Secrets behind reign of The Queen to be unveiled in Channel 4 series

The three-part documentary will look at the monarch’s relationship with the Duke of Edinburgh and the rest of her family, as well as British and foreign politicians.

It is based on declassified documents – letters, diaries, eye-witness testimony and audio recordings – the broadcaster said.

Royals Declassified (the working title) will also feature interviews with “royal insiders,” historians and politicians.

The first programme explores the Queen’s relationships with prime ministers, “including mounting tensions with Margaret Thatcher that threatened a constitutional crisis”.

A second episode “sheds fresh light on the tensions she’s experienced between the demands of her family and her role as monarch”.

The final film “explores how a spy passing information to the Soviets was able to work for so many years in Buckingham Palace” – the Queen’s art adviser Anthony Blunt was exposed as a Russian spy.

Shaminder Nahal, Channel 4 commissioning editor, specialist factual, said: “From the Queen’s relationships with her prime ministers, to the extraordinary story of the spy in the palace and some of the Queen’s family secrets – this series brings many intriguing aspects of the history of the Crown to life in primary colour – with wit, verve and fascinating detail.”

Dan Chambers, creative director of producers Blink Films, said: “What makes these films so compelling is the new evidence we’ve uncovered both from declassified documents and from contributors.”

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