Margaret Thatcher: I recognize that for your family, the transition of this nation from Empire to comparative supplicancy on the world stage must have come as a greater shock than to the rest of us. But I would argue that the Commonwealth is not the way to fill that gap. There are ways of Britain being great again, and that is through a revitalized economy, not through association with unreliable tribal leaders in eccentric costumes.
Queen Elizabeth II: But isn't that all I am, Prime Minister? A tribal leader in eccentric costume?
Margaret Thatcher: Certainly not. You're head of an evolved constitutional monarchy that stretches back to William the Conqueror. It's not comparing like with like.
Queen Elizabeth II: Ah, now that's where we differ. You see, I consider myself to be exactly like them. To me, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi are all great sovereign nations with great histories. I am aware you probably don't share that view. To you, the Commonwealth is something of a distraction, a waste of time. But in many ways, I have given my life to it. It was the pledge I made forty years ago.
Margaret Thatcher: On the wireless. "To our great imperial family." I remember listening to it as a student at Oxford. But we cannot let the values of the past distract us from the realities of the present, particularly where Britain's economic interests are concerned.
Queen Elizabeth II: Forty-eight countries of the Commonwealth are now preparing a statement condemning the South African regime, and recommending tougher sanctions. What they, what I would like you to do, is sign that statement.
Margaret Thatcher: If I didn't know better, that sounded very much like a directive.
Queen Elizabeth II: Think of it as a question.
Princess Anne: [discussing Charles and Diana's marriage with the Queen] Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl who fell madly in love with a handsome prince. Unfortunately, the prince was already in love with someone else, who was herself in love with someone else, and they all lived unhappily ever after. That's it. In a nutshell. Do you need more?
Queen Elizabeth II: A little.
Princess Anne: There's already a big age difference, but Charles is older than his years, and Diana is younger than hers, which makes it not an age gap but an age chasm. On the face of it, they come from similar aristocratic backgrounds, but their personalities come from different planets. They have different interests, different friends. He doesn't understand her. She doesn't understand him. And considering all that, they've actually done remarkably well. But there comes a point in any failing marriage, and here I speak with some experience, when you realize there's no point in trying anymore, and it's easier to just let the current take you away. And the minute Harry was born and duty was done, the marriage was effectively over, and they started to find comfort in the arms of others.
Queen Elizabeth II: How many others?
Princess Anne: Diana's been with her bodyguard, her riding instructor...
Queen Elizabeth II: And Charles?
Princess Anne: He's just been with one. He's also been a bit more discreet. The only people who know about Camilla... well, pretty much the whole of Gloucestershire, who all seem involved in facilitating it. You can't conduct an extramarital affair without somewhere to meet, or sleep, or...
Queen Elizabeth II: Yes, thank you.
Princess Anne: But Diana... Aunt Margot tells me at Kensington Palace, it's like a revolving door. That "suitors" park outside her office because it's the only place with no security cameras. One after another. In and out. In and out.
Princess Anne: I'm going to be frank with you. No one wants your marriage to end, not a single person. Not Diana, not your children, not your mother or father, not me, not a single one of your friends, and, most importantly, not even the woman you think loves you.
Prince Charles: Oh, what rubbish!
Princess Anne: No, listen! Listen to me. No one can bear to watch the mess you are making, and someone needs to explain things to you. I'm close to Camilla's husband, as you know...
Prince Charles: Yes, I'm aware.
Princess Anne: ...and speak to Andrew regularly. And while theirs is not a perfect marriage...
Prince Charles: Understatement.
Princess Anne: ...it is a long-lasting marriage. And, in its own way, a happy marriage.
Prince Charles: She's not happy.
Princess Anne: She's happier than you think.
Prince Charles: That he's bedding most of her friends?
Princess Anne: It's complicated! The majority of marriages survive because the majority of people aren't fantasists. They are realists and accept the imperfect reality of being human. And although Camilla doubtless has feelings for you, deep feelings, it is maybe not quite the great Romeo-Juliet thing you imagine.
Prince Charles: What? You're lying.
Princess Anne: No, I'm not. I'm trying to protect you.
