Former Royal Correspondent Shares Her "Treasured," "Off-Guard" Moments With "Shy" Queen Elizabeth II
“It was an unforgettable sight and one which The Queen never expected and always found humbling.”
Former Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond worked for the BBC for 14 years, throughout some of the most tumultuous events in Queen Elizabeth II’s historic reign. From 1989 to 2003, Bond worked closely with the royal household to deliver news to the British public, and those watching around the world. Despite her close contact with The Queen, Bond describes the historical and cultural icon as “an enigma.”
Queen Elizabeth was more suited to the country life.
Former royal correspondent Jennie Bond says Queen Elizabeth was "an enigma."
“I remember the late Queen as a fairly shy woman who probably would have loved to have been something like a farmer‘s wife,” Jennie Bond wrote for The Mirror. Despite her personality being more suited to country life than diplomacy, the late Queen “was thrown into one of the most public and high profile jobs on the planet.” Over the years, Bond attended royal events, covered State Visits, and travelled with the royal entourage on royal tours, but The Queen “remained something of an enigma” to her.
“Her great skill was not allowing any of us truly to know what she was thinking or feeling,” Bond shared. “I treasure the moments when I saw her a little off-guard, off-duty for a moment. For example, when I glimpsed her putting on her lipstick without a mirror just before entering one of the main reception rooms at the Palace.” These little moments reminded those following her closely that underneath the grandeur, The Queen was just a woman doing her job.
The late Queen.
The Queen was always humbled by the crowds that gathered outside Buckingham Palace.
The late Queen was regularly humbled and overwhelmed by how many people cared and supported her during her seven-decade reign. “I will never forget the huge crowds,” Bond reflected, saying “up to a million people gathered outside Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Golden, Diamond, and then the Platinum Jubilee.” As Queen Elizabeth II looked out over the balcony, the endless sea of wellwishers was surely overwhelming. “It was an unforgettable sight and one which the Queen never expected and always found humbling.”
“I think she will be remembered as a woman of quiet dignity who devoted herself to her role and her duty, sometimes at the expense of her family life,” Bond wrote. “She was guided by her deep faith and her belief that she had a God given duty to serve her country until her dying day.”
“And she did.”
