At midnight on 31 December 1999, the peoples of the world welcomed the arrival of the new millennium with some of the most spectacular celebrations ever seen. It came with a general feeling that a better and brighter future lay ahead. In London, attention was focused around Big Ben as the country awaited the first stroke of midnight and a fireworks display called the ‘River of Fire’ lit up several miles of the Thames. The Millennium Dome, largely funded by the National Lottery and the largest single roof structure in the world, was a centrepiece of the government’s planned celebrations.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh joined Prime Minister Tony Blair and other notables at the opening of the Dome, now renamed the O2 Arena, where on the stroke of midnight the Duke was seen to plant a kiss on the Queen’s cheek. Such a display of public affection was almost as rare an event as the coming of the millennium itself. The Queen then joined hands with Tony Blair and his wife Cherie and the duke to sing the traditional New Year’s song ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

The twenty-first century ushered in a new era for the Queen and Prince Philip as old age began to creep up on them. Following the tribulations of the 1990s, the first decade of the new century proved to be one of better times and increasing popularity for the royal family. There was sadness in early 2002 when Princess Margaret, who had been in bad health for some time, and the Queen Mother, at the age of 101, died within two months of each other. The Queen had always been very close to her sister and had been in the habit of telephoning her mother every day. In the days when there was a switchboard, the Buckingham Palace operator loved it when she put them through, saying, ‘Your Majesty, Her Majesty, Your Majesty.’

With their children leading independent lives with their own families, the Queen and Prince Philip became more dependent on one another than ever before. They are a unit, isolated from the world around them by their royal status, and they have only each other, especially now that so many of those who had been with them in younger years are no longer alive.