Private Lives of the Monarchs

I am reviewing the Peter the Great Episode only since it was the only one available.

As one reviewer noted, Historian Tracy Borman is not Dr. Lucy Worsley. It is IMPOSSIBLE to live up to Lucy's ease at doling out information with ease and humor, often in costume. Dr. Borman would dip her head at the end of literally every sentence. This became an unnecessary distraction. I am surprised that the director didn't notice it and stop her from doing it after the first 25 or 30 times.

I did learn new information about Peter the Great. He was a fascinating, scary, leader who accomplished a LOT!! And that was very interesting.

Did prefer the adult Peter the Great actor to the younger one. He looked much like the paintings of Peter the Great.

So, did learn several things. Especially enjoyed how they showed the Trident design the city was built on. It was beautifully dramatic.

I'm glad I watched it, but am also glad it was only 44 minutes long given the "ticks" it had.

Too bad - it could have been so much better. Am not sure I will watch anything Dr. Borman narrates again.

As the title says, the private lives of monarchs, and not much else. Not really monarchs. These are almost all English kings and queens, along with a princess, Margaret, who does not matter the slightest bit except to tabloid readers.

So you get a lot about their fashion, food, sex lives and romances. There's no mention of Napoleon's censorship and dictatorship, his mass murder of Haitians and bringing back slavery. No mention of English manmade famines killing millions of Irish and tens of millions of Indians under Victoria, or genocide in Australia.

The big exception is Peter of Russia. Suddenly the program goes into explicit detail of every execution and torture.

Probably most inexcusable and most widely known to most viewers already is Edward VII being an outright anti Semite and Nazi sympathizer, and so was Wallis Simpson. His gibing a salute to Hitler, passing along intel to Germany, and even being proposed as ruler if UK had fallen are well known. Instead the program whines that Wallis was never given a title.

Still worth seeing, even if you fast forward pass silliness like looking at queens underwear.

I started watching it and no I had to stop. The reason? The actor playing Napoleon had long dark thick ugly nose hairs protruding out of his nose. It immediately grossed me out.

Why can't someone have noticed this. Every close up there are the hairs. My wife was eating and she noticed it from across the room.

I usually like these types of documentaries but not this one.

I like the narrator. She's very good and knowledgeable. I think someone should mention this issue and reshoot that episode with an actor that has better hygiene. People do not want to see even bad actors with huge nose hairs sticking out like jungle vines!

This is a reasonable enough series but there isn't much new, and the host seems to have trouble looking at the camera.