Prince Charles: I come here seeking comfort from my sibling, and what do I get?
Princess Anne: The unvarnished truth.
Prince Charles: What does one have to do to get some kindness in this family?
Prince Philip: [commenting on the news of Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation] It's the Ides of March. It's Julius Caesar. Or should I say Julia Caesar.
Margaret Thatcher: President Bush called to tell me he thought it barbaric. Chancellor Kohl said it was inhumane. Mikhail Gorbachev reminded me that ten years ago, it was Britain holding democratic elections whilst Russia staged cabinet coups. Now it's the other way round. What they all agree on is that getting rid of me is an act of national self-harm, which is why I've come to you, ma'am, that together we may act in the national self-interest.
Queen Elizabeth II: How might I help?
Margaret Thatcher: By dissolving Parliament.
Queen Elizabeth II: What?
Margaret Thatcher: We are on the brink of war. What kind of signal does that give to our enemies, to Saddam, if we were to change leadership now? It would make us look hopelessly weak and divided.
Queen Elizabeth II: I agree it's not ideal. Have you consulted Cabinet on this matter?
Margaret Thatcher: I have not, ma'am.
Queen Elizabeth II: Surely that would be the normal course of action?
Margaret Thatcher: With all due respect, the decision to dissolve Parliament is in the gift of the prime minister alone. It is entirely within my power to do this if I see fit.
Queen Elizabeth II: You are correct. Technically, it is within your power to request this. But we must all ask ourselves when to exercise those things that are within our power and when not to. Your first instinct as a person, I think, is often to act. To exercise power.
Margaret Thatcher: Well, that is what people want in a leader. To show conviction and strength. To lead.
Queen Elizabeth II: I'm merely asking the question. Whether it is correct to exercise a power simply because it is yours to use. Power is nothing without authority. And at this moment, your Cabinet is against you. Your party is against you. And if the polls are to be believed, if you were to call a general election today, you would not win. Which suggests the country is against you. Perhaps the time has come for you to try doing nothing for once.
Margaret Thatcher: The difference is you have power in doing nothing. I will have nothing.
Queen Elizabeth II: You will have your dignity.
Margaret Thatcher: There is no dignity in the wilderness.
Queen Elizabeth II: Then might I suggest you don't think of it as that. Think of it as an opportunity to pursue other passions.
Margaret Thatcher: I have other loves. My husband, my children ... But this job is my only true passion. And to have it taken from me, stolen from me so cruelly ... What hurts the most is that we had come so far. And now to have the opportunity to finish the job snatched away at the very last ...
Camilla Parker Bowles: If you care about me as much as you say you do, sir, then you will let go of these ideas about breaking up with Diana.
Prince Charles: Why? Don't you want us to be free? To live our life in the open?
Camilla Parker Bowles: I do. But I want to be humiliated and attacked even less. That's what'll happen if you put me in a popularity contest against her. I will lose. I'm an old woman. I'm a married woman. Nowhere near as pretty, nowhere near as radiant. Someone who looks like me has no place in a fairytale. That's all people want, is a fairytale.
Prince Charles: If they knew the truth about our feelings for one another, they'd have their fairytale.
Camilla Parker Bowles: No. To be the protagonist of a fairy tale, you must first be wronged. A victim. Which, if we were to become public, we would make her. In the narrative laws of fairy tales versus reality, the fairy tale always prevails. She will always defeat me in the court of public opinion.
Prince Charles: I have done my best. My very best, and I am suffering!
Queen Elizabeth II: No, you are not suffering. We're suffering having to put up with this! Let me make something clear. When people look at you and Diana, they see two privileged young people who, through good fortune, ended up with everything one could dream of in life. No one, not a single breathing, living soul anywhere, sees cause for suffering.
Prince Charles: They would if they knew.
Queen Elizabeth II: Knew what? They know that you betray your wife and make no attempt to hide it. They know that thanks to you, she has psychological problems and eats or doesn't eat or whatever it is she does or doesn't do. They know you're a spoiled, immature man, endlessly complaining unnecessarily, married to a spoiled, immature woman, endlessly complaining unnecessarily. And we are all heartily sick of it. All anyone wants is for the pair of you to pull yourselves together, stop making spectacles of yourselves, and make this marriage and your enormously privileged positions in life work.
