Secrets of the Royal Palaces

(narrator) At the heart of the British establishment are the royal palaces.

-Imposing.

-They encapsulate the very finest architecture, art design.

-Lavish.

-It was deliberately grand, this most ostentatious statement of absolute power.

(narrator) And brimming with hidden gems.

(woman) You always feel like there's something new to discover.

(narrator) They're the backdrop to every royal event.

(woman) Every celebration, birth, death, crisis for 1,000 years.

(narrator) In this all-new Secrets of the Royal Palaces, we gain exclusive access to these illustrious buildings and uncover their private parts... (Jonathan) The regal bog, that would be used by Queen Victoria herself.

(narrator) ...reveal the extraordinary royal art hidden within.

(woman) The Queen's stamp collection is worth 100 million pounds.

Not a bad return on loads of pictures of yourself, really, is it?

(narrator) Dig up the royal palaces' dark history.

(woman) George builds secret tunnels so no one could ever see him.

(narrator) And share fresh revelations about the royal dramas that are gripping the nation.

(man) Not a soul got anywhere near that island.

I loved her to bits.

(narrator) This is the Secrets of the Royal Palaces.

(dramatic music) In this episode, we disclose the secrets of the Queen Mother's will and the deal that the Queen struck to exempt the palace from paying tax.

(woman) By putting it in a trust, she guaranteed not having to pay any inheritance tax.

(narrator) We get to try the most extraordinary dish ever served in a palace.

(woman) What on earth is this?

Why is a chicken riding a pig?

This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen!

(narrator) We reveal how many jewels it takes to make the ultimate crown.

(woman) There's a staggering 2,868 diamonds, 269 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and four rubies.

(narrator) And we discover the secret tricks used by the palace photographer to capture this famous image of the future Queen.

There'd actually be three or four cameras hidden.

You might find that a camera was hidden behind some teddy bears.

(soft music) (narrator) Britain's palaces are spread across the country.

Each palace has a very unique role to play.

(narrator) And while some serve as the closest thing to a home a royal can get... (woman) People sleep there, they eat there.

They're part of the institution of royalty.

(narrator) Others deal with the business end of public duty.

(woman) Buckingham Palace is Monarchy HQ, the Tower of London, famously, was a prison.

So all very different, but collectively, they symbolize the power and the might of the British monarchy.

(narrator) As part of that function, the palaces receive up to 100,000 pieces of correspondence every year, whether the Queen's official affairs or fan mail from her loyal subjects.

It's no surprise then that both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle have dedicated court post offices within their walls.

(Richard) If you write to the Queen, you just have to put, "The Queen, Buckingham Palace."

It's where all the correspondence goes.

(narrator) In 2012, the year of her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen received an exceptional 60,000 letters with congratulations on her long reign.

One of those letters was written by John Canning, who had just found out the Queen would be visiting the city of Manchester on the same day as his wedding to fiance Frances.

(John) I had a bit of a mad moment, 'cause I said I'm gonna invite her, and Frances is like, "You can't do that."

I said, "I can do what I want."

And I wrote a letter to the Queen.

"If you get five minutes spare, feel free to knock on next door and I'll get you a couple of stools."

That was pretty much it, it was just tongue in cheek, but obviously you never know.

(narrator) But to the couple's surprise... (Frances) We actually got a reply!

(narrator) A Buckingham Palace postmarked letter dropped onto their doormat.

(bright music) (Frances) This was the response we got back.

Obviously, to John.

(John) "Dear Mr. Canning, the Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your kind message on the occasion of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee."

(Frances) "And although unable to reply to you personally, Her Majesty sends you and your bride good wishes for your wedding next month."

(John) "Yours sincerely, Lady-in-Waiting" with a nice signature.

(narrator) The Queen loves a wedding, but is usually only seen at family ceremonies, traveling the short distance from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's for Charles and Diana's or enjoying the service of Harry and Meghan at the Palace Chapel within the grounds of Windsor Castle.

