The Queen (2009) s01e04 Episode Script

Clothes-wise, is it all right with the background? Yes, ma'am.
It would be awful if you said, “No", and jolly bad luck.
Over the years, I have dwelt on the happier side of things for my Christmas broadcasts.
We need reminding of it, particularly at Christmas time.
Next February will see the 40th anniversary of my father's death and of my accession.
Over the years, I have tried to follow his example and to serve you as best I can.
And with the love and support of my family, I shall try to serve you for many years to come.
Many years to come.
Presenting the image of a model family to the nation is what the Queen had been doing ever since her accession to the throne.
For 40 years, her role as monarch and head of state had never been in question.
But in 1992, everything changed.
The family to which she looked to for stability became her biggest threat.
Her children's maniages would be beset by scandal and disaster.
It is not a question of embarrassment, Diana.
It is the damage that has been done.
In the year she would call her annus horribilis, the Queen would end up not only trying to save her family but she would also end up fighting for the very survival of the monarchy.
Are the press behaving themselves? Yes, most of them are quite harmless.
I know it's easy to think that the press have one's best interests at heart, but one should keep them at a safe distance.
Yes, of course.
Undoubtedly, when Diana went to see her, the difficulties of the marriage would be raised.
Not by the Queen but, more than likely, by Diana.
Whenever I talk about a certain problem, the shutters come down.
The corgis are giving that footman the run-around again.
You should try to enjoy life a little more, Diana.
The Queen's position within the royal family, as far as I saw it, was one of absolute authority, and that's how Diana saw it, too.
as I'm sure both of them wanted to.
I threw myself down the stairs.
Charles said I was crying wolf.
The Queen comes out, absolutely horrified, shaking, she was so frightened.
Feeling isolated, Diana poured out her troubles to an old friend, James Colthurst.
I knew I wasn't going to lose the baby.
Charles went out riding and when he came back, it was dismissal.
Total dismissal.
Her only ally in the family was the Duchess of York and she was about to face problems of her own.
On 15th January, the Daily Minor published the first major royal scandal for 15 years.
The Duchess of York had been photographed on holiday with a Texan millionaire, Steve Wyatt.
I've given the Palace finance committee the go-ahead to explore ways for us to pay tax.
Income tax? John Major's idea, I presume.
Mrs Thatcher would never have allowed it.
He is actually against it.
But the country is in recession.
I think it's best if we are seen to be doing our bit.
Your father fought against paying tax.
He always maintained that the monarchy should be independent of government.
I know, but the mood is changing.
You can't let the press dictate to you, Elizabeth.
Diana! Oh! Have you spoken to her yet'? About what? About her holiday with her Texan friend.
It was all over the Daily Mail.
I'm not going to get involved in my children's private lives.
It's between Andrew and Sarah.
The Queen didn't get involved.
Her philosophy throughout life has always been, I'm the Sovereign, I am dutiful to the people, that has to be above everything, including her own children, including her grandchildren, including certainly her daughters-in-law.
Buckingham Palace announced today that the Duke and Duchess of York have begun formal moves to separate.
The Palace statement made it clear that it was the Duchess who initiated it.
I cannot understand why she's so determined to throw everything away.
I think perhaps she's found it difficult coping with the pressure of being royal.
Well, then, it's time to remove the royal burden from her, Robert.
The knives are out for Fergie at the Palace.
I have never known such anger here at what has been going on.
But all kinds of comments are being made about the unsuitability of the Duchess of York for royal life, are now being made within the Palace.
With Sarah Ferguson banished by the Queen, Diana was left more isolated than ever, but she was planning her escape.
It's not surprising that Diana maybe looked at Sarah as a miner might anxiously watch a canary to see if it's survived down some unknown mineshaft.
She was watching what happened to Fergie.
Both the way she was dealt with by the media and by the royal machine, and there were lessons there for her to learn.
Unlike Sarah Ferguson, Diana was not going to let the Palace use the media against her.
She would use the media against the Palace.
Bulimia started the week after we got engaged.
My husband put his hands around my waist line and said, “Oh, a bit chubby here, aren't we?" And that triggered something off in me.
The next day I went to Windsor and he sat me down and he said, “Will you marry me?" And I laughed.
I remember thinking, this is a joke.
So I said, “Yeah, OK," and I laughed.
