MovieChat Forums > Edward the Seventh Discussion > Wow, this is EXCELLENT!

Wow, this is EXCELLENT!

posted 13 years ago by angelofvic
18 replies | jump to latest

I had no idea how fantastic or informative or entertaining this miniseries is!

It was so great I watched the whole thing in just two days! (On Netflix Instant streaming.)

Wow, not only was it fascinating and vastly entertaining (not to mention superbly cast and acted), it also was so very informative. It really filled in a lot of blanks in my knowledge and awareness. I really had no idea how Bertie was treated by his parents throughout his life. I had erroneously thought he was a mere hedonistic playboy, by his own choice and inclination. Boy, did this series set me straight!

The series also cleared up the puzzles in my mind about the origins of WWI. Nowhere in the vast amount of ink spilled on the subject have I been given as clear a picture of the cause and build-up as in this miniseries. Invaluable. Also, I had no idea that "Willi" was such a psychotic madman, or that he was controlled by Bismark from early childhood, or that he turned away from his mother and ancestry. Absolutely fascinating.

I must commend the filmmakers and writers on doing an excellent job all around in making a delightful yet informative miniseries which was as gripping as any fictional period miniseries to come out of the UK. This is easily now one of my top miniseries of all time.

Here are links to the series:

Netflix, for any American viewers:

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70210351

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B1Q2UO

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0015MRPYQ
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[–] randommovies2002 13 years ago

And what a different picture of Queen Victoria, not to mention Prince Albert, from what I had seen in other productions.

I have so many favorite scenes, but one that always stands out in my mind is when Princess Victoria asks Bertie's private secretary, Frederick Ponsonby, to smuggle out all her family letters, informing him to make sure Willi never gets hold of them.

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Yes, this certainly was an antidote to the hagiographic representations of Victoria and Albert. It's nice when a film/series avoids romanticizations and sticks to reality. I mean, I think many of us have read how Victoria had her children raised (as most wealthy parents in that era did) as if they were machines and rarely saw them, but this added whole new layers and dimensions to that.

Yeah, that was a cool thing when Vicky tried to get her letters smuggled out. Not only touching, but a cool bit of espionage fare. Felicity Kendal was really great in that role throughout.
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[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

To be fair - Vicky and Fritz were lousy parents to Willi two.

[–] Furienna (3377) 3 years ago

Were they?
Yes, I know I read that Vicky had issues with Wilhelm having a damaged arm.
That sounds a bit weird by modern standards, but it was probably understandable back then.
But in several ways, Vicky was truly modern for the time and supported more civil rights for Jews for example.
That is where she clashed with Wilhelm, who decided to not let his mother do anything as a dowager empress.
And I want to know exactly what Fritz did to Wilhelm.

[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

Read about his childhood with his tutor Hinzpeter. Unfortunately Vicki agreed with Albert on bringing up children.

[–] Furienna (3377) 3 years ago

Well, this was in the 19th century.
They were at least not forcing their kids to work in dirty factories.

[–] SteveH2002 13 years ago

This is a very well done, detailed examination of a life.

It didn't overthrow any preconceived notions I had about Albert Edward, but that's only because I had none to begin with. I'm American and haven't made a study of British history.

Like the OP I've pretty much finished the series over a period of 2 days. I have to admit I most enjoyed the earlier episodes, before the death of Victoria's husband. The middle years - meh - shrug. Bertie seemed under-utilized (why the intense schooling if you were going to let most of his adult years go to waste like that?), bored, and a creature of his appetites. This may have played better to a home audience already familiar with the story.

[–] Furienna (3377) 8 years ago

Bertie seemed under-utilized (why the intense schooling if you were going to let most of his adult years go to waste like that?)

Albert and Victoria thought that Bertie was lazy and had a weak intellect, so she probably thought that all that schooling had been to no purpose anyway.

[–] nyctc7 13 years ago

I enjoyed it very much, too.

Also kinda cool that Timothy West's father, Lockwood West, also portrayed Edward VII in an episode of Upstairs, Downstairs!

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[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Interesting, I didn't know that!
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[–] angmc43 13 years ago

Indeed, from what I've heard, this series actually shocked many older viewers by showing the dark side of Victoria. Although I don't think she really went berserk over Bertie's kissing Gladstone's hand, the series accurately portrayed her other vices: her I'M THE QUEEN! control-freakiness, her dislike on childbearing and babies, her refusal to give Bertie any role in government (on the plus side, it did show her un-Victorian fondness for sex). THE YOUNG VICTORIA gives a happy ending, but EDWARD shows she got worse in some ways. One can prefer Judi Dench, but if you want to see the dark side of Victoria, check out Annette Crosbie.