But with Her Majesty busy with her royal duties, the Cannings were content with a blessing and set their minds to the big day.

(Frances) That morning of the wedding, it was pretty nerve-wracking.

Wasn't sure what was gonna be ahead of me.

I said to my dad, "Please keep holding me upright, 'cause I feel like I'm going to fall over here."

(narrator) The Canning's ceremony went off without a hitch, -but suddenly... -The doors opened in the room we're in, just got married in, and the Lord-Lieutenant came in and the mayor, the chief of police came in, and they said, "The Queen's asked if she could meet you both."

(Frances) We just looked at each other and thought, "Wow, it's going to happen."

(John) All of a sudden, your mind goes blank.

I didn't even know me own name, I don't think, at one point.

So we've got a curtsy to learn and I've got to learn how to bow properly.

(narrator) It turned out that Buckingham Palace officials had been in secret communication with the town hall and had had the visit to the wedding party in the royal diary for weeks.

(John) We were told to go down the stairs in the town hall, and the Queen came out of a lift.

I didn't even know there was a lift.

And then she came over to us and she put her hand out and obviously she knew both our names, -said hello.

-I just went, "It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty," and she just said, "That's lovely-- lovely to meet you, Frances.

You look lovely and I wish you all the best, you and John."

I think she knew I was really nervous, 'cause she had a hold of my hand.

(John) She was lovely, wasn't she?

Really, really elegant, graceful, everything.

Classy, I'd say.

(Frances) It was a lovely wedding present!

(John) The wedding album's a bit thicker than we planned.

(Frances) You just would never imagine in a million years that the Queen would come to your wedding.

(classical music) (narrator) Life as a royal means a life in the public eye, and when news trickles through that the cries of a new royal resident are echoing around the palace halls, the public scrambles to catch a glimpse of the new arrival.

(Emily) Everybody loves a cute baby picture.

Everyone loves a cute royal baby or toddler picture.

I mean, as a mom, I go, "Oh, does Princess Charlotte look like the Queen?"

"Oh, does Prince Louis look like Mike Middleton or is he more like Prince Philip?"

(narrator) Though today, new baby pics are shared effortlessly to millions of well-wishers around the world, back in the late 1920s, one royal photographer to set the standard was Marcus Adams.

Marcus Adams was the number one photographer for children in the 1920s.

Marcus Adams was my great-grandfather.

He was first and foremost an artist, and he was one of the first people that created, effectively, a portable camera.

It had the ability to be loaded into a car and taken into Buckingham Palace.

(narrator) Adams was able to take pictures of young royals in the comfort of their palace nurseries, and one of his most notable portraits was taken in 1926.

(calm music) This wide-eyed, fresh-faced baby girl is known today as Queen Elizabeth II.

This is really what is known as the first royal portrait of Elizabeth, and it's a very, very natural image.

You can see the mother just tenderly holding her child there.

You've got these lovely expressions, and you can see her just very much at ease.

(narrator) And as she grew up, Adams continued to capture her childhood.

The old adage goes, "You should never work with children or animals, including royal ones."

So how did Adams capture such incredible portraits noted for their fresh, relaxed demeanor?

(Andrew) The way that he did that was just to create this fun studio environment where children wanted to go.

(Susanna) It was filled with toys and trinkets and there wasn't a camera in site.

There'd actually be three or four cameras hidden.

You might find that a camera was hidden behind some teddy bears.

(Susanna) He said that it was 95% psychological and 5% mechanical.

He would never work close up to the camera, he would operate the shutter using a button on a cord.

So the camera is taking the photographs at the point that she's having the most natural moments and capturing the essence of Princess Elizabeth in the way that her family knew her.

(narrator) But even then, young Lilibet was showing qualities she would later need to rule a commonwealth.

(Andrew) Certainly, shoots with Margaret, Margaret was very much the mischievous one and Elizabeth was the one that was telling her to stop, call down, leave the room, you're distracting us.

