The Commonwealth, the nations that proudly or otherwise used to embody the Empire, doesn’t usually make for entertaining television.
But The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story (BBC1, Monday) had me rolling about on the sofa.
“The president of Ghana said what?” Followed by: “What has Princess Anne said now?”
In the first instance it was newly constituted Ghanian President Nkrumah who, in 1961, had the privilege to dance with the Queen, only to say: “She danced like a white woman, but a good white woman.”
Haven’t we travelled a long way? Or have we? The Queen went against the advice of many to visit a newly independent Ghana when the country was facing internal resistance. But it was clear the Monarch wanted to make a statement, which indeed she did.
And continued to do so throughout the film. She also bumped the heads together of some Commonweath prime ministers over South African sanctions.
Later Margaret Thatcher didn’t appear to be amused. Or was that just standing next to Australian prime minister Bob Hawke?
Indeed, did the BBC throw away this subject in a single hour of television, presented warmly by George Alagiah, born himself in Ghana? I felt we could have had another two hours at least.
The early footage of the Queen’s travels around the globe, especially her first six-month odyssey, was remarkable. The attention she received certainly dwarfs the current Meghan and Harry hullaballoo.
Two million fans greeted the sovereign’s motorcade in India in January 1961. And the Queen has never even appeared in Suits. The second jaw-dropping moment happened when Princess Anne declared that she “hated” doing walkabouts, which began when the Queen first toured Australia in 1954.
She was referring exclusively to when she was a teenager, and one look at her grimaced expression suggested she’d have rather been winding up her brother in the back of a limo than walking about in the baking heat.
She did make another valid point, and that was the presence of iPhones and even iPads on current walkabouts. On the ridiculous use of the latter, she said: “You can’t even see their faces!”
Agreed, it’s just plain rude. But essentially this was a wonderful nostalgia trip in every sense – and a test of memory. Who can forget the “pink countries [of the Commonwealth] on the world map” in school rooms of the day?
As a nine-year-old I recall the Queen visiting my small country town in New South Wales in 1970 to open a railway siding.
Top that Meghan!
The Queen even travelled to the dust bowl, sorry mining town, of Broken Hill in the middle of Australia, which shouldn’t be wished upon anyone. But regardless of whatever the Queen faced, she followed her early counsel: “Keep your chipper up.”