And NO, I did not care if she was too old for the role (young Victoria was only two episodes anyway...)

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Yeah, I think all of these various series and movies have something to recommend them, and they stand well together, especially when this one is added into the mix.
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[–] florentyna1972 12 years ago

Try watch this one too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgwhDcQe_Ew

in three parts, Queen V was certainly a very complicated woman wife and mother!

Excellent mini - series!

[–] Furienna (3377) 8 years ago

I really had no idea how Bertie was treated by his parents throughout his life. I had erroneously thought he was a mere hedonistic playboy, by his own choice and inclination. Boy, did this series set me straight!

Hold it! That is not fair! I don't agree with all of their choices either. I mean, what was Albert thinking when he exchanged his little son's toy horse for an abacus? But we must remember that we can't judge 19th century people by 21rst century standards. Nobody knew anything about child psychology back then. Albert did what he thought was right at the time, even though he should have seen soon enough that his meticulous education system wasn't going to work with Bertie. He has never been described as a bad father to any of his other eight kids either. It was only Bertie, who managed to rub him the wrong way for all those years. And as for Victoria, it seems to me like she had some deep psychological issues. And alas, they had no proper treatment for such problems in those days. Not even for a queen. But despite all that, it is clearly suggested in this series, that Bertie could confide in his mother as a boy, which he could never do with his father. Which you can see as an inversion to how Vicky was closer to her father than to her mother...

And surely, it is unfair to blame Bertie's hedonistic lifestyle as an adult on his parents. Because it was his own choice and inclination. You can argue that he had emotional wounds from his childhood and youth, which he always tried to heal by the wrong means. And it has also been said by many different people, that he was really bored because his mother wouldn't give him anything to do for like 37 years. But still, it's not like anybody forced him to be notoriously unfaithful to his wife. So if he hadn't wanted to do that, he wouldn't have done it. And we should remember also that he had three younger brothers, out of which none has gotten the same sordid reputation as a sleazy playboy. So no, I really don't buy that Albert and Victoria were to blame for Bertie's actions. He would have chosen that awful lifestyle anyway, no matter who his parents would have been...

[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

Alfie at least was like Bertie as an adult. Nothing wrong with being a hedonistic playboy - would have done his father good not to be such a prig
Victoria had her preferences - she preferred Disraeli to Gladstone (as do I).

[–] Furienna (3377) 3 years ago

For whom is it "nothing wrong" with being a hedonistic playboy?
Do you think that Alexandra was happy that Bertie had countless mistresses and visited brothels?
Well, hardly.

When it comes to Albert, it is important to remember two things about him.
Firstly, he grew up with a sleezy hedonistic father and saw his beloved brother follow in those footsteps.
Seriously, it is now believed that Ernst II became infertile due to a veneral disease!
Albert decided to never be like that and raise his sons to not be like that either.
Secondly, he quickly saw that many people in the UK were prejudiced against him because he was German.
Thus, he decided to prove his detractors wrong by giving them a perfect future king.
Calling him a prig just shows that you don't really understand him or what he was going through.
It might be that this show didn't really explain it as well as it could have.
However, Albert would have seen Bertie's behavior as a foolish boy ruining twenty years of his father's hard work.
Sure, you can argue that it wasn't fair to put all of these expectations on Bertie.
But it wasn't like Albert didn't have high expectations on himself as well to be the perfect Prince Consort.
Either way, it is clear that Albert was a better husband to Victoria than what Bertie was to Alexandra.
Alas, Bertie became too much like his grandfather.
And again, Albert was deeply disgusted by his father and would have been devastated by Bertie's development.
They were a perfect example of when a father and a son don't understand each other at all.
And alas, this is where the otherwise awesome Albert lost it and caned his son for having bad school grades.

Interestingly, it is like history repeated itself two generations afterwards.
George V became like his grandfather and was determined to distance himself from his father's behavior.
And it was really hard for him to connect with his frivolous oldest son David (future Edward VIII).
And as it would turn out, David was more like his grandfather and became a sociable playboy.
George was reportedly Queen Victoria's favorite out of her Wales grandchildren.
It is like she saw a glimpse of her beloved Albert in him, that she couldn't see in Eddie.

[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

Did Alex really.object? They had six children so perhaps she was glad of a rest!

[–] Furienna (3377) 3 years ago

We don't really have a statement from her about her feelings, I think.
But I guess that she mostly suffered in silence, like plenty of women did back then.

It is known though that Bertie got into two huge scandals beacuse of his reckless behavior.
That must have hurt Alix and the kids as well.
It is hardly a coincidence that George V took after his grandfather rather than after his father.