And so I think, from a very early age, Elizabeth was very much in control.

(narrator) But when the future monarch turned 16, Adams did something very brave.

He said "no" to the royal family.

His specialism and what he wanted to do was child photography.

(Susanna) He didn't take photographs of anyone over the age of 16 unless there were also children present in the picture.

(narrator) It wasn't until she was a mother herself that the Queen personally requested that Adams take portraits of her with the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

I think it's a great testament to Marcus Adams' supreme talent as a photographer that Princess Elizabeth, as an adult woman and a mother herself, chooses to work again with Adams to create early portraits of her own children.

(narrator) Coming up on Secrets of the Royal Palaces, we discover the secrets of the Queen Mother's will and how it triggered a public backlash when she passed on her palace treasures.

(woman) We the public wants to know how much was she leaving, who was she leaving it to?

(narrator) And Kate Williams discovers an incredible Tudor feast served at Henry VIII's palaces.

What's that?

-A helmet.

-You are joking.

No, it's a helmet.

(orchestral music) (narrator) Though the Queen travels the length and breadth of the country performing her stately duty, London has been the center of royal and political power for centuries.

There are about 10 royal palaces across London stretching from Kew Palace right across to the Tower of London.

(narrator) Though numerous palaces have stood the test of time, others have been lost to the annals of history.

A royal residence that once dominated London skyline was the sprawling Whitehall.

(Tony) Whitehall Palace really was a shining beacon of its time.

It was easily the biggest royal palace in Europe under the Tudors, even bigger than the Vatican and only surpassed eventually by Versailles.

(man) It had been the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury going back generations.

It was known as York Place, and it had come into the possession of Cardinal Wolsey.

(Tony) After Cardinal Wolsey's fall from grace, Henry VIII just takes York Place off him, and he doesn't wait for exchange and completion or any of the legal formalities that the rest of us need to go through, he just takes it.

(traditional music) (narrator) Only a few days after ousting Wolsey, Henry had made the palace his new official home.

His tenure at Whitehall resulted in a period of even greater expansion, turning it into a palace fit for a king.

(man) This is a survey planner of Whitehall Palace made in 1680.

By any standards, this one was a whopper.

It's 24 acres, so you could fit Hampton Court in here six times.

It's the city inside a city.

Having made it a royal palace, he added things important to him, and Henry typically turned it into a great big leisure center.

(upbeat music) (narrator) The king of grandiosity spent the equivalent of 10 million pounds expanding Whitehall into a warren of over 1,500 public and private rooms, including kings and queens apartments with a river view.

There are places for promenading, there are gardens.

The great bake house is right down by the river.

The cider house is there as well, and then the small beer battery.

Tennis courts, the cockpit, the tiled tiltyard where you would have jousting competitions.

The kinds of entertainments that kings were expected to put on.

(narrator) Henry VIII died at the palace in 1547, leaving it to be cared for by a further eight monarchs, including his children, Queens Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I.

But during the rule of William III, it was to be the elements that eventually dethroned this royal residence.

(Tony) On the afternoon of the fourth of January, 1698 a Dutch maid decides to dry out some bed linen around a coal brazier.

(Ed) She was gone momentarily, and the linen catches fire.

Then the room is set on fire.

It wasn't long before a fire was blazing through the whole palace.

(narrator) As the palace was mostly made from timber, the whole complex was a tinderbox.

And as the fire leapt from building to building, total chaos ensued.

Staff confronted with this rather unwelcome inferno.

First of all, took to using buckets of water and primitive pumps.

(Ed) They even resorted to using gunpowder in the hope that creating explosions would separate parts of the burning buildings from those buildings yet untouched.

(Tony) They didn't know how to stop the fire.

Great artworks and treasures were either going up in smoke or being looted.

The palace burned for something like two days, and really only stopped when the whole place was reduced to a smoldering heap of ash.

