In season four of The Crown, the Queen recalls the speech she made on her 21st birthday, in which she promised to serve the Commonwealth for as long as she lived. The Queen, then-Princess Elizabeth, was in Cape Town during a royal tour with the King and Queen and Princess Margaret at the time. Her speech was broadcast live around the world on the radio, and is said to have moved Winston Churchill to tears.
In the Netflix drama, the Queen draws on this vow when she fights to have the UK sign an agreement with the other Commonwealth nations to impose sanctions on Apartheid South Africa.
Her Majesty famously said on April 21, 1947: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
The Queen once again promised to serve God and the people in her coronation oath in 1953.
She said: “The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.”
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Princess Elizabeth doing her 21st birthday speech; the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (Image: GETTY)
Olivia Colman as the Queen and Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip in The Crown (Image: GETTY)
Pod Save the Queen is hosted by Ann Gripper and features Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers.
The pair discussed claims that the Queen might decide to relinquish her duties when she is 95, and have Prince Charles rule in a regency.
Both felt like this is highly unlikely and Mr Myers said he never believed she would step down due to the oath she made that she would serve her whole life, arguing that stepping down would “go against everything”.
He added that the Queen is also aware of her “global standing” in terms of the respect she commands and her soft power the world over, and so likely feels a duty to keep going.
The Queen during a remembrance service this month (Image: GETTY)
He said: “I’ve never thought that that would happen, because of the oath ‒ I can’t repeat it verbatim but the oath essentially is ‘until my dying day, as long as I am alive, then I will serve God and the people’ and therefore, it would go against anything.
“I mean, we are quite a different monarchy in that sense.
“And I think because of her global standing as well, she will go through to the bitter end.
“And long may she reign, because I can’t even contemplate what it will be like.
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The Queen and Prince Philip recently celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary (Image: Chris Jackson / GETTY)
“I mean, this is my brain working overtime because I will be so busy in this period ‒ however, I think we’ve got a few years left.”
Ms Gripper pointed out that the Queen will have seen the “hammering” Prince Harry got after he stepped down from his duties ‒ and he is the sixth-in-line, unlikely to ever be King.
She said: “If you think about the absolutely hammering that Harry ‒ particularly because it was his birthright if you like, more than Meghan who obviously married into it ‒ but the hammering that Harry got from stepping aside from duty and leaving his role behind.
“I don’t think the Queen would do it.”
Mr Myers also argued that the plans for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 have been released, which finally “puts to bed” claims that she might be stepping down.
The country will get a four day weekend in June of that year ‒ the May bank holiday will be moved to June and an extra bank holiday on the Friday will be granted as a one-off special occasion.
Plans for the 2022 celebrations include an “extensive programme of events that mix the best of British ceremonial splendor and pageantry with cutting edge artistic and technological displays”.
The Queen will be 96 years old when she reaches the first ever Platinum Jubilee for a British monarch.
Mr Myers said: “I think this welcome news that they’re putting big plans for the country for her Platinum Jubilee means she has no intention of stepping down.”
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