He was deadly serious.
He said, “You do realise that one day you'll be Queen?" So I thought, OK.
So I said, “Yes, “I love you so much.
" And he said, “Whatever love means.
" It was the fairytale that Britain wanted to believe in.
Two completely different people who, initially, were very much in love and thought it would last forever, and that was the perfect kind of Disney romance.
But behind the public romance, both Charles and Diana harboured insecurities.
Charles may have been brought up with wealth and privilege, but his childhood left him emotionally vulnerable.
To understand the relationship between the mother and the son, you have to appreciate how young the Queen was when she came to the throne with this massive responsibility.
He completely was in awe of his mother as Queen, but he would have loved to have had a more obviously intimate, comfortable relationship than was actually possible.
Diana also had an absent mother.
After being caught up in the middle of a bitter divorce, she was left to be brought up by her father and a series of nannies.
From the beginning, when Charles said that he intended to propose to Diana, the Queen was very cool.
She knew of Diana's family background - mother running off at the age of six and so on.
Then she did her best, Diana came to tea and so on.
But when Diana stopped asking to come to tea, the Queen didn't invite her, so in the end, the relationship just faded away.
Good evening.
The Princess of Wales is being comforted by her husband tonight following the death of her father, Earl Spencer.
The 68-year-old I'm sorry, sir.
died suddenly this afternoon after a heart attack in a London hospital.
He had been recovering from pneumonia.
She is quite insistent that Prince Charles does not attend the funeral.
That's ridiculous.
It's her father's funeral.
Not a night out with her friends.
Let us hope that they sort out their differences soon for all our sakes.
I remember Diana saying to me that she felt it would be dishonest if her husband turned up to give the impression of a family united in grief.
She felt they were not united at all.
I was a similar age to you when my father died.
Everyone knew the King was dying, but I refused to accept it.
I even embarked on a tour around the Commonwealth.
I was in Kenya when I heard the news.
But one has to go on, move forward, as it were.
Is there any help you or the family need with the funeral? No, I think everything is under control, thank you.
My father wanted a very low-key affair.
Just close family.
I always think funerals should be a time when all family difficulties and squabbles should be set aside.
I'm sure your father would want that, too.
Yes, perhaps you're right.
We should try to talk more often, Diana.
That would be nice, thank you.
This would be, for an anxiously watching world, a pretty acid test of the state of their marriage.
And what was pretty obvious behind the scenes was that it was a test they were not going to pass.
Diana conceded, in pan'.
Charles was allowed to attend the start of the funeral only.
The Prince surprised mourners by returning before the cremation to keep an appointment in London.
In bringing them together for the funeral, the Queen had inadvertently started a public spat.
Good morning, sir.
Have you read this? “Prince Charles left Di to grieve alone yesterday “on the saddest day of her life.
" She wanted me to leave early.
Now the press think I'm some sort of cold-hearted, unsympathetic bastard.
Perhaps you need to regain the upper hand, sir.
Obviously, but how'? I think a little public sympathy would help.
Go on.
Well, I'm not sure the public appreciate how difficult it has been for you, living with the Princess of Wales.
Especially as she's not been well for some time.
Friends of Charles were very happy to spread that rumour, that she was unbalanced and crazy, and we were, therefore, to regard her as a basket case and Charles was the man who was always in the right.
One of the papers had a cartoon of the Prince in his greenhouse, talking to his plants, saying, “You've no idea how worried I am about my wife's mental health.
" That gives you an indication of the newspaper campaign that was being mounted against Diana at the time.
It was dressed up as equal tit for tat.
The objective evidence is that it was coming from the Princess's camp, not from his.
The Queen just hoped it would all go away, sort itself out, “It can't be as bad as all that that I read, “or I'm told about, that's appearing in the newspapers.
” Have you read all this? Yes.
It can't go on.
Their marriage is like a soap opera played out in the press.
Thank you! I think Labour might actually get in this time.
Mummy will be upset.
I'm going to have to haul them in.
And say what? You can't stop the press rummaging through their private lives.
No, but we can stop them blabbing to the press.
We're all right! We're all right! We're all right! Oh, for God's sake, how many more times is he going to say that'? It's the downfall of many.
Give an ordinary person a little bit of public recognition, and it goes straight to their head.