(narrator) Whitehall Palace was destroyed over 300 years ago, but if you know where to look, it can still be found hiding in plain site.

And later, we'll find out how a precious piece of it was saved by a senior member of the royal family.

The palaces host a range of important events from charity functions to state dinners, and how well you can wine and dine your guests has always been the measure of a good monarch.

(Janina) Feasting, banqueting, that's the stuff we associate with royalty.

It's in fairy tales, this idea of a huge table laid out for hundreds of guests.

(narrator) But the palace kitchens of Tudor England took royal feasting to a whole new level.

To get a taste of what it was like to sit at a royal banquet, Kate Williams has come to visit Neil Buttery.

-Hi, Neil.

-Hello.

(narrator) A food historian with the secrets on cooking up the type of dramatic dishes served at the feasts of Henry VIII.

Oh, my goodness, something's coming.

Something's coming.

(bright music) What?

What on earth is this?

Why is a chicken riding a pig?

This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen!

It's the weirdest thing I've ever made.

Wearing... what's that?

-A helmet.

-It's wearing a helmet.

-Mhm.

-You are joking.

No, it's a helmet.

Cockle Mez, that's the name of the dish.

(Kate) I'm looking at a hairy chicken on top of a pig.

(Neil) No, you are looking at a proud, proud knight on his trusty steed.

(Kate) Right!

So if I am in the top delegation with Henry VIII-- (Neil) You'd be doing back flips over this one.

-Tudor back flips.

-Yeah.

(Kate) Even if I think this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen, I must say, "Oh, marvelous, sire!"

This is the crme de la crme of cookery.

It's like a chicken's bottom on a pig's bottom.

(Neil) Indeed.

This probably would have been part of maybe a dozen other meat sculptures.

There's one case where a cockle's been filled with sulfur and quicksilver, so in other words, mercury.

As it's brought in, they're reacting together in the heat... -What?

-...steam comes out... -Steam?

-...and it's as though the cockle is singing.

(Kate) I mean, this isn't food as food, -this is food as theater.

-Yes.

(Kate) Okay, so the moment of truth.

I think we've got to go in there.

Inside the pig...

I dread to think, Neil, I dread it.

All right, here we come, piggy.

Get ready.

(Neil) We're just gonna make a little incision here.

(Kate) No, I'm not looking.

(Neil) There it is.

(Kate) Oh, my... What on earth?

(Neil) You've got its guts in there.

(Kate) It's like a sausage in the pig!

-Yes, it is sausage.

-Oh, no.

No!

(Neil) Are you a leg?

(Kate) I'll take a leg.

Yes, my trusty knight.

-Neil, you've served me.

-Mhm!

(Kate) Here we go.

-How's that?

-Mm!

-Very nice chicken!

-Good.

(Kate) It's food fit for a king.

So I actually am Henry VIII for a day.

This is absolutely amazing, and I will never get over the sight of the chicken riding the pig.

(narrator) Over the course of a royal lifetime, a sovereign can collect a vast trove of treasures to adorn the palace walls.

(Janina) In every palace you go into, the rooms are full of the highest quality artworks of the time, and they've been collected and increased with every generation.

In modern memory, the royal with the unscratchable itch for collecting was Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

(woman) The Queen Mother had been the nation's granny for a good half a century.

(man) The whole of 20th century British history was symbolized by her.

The last empress of India, the woman who was Queen Consort, had helped Britain through the Second World War.

And crucial to her daughter's success as our longest reigning monarch.

(somber music) (narrator) In March 2002, during an intense year of international celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother died peacefully in her sleep at the grand age of 101.

(woman) When her death was announced, it wasn't unexpected, obviously, but there was still a collective sigh of sadness.

(narrator) The news of a close family bereavement didn't solely affect the Queen, but the nation as a whole, triggering 10 days of national mourning.

(woman) When her body lay in state, they were going to just open it for the public for a few hours.

Well, the queue was three miles long.

