In the hour long show called Being The Queen, filmmaker Tom Jennings dives into The Queen’s private life with archival footage and tapes. One of the reveals in the documentary is how the monarch treated her children as they were growing up. Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward have all become senior royal figures, with Charles being the next heir.
The Queen has been depicted as a hands-off mother in popular media.
Netflix’s The Crown shows her as a distant figure, which the new document confirms.
Royal biographer Tim Heald revealed in Being The Queen that her children were lucky to see The Queen for more than half an hour a day.
He added: “It wasn’t that anybody was being deliberately unkind or cold…it was just the way you did things.”
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Mr Jennings also said The Queen always puts the monarchy first, with the exception of when she stayed with Prince Harry and Prince William at Balmoral following Princess Diana’s death.
He said to Glamour magazine: “Keep in mind that running the monarchy is a full-time job times 20, so things like family time fall through the cracks.
“Entrusting their children to boarding schools, private tutors, and such is terrific for one’s education, but it isn’t the same as the nurturing and guidance that you would get from a parent.
“The queen could be so steadfast in her own marriage, and yet her children’s marriages were falling apart left and right.”
The Queen has previously been described as a distant mother by royal experts.
Sally Bedell Smith, a royal biographer and author of Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, claimed The Queen “depended on the nannies to supervise the daily lives” of her children after she was coronated in 1953.
But some of her children have defended the monarch’s parenting style.
Anne told the BBC in 2002 The Queen made sure to spend quality time with her children.
She said: “I simply don’t believe there is any evidence whatsoever to suggest that she wasn’t caring. It’s just beggars belief.”
More reveals in the documentary claim The Queen is very aware of her effect on people.
Michael Mann, chaplain to the queen from 1976 to 1989, said in the documentary: “I remember her once saying to me that, ‘My father told me I must always remember that whatever I said or did to anyone, that they would remember it.
“’So if I showed disapproval, they will remember that I showed disapproval.’
“Therefore, I think she’s very, very careful not to give any sort of impression that might be construed as disapproval.”
