Reign Supreme: The Unauthorized Story of Queen Elizabeth II

I am scrambling to find documentaries on Queen Elizabeth II in light of her recent death.  I also rearranged things and Nations at War will resume in January 2023.  This time I found a documentary called Reign Supreme: The Unauthorized Story of Queen Elizabeth II.  This documentary is fast-paced in comparison to others that I have found.  The facts about Queen Elizabeth II’s life come quickly.  The run time for this documentary is 48:11.

Queen Elizabeth II is a symbol of stability and continuity in the United Kingdom.  She has weathered the storms of life.  She has witnessed the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  At a young age, she was called on to lead an empire and served that empire.  The work of the monarchy increased under her leadership.  The monarchy evolved under her watch.
Queen Elizabeth II was born the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York.  Her parents were going to give her a normal upbringing.  So her parents raised her to understand the realities of a nation coming out of World War I.  At age eleven her grandfather died and her uncle became king.  When her uncle abdicated, her father became King she became second in line to the throne.  Then World War II happened and at age eighteen, she helped her father with his official duties.

When she was twenty-one, she traveled to Africa with her parents and declared that she would serve the people for her whole life.  After this trip, the royal family announced that she was going to marry Prince Philip.  Originally, the wedding was going to be low-key, but wedding fever struck the nation.  It became an international event, signaling a new era of the monarchy.  To make her wedding dress, she saved up her clothing coupons to have the wedding dress made.  The pair received over 2,000 wedding gifts.

Almost exactly one year after Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth’s marriage, Prince Charles was born.  The birth of a male heir was greeted with celebrations.  Princess Anne came next, two years later.  However, King George’s health declined, so Princess Elizabeth was called on to carry out duties in his place.  She traveled to the United States where she was greeted by President Truman.  Princess Elizabeth spoke on behalf of her father.  She then went to Australia on another royal tour.  It was when she was in Kenya that she found out that her father had died.

She would return to England as Queen and she mourned her father in seclusion.  Then in 1952, she was officially crowned Queen.  Her coronation was the first coronation broadcasted all around the world on TV.  After she was crowned, Queen Elizabeth II went on a world tour as part of a “global charm offensive.”  The Coronation World Tour was to strengthen the ties of the empire.  She would have discovered that she was a popular figure in the Commonwealth.  She was the most widely traveled monarch in history and was the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe.  How will Queen Elizabeth II approach the rest of her reign?  What does television do to show the world the royal family?  Tune into the rest of this documentary to discover more.

This documentary was definitely no fuss, no frills.  It was fast and furious.  It was almost too fast at times, but I was able to follow along well.  The documentary provided the basics about the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II.  This documentary would provide students with a good start in researching Queen Elizabeth II.  I also would show this documentary in the classroom.