(Edwina) I made a point of going to the funeral.

It was absolutely lovely.

We all clapped as she went past.

(narrator) Once the nation had said their goodbyes, public interest turned towards the distribution of her palaces and the massive art collection built up over 65 years of royal duty.

(soft music) But that last wishes contained within a royal will are strictly confidential due to an incident that took place almost a century earlier.

(woman) Ever since 1910, the royal family has refused to publish wills for those who've died, and it all came out of a scandal.

Prince Francis died prematurely at the age of 39, and he left some of the family jewels to his mistress.

And among those jewels were the famous Cambridge emeralds still worn in tiaras and pieces of jewelry to this day.

Queen Mary was outraged and bought those jewels back from Lady Kilmorey for a reputed 10,000 pounds.

(Susie) Queen Mary went to the High Court and said, "Could you please seal this will so no one knows about this and finds out what my brother, Francis, has been up to?"

And they did so.

And ever since, the wills of senior royals have been kept under lock and key and sealed by the courts for at least 90 years.

(tense music) (narrator) But in the case of the queen mother's will, pressure was mounting for details of the family finances to be revealed... ...especially on the topic of who would inherit her vast fortune and palaces.

(Daisy) We the public wanted to know how much was she leaving, who was she leaving it to, and the royal family, the queen in particular, wanted to keep it under wraps.

(narrator) The royal family wanted to avoid the public attention because of a secret deal made a decade earlier protecting the queen's palaces from the tax man.

(Edwina) Prime minister at the time, John Major, had done a deal.

As long as what the queen mother owned was left just to her daughter, the reigning queen, there wouldn't be any inheritance tax.

(narrator) But the royals had underestimated the public sense of fairness.

(woman) Everybody has to pay their taxes, and she's no different to anybody else.

(soft music) (narrator) Coming up, we explore what happened to the queen mom's palaces... (Richard) The queen mother had Clarence House, Royal Lodge, not far from Windsor Castle, and the Castle of Mey in a remote part of Scotland.

(narrator) ...and we find out how one monarch built the most intricate, portable palace in history.

(Prof. Kate Williams) It really was as if Henry had taken Hampton Court Palace and moved it brick by brick to the French countryside.

(suspenseful music) (narrator) The palaces are places where the royals can keep private family affairs hidden away behind closed doors.

(Dr. Tessa Dunlop) Decisions, deaths, murders, births.

They've seen it all.

If only walls could talk.

(narrator) But sometimes, something scandalous slips through the golden gates.

(dramatic music) Upon her death in 2002, secrets arising from the queen mother's will and testament proved controversial.

News that the queen would be exempt from a 40 percent tax bill due to a deal made with the government a decade earlier was hitting the headlines.

(Daisy) There was disquiet about this money.

There was disquiet about the tax implications, the fact the royal family didn't seem to be like the rest of us.

And I think that's why MPs in the House of Commons were calling for these rules to be changed.

(Susie) It wasn't acceptable anymore just to automatically close off the will to public scrutiny, so it went to the High Court.

The queen asked for it to stay sealed.

(narrator) The judge ruled in the queen's favor.

And to this day, the queen mom's will, along with 30 more belonging to deceased royals, are locked away in a safe at the High Court.

But Buckingham Palace officials sensed the mounting public pressure and released some crucial details.

We learned that she had left somewhere between 50 and 70 million pounds and the vast bulk of it went to the queen.

(Richard) This was not just cash, but also some wonderful paintings.

She had a Monet, for example.

She had a collection of priceless Faberg eggs.

(narrator) Several royal palaces also needed to be split amongst the family.

(Richard) The queen mother had a fine house in central London, Clarence House.

She had Royal Lodge, not far from Windsor Castle, and the Castle of Mey in a remote part of Scotland.

(narrator) The queen mother also arranged for up to 15 million pounds to be put in a trust for Princes William and Harry so they, too, could benefit from the tax break.

