She is a legend. No king, no queen has ruled over Great Britain for longer. Unlike most other crowned heads of state, Elisabeth II is the embodiment of a monarch caught between the poles of royal tradition and modernity, glamour and scandal, public persona and private life. But who is this person who has worn the -crown for decades? How does a queen even fit into a modern democracy as a head of state? What do the people see in her and in what she represents?

Aimed at a broad international public, this documentary moves chronologically through the life of Elizabeth II, in order to understand how the monarchy and, in particular, its head who has now reigned for 70 years, has changed in that time.

In conversations with people who experienced the British queen’s most significant moments at close quarters, royal experts who have dedicated their lives to the court, critics who, with the greatest of respect, believe that the end of the monarchy or at the very least a radical change is long overdue, British author and director Claire Walding casts an insightful eye over the most significant events in the Elizabeth’s life.

This documentary takes the audience on a journey through time in images – photos and footage – from around the world that reflect the momentousness of the events, paired with exclusive archive footage that allows us to see behind the thick stone walls of Buckingham Palace, where Elizabeth II takes off her crown and becomes a wife, mother, grandmother and a person.