King George & Queen Mary: The Royals who Rescued the Monarchy - 2012

What I found most interesting in this BBC documentary is how the British Monarchy was whiskers away from perishing. In comparison to the copious documentation of the glorious periods of Queens Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, and the like, historians tend to overlook George V and his equally important legacy. At a tense and dangerous time when leaders' heads fell like flies in Europe, George V was shrewdly able to save the Saxe Coburg & Gotha Dynasty, and the British Monarchy in the process.

Like his father Edward VII, George was an unlikely heir to the throne, second in line to his older brother Albert. Mired in numerous scandalous accusations, including homosexuality, insanity and gambling, Albert's life ends prematurely due to illness, thrusting the reluctant George into the limelight. Hardly trained for the task, George is not ideally educated, having had his lion's share of training in the Royal Navy. While intensively prepping him for royalty, his "domineering" grandmother, Queen Victoria, pressures him to marry the Protestant German Princess of Teck, May (later Mary), initially intended for his late brother.

During his reign from 1910 to 1936, the King encounters numerous challenges, the most important of which is the First World War. Ironically, the War was against a cousin: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Another important reminder in the documentary is the kinship relationship that bound European leaders as recently as a little less than a century ago. At the time, George V - a descendant of the House of Hanover - was rumored to have been lacking in the patriotism department due to 200 years of German ancestry. Bearing inconclusive truth, the rumors were legitimate, as the royal family not only had German identity, but also spoke German and, until the war, also felt German.

Furious at the accusations, George V pulls out an ingenious coup de grace that saves his dynasty and possibly his scalp. He boldly changes the name of his dynasty from Saxe Coburg & Gotha to Windsor, after one of the oldest British/English castles - ironically built by the French Normans. The nominally updated version of the Monarchy is so significant in our present-day history that the imprints are still borne out in the current Windsor Queen Elizabeth II.

Bearing no resemblance to his vice-laden father, King Edward VII, and his late brother, Albert, George V did not only change the ruling family's name, he was also the personification of the medievalesque notion of a king and his people on one side battling the domination and monopoly of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy on the other. This was further paved by the Marconi radio system that brought the monarchy straight into the living rooms of all laymen. Fuelling his popularity was the fact that anyone could obtain the highest Order of the British Empire (OBE) during his reign. Unlike his predecessors, the only requisite was the merit and effort committed to the service of the Empire. His name was also chanted during football games in such a precarious time for monarchs.

King George V had 50 first cousins all over Europe, 27 of which were deposed post-WWI. Of these, the one that stands out most was the last Romanov Tsar Nikolai II, who bore a carbon copy resemblance to the British Monarch. In fact, the decision to refuse his close cousin asylum in Britain during the Bolshevik communist overthrow of 1917 was literally fatal, as Nikolai II would be swiftly & “unprofessionally” tried, and sentenced to a gruesome death/assassination along with his other family members. Despite the sort, George V displayed a great deal of patriotism, avoiding to let emotional ties jeopardize his claim over the Empire.

BBC documentaries have built a sound reputation for their accuracy. A number of high-profile historians offer their enlightening insight into the life of the punctilious and said-to-be pedantic monarch. This makes watching the movie a delight. Queen Mary's role is focused on in the second part of the documentary (which I am yet to see) where she plays another essential role, pressuring George's oldest son, King Andrew VIII, to abdicate due to his relationship to Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American whose brash threatens to sink all of what George V had salvaged.

Both King George V and Queen Mary's efforts are rendered very influential in light of the relative internal stability - barring altercations with the IRA - the UK has known. Their efforts have saved a monarchy which is on the verge of celebrating a Diamond Jubilee next February. Of the people Queen Elizabeth may wish to thank for the privilege, I am sure George V and Mary rank high on her short list!

Here's the link for part I of the documentary: http://www.putlocker.com/file/B464DF98D054DB4A# . If you like this genre, you won't regret giving it a watch!