(majestic music) Although the topic continues to be controversial, there are many that argue the deal allows the monarch to continue protecting important heritage and history.

(Richard) If she had to pay inheritance tax, then a great deal of the collections that the royal family have built up over the years would be scattered to the four winds.

This unique arrangement ensured that these marvelous treasures have not been sold abroad.

That is important for the long-term well-being of all the royal palaces.

Now, not everybody is happy about it, but it has protected these royal treasures for future generations.

(man) God save the queen!

(Edwina) From there onwards, there was a lot of pressure, I think, to open up all the royal palaces, all these establishments.

Now you can get into most of them unless the members of the family are actually living there.

(Daisy) The queen's always been good at being diplomatic.

She saw that the best way forward for some of the queen mother's most precious belongings was to take them out of the private collection and put them into the Royal Collection which would then mean that they would be able to be seen by the public.

And I think that was a smart move.

(narrator) By transferring the most important items into the Royal Collection, the queen's plan became apparent: ensuring the protection of irreplaceable artifacts and safeguarding them for future generations.

(uplifting music) The United Kingdom is spoiled for choice when it comes to the sheer number of palaces scattered across the land.

(Dr. Ed Owens) They're all distinct and they all have their own identity.

(Dr. Janina Ramirez) Wherever you step, wherever you look, there are stories to be told.

Some of them, they might not actually want you to know about.

(narrator) And others might not survive long enough to tell the tale.

At the time of its destruction, Whitehall had been the center of English royal power for over 160 years.

But if you know where to look, it's possible to discover secrets left behind by this once great palace.

To this day, the country is ruled from this area in the heart of Westminster known as Whitehall.

It's home to the Foreign Office, Downing Street, the Ministry of Defense, but that name is taken from a lost royal palace, once the largest in Europe that was built right here in the heart of the capital.

That was the Palace of Whitehall.

(narrator) Nestled amongst the complex and varied architecture of London's most powerful street, echoes of the vast palace that once stood here can be found.

The Banqueting House is the only palace building to survive the flames.

(horn music) Designed by Inigo Jones as the jewel in the crown of the complex, the hall was used for royal receptions, ceremonies, and the performance of masques.

But there are less obvious secrets hiding below ground.

(Dr. Jonathan Foyle) This is the Ministry of Defense building.

It was conceived around 1915, and it's home to the UK's Armed Forces.

(intense music) (narrator) The building now sits atop what was the main entertainment center of old Whitehall.

(Dr. Jonathan Foyle) To me, the best-kept secret of the MOD building isn't what's going on inside it, it's what's underneath it.

Underneath the rooms where nuclear tactics are discussed is another secret bunker.

This one dates to about 500 years ago.

It is Henry's wine cellar.

(narrator) The wine cellar dates all the way back to Whitehall's first royal owner and was positioned beneath where the Great Hall once stood, allowing Henry's guests to be instantly supplied with copious amounts of beer and wine.

(violin music) (Dr. Jonathan Foyle) Entering the cellar is really stepping back in time.

We have stone-ribbed vaults, masonry walls.

You've got the space for the barrels to be set out down the middle and the sides of the room.

(narrator) Being underground, it was protected from the fires that decimated the rest of the palace.

But in 1938, the construction of the foundation for the new MOD building began, spelling disaster for the ancient cellar.

Its destruction looked imminent, but it was saved by an unlikely champion.

The person who intervened to save it was Queen Mary, the grandmother of the current queen and the widow of George V. And she approached Parliament, insisting that Henry's wine cellar had to stay.

(narrator) With this royal appointment, the engineers were struck with a problem.

How do you move a priceless, fragile subterranean structure and get it out of the way of this new hulk of building?

(Dr. Jonathan Foyle) The solution was a piece of engineering genius.

They covered the entire structure in a sarcophagus of steel and concrete.

That allowed 90 men over the course of 18 months to set that block on rails and move it very carefully and gradually just nine feet to the west, but 19 feet deeper into the earth to avoid the foundations of this goliath.