Prince Charles: And if I want to separate?
Queen Elizabeth II: You will not separate or divorce or let the side down in any way. And if one day you expect to be king...
Prince Charles: I do.
Queen Elizabeth II: Then might I suggest you start to behave like one.
Prince Philip: We can be a rough bunch in this family. And I'm sure, on occasion, to a sensitive creature like you, it must feel like ... Well, let me ask. What does it feel like?
Princess Diana: A cold, frozen tundra.
Prince Philip: Right. Like that, then.
Princess Diana: An icy, dark, loveless cave with no light. No hope. Anywhere. Not even the faintest crack.
Prince Philip: I see. He will come around. Eventually. When he realises he can never have the other one. Would it help you to realise we all think he's quite mad?
Princess Diana: That might have reassured me once. But I worry we're past that point now, Sir. And if he, if this family, can't give me the love and security that I feel I deserve, then I believe I have no option but to break away, officially, and find it myself.
Prince Philip: I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Princess Diana: Why not?
Prince Philip: Let's just say I can't see it ending well for you.
Princess Diana: I hope that isn't a threat, sir.
[The door to Diana's bedroom opens and an Equerry steps inside]
Prince Philip: [to the Equerry] No, not now! Out.
Princess Diana: Although we are both outsiders who married in, you and I are quite different.
Prince Philip: Yes. I can see that now. You're right to call me an outsider. I was an outsider the day that I met the ... the 13-year-old princess who would one day become my wife. And after all these years, I still am. We all are. Everyone in this system is a lost, lonely, irrelevant outsider apart from the one person, the only person, that matters. She is the oxygen we all breathe. The essence of all our duty. Your problem, if I may say, is you seem to be confused about who that person is.
Queen Elizabeth II: I am aware the comparison between Queen Victoria and me has been made recently in the newspapers and intended as criticism. What people fail to understand is, I see any similarity with Queen Victoria as a compliment. Attributes people use to describe her, constancy, stability, calm, duty, I would be proud to have describe me. And speaking of the royal yacht, it has now become clear that a small refit, a teeny-tiny little refreshment and refurbishment, is required to keep her in tip-top shape. I am aware the costs for its maintenance are borne by the government, not by the Palace, and so here I am, coming to you, Prime Minister. On bended knee. For the sign-off. But I'm hoping that will be a formality.
John Major: I'm just mindful that, before she left office, Mrs. Thatcher bequeathed the Palace an extremely generous civil list settlement. A deal that leaves the royal family richer than ever before. Given that this deal was designed precisely to forestall any awkward public debate on royal spending, I feel bound to at least raise the question of whether there's a way you might consider bearing the cost yourselves. It's just, with the royal yacht being perceived as something of a luxury, there is a danger the Palace could be seen to be asking for too much.
Queen Elizabeth II: But she isn't a luxury.
John Major: Isn't she?
Queen Elizabeth II: Prime Minister, there has always been a royal yacht, going all the way back to King Charles II. She is a central and indispensable part of the way the Crown serves the nation. And the revenue she has generated doing so is incalculable.
John Major: But we're in the midst of a global recession. Each penny of public spending is closely scrutinized. I worry that the government spending public money on the refurbishment of a lu... of a yacht might backfire. On us both.
Queen Elizabeth II: When I came to the throne, all my palaces were inherited. Windsor, Balmoral, Sandringham. They all bear the stamp of my predecessors. Only Britannia have I truly been able to make my own. Perhaps for that reason, the connection between me and the yacht is very much deeper than a mode of transport or even a home. From the design of the hull to the smallest piece of china, she is a floating, seagoing expression of me. I hope we can agree that, as sovereign, I have made very few requests, let alone demands, in return for the service I have given this country. Perhaps the reason I have held back is in the hope that when I actually do, people don't just take it seriously. They do as I ask without question. So, I would like this government's reassurance, your reassurance, that the costs for the refurbishments will be met, and for you to inform me as soon as the arrangements are in place.
