The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor landed on ITVX this morning (Thursday, April 20), with the opening episode exploring how the late Queen resolutely continued with royal duties as drama within the Royal Family was made public.
During the first episode of the documentary, the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey opened up about the late Queen’s dedication to the monarchy.
He said: “I remember going to see the Queen once with my resignation to tell her the time has come [to resign].
“She looked at me and [sighed] and more or less said, ‘You people come and go, I can’t resign, I can’t surrender, I’ve got to keep going.’
“And I said, ‘Well, the Lord tells me at the age of 70 I’ve got to go.’ But she would never go anyway.”
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George was the Archbishop of Canterbury between 1991 and 2002. Before then, he served as a radio operator in the Royal Air Force after leaving school aged 15.
Reflecting cracks forming within the Royal Family in recent years, he shared: “The more distant a special family is, the more they have to huddle together to find warmth.
“You have to keep things private which puts a burden on members of the family as well because everyone wants to know what’s going on.”
The ITV documentary also focused on Prince Andrew being stripped of his royal title, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding and the explosive Oprah Winfrey interview which followed several years later.
Andrew gave a televised interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC’s Newsnight in 2019 in a bid to clear his name.
“He thought he was capable of getting away with some answers which would inevitably come back and hit him over the head with a truncheon,” a royal source told ITV viewers.
The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor is available to watch on ITVX and ITV.
