the most memorable involvement in the great war. >> yes. there's so many firsts with queen elizabeth. think of when she took -- when she came to the thrown. before she came to the thrown, they gave -- she was the heir, she gave that extraordinary radio address saying that her entire life, whether it be long or short, would be in the

service of her people. from that in 1947, before taking the thrown, to 2014 when she was the first british monarch to send a tweet. it spans this entire incredible range of time and change. and she has been one constant throughout 70 years. it's just extraordinary. first prime minister was winston churchill, her last liz truss. i won't say last, she has proven resilient in the past but clearly this is a different situation now. never have we seen the family gathering in this way, an announcement like this coming from the palace.

so it seems to be quite a serious situation. >> indeed. mary jordan, there's also been the troubles, princess diana and the divorces. all of the problems that lies with many families, the royal family have not been immune and she, as the head of the family, has had to endure a lot of issues among them. >> i think that was one of the reasons that people are so interested, not just in england but in the united states. because somehow, this woman was -- is history. right. she was there. she's known world leaders. she's met them all. she's brought the country through wars. but, she was a mom, who had heartache, disappointments. she had a terrible time when her -- she was the queen, her beloved sister wanted to get married, and, you know, broke the rules of the monarchy, and i

think people -- when i met her, for example, she was going to jamestown and i was in london. and she -- i got a random call from buckingham palace that says the queen is going to jamestown, the former british colony way back, to america and she wants to talk to some americans. and when i went there with some other people, you're in the palace, which is, you know, priceless art, and, you know, thrones. and here is this little woman who is so down to earth, she's like your grandmother. you know, between her handbag and her hair, you just feel like, yeah, i can have a cup of tea with this woman. that was her magic, i think. because she represented history, royalty. she was royalty, she represented the country. and she was a normal mom who had disappointments and heartaches and lost people and had to do tough things. >> so interesting you should say

that. i was on the other end of that trip. i was on the board at colonial williamsburg, part of the jamestown, 400th year celebration in 2007. so we hosted her at lunch and she rode in an open carriage with the head of our foundation through the streets, the old streets of the colonial community and it was such a signal moment and then there was a dinner at the embassy in washington, which was i believe, her last trip to the u.s. she and prince phillip. and i remember first lady laura bush was there. and senator, former first lady, hillary clinton. and it was quite a moment for the british embassy in washington, mary. eugene -- >> she -- >> go ahead, mary. sorry. >> she has been all over the world and traveled everywhere, but i heard this from ambassadors who were here and

top british officials, that she always had a special interest and kept up with news in america. you know, she just had a thing, maybe because she -- we talked about the different presidents that she really felt aligned with. she loved to talk to people in kentucky about the kentucky derby and horses. i think a little bit of her -- she was just fascinated in keeping up, for instance, on what was going on with recent elections, even. up until very, very recently, she was asked to be briefed about what was going on. i think you're right. that was her last trip to the united states. but i know for a fact that, you know, more than other people she was in the moment on the news, whether it was presidential elections or what was going on in congress. she knew what was happening. >> and, eugene, we have about a minute left. we certainly are hoping whatever

the palace does say today is that she is recovering but we know the family is gathering and it's a grim and unusual moment. >> it is a grim and unusual moment. one thing that really strikes me about elizabeth is that she was -- she was adaptable. she did make mistakes. i often heard it said when i was in london, the queen's never put a foot wrong. actually, she did. when charles and diana's marriage was falling apart. and marriages of two of her other children, princess ann and prince andrew were falling apart at the same time, and she went on as if nothing was happening and everybody was supposed to stay together. for a time. and that was costing her, with the public. but she, she reached the point where she realized that was not,

that was not right. that was the way royalty used to behave. that's not the way they had to behave now. same thing when diana died. initially she was stoic, but she realized that wasn't called for. she in that sense modernized the monarchy and brought it into the 21st century. >> eugene and mary, thank you so much. all of you, this has been a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thank you for being with us. stay tuned to msnbc, follow us online. chris jan sing reports starts right after this. n sing reports right after this ♪♪ i cannot miss her big debut. with your booster, i think you'll be there. for every twirl. i got a shot so my sister won't get sick. way to go, big bro! so while we're here... flu shot, as well? let's do it. when you need to talk vaccinations, our pharmacists are here ♪♪

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good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters. we are watching history unfold at balmoral castle in scotland, where queen elizabeth ii, the longest reigning monarch in british history is under medical supervision. her doctors using a term they have not used before, saying they are concerned for her health. at this moment all four of her children are by her side. these images so andrew and edward and prince william, the queen's grandson, arriving at balmoral a short time ago. prince harry we're told is on his way. the queen who's 96 years old is unique in history, having