The Royal House of Windsor

After watching other documentaries/ depictions of the Royal Family, I was specifically interested in watching detailed accounts about Diana's time as a royal.

I'm probably echoing these other reviews at this point, but this "documentary" and its portrayal of the late Diana was deplorable.

They insulted her left and right. Calling her uneducated, fame hungry, and ultimately saying MORE THAN ONCE that her untimely death was a "tragic solution" to the royal's problems. They made it seem like all the wonderful things she did were for show, and made it seem like the worst thing in the world that she had political aspirations post-split from Charles. I mean, God forbid a woman do something more with her life than to remain married to a man and sit idly by as he partakes in an open affair with a woman herself married to someone else.

Was she perfect? Of course not! She was a human being. And we all make mistakes. But she was such a blessing to the world, and deserves so much better than this disgustingly disrespectful defamation of character.

Shame on everyone that had anything to do with the making of this garbage. At this point, I'd give a dirty tampon a more favorable review.

So clearly biased against Diana it's astonishing. Rubbish.

I definitely didn't like the way they portaied Diana. They gloss over the fact that she was being cheated on and blamed the decay of her marriage to her having depression and "Charles not knowing how handle it".. Also, saying that she chose HIV charities on purpose just to be controversial.. I'm very disappointed in this.

I enjoyed the series very much but a major case of historical disinformation bothered me. The series highlights the visit to South Africa in 1947 of the future Queen Elizabeth II, with her sister, Princess Margaret, and her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The visit lasted three months and involved a train journey through South Africa itself, Southern Rhodesia, Swaziland, Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Racial division between the crowds cheering the royal family on their journey is shown in many scenes. For instance black and white well-wishers are seen to cheer the royal family from two sides of the royal train, possibly because they are standing on segregated platforms. This situation is then ascribed to Afrikaner Nationalism and apartheid. The problem with this explanation is that the National Party, representing Afrikaner Nationalism and apartheid, only came to power in 1948, the year after 1947 when the royal family visited South Africa. In 1947 and in the preceding years South Africa was ruled by general Jan Smuts of the South African Party. He was a great friend of Great Britain who acted as adviser to the British War Cabinet. It was probably partly due to the military support and advisory role of Gen Smuts in the Second World War that South Africa was chosen as the country where the royal family would spend all those sunny months. One can see Gen Smuts in many scenes in the documentary. In other words, the documentary does not show South Africa under the rule of Afrikaner Nationalism or apartheid, but under the rule of Gen Smuts, before the word apartheid became generally known in the world. A second aspect of what seems like disinformation is that exactly the same kind of racial separation and inequality existed in all of the other colonial possessions of Great Britain visited by the royal family, i.e. Southern Rhodesia, Swaziland, Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Britain had colonies all over Africa at the time, including for instance the present-day Ghana and Kenya. In all of these countries you would have seen similar scenes of racial separation in 1947. These scenes were explained by British colonialism, not by racial laws not yet enacted by a government not yet in power in South Africa. There is no excuse for any kind of racial domination, let alone inhumanity shown to any race, and the National Party justly disappeared from history, together with its policies. But we should not be misinformed and certainly not dis-informed by portrayals of history.

It presents the House of Windsor as a noble establishment unfairly tarnished by association with rogue elements (i.e. the Romanoffs, Edward VIII, and Diana). The opening credits claims to show "human frailties" of the royal family. Instead, it represents a glossy picture of top family members (such as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles). Any publicly known character flaws/scandals are excused through blathering about accomplishment and royals "finding themselves". It spends mere seconds mentioning issues such as Charles' ongoing affair with Camilla or other divorces in the family. Feuds, fire, and betrayal mentioned in the opening credits are hardly explored. When other family members make mistakes, the series fixates on these people as homewreckers and outcasts. It disproportionately represents negative aspects of Prince Philip, Princess Diana, and Edward VIII. "Outsiders" are shown as the ultimate troublemakers, instead of presenting a balanced picture of the royal family as fallible human beings. The series swings confusingly between generalizations and detailed history. The beginning uses eyewitness accounts and takes the viewer step by step through early Windsor history. After Elizabeth's accession, it makes assumptions about viewer's knowledge. One moment Prince Charles meets Diana, the next minute they are separated with two children. The retelling starts swinging back and forth through history, losing the viewer. The last episode "The Top Job" especially suffers from this issue and rambles endlessly about Prince Charles' social standing. It talks about the future, then totally skips over princes William and Harry. The visuals are the strongest point in this series. There are enough interesting graphics to keep the viewer occupied. However, some editing choices are questionable. The biggest downside is an overlay of curling smoke on the left-hand side of the screen. It is very distracting throughout the six episodes. The very first episode shows an inaccurate map of Europe, showing Belgium twice in place of the Netherlands. For those with a general interest in history, this series will be acceptable. If well-versed in history or British subjects, find another series. Otherwise you will find yourself face-palming throughout it.