The election provided only a brief distraction in the war of the Waleses, and the Queen was forced to hold a summit.
Can either of you tell me what's going on between the two of you? Perhaps Charles can explain.
Well, Charles, can you explain what's going on? And read about it all in tomorrow's papers? No, thank you.
The Prince was frustrated and pained by the fact that the Queen didn't show him greater sympathy with what, for him, was an acute and a terrible personal predicament, that the marriage was so deeply troubled.
And, for quite a long time, there was a lack of communication on the problem of the marriage, until very late in the day, really.
And the Camilla thing.
I was desperate.
Desperate.
The Queen's attempt at marriage guidance had failed.
Meanwhile, Diana had decided to reveal her marriage grievances to the world.
James, it's me.
Diana had instructed James Colthurst to hand her tapes over to an unknown journalist called Andrew Morton.
I was listening to Diana talking about her bulimia, her suicide attempts and this woman that nobody had ever heard of called Camilla Parker Bowles.
It was like I'd entered a parallel universe where the rest of the world did not know the story, and I was carrying this big secret.
We always had discussions about Camilla.
I once heard him on the telephone in his bath on his hand-held.
He was saying “Whatever happens, I will always love you.
" Diana was eager for Morton to take her story to a serious newspaper, and not a tabloid.
I looked at what he was saying and I thought, “None of that's true.
“I don't believe a word of it.
“I don't believe Diana is suffering from bulimia.
” I wasn't even sure what bulimia was at that time.
And I said, “I don't I find it inconceivable “that Diana would try to take her own life “with these so-called suicide acts.
“I just don't think that's true.
" But it wasn't long before he realised that what Morton was saying about the House of Windsor was really true.
The image of a model family was about to be exposed as a myth.
“Tonight, the Sunday Times is publishing claims “the Princess attempted suicide on five separate occasions.
" It claims the Princess was trapped in a loveless marriage.
” Do you think Diana is behind it'? More than likely, knowing her relationship with the press.
It was a cataclysmic moment.
Here were these extraordinary views attributed to the Princess of Wales, in public, while they were still ostensibly husband and wife together.
I've spoken to Lord McGregor.
He's going to issue a strongly worded statement tomorrow condemning the Sunday Times and accusing journalists of dabbling their fingers in the stuff of other people's souls.
Hadn't you ought to find out first if Diana authorised the book'? I'm sure she wouldn't have done anything so reckless, ma'am.
Robert, we need to know one way or the other.
Yes, ma'am.
The Morton book has caused quite a stir.
Really? I thought everyone knew about Charles and Camilla.
There's some speculation that you are behind the book.
Rumours, Robert.
Just rumours.
Lord McGregor, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, is about to condemn the Sunday Times serialisation.
Diana, we're not going to find your fingerprints on this book, or discover that it can all be traced back to you? No, Robert.
I can assure you that I've never discussed any part of my private life with Andrew Morton.
I think Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary, asked the Princess whether she had had anything to do with the Morton book.
He certainly asked me.
And I recall that her answer was along the lines, “I never spoke to Andrew Morton.
" Which is true.
But it's perhaps not the complete truth.
The strategy was, really, just to deny, to say she had nothing to do with the book, never interviewed her, never met her, which was technically true.
But I had interviewed her friends and family.
But one of the sources was unable to cope with the pressure.
I'm sorry, ma'am, but you have been misled.
Who is she? Carolyn Bartholomew.
She's a close friend.
One of the named sources in the Morton book.
This photograph was taken by the media to be a signal that Diana approved and agreed with everything Carolyn had said in the book.
Which, by extension, therefore meant that she was supporting Andrew Morton, and that everything else we read in the book must be true as well.
I would like to offer my resignation, ma'am.
I refuse, Robert.
You're going to help me sort out this mess.
Yes, ma'am.
I'm so sorry for any embarrassment the book has caused you.
It is not a question of embarrassment, Diana.
It is the damage that has been done.
Once it was clear that the Morton book had real credibility, the Queen and Prince Philip came to a much greater understanding of what the Prince had been through in his relationship.
Once they realised the rot couldn't be stopped, I think they were much more understanding and really, for the first time, sympathetic.
I know it has been hard for you over the past few days.
But I think you have acted admirably.
Thank you, Mummy.
I'm only sorry that you've been so terribly let down.
