Distant Lives GRIEF AND PROTOCOL IN THE QUEEN
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Distant Lives GRIEF AND PROTOCOL IN THE QUEEN
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a significant moment in recent British history: the death of Princess Diana, and the Royal Family’s emotional and
SCREENS IN THE CLASSROOM
Stephen Frears’ 2006 drama fictionalises
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formal reactions to it. The film not only serves as a companion piece for learning about the events that it depicts, but also functions as a useful text for discussing power, tradition and media ethics, as KATY MARRINER describes in this study guide.
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n May 1997, Tony Blair won a landslide general election victory for Labour, ending his party’s eighteen years in opposition.1 Less than four months later, on 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a consequence of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris, France.2 The Queen (Stephen Frears, 2006) portrays the British Royal Family’s response to Diana’s death, and the role that former prime minister Blair played in negotiating public grief and royal protocol. The Queen is a recommended narrative film for study in senior English and Media classes. It is classified M and has a running time of 103 minutes.
In a sequence that occurs near the beginning of The Queen, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), the popular and newly elected prime minister, visits Buckingham Palace for his first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren), accompanied by his wife, Cherie (Helen McCrory). It is the Queen’s role after a general election to ask the leader of the majority party to form a new government. Despite Blair’s preparation, nerves get the better of him as he is ushered into an audience room for his first weekly meeting with her. In response to the Queen’s dry sense of humour and her aloof reminder of the longevity of her reign, he blunders his way through the simple ceremony.
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Duty and tradition Today, Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. In a scene in the film set in the gardens of Balmoral, when Elizabeth wonders if it is time for her to consider handing over power to the next generation, the Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms) adamantly disagrees. •
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PREVIOUS SPREAD AND ABOVE: Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) The dialogue in the opening scene of The Queen, in which Elizabeth poses for an official portrait, has already established Blair as a ‘moderniser’. Frears uses the portrait artist, a staunch monarchist, to give a voice to the fear of change that will become apparent later in the film when the Queen is reluctant to replace old protocols with new. In addition, the scene initiates the exploration of the film’s key idea of power: the Queen may not be allowed to vote, but, as the portrait artist reminds her, it is still her government. In contrast, the scenes set two months after Diana’s funeral depict a decidedly confident Blair arriving at Buckingham Palace for his weekly visit. The Queen is still smarting from what she labels as the ‘humiliation’ of her fall from favour. She chooses this moment to warn Blair that there will come a time when the country will turn against him. •
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Write an analysis of Blair’s first meeting with Elizabeth. Your analysis should comment on the Queen’s command of the situation, as juxtaposed with Blair’s unease. How does the Queen assert her power in this scene? How does Elizabeth reassert her power during her later audience with Blair? What does Frears appear to want the audience to think about the relationship between the two?
What do you know about Queen Elizabeth II? Think about how you have acquired this knowledge of the Queen. Is your knowledge of the Queen based on historical research, or is it based on viewing shows like The Crown? To what extent is your image of the Queen and your opinion of her a consequence of media coverage? Describe Queen Elizabeth II as she is depicted in The Queen. Having watched The Queen, what is your opinion of her? Why does the Queen question her role as the reigning monarch? How does the Queen Mother respond to her daughter’s doubt? What comment does this scene make about power and how it should be wielded?
Throughout the film, there is a tension between the Queen’s sense of her duty and the British people’s expectations of the Crown. In one scene, Elizabeth remarks: Nowadays people want glamour and tears, the grand performance. I’m not very good at that. I prefer to keep my feelings to myself, and, foolishly, I believed that’s what people wanted from their Queen – not to make a fuss, nor wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve. Duty first, self second. That’s how I was brought up. •
How does Frears depict the Queen’s conflict between her responsibility to the Crown and her responsibility to the British people? What does Frears want you to think about her sense of her responsibility as a grandmother? How does Frears establish empathy for Elizabeth as she considers how best to respond to Princess Diana’s death?
Having left Balmoral and returned to London, Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip (James Cromwell), inspect the flowers that have been placed outside Buckingham Palace. •
Write an analysis of how Mirren’s acting in this scene positions the audience to regard the Queen. Explain the symbolism of the bunch of flowers that the young girl offers Elizabeth.