John Major: When you imagine the problems you might be confronted with as prime minister, you imagine tricky sessions at PMQs. The economy in free fall. Going to war. You never imagine this. The House of Windsor should be binding the nation together. Setting an example of idealized family life. Instead, the senior royals seem dangerously deluded and out of touch. The junior royals, feckless, entitled, and lost. And the Prince of Wales, impatient for a bigger role in public life, fails to appreciate that his one great asset is his wife. It's a situation that cannot help but affect the stability of the country. And what makes it worse is it feels it's all about to erupt. On my watch.
Penny Knatchbull: Norton thought it was morbid to have her so close, but I wanted somewhere I could see her every day. Be near to her every day. It also means I can never leave here.
Prince Philip: Why would you want to?
Penny Knatchbull: It's not always easy.
Prince Philip: You know, one of the many, many things that attracted me to Lilibet was that the commitment would necessarily be lifelong. And to a young man who'd had such an unsettled nomadic childhood, the clarity of that permanence felt so reassuring. It still does. But it brings its problems too. Because it doesn't take into account the one thing human beings do the minute they make a commitment to a life together.
Penny Knatchbull: Which is?
Prince Philip: Grow in separate directions.
James Colthurst: Andrew wanted you to start by explaining why you're doing this.
Princess Diana: Because I've tried everything. I've confronted my husband about his mistress, and I've been dismissed. I've gone to the Queen. It's like facing a blank wall. And it finally dawned on me that unless I get my side of the story out there, people will never understand how it's really been for me.
Prince Philip: A long time ago, I lost my favorite sister. Cecile. In an airplane crash. I learned then what grief was. True grief. How it moves through the body. How it inhabits it. How it becomes part of your skin. Your cells. And it makes a home there. A permanent home. But you learn to live with it. And you will be happy again. Though never in the same way as before, but, but that's the point. To keep finding new ways.
Prince Philip: I can be a tough old nut, but I've always had a soft spot for you. Maybe because you're young. Maybe because you're a beautiful woman. Maybe because I often share your frustration with your husband. I've always felt protective of you. Fond of you. There, I've said it. So when I see you making errors of judgment, I want to lean across the table and remind you, I'm on your team. What am I trying to say? You're not a novice anymore. You're long past the point of thinking of us as a family. That's the mistake people make in the beginning, but you understand, I think, it's a system. And we're all in this system. You, me, the Boss. The cousins, the uncles, the aunts, the lepers. For better or for worse, we're all stuck in it. And we can't just air our grievances and throw bombs in the air as in a normal family, or we end up damaging something much bigger and something much more important. The system. So the tip I want to give you is this. I mean, just, just be creative. You can break as many rules as you like. You can do whatever you want. You can make whatever arrangements you need to find your own happiness. As long as you remember the one condition, the one rule. You remain loyal to your husband and loyal to this family in public.
Princess Diana: You mean silent?
Prince Philip: Yes. Don't rock the boat.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: Is it really true you used to work for the King of England?
Sydney Johnson: I worked for His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated the throne as King Edward VIII, yes.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: You know the Duke visited Alexandria once.
Sydney Johnson: That was my first overseas trip with His Royal Highness, and then he asked me to join him permanently and brought me here with him to Paris.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: As his valet?
Sydney Johnson: Yes, sir.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: The Valet of the King!
Sydney Johnson: Sir?
Mohamed Al-Fayed: It's an Egyptian thing. No matter. So, tell me, what did your job entail? What did you do for him?
Sydney Johnson: Everything. I took care of every aspect of his life from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning to the moment he closed them at night.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: And how did someone, forgive me, of your background know what the former King of England might need?
Sydney Johnson: I didn't. His Royal Highness taught me everything. With great patience and kindness.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: Then, will you teach me?
Sydney Johnson: In which capacity?
Mohamed Al-Fayed: As my personal valet. British society is the finest in the world. British manners and customs rule the world. With your help, I will become that rare thing, a British gentleman.
