“She was a little critical of the film in the sense she thought it was too long, but Dick Cawston, the director, persuaded her that two hours was not a minute too long.”. The film has not been shown again on TV since 1972. It was later taken off YouTube due to a copyright claim, after the BBC sought to have it removed. At one point Prince Philip describes an instance when King George VI the Queen Mother’s late husband, took out his rage with a pruning knife on a rhododendron bush, screaming curse words while hacking it to bits. The concept behind the documentary was to soften and modernize the royal image. Royal Family (also known as The Royal Family)[3] is a British television documentary about the family of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1969, millions of Britons were given a rare glimpse behind royal walls for the first time, thanks to an intimate television documentary that followed the Queen and her family as they went about their daily lives. After its premiere, Buckingham Palace greatly limited the film’s circulation, at least in its entire form. But members of the royal family, including the Queen, were reportedly dubious about the idea from the start. More Details. “He had very odd habits,” Philip deadpanned. The results were mixed. The Queen reportedly ordered it to be pulled after it first aired on … The palace allowed a few more brief clips to be included in the 2011 documentary "The Duke at 90.". If you’re a history buff, and can withstand six episodes (all 45 minutes long on an average)... Diana: In Her Own Words. “In … A royal documentary relegated to the archives nearly 50 years ago briefly resurfaced last week, creating a stir among royal watchers and experts. [14], Royal Family was first broadcast on BBC 1 on 21 June 1969, and on ITV the following week on 28 or 29 June. Documentary filmmakers followed the royal family for 18 months, capturing scenes of Prince Philip grilling sausages at Balmoral and the Queen making small talk with President Nixon. [19] The commentary had to be altered slightly for American audiences in a version that was broadcast in the US. [25] The journalist Peregrine Worsthorne remarked: "Initially the public will love seeing the Royal Family as not essentially different from anyone else … but in the not-so-long run familiarity will breed, if not contempt, familiarity". 8 documentaries on the British royal family you will enjoy if you love The Crown on Netflix The Royal House of Windsor. “It redefined the nation's view of the Queen,” Paul Moorhouse, former curator of the National Portrait Gallery, told Daily Telegraph in 2011. The Queen cautiously gave her consent, while other family members were decidedly not on board. [10] It was directed by Richard Cawston,[11] with the script by Antony Jay,[12] narrated by Michael Flanders. [9], Royal Family has been accused of revealing too much about the royals. A documentary series about the multi-national descendants of Denmark's King Christian IX, featuring numerous interviews with today's European royalty. [16], In later years, some blamed the film for a growing lack of deference towards the monarchy. [8] According to a letter Attenborough wrote at the time: "The whole institution depends on mystique and the tribal chief in his hut … If any member of the tribe ever sees inside the hut, then the whole system of the tribal chiefdom is damaged and the tribe eventually disintegrates". Best Documentaries About the Royal Family Even If You're a Royal Family Pro, These Documentaries Will Seriously Blow Your Mind May 5, 2019 by Corinne Sullivan This double-whammy of royal TV was seen by some as a rousing success. The BBC documentary, aptly called “Royal Family,” filmed the royals’ life from 1968 to 1969. [14] All scenes had to be agreed by an advisory committee chaired by the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. But since the 1970s the Queen has never again given permission for the film to be shown in its entirety. Richard Cawston, the chief of the BBC Documentary unit, was put in charge of shooting the royals at work and play. The royal family at Windsor, (from left) Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II , Princess Anne, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew. The film attracted over 30 million viewers in the United Kingdom, and was sold around the world and seen by an estimated 350 million people. For those who wish to indulge their royal curiosity, there are plenty of excellent documentaries available through the BBC and ITV streaming service Britbox. Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth on 6th February 1952. [17][8][18] It was later broadcast in Australia on 21 September 1969. Cawston let Philip see a rough cut of the documentary before showing it to the Queen. The idea was to show the royal family in their day-to-day lives. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip fly back from a visit to Yorkshire in an Andover of the Queen's Flight, in a photo taken during the filming of the documentary 'Royal Family.'. Queen Elizabeth was featured tirelessly working and making small talk with world leaders like U.S. President Richard Nixon. [11] A typical day sets the tone, beginning with an official audience, followed by lunch and an afternoon garden party. A documentary about the British royal family not seen in nearly half a century reappeared on YouTube last week, decades after it was taken off the air. [9], Royal Family was commissioned by Elizabeth II to celebrate the investiture of her eldest son, Charles, as Prince of Wales. For months, he shot 43 hours of unscripted material at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, on the royal yacht, the royal train, and even at the Queen’s beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland. It’s a documentary called Royal Family, and it hasn’t been seen in full for decades. Diana: In Her Own Words. A TV special, Brabourne suggested, could also introduce British subjects to 21-year-old Prince Charles, ahead