Fans Are About To Get Up Close And Personal With Queen Elizabeth Like Never Before

Even though she's spent a lot of time in the public eye, Queen Elizabeth has maintained an aura of mystery during her 70 year reign. Since her 1953 coronation, she's spent time carefully crafting her media appearances. While Winston Churchill thought the ceremony should not be televised, the queen decided to go through with the broadcast, the first of many royal events to be shown on TV, per PBS. According to the BBC, in the U.K. 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the live event, and 85 million people in the U.S. watched highlights of the recordings.

Over the years, royal fans have had plenty of opportunity to see and hear the queen at public appearances, but very few glimpses into the monarch's personality when the cameras aren't rolling. For one thing, Queen Elizabeth has famously never agreed to do an interview with the press. In one rare instance, Her Majesty agreed to sit down with for a "conversation" with BBC presenter Alastair Bruce, per Business Insider. After 22 years of requests, in January 2018, the monarch agreed to a sit down to as part of a documentary on her coronation.

Now, in conjunction with the queen's Platinum Jubilee festivities, royal fans are going to be treated to another historic TV event. This time it's one that provides a glimpse of the monarch's personal life.

To celebrate Queen Elizabeth's platinum Jubilee, the BBC is airing a documentary featuring the royal family's home movies, per The Hollywood Reporter. "Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen" will be 75 minutes long and broadcast on May 29 in the U.K. and available to stream on iPlayer (via People).

"This documentary is an extraordinary glimpse into a deeply personal side of the royal family that is rarely seen," said Simon Young, the BBC's commissioning editor for history, per Page Six. The hundreds of films were taken by the queen's parents and Prince Phillip. Some of the earliest footage shows a very young Elizabeth being pushed in by her mother in a baby carriage. Other scenes offer historic glimpses of royal family members like George V, Elizabeth's grandfather, who she called "Grandpa England," per My London. Other footage includes Elizabeth's 1946 engagement to Prince Phillip at Scotland's Balmoral Castle and her 1953 Coronation (via Deadline).

To narrate the story, the documentary crews relied on audio from the queen's numerous public speeches. "Being able to draw upon the self-recorded history of a young Princess Elizabeth and her wider family — and allowing The Queen to tell us her own story — is the very heart of this film," said Claire Popplewell, creative director for BBC Studios Productions, per People. In addition to the home movies, the program's producers had access to newsreels from the queen's collection and private footage of state events.

"Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen" isn't the first time viewers have seen footage of the royal family's private life. In 1969, "Royal Family," was aired on the BBC, per CNN. The documentary was watched by 30 million people in the U.K., with over 350 million viewers around the globe.

"Royal Family" disappeared from view after 1972. While rumors circulated that the family regretted the film, journalist Robert Hardman told the Daily Mail that it was archived due to copyright restrictions. However, the documentary is available on YouTube and Facebook, treating curious viewers to a snapshot in time.

The film begins with Prince Charles water skiing while a narrator makes a prescient remark about the longevity of Queen Elizabeth's reign, saying, "[Prince Charles] may not succeed to the job until he's over 70." Other scenes include the queen and Prince Edward shopping for candy. As Edward gets back in the car, the monarch comments, "This disgusting gooey mess is going to be in the car, isn't it?"

While David Attenborough famously denounced the film as "killing the monarchy," (via Daily Mail), others saw a PR triumph. "It tells you a lot about family life," Paul Moorhouse, former curator of the National Portrait Gallery, told The Telegraph in 2011. "It redefined the nation's view of the Queen — the audience were amazed to be able to hear the Queen speaking spontaneously, and to see her in a domestic setting."