Why would she do such a thing? Who knows'? But I think she needs help.
Whatever her state of mind, she is still denying any involvement with the book.
I only had to read a few lines of the book to know it was her.
I could hear her voice.
Well, it is her voice making an allegation against you and Mrs Parker Bowles.
Camilla is a close friend.
The one person I could turn to.
I don't think Charles was particularly honest with her about what he was up to.
It's not the kind of thing that you'd want to go and tell your mother, is it'? So I think he may have kept it rather under the carpet for the time being.
It's all a lot of fuss over nothing.
With any luck, there'll be another government scandal to take the heat off us.
I've consulted a very good lawyer, Lord Goodman, about a possible separation.
Absolutely not.
If you did that now, it would just confirm that everything in the book was true.
I won't hear of anyone going to the lawyers or to the press.
We'll take the upper hand, and continue as if nothing has happened.
Before Morton, it was possible to ignore the fact that Charles had a long-standing mistress.
It was possible to look the other way, to concentrate on running the royal show and trying to maintain the appearance of normality.
After Morton, you couldn't do that any more.
And I sometimes wonder that the real anger that was directed at Diana was not just for having blown the whistle on it, but that Diana had forced people to look at things they didn't really want to look at.
Will we be seeing that again? Patrick, it's me.
Is everything all right, ma'am'? No, everything is not all right.
They hate me.
While Diana's position in the family was coming under question, she defied security advice and went on a walkabout to seal her place in the hearts of the public.
Last week's devastation was caused by two bombs weighing less than the explosives found today.
She arrived after more newspaper stories about her troubled marriage, and advanced publicity of today's visit causing some alarm over security.
“Diana steals Ulster hearts.
" “The bravest walkabout of all.
” Why can't we get publicity like this? It's Northern Ireland, sir.
Guaranteed to provoke an emotional response.
Yeah.
Do you think the press would be so euphoric if I arrived wearing a flak jacket waving a white flag? I think perhaps the press would pay more attention to the substance of your visit than the style.
Yes, that's right.
You know, I can't understand Fleet Street's obsession with her.
I think they must be mad, the lot of them.
In the summer of 1992, the Queen was at her Scottish retreat, recovering from the bombshell of the Morton book, unaware of the aftershock that was about to follow.
It now meant that the gloves were off.
We didn't have to pretend any more and we could say what we knew to be the truth.
For the first time, the Queen recognised the girl on page 3.
This was the Wild West.
Anything went.
The Daily Minor had caught the Duchess of York having her toes sucked by her financial adviser.
It was just non-stop! I nearly started blubbing.
I just felt very sad and empty and I thought, bloody hell, after all I've done for this fucking family! Having started the fire, it was soon Diana's turn to get burned.
One of these guys who spends his time scanning the airwaves contacted one of our reporters to say that he had taped something that was quite extraordinary.
The phone conversation between Diana and her friend, James Gilbey, again showed the home life of the Windsors as cold and dysfunctional.
How many more secrets and lies has she got up her sleeve'? Your grandmother had a saying - the only way to rid yourself of poison ivy is to drive a nail into the root.
If only it were that simple.
In autumn of 1992, the Queen made a last-ditch attempt to keep Diana in the fold and pretend to the world that her marriage with Charles was secure And what news of Korea? I'm afraid Diana still insists that she's not going.
This is the first state visit to Korea.
Does she have any idea of its importance or how long it has taken to organise? She has been made aware of that, ma'am.
She's asked if Prince Charles can go on his own.
What do the Foreign Office say'? They're very concerned.
The Koreans have gotten very excited about seeing the Princess of Wales.
Souvenirs are already in production.
There was panic, mayhem.
She's not going to come'? What's that going to send, message? Everyone knew that she was going.
It was prepared, on all the itineraries.
It would have been out like that that she'd refused to accompany her husband on a state visit.
And I hear that William is getting on well at school? Yes, he's very happy there.
Good.
I am pleased.
Diana, is it true that you've decided not to go to Korea with Charles? Our relationship would be under the spotlight.
I'm not sure I could cope with the strain.
I understand that and I really would rather not put you or Charles under any pressure, but a lot of effort has gone into organising this state visit.
Perhaps if Charles went on his own'? He is much better at that sort of thing.
It is very important that you attend as well.
Your presence would be highly valued.
