Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

The Real Edward VII (2001x9)

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A lengthy but compelling documentary which re-examines the life and reputation of the former monarch. A battalion of biographers step forward to offer us their considered opinions on the man who was variously described as charming, a bully, a pleasure-seeker and the most visible monarch of his time. From his early life as a bad scholar who rebelled against his parents' strict regime, to his countless adulterous affairs and his taste for the high life, we see how the man reinvented himself. Miraculously, by the end of his life, he was a respected head of state - not that this cramped his style.