User Reviews

Although some of the reviewers find the film lacking, I was overjoyed to see a somewhat different point of view from the Wallis versions. I caught two this week. While I have no historical perspective of either side, those films and this make for a somewhat balanced perspective of the tragic and comedic episode in the lives of the brothers, David and Bertie.

The Bertie I meet here is absolutely charming, with a supportive wife, and rather bright daughters. And the Wallis Simpson here is absolutely loathsome. It is here and here alone her possible shallowness and spite are raised against (Queen) Elizabeth, the Royals in general, and fleshes out her own self importance not seen elsewhere. She appears unlikeable, unsupportable and unattractive in all ways.

Clearly, history will be forthcoming when more of the Windsor family have left the stage, but this wee film made possible to uncover some of the distinct differences between the two Kings and brothers. Bertie, George VI, comes off rather well, all things considered and David (Edward VIII) comes out smelling like Henry VIII without his massive fangs.

Another reviewer seemed to object to the introduction of Queen Wilhelmina and President Roosevelt, but I for one as a former resident, loved seeing the engaging Dutch Queen's presence as an escaped Royal because up until now I was rather ashamed she had abandoned ship. And it didn't hurt but rather help to get a peek into a possible personal conversation between the King and the American President about war and politics.

I rather wonder if Edward VIII would have stuck it out with his Duchess during air- raids and bombs, and as neither of them seemed likely to have children together, they wouldn't have to face the choices Bertie and Elizabeth faced.

The film moves slowly, but it enabled me to catch my breath and reflect on the possibilities of this being history not fiction or a film. I felt proud of this formerly stuttering King, his understanding and down to earth Queen and the English people. Perhaps I am sentimental, or even foolish to think they behaved thus, and naive to get caught up, tears in my eyes, as the plot unfolded, but if I am I say I feel satisfied with this tiny entry into this particular part of English history even without all the dirty laundry that accompanied the era, the abdicated and the vileness of broken promises.

Perhaps one day we'll see a more fleshed out Bertie and Elizabeth or the truth about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but until then I'm rather satisfied with this one.

At the end of the film, the host comes on to explain the harsh treatment of the Prince of Wales (Duke of Windsor) & Wallis. He said they made it to reflect changing attitudes against the Windsors. That tells us, they deliberately fabricated their portrayal to make them more hateful instead of the king who wanted the woman he loved. Facts don't change with attitudes. Apparently movies change facts to create attitudes. (As an example of a similar situation, Charles divorced & married Camilla who was also divorced).

Here is an example of this movie being falsely hyped to make us hate David & Wallis. When they first introduce Wallis in this film, the camera is at waist height pointing up at her chin where a giant black mole has been placed. This makes her look like the wicked witch of the east. I defy you to find a photo of the real Wallis with a giant black mole like that. If she had one, it was so small & covered up, it wasn't visible on any photo. So, this giant mole & zoom was a rotten trick to make her abhorrent to us.

I suspect the involvement of the Queen mother on this movie before she died. She helped them with the story at some point in the past or in a biography and they trashed David & Wallis due to her extreme hatred of them.

It was the Queen mother & Queen Mary who retaliated against David & Wallis to cut them out of everything. Titles, money, appointments, palaces, you name it. They were spiteful. Not Bertie, but he was weak & couldn't say no to his wife & mother. Even forbidding Royal family or servants & employees to attend the wedding. Including his other brothers & his security man. Bertie could cut off their money, palace rooms & jobs if his wife insisted.

Use your common sense, if David showed up to ask Bertie for money & titles, he certainly wouldn't have called Bertie's wife names in the process. That wouldn't have gotten him very far. Nor did he have a cocky attitude as he was portrayed.

I didn't know about the bow tie aversion & his association with the windsor knot. I know the knot very well & taught every male I knew how to tie it. It is the only way to create a perfect knot. They used bow ties on his movie character to make David look like a honky tonk jerk.