If you want me to go, ma'am, I will go.
It was a clever tactic on her part.
By being reluctant to go on tour, ultimately that required the Queen's intervention, and the Queen gave her I think probably the very good advice that she should go and do what was expected of her.
And she went.
Thank you, Diana.
It was Diana demonstrating the power she had to derail the royal show.
Unofficially, it's been called “The Togetherness Tour All attention from the British press was focused on any mutual signs of affection being shown between the Prince and the Princess.
Everyone says, yes, there was a photograph at the graveyard where they were looking solemn, and that was used to suggest that they were incapable of speaking to one another.
Actually, they weren't only looking solemn, they were looking in opposite directions.
There was no physical empathy.
You could drive an ice-breaker between the two of them.
That's how frosty the sort of body language was.
Any possible benefit to British diplomacy or trade or prestige in the world that might have come from a successful royal visit was totally drowned out by the media's preoccupation with the state of the Wales' marriage.
As all hope for a reconciliation was left behind in Korea, the tabloid press were now turning their attention to the Queen, the head of the family and the head of the state.
Unfortunately, the press have got it into their heads that we'd been trying to deceive them about Charles and Diana.
So now it's gloves off, is it'? I'm very sorry, ma'am.
I will chase up the tax committee.
Robert, I fail to understand how a committee of intelligent people have taken so long to reach a conclusion.
Whatever happens now, it will look as if our attempt to pay tax is due to a bunch of witless hacks from the Sun.
Perhaps if we came clean to the press about Charles and Diana, it might stop their continual speculation.
No, Robert.
There is to be no talk of a separation or divorce.
Not with the press or anyone else for that matter.
Unfortunately for the Queen, the whole country would soon be talking about divorce.
The problem is, I've got to be in London tomorrow night The Daily Mirror was telephoned by a man who we never named, and I, of course, will never name him, who said he had this tape of Prince Charles speaking to a lady, and there was a sexual content in this tape.
And he was a radio ham.
Well, I'll just I'll just live inside your trousers.
He'd had it for many months, but was actually frightened of telling anyone about it.
He thought he might end up in the Tower.
What are you going to do, turn into a pair of knickers'? Oh, God forbid! A Tampax.
There were clues to who the lady was.
There was one moment on the tape when she says, something “.
.
coming home at the weekend.
" And then Tuesday night, A's coming home.
Oh, no! I couldn't catch what came before “coming home at the weekend", and then Charles groaning, “Oh, no!" And I played it and played it and played it, and it was, “A's coming home.
" Which meant Andrew, her husband - Andrew Parker Bowles.
For Charles, the humiliation was unbearable.
For Diana, victory was now in sight.
It's fair to say that Diana and those who perhaps took her point of view felt the sense of vindication that here was the proof that her husband had a long-standing, highly organised and excruciatingly intimate relationship with another man's wife.
In our conversations, he made it very clear that this was just about as ghastly as anything can be, this revelation of what ought to remain private.
The Queen will see you now, sir.
The Queen had always wondered why Charles got involved with a woman like Camilla.
Camilla had a very lively reputation as a young woman.
She was said to have taught the young men of Sussex a thing or two.
So the idea of him being involved with this woman, married to somebody else, incidentally just appalled her.
Are you going to say anything? What is there to say'? You've obviously made up your mind that I'm a bad person.
That I'm a huge disappointment to you.
You are the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne.
You haven't had to earn that position, but you could easily throw it all away.
So what do you want me to say'? An apology would be a start.
Yes.
Yes, of course, I should say sorry.
But then, I would need to know exactly what I'm saying sorry for.
I mean, should I be sorry for looking for affection? Looking for love'? Looking for someone to share my sadness, my sorrows and my joys? You're married with two children.
I'm not the first Prince of Wales to have a mistress, nor shall I be the last.
But you're the first Prince of Wales to have it announced by the press.
It is not my fault if this country is infested with tabloid journalists.
What do you mean, not your fault? You and Diana have been leaking stories constantly to the press.
Your marriage has become a soap opera! You let the media in - not me.
I let the television cameras in twice.
For the good of the family.
For the good of the monarchy.
Duty first.
Duty before self.
And what about one's duty as a parent'? Where does that fit into the constitution'? I made sure you had the best possible upbringing.
Really? Well, obviously our recollections of my childhood are different.
