Royal Family (documentary)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Royal Family |
| Original title | Royal Family |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1969 |
| length | 110 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Cawston |
| production | Richard Cawston |
| camera | Peter Bartlett |
| cut | Michael Bradsell |
Royal Family is a documentary film about the British royal family produced by the BBC in 1969 . The director was Richard Cawston, narrator was the actor Michael Flanders , the screenplay was by Anthony Jay . For the first time ever, the film gave an insight into the everyday life of the royal family and generated record high ratings.
At the end of the 1960s there were increased efforts to present a more modern image of the monarchy. In particular Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , the husband of Queen Elizabeth II , wanted to show the public that the members of the royal family were "normal, hard-working people". For centuries the prevailing opinion was that to maintain the monarchy a certain degree of mystification and exaggeration was essential; the private life of the royal family must be protected at all costs. With the advent of mass media in the 20th century, these views gradually began to change.
When in 1968 the impending investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales was announced, the royal family was faced with an unusually high number of media inquiries. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh decided that documentation only about their eldest son might not be interesting enough; so the idea arose to include the other family members as well. BBC director Richard Cawston initially wanted to make an analytical film about the monarchy, but after production began, he decided on a chronological representation of the life of the royal family over a year. Royal Family aired on the BBC on June 22, 1969 and reached 22 million viewers, with a further 15 million watching the rerun on ITV a week later . Thus around two thirds of all British television viewers saw the two-hour documentary.
Since those two broadcasts, the documentary has remained largely under lock and key - allegedly because the Queen was concerned that her family would look too ordinary in it. Elizabeth II owns the copyright and only granted a few people access to the film material for scientific purposes. Short excerpts were released for the first time in 2011 for the BBC documentary The Duke at 90 (for the Duke of Edinburgh's 90th birthday), as well as in 2012 for the Queen: Art and Image exhibition on the occasion of the diamond jubilee . Large parts of the film are still withheld from the public.
Web links
- Royal Family in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yes, ma'am. The Spectator , October 22, 2011, accessed October 12, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Trying to be useful. The Independent , June 19, 1994, accessed October 12, 2013 .
- ^ Giselle Bastin: Filming the Ineffable: Biopics of the British Royal . In: Auto / Biography Studies . 24, No. 1, 2009, pp. 34-52. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
- ↑ Film clip of Royals 'banned by the Queen 40 years ago for making them look too ordinary' to be shown. Daily Mail , January 13, 2011, accessed October 12, 2013 .