There is a much better movie called Wallis & Edward which shows how she tried to extricate herself & begged him not to abdicate but he threatened to kill himself if she left him. He was totally besotted with her & wouldn't let her go. Once he abdicated, she couldn't abandon him. She was trapped trying to make up for his sacrifice.

I didn't know about the way Bertie's father snapped at him & Bertie's stammer. His teachers also slapped his hands to force him to write with his right hand. He was left handed. I can see why he stammered but it got old very fast in the film.

I also didn't care for the dumb bumblebee proposal scene; even if is was true. Or the "I don't like your face" scene. Or the shooting scene. It was the cigarettes which killed him. Not the job. Many Royals in their family died from throat cancer from tobacco use.

But, if you can overlook the phony Edward & wallis scenes and assume this was the Queen mothers edited nasty version of events, the movie is still watchable.

If Edward had just married Wallis civilly like Charles, without asking anyone, there were other Kings who did (George IV), the entire parliament wouldn't have quit. Churchill would have remained to form a gov't. It only takes one or two. Just like Melbourne when Victoria wouldn't remove her ladies. The gov't survived. When you ask someone for permission, you are giving them power over you. Do it without asking. It's your life.

This programme was by far one of the best accounts of the history of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and King George VI that I have ever seen. The scriptwriters should be commended in placing such valuable historic accounts of this period into such a short space of time. I cannot even begin to express the great detail that the producers and cast went through to make it all the more realistic and the subsequent death of George VI and the reaction of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was truly heartbreaking. What a remarkable theatrical production, especially in light of Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee celebrations. The programme itself rouses a great sense of National pride and I for one am proud of our monarchy for their achievements during the war years which are accurately described in this moving tribute to them. well done!

And an opportunity to see the great Miss Eileen Atkins at her most sardonic as that old klepto Queen Mary whose penchant for stealing knickknacks from posh stores and country houses was kept from us plebs for half a century after her death. The late Mr D.Ryall,that most versatile of character actors,adds Winston Churchill to his not inconsiderable gallery of top class performances,a characterisation Mr T.Spall could have benefited by studying before attempting his impersonation in "The King's Speech",surely one of the least deserving Oscar - laden pictures in that award's somewhat eclectic history. "Bertie and Elizabeth" has no pretensions towards documentary - like veracity.It is meant to be entertainment centred around the lives of King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth and succeeds at that level. It's cheap and cheerful,like a jar of jam bought from "Lidl" rather than "Harrods".Jam is jam,right? The Duke of Windsor doesn't come out of this too well and Mrs Simpson gets her usual character - assassination at the hands of the Brits who once saw Edward,Prince of Wales as their Prince Charming and have never forgiven the Yank who stole him from them,regardless of the fact that he was vain,weak and feckless and would have made a terrible king. All the usual clichés about the blitz are given an airing with jolly cockneys abounding and exchanging unlikely quips with Elizabeth as they gaily stand outside their ruined hovels after a visit from the Luftwaffe. But if you don't take it seriously,it's a lot of fun.

The story opens in 1920, as the young Duke of York (James Wilby), known as "Bertie" to his family, meets Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Juliet Aubrey) at a dance and is immediately infatuated with her. Though a royal prince hadn't married a commoner since Anne Boleyn, Bertie loved the charming and vivacious Elizabeth; they were married and had two daughters. Theirs was a true love match and Bertie spent happy times with his family, a luxury afforded him because he would never be King, or so he thought. Then his brother's abdication changed Bertie's life forever and he assumed the throne as King George VI.

This is a sweet love story with two very likable actors in the leads. Wilby and Aubrey are quite sympathetic and convincing as Bertie and Elizabeth. Bertie was self-conscious and stammered, especially when bullied by his father, but Elizabeth helped him overcome it. As the years go by we see the abdication, WWII, their daughter's marriage, and a succession of Prime Ministers come and go; the one constant in their lives was their absolute devotion to each other and their personal strength and integrity. The story ends with his death at the age of 56; his wife would outlive him for fifty years.