of his investiture as Prince of Wales. [26], Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen, "Why the 1969 Royal Family film was hurriedly taken down from YouTube", "Royal documentary banned by the Queen is leaked 50 years later", "Royal documentary banned by Queen is leaked on YouTube", "Trying to be useful: Twenty-five years ago, the Windsors attempted to re-create their public image …", "Watch the 1969 Royal Family documentary", "Filming the Ineffable: Biopics of the British Royal Family", "bfi | Features | Britain's Most Watched TV: 1960s", "The 1969 Royal Family documentary revealed an ordinary family placed in an extraordinary situation", "Royal Family - BBC One London - 25 December 1969", "A Point of View: The story of the Queen's Christmas speech", "Royal family documentary revived four decades on", "Fascinating and charming, the BBC's Royal Family humanises the Windsors far better than The Crown", House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Margarita, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Cecilie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Sophie, Princess George William of Hanover, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Family_(film)&oldid=1007296924, All articles that may contain original research, Articles that may contain original research from January 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 February 2021, at 10:43. A banned documentary giving royal watchers unprecedented access to the British royal family resurfaced this week and caused quite a stir, as nearly 10,000 people were able to view the rarely seen film before it was taken down on Thursday. It originally aired on BBC 1 and ITV in June 1969. [19], A review in The Times concluded that Cawston's film had given the nation "an intimate understanding of what members of the Royal Family are like as individual people without jeopardising their dignity or losing the sense of distance". While the documentary was meant to show the human side of the monarchy, its narration carried an official tone. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The Royal Family from 1066 until today. Less than a month later, on July 1, Prince Charles was invested at Caernarvon Castle in a carefully filmed spectacle organized by the photographer Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret’s soon to be ex-husband. Reign. Peter Conradi writes in his 2012 book, Great Survivors: How Monarchy Made it into the Twenty-First Century, that during a film day at Balmoral, Philip snapped at the crew, “Get away from the Queen with your bloody cameras!”. An institution unbroken for generations, the Royal Family is a subject of fascination to people both in the United Kingdom and the United States (and the great Commonwealth. 6. A well-groomed, staid British family sit around the breakfast table. [5][6] The film remains available to view on the video-sharing platform Vimeo. [14], Later in the film she, Prince Philip, and their children enjoy a barbecue at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. At the urging of Palace press officer William Heseltine, who was convinced that offering a humanized view of the royal family would strengthen the monarchy, Prince Philip agreed. The series tells the incredible, dramatic and emotional tale of the British Royal Family known as The Windsors. According to Heseltine, "we put very heavy restrictions on it because we realised it was a huge shift in attitude". The scene was one part of a 105-minute color documentary named simply, “Royal Family,” that was broadcast across England on June 21, 1969. Christmas at Windsor Castle is shown here with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip putting finishing touches to their Christmas tree, in a photo made during the filming of the documentary. However, William Heseltine had no regrets, calling it "a fantastic success". A total of 43 hours of material were shot for the documentary. It originally aired on BBC One and ITV in June 1969. As The Crown's third season shows, a royal family documentary was commissioned in the 1960s. Richard Cawston’s BBC documentary team followed the royal family for 18 months as they went about their days. The Top Job 47m. And in 2011, Buckingham Palace gave the National Portrait Gallery a 90-second clip of the breakfast scene during the Diamond Jubilee celebration. The royal family struggles with challenges caused by Diana's extreme popularity, her rift with Prince Charles, and her tragic death. It was an official visitor, but he looked just like a gorilla.”. [8] The film was jointly produced by the BBC and ITV. [8] In early 2021 it was leaked and published on the internet. Two young adult children and their middle-aged parents are dressed formally, without a hair out of place. Broadcasters have been allowed to use short clips in other documentaries;[8] for example, as part of the BBC's The Duke at 90 in 2011, to celebrate Prince Philip's 90th birthday. The documentary is frequently held responsible for the greater press intrusion into the royal family's private life since its first broadcast. But there were also strained moments, according to detractors. [14], The 90-minute documentary covers a year in the Queen's life. Ranging from the days of Queen Victoria to the … At one point, Charles is practising the cello when a string snaps in his younger brother Edward's face. During his state visit, she asked him, “World problems are so complex, aren't they, now?” To which Nixon replied, “I was thinking how really much more complex they are than when we last met in 1957.”. With Michael Elo, Birgitte Federspiel, Vibeke Hastrup, Stig Hoffmeyer. It has not been shown since the 1970s. “The attention which had been brought upon one ever since one was a child, you just didn’t need any more.”. [a][original research?] [15] In the 1990s, the film could be viewed privately at the BBC, by researchers, with permission from Buckingham Palace, for a fee of £35. 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