And by those measures, this precious ancient relic of Whitehall Palace was preserved.

(narrator) The saving of Henry's wine cellar is a great example of the royal family preserving history, but some outlandish monarchs are totally at home with creating it.

(fanfare music) (Prof. Kate Williams) Two rival kings, Franois of France and Henry VIII of England, are assenting to peace, hopefully, forever more after they'd been at war for almost 200 years.

And, so, in 1520, a date was set where the two kings could meet and show off their wealth, their power, their skill, their prowess.

It was to be the party of the century.

(accordion music) This event was going to be in France, in Guisnes, on the very edge of the English territory fifteen miles from Calais.

There was nothing there at all, so the entire setup all had to be built from scratch.

English workmen had built hundreds of tents, a tiltyard for jousting matches, and they'd also built a giant temporary palace for the king and queen.

Henry's was made of timber with stretched canvas, and there were bricks painted on it so it looked like a palace.

And, then, within that, they had incredible furniture and so much stained glass that the French called it the Crystal Palace.

It really was as if Henry had taken Hampton Court Palace and moved it brick by brick to the French countryside.

Then came the French.

Franois, he has tentmakers make these huge pavilions out of amazing materials.

The pice de rsistance was a huge tent, 120 foot wide, and it was made from cloth woven with real gold reflecting the light.

You'd never seen anything like it.

And this gold was why this meeting became known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

(violin music) The stage was set for 18 days of non-stop musical celebrations, tournaments, parties.

It was all about bling.

It was about showing off the greater grandeur of England or France.

Henry spent an astonishing 36,000 pounds of Tudor money on this, and that is the equivalent of 20 million pounds in today's money.

It was one-third of the annual income of Britain.

But the most extravagant expense was yet to come, a banquet like no other.

Which king could show he had better food?

There was an estimated 12,000 people in attendance.

The biggest Tudor feast in history.

After all this celebration, within two years, England and France, they're back at war.

They're enemies once more.

So the Field of the Cloth of Gold is really, I think, the most pointless piece of diplomacy ever.

(uplifting music) (narrator) Coming up, we discover the secrets of the ultimate crown.

(Jacky) It has absolutely everything.

It's got gold and platinum and silver.

It's the ultimate sort of fairy-tale image of what a crown should be.

(narrator) And we reveal how close we came to losing one of our greatest queens when she ventured out of Buckingham Palace.

Little did Victoria know that behind a tree was hiding one Edward Oxford, a would-be assassin with two guns.

(regal music) (narrator) However shielded a monarch may feel behind their locked gates, impenetrable walls, and top-notch security systems, no palace is more secure than the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is absolutely jam-packed with treasures and, of course, the crown jewels.

(narrator) The Tower of London has guarded the royal jewels for over 600 years, including some of their more famous objects like the crowns of countless kings and queens.

But not all crowns are made equal.

(Jacky) The Imperial State Crown is sort of the ultimate crown.

It has absolutely everything.

It's got gold and platinum and silver.

It's the fairy-tale image of what a crown should be.

(narrator) All that precious metal means the Imperial Crown weighs over a kilogram and stands just over 31 centimeters tall.

Its base has four crosses alternating with four fleur-de-lis flower depictions.

And inside, there's a purple velvet cap with a fur border to keep the royal head comfortable.

But it's the glistening jewels set within that really make this crown dazzle.

(majestic music) There's a staggering 2,868 diamonds.

There are 269 pearls.

There are 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and four rubies.

(drum music) (narrator) And these aren't just any old, old jewels.

The crown features some of the most important and historic jewels from the Royal Collection.

You've got the sapphire that was in the ring of Edward the Confessor.

(Jacky) It's got the Black Prince's Ruby, an enormous 170-carat stone that was said to have been worn in the helmet of Henry V as he went into battle at Agincourt.

It's got the blue Stuart Sapphire which was reputedly smuggled out of the country by James II when he fled in 1688.