This Masterpiece Theatre production is recommended for those who enjoy stories about the royals. Despite the opulent sets and costumes, it's a wonderfully intimate story of a couple who loved their country and each other until the end.

Bertie and Elizabeth was a lot of fun to watch.The settings and location scenery was gorgeous.This movie had beautiful cinema photography and a rich quality to it.The actor who played Bertie was amazing.I have never seen him in a show or movie before.Alan bates as King George V was truly a revelation.If this is truly the way George the V was towards his sons it is no wonder that Bertie stammered all over the place and that David just did not really care about his role in the scheme of things.Of course as usual the queen mother did not stick up for her children she just made matters worse.It seems as if the royals in the House Of Windsor have a lot to learn about being parents.That is true even today.Look at Prince Philip,Queen Elizabeth and Charles.They are major failures who don't know how to treat people decently.I did not like the aspect of the film that made fun of David and Wallis as if they were devils.A film needs to be made to show that Charles and Camilla destroyed Diana and the entire modern monarchy.

Apparently, not too many people are watching PBS's "Masterpiece Theater" anymore, and most likely aren't that interested in Britain's royal family. The scandalous affair between England's King Edward VIII (Charles Edwards) and Wallis Simpson (Amber Sealey; a very ambitious, American woman) isn't exactly hot gossip today. Although British royals had become quite snooty by then - and Edward VIII was a modern man - the movie didn't really bring-out that the "Elizabeth" (Juliet Aubrey) in it was a commoner, no doubt from a prominently wealthy family. Edward DID remind his brother (who had become King George VI) of that fact, and the scandals in their ancient family certainly were more notorious than a monarch marrying a common, divorced woman. One of those scandals was the changing of the family-name to "Windsor" from their German name during WW I. My comparison of the two actors was, George VI - the younger brother of Edward VIII - looked older ! Here is a perfect example of how close siblings become completely estranged.......

We are all aware the young "Elizabeth" in this movie is still on England's throne........veddy proper monarch (which makes me wonder how she is portrayed in the 2006 movie "The Queen"). History has recorded that Edward VIII (The Duke of Windsor) was given an allowance of 25,000 lbs-per-year, spending much of his time in The Bahamas, where Princess Margaret did a lot of her paryting - and it was a LOT of partying....she knew, as we have seen, Elizabeth II wasn't/isn't about to give-up the throne till she croaks. Since there was little chance of her ascending the throne, Margaret lived-it-up. Most popular of the long line of "royals" (although she was a commoner) was Elizabeth "The Queen Mum" (until 2002) was quite a character. This movie does not show enough of how light-hearted and fun-loving she was. Another pique to me was the movie did not mention that Queen Whilimina (of The Netherlands) was the world's wealthiest woman during the time she had her "court-in-exile" in England, escaping Hitler's hordes.

An interesting fact that perhaps few people in the world today know is that Buckingham Palace - the seat of British royalty - was once a "townhouse" in London. It was purchased in 1761 for George III's wife - the same one the U.S. revolted against. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch really to live there (1837), and did much of the re-building to make it the grand palace it is today. It is not a museum, although it is crammed with priceless objet d'artes, but is a working palace - all 775 rooms of it. The rooms shown in this movie are not nearly rich enough.......

I love all the intrigue in movies like "Bertie and Elizabeth". George V (Alan Bates) lived in much greater splendor than his successor. Today's Queen Elizabeth II has reverted to granduer, which we poor folk can hardly imagine. However, a great lesson can be learned from the fact that modern, American families can't be happy in their "palaces", because all of those creature-comforts really can't buy happiness. I guess it takes a special kind of "family" - how ironic Princess Di (another commoner) was the most beloved over all those royals.

I would recommend it would be worthwhile for anyone to do some research, find this TV-movie and enjoy its historical message, which is even British film-makers (director Giles Foster, scripter Nigel Williams) can't even show us how the royals live - that's why I rate it with an 8.....