Elizabeth II: that unprecedented day when she was "overcome with emotion" in public
While Queen Elizabeth II takes care to never let anything show of her emotions, she once let herself go to grief in public, as recalled in the documentary Elizabeth II, 65 years of reign and of secrets released this Thursday August 22 on C8.
On August 31, 1997, Lady Diana tragically died in a car accident, under the tunnel of the Pont de l'Alma in Paris. The news is a shock. His two children, William and Harry, then on vacation at Balmoral Castle, with their father Prince Charles and their grandparents, are devastated. In London, thousands of people in tears crowd in front of the gates of Kensington Palace to deposit flowers, messages and candles. Britain is in mourning, and the Queen's silence is more and more deafening. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister at the time urged him to intervene: the monarchy is in danger. Elizabeth II will agree to step out of her reserve and deliver a speech that will mark the spirits. On the day of the funeral, she will greet the coffin with a nod, but will not shed tears. "Never explain, never complain" is its motto.
And yet ... four months later, Queen Elizabeth II will be overwhelmed by emotion in public. "We saw her really moved, it seems futile but it is not, when the royal yacht Britannia is being disarmed" confides Jean des Cars, biographer, to C8 cameras. In 1994, the British government decided to disarm it for budgetary reasons. A ceremony during which the queen appears deeply troubled, even shedding, very rare not to be stressed, a tear ...
It must be said that this ship is intimately linked to the life of the sovereign. While she was just starting her reign after the death of her beloved father George VI, the young woman had inaugurated the boat on March 16, 1953. On board her yacht, the queen felt free and the weight of her function gave her seemed less heavy. "She has often said that it was on board the Britannia that she felt the happiest" confides Prince Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy. The queen spent precious moments there with her family. A yacht, more intimate, less impersonal, as could be Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace, the furniture of which had been chosen by Prince Philip, who had taken the liberty of fitting out the place to his liking. Her disarmament was therefore a heartbreak for the sovereign, but also for her husband.
