Elizabeth

In 1936, Elizabeth, a shy ten-year-old with a limited education, became heir to the throne after the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII. Suddenly, the princess was catapulted into a new life and the role that awaited her—as Queen. Through interviews with close friends and members of the Royal Household, we paint a uniquely personal picture of young Elizabeth, from her easygoing early days at her Piccadilly home to her war years at Windsor Castle to her 1952 overseas tour, when she learned of her father's death and her ascension to the throne.

In 1952, Elizabeth became the youngest monarch to ascend the throne in over a century and her coronation was broadcast around the world. During her first decade as Queen, she made use of her glamour and youth to shape the monarchy, but she faced many challenges dealing with Churchill and other politicians as a constitutional monarch. And she would soon have to navigate the conflict between duty and family when her sister Margaret fell in love with a married man and her husband Philip lost his bid to use Mountbatten as the Royal Family name.

Five years into her reign, prosperity and technology were transforming the world but the monarchy seemed stuck in the past. The Queen still moved in an insular world, laden with old-fashioned tradition and formality. She needed to change. Through rarely seen footage and interviews with close friends and advisors, we examine Elizabeth's bumpy journey to modernizing the monarchy, helped in part by the appointment of a new press secretary, William Heseltine, a risk taker who would successfully transform the Queen's image.

The 1970s was one of the Elizabeth's most difficult periods on the throne. She had to weather personal challenges with her sister's divorce and political wrangling over the state of her finances. She hoped her heir, Prince Charles, could help provide some stability to the monarch by finding a suitable wife, but even that proved tricky. Through interviews with close friends, politicians, and royal household members, we go behind the scenes to examine a decade that put the Queen's resolve to the ultimate test.

The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in July 1981 marked the beginning of a golden age for Elizabeth and the monarchy. But the decade would not be without its challenges, especially in the political sphere, as the Queen came into close contact with another powerful woman: Margaret Thatcher. While the two managed to navigate the diplomatic obstacles of the Falklands conflict and other national matters, issues within the Royal Family would soon signal a change in the public's relationship with the Elizabeth... and her children.

In the 1990s, the Queen faced the greatest challenges of her reign, from the destruction of Windsor Castle to the collapse of her children's marriages to the shocking death of Princess Diana. Public opinion of Elizabeth was at an all-time low, and as the 21st century approached, the monarchy needed to once again rethink the way it related to its people. Interviews with the Queen's close friends, advisors, and staff take us behind the scenes of the political and family dramas that followed Elizabeth throughout the decade.