And it's got the absolutely magnificent 317-carat Cullinan II.

This was cut from the world's largest ever top-quality diamond found in a mine in 1905.

So, altogether, these stones talk of history and myth and legend.

(narrator) Despite its majesty, the current Imperial State Crown isn't original.

It's actually the fifth incarnation to grace the royal BOTs.

(Jacky) The first Imperial State Crown was probably made for Henry VII after the Battle of Bosworth, but what we do know is that the term "Imperial State Crown" definitely dates back to the 15th century.

And this was the first time that the monarchs requested not open arches as they traditionally had, but a new sort of secret symbolism which was the closed arch on top of the crown.

(Dr. Janina Ramirez) It's really suggesting that there is no one else who should rule England other than the king or the queen, but also that nobody rules above them apart from God.

(narrator) The current Imperial State Crown was commissioned by George VI, but the queen had it tailored to suit her record-breaking reign.

(mellow music) Queen Elizabeth actually had the crown altered again to reduce its size and lower the arches so that it had a slightly more flattering and feminine fit to it.

(Dr. Janina Ramirez) The queen has described how uncomfortable it is to wear, particularly when she's reading speeches.

She has to raise the script up and not tilt her head because she fears she might break her neck.

(narrator) Which is probably why she never travels wearing the crown and prefers to send it on ahead via its own transportation.

(Jacky) It arrives in its own specially designated carriage on a little velvet cushion, and then it sits beside her throne as she makes her speech.

(spirited music) (Prof. Kate Williams) This is Hyde Park, just about a mile from Buckingham Palace, and it was one of Albert and Victoria's favorite places to spend their leisure time.

In the evenings, they'd drive up from Buckingham Palace, up Constitution Hill, wave at all their adoring crowds, and then come to the park to take the air with a lady-in-waiting or the prime minister.

But one summer evening in June 1840, it was going to be a completely different ride and, in fact, Victoria was to be brought to the brink of catastrophe.

(ominous music) Little did Victoria know that behind a tree was hiding one Edward Oxford, a would-be assassin with two guns.

He was an angry young man.

He thought he was part of an army, the Young England, and he was determined to shoot Victoria.

So he hid behind the tree and waited.

(tense music) 6:00 p.m., Victoria comes out of the palace in the carriage surrounded by all these cheering crowds.

Edward sees her, takes aim, and he fires with both guns.

It's uproar, it's hysteria.

The queen's been shot at.

Victoria's carriage sets off at high speed into the distance to save the queen.

Victoria is told to stay put as the authorities are terrified.

Edward Oxford has been arrested, but there still could be more assassination attempts.

Victoria refuses.

She's not going to hide away, going to be out there with her people.

So what she decides to do is drive out again, show herself to the people, and she refuses all the types of ideas that the authorities have.

Covered-over carriages.

They even suggest a bulletproof parasol that she gets to bang off the bullets with.

She says no.

She wants to show herself off to the people, not be afraid.

There's this real soaring of popularity for Victoria.

Everyone loves her, they say, "She could've been killed.

Thank goodness we have her."

'Cause, actually, Victoria is shot at six more times throughout her reign.

But, really, they did her a huge favor.

Every time she was shot at, people fell in love with Victoria all over again.

The queen's shooters gave Victoria a huge amount of popularity.

They proved she was indestructible.

(uplifting music) (narrator) Next time, we discover one of Windsor's most ruthless queens... (Prof. Kate Williams) Legend has it that Isabella killed him herself by pushing a red-hot poker up his bottom.

What a brutal way to die.

(narrator) ...a security leak at Buckingham Palace causes a scandal that threatens the monarchy's image... (Emily) It was a crime.

A member of staff had stolen these either from Anne's briefcase or her desk.

(narrator) ...and a daring new look for the queen backfires.

(Susanna) It could almost be a kind of album cover for a band from the early '80s.

(bright music)