I'll say one thing for Diana.
At least she's affectionate towards her children.
At least she appreciates them.
The whole idea of the heir to the throne going through what was obviously going to be a divorce would have been absolutely against her upbringing.
Her father, George VI divorce was out as far as he was concerned, and that would have been transmitted very clearly to the Queen.
You have to put this into perspective, Elizabeth.
It's not like the abdication.
Charles does not have to step down.
Why not? Uncle David had to.
And Mrs Simpson was already divorced! Charles is not asking to marry Camilla.
She's just a mistress.
And given Diana's behaviour, it seems perfectly reasonable.
Wallis Simpson was only interested in herself.
She had no interest in the future of the monarchy.
Camilla has only Charles's interests at heart.
You knew about them all the time, didn't you? I think you did as well.
No, I didn't, Mummy.
I believed Charles when he said they were friends.
Yes, Robert, what is it'? Windsor Castle is on fire.
It is a scene of chaos and destruction.
This castle, dating back to the 9th century, and which survived the wartime Blitz, now struck at its very heart.
The Great Hall has burnt down! And one of the rooms where my father Are you all right, Elizabeth? No.
By the winter of 1992, the image of a model royal family had been shattered.
As the Queen surveyed the wreckage of the House of Wndsor, the Government unwittingly destroyed any public sympathy she might have had.
The situation is that patently, and I think everyone in the nation would expect me to say this in response, we will be taking the castle back to the condition in which it was.
The thoroughly decent Secretary of State, who'd been Northern Ireland Secretary before, sort of lost it, in public relations terms, by announcing that the cost, then estimated to be 60 million, would be picked up by the public, 'cause the public would say, “Thank you very much for saving Windsor Castle.
" It is a public institution.
Nonetheless, the public response was clearly very negative indeed.
The Queen should go half and the country should go half.
She don't pay any tax.
Why should we pay'? The Government don't pay.
We pay.
Suddenly, people were rising up and saying, “Why does the Queen expect us to pay for this? Not us!" And although she's the sovereign, she is very sensitive.
She cares if people like or dislike her.
Good morning, ma'am.
Robert, I want to see the tax report and I don't care what state it is in.
Yes, ma'am.
Less than a week after the Windsor fire, the Queen gave the go-ahead to pay tax.
It may look as though the tax reform was driven by public anger at the thought that they should pick up the tab for the Windsor Castle fire, and it wasn't like that, but again, in public relations, it was a disaster.
You'd never persuade anyone until you look at the actual record that the whole thing was in train in any case.
This was another piece of bad luck piled on top of catastrophes.
Instead of a landmark reform, the decision was seen as a token gesture - too little and too late.
Fearing an ever-increasing republican mood, the Queen decided to drop the royal mantra of the last 40 years - never complain, never explain.
Now it was time for the Queen to wear her heart on her sleeve.
1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.
In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.
I think anybody watching or hearing the Queen's Guildhall speech would find their heart went out to her because, towards the end of this awful year, it seemed that she was no more able than anybody else to wave a magic wand and make everything else all right.
The Queen had finally acknowledged that her model family was simply a myth and that the marriage of Charles and Diana was nothing but a fairy tale Her Majesty will see you now.
It is announced from Buckingham Palace that, with regret, the Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to separate.
Their Royal Highnesses have no plans to divorce, and their constitutional positions are unaffected.
The separation had, of course, huge public relations implications - how the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, would be seen, how the Queen would be seen and how the institution of the monarchy would be seen.
The currency of royalty is the affection of the people.
And if you lose that affection, then the monarchy could easily crumble.
So I, as a royalist, was very concerned that in no way should the monarchy be endangered by all that was going on.
No institution, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don't.
She was really saying, “I can't always be perfect.
“I've not made, really, many mistakes in the past - if any.
“And I can't really govern entirely the behaviour of my children.
“So please have some human sympathy.
“Even the monarchy, even the monarchy that I have led, “does occasionally make mistakes, has faults.
" For the first time in her 40-year reign, the Queen had gone to the public and asked to be given a second chance.
The royal family was laid bare, and its troubles were not over.
It isn't pure gold.
The tarnish on the crown is compatible with the way in which society has evolved and changed, and is understanding and forgiving, and people like the fact that the task is being done by human beings and not robots.