The Queen

1.

ARCHIVE TELEVISION FOOTAGE

It’s Election Day 1997. Up and down the country, the PEOPLE

OF BRITAIN, people of all shapes and sizes and denominations,

black and white, young and old, are going to the Polls.

Everyone, that is, except the people that live in...

EXT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - DAY

The most instantly recognisable Palace in the world.

The Royal Standard, (the flag of heraldic lions and symbolic

harp-strings that signals the Monarch’s presence), flutters

on the roof.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - CHINESE ROOM DAY

We’re in a state room at Buckingham Palace. A TV plays in the

corner..

TV COMMENTARY:

“..here's Tony Blair, just 43 years

old, arriving at the polling station

of his constituency in Sedgefield..”

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, wearing formal robes of the Garter, is

posing for an official portrait by an elderly black PORTRAIT

ARTIST, (representative, one assumes, of one of the many

C:

harities of which she is patron)..

ELIZABETH:

Have you voted yet, Mr Crawford?

ARTIST:

(proudly dabbing palette)

Yes, Ma’am. I was there when they

opened. First in line. Seven o’clock.

TV COMMENTARY:

“If he wins, he’ll be the youngest

Prime Minister in almost two hundred

years..”

He straightens..

ARTIST:

And I don’t mind telling you, it

wasn’t for Mr Blair.

ELIZABETH:

Not a moderniser, then?

2.

ARTIST:

Certainly not. We’re in danger of

losing too much that’s good about this

country as it is.

TV COMMENTARY:

“The only questions that still remain:

how big will his landslide be? And how

extensive, how sweeping will the

modernisation programme be that he

ushers in?"

ELIZABETH:

Hmm.

The QUEEN watches as he paints..

ELIZABETH:

I rather envy you being able to vote.

(a beat)

Not the actual ticking of the box,

although, I suppose, it would be nice

to experience that ONCE.

(a beat)

But the sheer joy of being partial.

ARTIST:

Yes..

The ARTIST squints as he scrutinises the canvass..

ARTIST:

One forgets that as Sovereign, you are

n

ot entitled to vote.

ELIZABETH:

No.

ARTIST:

Still, you won’t catch me feeling

sorry for you. You might not be

allowed to vote, Ma’am..

(a beat)

But it IS your Government.

ELIZABETH:

Yes.

The QUEEN raises her eyebrow..

ELIZABETH:

I suppose that is some consolation.

FADE TO BLACK:

3.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - QUEEN’S BEDROOM - DAY

The QUEEN’s face. Fast asleep. It’s shortly before 8.00 am.

Daylight filters through the curtains. As does something

else..

The stirring sound of bagpipes..

EXT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - INNER COURTYARD - DAY

The inner courtyard of Buckingham Palace. In a ritual

unchanged since Queen Victoria, a uniformed PIPER, wearing a

kilt of Ancient Hunting Stuart tartan, marches under her

Majesty’s windows, playing the bagpipes.

It’s her morning alarm call, and it’s the way she wakes up

wherever she is - anywhere in the world.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - QUEEN’S BEDROOM - DAY

Darkness. A soft knock at the door. (The strains of bagpipes

can still be heard from below). Her Majesty’s DRESSER sticks

her head round the corner, with a calling tray of Earl Grey

tea and the newspapers.

MAID:

G’morning, Ma’am.

The DRESSER puts the tea and newspapers on a bedside table.

DRESSER:

Shall I draw the curtains?

The QUEEN’s sleepy voice answers..‘Please’. The DRESSER goes

to the window.

ELIZABETH (O.S)

Did you stay up?

DRESSER:

Yes, Ma’am.

ELIZABETH (O.S)

And? Was it as expected..?

The QUEEN’s hand reaches for spectacles, then for the

newspapers. She puts on her glasses.

DRESSER:

Yes, Ma’am. Mr Blair, by a landslide.

The QUEEN’s expression changes..

4.

ELIZABETH:

I see.

She lifts the newspaper up. The front page comes into sharp

focus.

FULL FRAME:
the beaming smile of TONY BLAIR, the new Prime

Minister. The QUEEN stares back. Their eyes meet - as it

were. Headlines tell us..

“IT’S BLAIR!”, “LANDSLIDE VICTORY FOR BLAIR”.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - BREAKFAST ROOM - DAY

The QUEEN sits at breakfast. Reading the newspapers. Dogs

under the table. A knock on the door, and ROBIN JANVRIN,

(40’s), her deputy Private Secretary, pops around..

JANVRIN:

The Prime Minister is on his way,

Ma’am.

ELIZABETH:

To BE, Robin.

(correcting, terse)

Prime Minister to BE.

The QUEEN frostily flicks a page, without looking up..

ELIZABETH (cont’d)

He hasn’t asked my permission yet.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - CORRIDOR - DAY

The QUEEN and JANVRIN walk through a corridor of the Palace.

It has the air of a grand hotel. Chintz. Flock. Long, gilded

mirrors. Portraits on the walls..

ELIZABETH:

He’s a hard one to read, isn’t he?

JANVRIN:

Yes. On the one hand his background is

quite establishment. Father a

Conservative. A public school

education at Fettes, where he was

tutored by the same man as the Prince

o

f Wales.

ELIZABETH:

Well, we’ll try not to hold that

against him.

5.

JANVRIN:

On the other, his manifesto promises

the most radical modernisation and

shake-up of the Constitution in three

hundred years.

ELIZABETH:

Oh. Is he going to ‘modernise’ us, do

you think?

JANVRIN:

I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s

married to a woman with known anti-

Monarchist sympathies - you may

remember her curtsey the first time

you met. It could best be described as

‘shallow’.

ELIZABETH:

I don’t measure the depth of a

curtsey, Robin. I leave that to my

sister.

JANVRIN:

And I spoke to the Cabinet Secretary

who said he was expecting the

atmosphere at Downing Street to be

very informal. Everyone on first name

terms.

(a beat)

At the Prime Minister’s insistence.

ELIZABETH:

What? As in ‘Call me Tony?’

JANVRIN:

Yes.

The QUEEN’s face puckers in distaste..

ELIZABETH:

Oh. I’m not sure I like the sound of

that.

(a beat)

Have we sent him a protocol sheet?

EXT. MALL - DAY

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE:
as TONY BLAIR’s motorcade drives down the

MALL.

EXT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - DAY

The motorcade sweeps into the grand, inner quadrangle of

Buckingham Palace, and stops at the King’s door.

6.

INT. CAR - DAY

Three secret service BODYGUARDS leap out and open the car

doors. TONY looks out at the palace..

TONY:

Funny, I’m actually rather nervous.

CHERIE:

Why? You’ve met her often enough

before.

TONY:

I know. But never one to one. And

never as Prime Minister.

CHERIE:

Remember, you’re a man that’s just

been elected

by the whole country.

TONY:

Yes. But she’s still, y’know..

TONY looks up at the vast palace in front of him..

TONY:

The Queen.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE - CORRIDOR/STAIRCASE - DAY

A uniformed EQUERRY leads TONY and CHERIE through corridors,

and up a grand staircase..

EQUERRY:

When we reach the audience room, I

will knock. We will not wait to be

called, we will go straight inside.

Standing by the door, we bow. From the

neck. I will introduce you. The Queen

will extend her hand, you go to her,

bow again, then shake her hand.

TONY shoots his cuffs, ‘Right’, clears his throat.

EQUERRY (cont’d)

Couple of other things. It’s ‘Ma’am’

as in ham, not Ma’am as in farm.

TONY:

Yes..

EQUERRY:

And when you’re in the Presence, at no

point must you show your back.

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