A Gentle History Lesson - Edward the Seventh Discussion

[–] nyctc7 12 years ago

It's on YouTube now and I just re-watched it. Really good series.

One thing I was struck by is how different Wilhelm II is portrayed here than by Barry Foster in "Fall of Eagles". Foster portrays him more sympathetically. In "Edward" Wilhelm can be rather hysterical, and doesn't seem to have any positive qualities at all.

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[–] randommovies2002 11 years ago

Thanks for the tip about The Fall of the Eagles. I've been watching it on yt. Fabulous!

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[–] angelofvic 11 years ago

You have to remember Willi was brainwashed by Bismark, and that that was the source of all his problems.
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[–] dizexpat 11 years ago

One thing I was struck by is how different Wilhelm II is portrayed here than by Barry Foster in "Fall of Eagles". Foster portrays him more sympathetically. In "Edward" Wilhelm can be rather hysterical, and doesn't seem to have any positive qualities at all.

Excellent point.

I love Fall of Eagles but I really believe that Wilhelm is portrayed a little too nicely. (No fault at all of the excellent actor Barry Foster.)

In Edward the King he's very much the deranged megalomaniac I always imagined him to be in real life. Hysterical WWI propaganda aside, there is considerable historical evidence to support that view.

Hair today. Goon tomorrow.

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[–] randommovies2002 9 years ago

In Edward the King he's very much the deranged megalomaniac I always imagined him to be in real life.

Loved the parts when he kept trying to take credit for England winning the Boer War (supposedly using his "plans"). lol

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[–] florentyna1972 11 years ago

I have not seen the show till yesterday when I first came to know of it seeing something on youtube! I was shocked to see how close every little detail was to what I had in my mind! On Alix of Hesse though, I have to say it was so strange they wanted her to have that awful accent in english! She couldn't ever talk like that!

And one question for you who have seen all of it: is Jenny Lady Randolph Churchill in it at all?

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[–] angelofvic 11 years ago

No, Jenny isn't in it; in fact Churchill himself is barely in it.
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[–] florentyna1972 10 years ago

Oh but you are wrong, lord Randolf and his involement to a scandal is very well portrayed in the series.

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[–] angelofvic 10 years ago

You asked about Jenny and Churchill, not Lord Randolf.
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[–] florentyna1972 10 years ago

And one question for you who have seen all of it: is Jenny Lady Randolph Churchill in it at all?

In fact it was of Jenny I asked, using her full title)

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[–] angelofvic 10 years ago

Yes, and I correctly said no, neither she nor Churchill are in it.
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[–] florentyna1972 10 years ago

Well, Lord Randolph is, as Sir Winston. Which Churchill is not in the TV show I cannot see, since you insist that I asked about someone else apart Jenny.

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[–] angelofvic 10 years ago

Churchill, without further qualification, always refers to the man who became the PM of the UK. Having not seen this series in over five years I did not recall that he was in it, but evidently he must have appeared briefly (which you did not mention above), now that I look at the cast list.
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[–] florentyna1972 10 years ago

My dear, I mentioned neither Lord Randolh nor Sir Winston, it was you who probably misanderstood my question which involved only Jenny. Maybe you should check again.

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[–] angelofvic 10 years ago

Oh but you are wrong, lord Randolf and his involement to a scandal is very well portrayed in the series.

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[–] florentyna1972 10 years ago

No, Jenny isn't in it; in fact Churchill himself is barely in it.

And I just watched again and wanted to correct a wrong answer of yours. But I did not ask about any of the men of the family, it was only you who mention it.

On the other hand, it's a long TV-series and I didn't remember much the first time. That's why I realised you were wrong after I watched again and again.

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[–] randommovies2002 9 years ago

The scandal pertained to Lord Randolph's older brother, Lord Blandford, who had an affair with the wife of one of the Prince of Wales' (Bertie, aka Edward VII) friends, the Earl of Aylesford.

While Aylesford was away in India with the PoW, Blandford carried on a scandalous affair with Ayelsford's wife, Edith. When Edith wrote to her husband in India that she intended to leave him for Blandford, he returned to London immediately, threatening divorce and openly/publicly condemning Blandford's conduct. He also told everyone that the Prince of Wales was on his side in condemning Blandford.

Lord Randolph thought it was unfair that the PoW should be so harsh on Blandford, given the PoW's own track record with married women, and so he threatened to make public letters the PoW himself had written to Ayelsford's wife, not so long before her affair with Blandford. Lord Randolph was unhappy with the prince's very public (and hypocritical) denouncement of Blandford so he went to visit the Princess of Wales and exposed his plans regarding the letters to her. This infuriated the PoW (challenging Randolph to a duel against the heir to the throne, which no man of honor could accept), and made the Churchills outcasts in their social milieu, so they went to Ireland when the Duke of Marlborough was offered the position of Lord Lieutenant (as a sort of consolation, byt the queen, because of Bertie's snub), and Randolph was suggested as his father's personal secretary during his tenure there.

This scandal is also depicted in Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974) (ep 3, iirc). That series on Jennie Jerome also contains another scene referred to in Edward the Seventh (1975), in which Blandford's wife pours a bottle of ink on his head (I think it was mentioned by one of Edward's sisters, or perhaps the wife of one of his friends?).

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[–] marktayloruk (2375) 3 years ago

What if Randolph had accepted?

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