The people’s princess Screen Education 95 I © ATOM
In 1981, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. An estimated global television audience of 750 million people watched the event unfold.3 •
The media’s relentless scrutiny of Diana from the time of her engagement to Charles to her death is depicted in The Queen through the inclusion of archival photographs and footage.
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Was anyone in your family a fan of Princess Diana? Use the internet to research her popularity and the impact she had on people’s attitude to the British monarchy.
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: Prince Philip (James Cromwell); the Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms)
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At the time of her death, Diana was regarded as a global celebrity. Her every move was documented by the mainstream media and the paparazzi. Do you think these reports were in the public interest? What kinds of interests are served by this kind of reporting? Frears uses television news headlines to introduce the character of Diana. How do these headlines and associated footage position the audience to view Diana? Do you think someone who is old enough to remember this coverage may interpret it differently than you? What connections can you make between the dignified portrait of the Queen that is being painted in the opening scene of the film with the image of Diana drawn by the media? Compare the initial responses of the following characters to the news of the accident and Diana’s death: • Queen Elizabeth • Prince Philip • the Queen Mother • Prince Charles • Tony Blair • Cherie Blair.
Prince Charles (Alex Jennings), having made the trip from Paris to London to bring Diana’s body home, shares his gratitude but also his disbelief at the respect shown to his ex-wife. He tells Blair, ‘They stood up as we drove past, in cafes, in restaurants, removed their hats. This was Paris, one of the busiest cities in the world, and you could hear a pin drop.’ •
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• In a scene set outside St Mary Magdalene Church on the morning of 31 August, Blair offers his response to Diana’s tragic death: Though her own life was often sadly touched by tragedy, she touched the lives of so many others in Britain and throughout the world with joy and with comfort. The people everywhere – not just here in Britain, everywhere – they kept faith with Princess Diana. They liked her. They loved her. They regarded her as one of the people. She was the people’s princess, and that’s how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and in our memories forever. •
The Queen’s deputy private secretary, Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam), watches the broadcast of Blair’s now-historic speech on television, surrounded by members of the Balmoral household staff. Explain the significance of Janvrin’s response. How do the crying staff members endorse Blair’s sentiments?
How does the archival footage portray the British public’s immediate response to news of Diana’s death? What do the public expect of the Royal Family? How does Frears portray the public’s disappointment with and disapproval of the Royal Family’s inaction? Explain Frears’ inclusion of the tributes of presidents Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, along with the images of people from New York to Sydney to Karachi laying flowers outside British embassies. How does this footage confirm Diana’s status as the ‘people’s princess’? What comment does this scene make about the showing of respect? How does Frears depict Philip’s and the Queen Mother’s antipathy towards Diana? Does he show the Queen to be equally antipathetic? The final image of Diana in the film appears at the end of her funeral service. Explain the significance of this image and the shot of Queen Elizabeth that follows.
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The influence of the media The Queen wakes to the expected news of a landslide victory for Blair’s Labour Party. This is the first scene of many in which Frears uses the daily newspapers to shape the narrative. A beaming Blair meets the gaze of a half-asleep but nevertheless unimpressed Queen Elizabeth. In addition, The Queen portrays the media coverage of the death of Diana and the events of the week that followed through the front-page headlines of Britain’s daily newspapers Televisions are also used as a narrative device. After Blair is informed of the car accident, his immediate response is to turn on the television. When Frears cuts to Balmoral, the Queen is sitting in front of a television flicking channels to learn all that she can about the accident. In so many of the scenes that follow, Frears’ characters are preoccupied by the twenty-fourhour news cycle. •
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Use the internet to investigate the media’s coverage of Diana’s death and the week that followed. Do you think Frears offers an accurate account of the media’s interest and also its influence?
In a scene set in her bedroom at Balmoral, the Queen is w riting in her diary. A television is switched on and broadcasting Martin Bashir’s infamous Panorama interview with Princess Diana.4 •
Explain the significance of this interview in reality and in the world of the film.
