how important was queen elizabeth ii in building the relationship and continuing that relationship with saudi? thank you for having me. under these unfortunate circumstances. and i think that obviously in a constitutional monarchy she doesn t play a direct political role, but as an example of how a leader should behave and act, i think she s had a tremendous role. you look at all the qualities that one aspires to, duty, service, honor, responsibility, she embodied them so well. and i think provided an example to leaders all around the world which can only help in create relationships. it s a strong bond between our two countries. it has been. she s reigned for all seven saudi kings since the founding of the kingdom in 1932. so, it s a remarkable relationship. she s been part and parcel of it. and there s an undoubtable bond
that had been exhibited there. i got a call out of the blue basically to say that the queen would like you to paint her portrait. so, at the age of 28, i was asked to basically create a new image of the queen. how did you respond to that que request? basically it s an offer you can t refuse. i had a blank canvas to fill. everything i do i research a lot. i looked at all the portraits done before of her majesty. to me they were a bit remote and formal. i knew i didn t want to do that. i wanted to go a bit closer and focus on her as a person and try to capture something of her personality which was amazing. she was very lively. she was very humorous and witty. and i hope i did her justice in the image because at the end of the day, that s what portraits is, capturing someone s life. yeah. let s bring it back up. you rightly point out, this was the era of these sort of young british artists, brit pop.
rest at the royal family s official scottish residence after arriving sunday in edinburgh where crowds turned out to pay their final respects. in the hours to come, the queen s coffin will be taken in procession from the palace of holyrood house to st. giles cathedral for a prayer service. god save the king played as charles iii was proclaimed king across the uk, including in scotland. he was formally confirmed as the new monarch on saturday before meeting with commonwealth leaders in london on sunday. and in the hours ahead, king charles will visit westminster hall where he ll receive condo lances from both houses of parliament. he will later depart for edinburgh to take part in the service for the queen. royal historian kate williams
people said, how do all the duties get done? and certainly operation unicorn, which was yesterday, the such a beautiful journey of the queen from balmoral, bought by queen victoria, she always loved to much to holyrood house, that was all planned by her and she chose princess ann to be beside her to accompany her as you said that moving image of her curtesying, that showed the queen s trust and affection for princess ann and how significant it was in 2013 that women now can inherit the throne in birth order. ann is below her brothers. i think how charles will govern certainly how charles will be king, he needs the backup of the wider royal family. his popularity ratings have in the past been very low. now we have seen huge popularity for him perhaps by the surprising considering how low his popularity ratings are. but it may be a honeymoon period
well, it s a tribute fit for a queen. the world s tallest building, lights out with an image of elizabeth ii and the union jack, the building, the latest in a string of iconic landmarks around the world to mark the death of the 96-year-old monarch. well uae isn t the only gulf state mourning the loss of her queen. during her 70-year reign, elizabeth met with some of the most powerful leaders of the arab world. i want to talk about that now with saudi arabia s ambassador to the united kingdom. good to have you here, sir. thank you for joining us. thank you, becky. there have been four official visits by saudi heads of state to britain during queen elizabeth s reign. we have video of your grandfather meeting queen elizabeth in 1981.