Oh my gosh, Ginny, I watched that trailer (thank you) - how absolutely
appalling. I think you can actually get that programme here, but it's the last thing I'd want to watch. Captive wild animals, especially in private 'collections' should not be allowed, in my opinion.
Zoos are bad enough, but at least most of the ones here are now very aware of the issues, and are concentrating on the protection of endangered species. London Zoo no longer has elephants or polar bears so far as I know, and their Highlands operation (at Kincraig, near where my son lives) is very involved in the protection (and, we hope, eventual return to the wild) of wolves and other native Highlands species. I may have mentioned before one of my favourite wildlife writers, Jim Crumley - he is very active in the reintroduction of beavers, and he also supports the 'rewilding' of wolves. His books are wonderful, especially the more recent ones published by Saraband (his first publisher was not great).
And now to
The Windsors! The actor who plays Charles is Harry Enfield, he is very well known in the UK, I think he started out in stand-up comedy. I feel he has Charles to a T, I don't even think his portrayal is much of an exaggeration. Haydn Gwynn, however, is obviously way over the top as Camilla - who, I believe, is a very nice person - but the character works as she is just so funny, with all her plotting, her endless gins and cigarettes. Camilla attended a premiere in the Cathedral where I work - it was of a new piece of music composed to mark the anniversary of the end of the First World War. We had a lot of meetings with all her ladies-in-waiting, security people, etc beforehand, but really her own requests were very few - a cushion to support her back, as she has problems with it, and a Diet Coke at the interval. And she also asked for time to be made in the programme for her to go out to the front and thank everyone for coming (it was a free, ticketed, performance.) IMO she and Charles should have been allowed to marry in their youth, it would have saved a lot of unhappiness all round, and Diana could have married someone like her, lived in West London and enjoyed the life that well-heeled smart young women have, without all the royal baggage.
I think (sorry if I have said all this before) the court protocols of the time have a lot to answer for - it was the same with Princess Margaret - my mother says if Margaret had been allowed to marry Captain Peter Townsend she would probably not have turned into the bitter woman she became. The palace seems finally to have caught up with modern life, in that both William and Harry have not been prevented from marrying 'commoners' (and Zara Phillips, Princess Anne's daughter, is married to a rugby player); I imagine it would now be unthinkable to try to stop a royal marriage because the partner did not have the right credentials.
As I've said already, none of my family is much interested in the royals, and we do not have much time for the taxpayer-funded hangers-on like Beatrice & Eugenie - I have no idea what those two are really like, but I do so enjoy the way they are played in the programme, the accents are perfect (one of my elder daughter's school friends used to speak exactly like that - this was when they were at a tiny primary school surrounded by private estates, so all the landowners sent their children there for 'free' prep school, then sent them off to boarding school around the age of 8 or 9. Although it was like a private school it was in fact just the local council one, so there was a mixture of extremely wealthy families (Anna had a 'Lady' in her class, whose family lived in a castle) and estate workers' children. The older classes in the school had only the latter left, which had a very detrimental effect on numbers. )
Yes I think Harry is most definitely perceived as dim and impressionable compared to his brother. He lived a very wild youth, which did not go down well with the public (who were of course paying for it). Meghan is more of a tricky one - my daughters tell me that she has been absolutely vilified by our gutter press (
Daily Mail and
Sun being the worst offenders, as ever) and that they feel that the abuse she has received has been unbelievably and inexcusably racist. I have not read any of this stuff myself but I can well believe it - sections of our press are really appalling. I think if Harry and Meghan want to make a go of it on their own, (and on their own money) why shouldn't they?
And I agree, Charles Dance would be excellent as Philip! I love him as an actor - have done ever since he was Guy in the unforgettable
Jewel in the Crown, though since then he seems to have played nothing but baddies (excellent as Tulkinghorn in the BBC's adaptation of
Bleak House, for example). Philip is not popular with many people as he is so racist - and pig-headed, still driving around and causing accidents when he has been told to stop driving years ago. It's not as if he hasn't got anyone to do the driving for him! The perception of the Queen is quite different, I think almost everyone does see her as very hard working. I think the problem with most of them is that they are so cushioned and divorced from the real lives of the majority of people in the UK. No-one was at all impressed with Charles coming up here to Birkhall (his house on the Balmoral Estate) when he already knew he had coronavirus. Although he wouldn't, of course, have been in local shops, his staff certainly were. And everyone else in the country was getting such a bollocking for retreating to their holiday homes.
And I agree about the portrayal of the Middleton parents - that was most definitely caricature, so I hope they saw the funny side of it. I think they live their own lives.
I don't know if any of the royals watch the show - I would hope that they could find it funny, because really it is quite gentle by UK standards!
Something I have not yet seen is
The Crown. It was hugely praised here, so I really must watch it - and of course it is still going on, and I believe Olivia Coleman is taking over as the Queen. She is a fantastic actress, one of our very best, though Claire Foy (who, I think, played the younger Queen) is also exceptional (viz her Anne Boleyn in
Wolf Hall).
My husband has now decided that we must buy a larger TV! Miracles do happen! (The one we have here is literally 14", we have to sit right in front of it to see it.) He thinks he can set it all up himself if we order it online, so I just hope he's right. I rarely watch it during the day, but I do enjoy sitting down after dinner for an hour or two, with a cup of tea, a bar of chocolate and a good programme or two
Best wishes,
Rosemary