In a scene set at Balmoral, Charles requests that his private secretary, Stephen Lamport (Tim McMullan), ensure that a photo graph of the flag flying at half-mast at his house at Highgrove
is in the papers. Blair tries to control the headlines but fails. As his press secretary, Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley), explains, ‘Statements of support don’t sell papers.’ •
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What comment does The Queen make about the Royal Family’s and the British Government’s attempt to manipulate the media? How did the circumstances of Princess Diana’s death change the media’s relationship with the Royal Family? Do you think the media’s coverage of the Royal Family is still invasive? How do the Royal Family now use social media to nullify negative reporting and control the narrative?
A modern Britain
– Queen Elizabeth When news of Diana’s death breaks, Elizabeth is at Balmoral Castle with members of her family. Frears uses the telephone as a metaphor in the Balmoral scenes, beginning with the ringing phone that wakes Janvrin with the news of the accident. The phone continues to ring, and the outside world continues to intrude on the cloistered world of Balmoral. While Balmoral signifies tradition, London is used by Frears to represent modern Britain. The principal London settings are the offices of the prime minister and the Blair family home. •
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In a conversation with Blair, Charles refers to Balmoral as ‘another world’. How does Frears show this claim to be true? Write a detailed comparison of the following settings: • Balmoral Castle and the Blair family home • Elizabeth’s study at Balmoral and Blair’s study.
Janvrin informs the Queen that Blair’s manifesto ‘promises the most radical modernisation and shake-up of the Constitution in 300 years’, implying that he poses a threat to the Crown. •
What does Blair’s speech to the Labour Party conference, in which he describes his desire to ‘set an ambitious course to modernise this country’ and ‘breathe new life into old
Frears introduces the monarchy’s preference for tradition in a scene set in the corridors of Buckingham Palace prior to the one in which the Queen asks Blair to form government. The Queen is unimpressed by Janvrin’s suggestion that Blair’s administration will favour informality. When she asks Janvrin if Blair has been sent a protocol sheet, the Queen confirms her belief that change can be resisted. •
How do the senior members of the Royal Family view royal protocol? How do the private secretaries of the Queen and the Prince of Wales view royal protocol?
The Queen exposes the limitations and the failings of royal protocol in a modern Britain. Diana’s death presents a problem given she is both the mother of a future king and no longer a member of the Royal Family. In the absence of a royal protocol to cope with this scenario, the Royal Family and staff flounder. •
Charles’ decision to use a private jet to travel to Paris to be with a critically injured Diana is deemed an extravagance. Why does the Queen object? Why does Charles argue for a breaking of protocol?
The Queen’s reluctance to set aside royal protocol is effectively portrayed through her refusal to fly the Royal Standard at halfmast over Buckingham Palace. While the Queen Mother and Philip cling to tradition, Prince Charles exposes the protocol as irrelevant and suggests that the time has come for a more flexible approach.
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My great-great-grandmother, Victoria, said, ‘In Balmoral, all seems to breathe freedom and peace and make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.’
institutions’, reveal about his agenda? Drawing on Blair’s conversations with his wife and with Campbell, describe what place the monarchy might have in his modern Britain.
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What explanation does The Queen provide for Elizabeth’s refusal to yield to the demand to make her own grief public? How does Frears position the audience to view her decision?
Elizabeth, Philip and the Queen Mother are unable to comprehend the public’s response to Diana’s death. Their knowledge of the world’s response is informed by but also limited to television and newspaper reports. Frears shows that it is not until the Queen and Philip drive along The Mall that they realise the magnitude of the public’s grief. • •
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Why does the Queen dismiss Blair’s request that she make a public announcement or appearance? How does Frears depict the balance of power in this conversation? Why does the Queen eventually decide to view the flowers outside the gates of Balmoral and Buckingham Palace? Write a detailed analysis of the scene in which the Queen makes a televised address as a tribute to Diana. Your analysis should refer to how the following production elements are used in this sequence: • camera techniques • acting • mise en scène • editing • lighting • sound. For Cherie Blair, who regards the Royal Family as ‘a bunch of freeloading, emotionally retarded nutters’, the media backlash is exciting. How does her husband respond? Is it a response that Cherie expected? It could be claimed that Tony Blair’s intervention was more of an attempt to win over the British people than the Queen. How does Frears want the audience to view Blair’s attempts to repair the Queen’s reputation? Is he opportunistic? How do the portrayals of Campbell and Cherie Blair shape the audience’s view of the prime minister’s motives?
Grief Diana’s family initially decide upon a private funeral, which the Royal Family appear to regard as a convenient solution to the problem of her status. As Lord Airlie, the Lord Chamberlain (Douglas Reith), explains to Tony Blair, ‘There’s simply no precedent for the funeral of an ex-HRH’. • Screen Education 95 I © ATOM
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Why do Charles and Blair oppose the idea of a private funeral for Princess Diana? To what extent do you think that personal matters such as funeral arrangements and expressions of grief for well-known figures are legitimate areas for media coverage?
It is Janvrin who informs Elizabeth of the general agreement that a public funeral would be more appropriate. While the Queen Mother is horrified that the plans for her funeral will be used, Janvrin communicates the Lord Chamberlain’s assurance that ‘the spirit of the occasion will be quite different’.
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What do Elizabeth, Philip and the Queen Mother think of the public demonstration of grief? What did Frears’ portrayal of their judgements of the British public make you think and feel? Explain the significance of the shots in which the Queen gives instructions for the radio to be removed from the young princes’ bedroom and the television to be removed from the nursery.
The stag Philip decides that stalking the large stag that has been seen roaming the district will distract his grandsons from their mother’s death. While Elizabeth is uncertain whether this is appropriate, she lets her husband take charge. The stag is a narrative device that allows Frears to comment on the tension between tradition and progress, the Queen’s vulnerability, and the way Princess Diana was treated by the press and the Royal Family. Elizabeth encounters it when her Land Rover breaks down as she is crossing the River Dee. •
Write a detailed analysis of this scene. Your analysis should mention: • the Queen’s determination to act independently of others and drive herself to meet the shooting party • the Queen’s loss of composure • the Queen’s appreciation of the stag’s beauty.
Fact and fiction The Queen provides an account of an event that happened in 1997, blending the historical record with fiction and supposition. •
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Why do you think Frears decided to revisit the death of Princess Diana almost ten years on? Read online interviews with Frears and screenwriter Peter Morgan, watch The Queen DVD making-of featurette and listen to the DVD audio commentary.5 Share what you discover in answer to this question with your peers. Were you able to distinguish fact from fiction as you watched The Queen? Working as a class, make a list of the scenes that have historical foundations. Choose one of the scenes from the list and research the specific event that is the subject of that scene to establish the facts. Drawing on this research, evaluate the historical accuracy of the scene and explain how and why Frears has blended truth and speculation.
Katy Marriner is an English teacher at St Columba’s College in Essendon, Victoria. SE
Endnotes Michael White, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, The Guardian, 19 February 2005, <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/ feb/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview12>, accessed 15 July 2019. 2 ‘Diana Death a “Tragic Accident”’, BBC News, 14 December 2006, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6179275.stm>, accessed 15 July 2019. 3 ‘1981: Charles and Diana Marry’, ‘On This Day: 1950–2005’, BBC website, 29 July 2008, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/ hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_2494000/2494949.stm>, accessed 15 July 2019. 4 See ‘The Panorama Interview’, BBC website, <http://www. bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/panorama.html>, accessed 15 July 2019. 5 The Queen, DVD, Icon Film Distribution, 2006. 1
How does the Queen react when she learns that the stag has been shot on a neighbouring estate? What is the purpose of the scene set in the cooling room, where the Queen views its body? What connections does Frears want the audience to make between the stag and Diana?
Trust The negative media coverage of the Royal Family’s inaction prompts Blair to call Balmoral again to discuss the possibility of ‘some kind of response’. Elizabeth continues to dispute Blair’s assessment of public expectation. In her opinion, ‘a few overeager editors are doing their best to sell newspapers, and it would be a mistake to dance to their tune’, and the British people ‘will at any moment reject this […] mood which is being stirred up’. •
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What does the Queen’s response to Blair say about her faith in the British people? How does Frears depict that Blair is right to claim that the British people have lost faith in the Royal Family? Explain the significance of Janvrin’s later telephone call to the Prime Minister. Does Blair respond as you expected?
When Blair calls again, the Queen is heading out to walk the dogs. She takes the call in the kitchen. He says that, as prime minister, he believes it is his constitutional responsibility to intervene. •
How does Frears use this scene to show a shift in the balance of power? Drawing on the scenes that follow, explain how the Queen’s decision to trust the prime minister’s judgement is depicted.
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