Oh god, when I first started watching the 1975 BBC miniseries Edward the King, about the life of British King Edward VII (1841-1910), I thought it would be easy to cover two episodes in one recap, so I watched episodes one and two back-to-back. Well, I had way too much to cover for just one episode, so while I just went and screencapped episode 2, I confess that I watched it several weeks ago and don’t remember the plot specifics, other than: Prince Bertie is NOT a natural student. His parents are awful to him about it, mostly because they’re terrified of him being a horrible king, but also because they’re kind of jerks. They (especially Prince Albert) have super loving, fun relationships with all their other kids, but they just continue to have incredibly high expectations of Bertie, which he literally can’t meet, and it drives them apart. The secondary plot line is his elder sister, Victoria (1840-1901), and her marriage to the German emperor, Frederick III. Queen Victoria is super weird about it, and everyone including Bertie is very close to Victoria so her leaving is hard on them all.
The costumes for this series were designed by three designers: Ann Hollowood (Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Merlin) and Sue Le Cash, who worked on The Muppet Show, which is pretty damn cool; Christine Wilson is also credited. And that’s going to be my focus for this recap!
Sadly, what Prince Bertie is wearing is pretty boring, so you’re not going to see a lot of him in this recap:
The girls all in matching dresses, with VERY 1970s Little House on the Prairie hairstyles.
Queen Victoria wears a parade of very spot-on-to-the-1850s dresses that are mostly boring:
At a party for a visiting royal (Napoleon III I think given the credits on IMDB), the big guns come out!
But then we’re back to daywear, sigh.
Everyone goes to Scotland, including Princess Victoria and her future husband:
Princess Victoria gets married, and it’s right out of the painting!
Bertie has a sad:
Bertie hopes to take Vicky’s place in his parents’ affections, but they are totally oblivious:
And that’s it for episode two! I’ll try to have more plot in episode three.
Thoughts on Edward the King‘s 1850s costumes?
Find this frock flick at:
I agree–the actor playing Bertie DOES look unconvincingly blond, I wonder why they did that? (Although props to the production for getting an actor who looks absolutely spot on as Prince Albert.)
I’m a little sad we didn’t get more of Empress Eugenie, though, given that she was one of the fashion icons of her day. Then again, this is a BBC historical series from the 70s, so I guess I can’t set my hopes too high in that regard XDDDD. I will say that I’m appreciating the costuming in this series, even if it’s rather 1970s, because it reminds me of how over the top and, well, silly mid-19th century fashion could be.
My thoughts on 1850s day wear=ZZZZZZZZ
SRSLY
The sight has been smushing ALL the images for me in all the reviews lately, is anyone else having this issue?
Yes, I’ve noticed that too. The images are fine if you click on them individually, but in the post they are stretched horizontally.
Weird! I’m not seeing it here. Which browser are y’all using? Have you tried switching?
I’m using firefox on desktop and have never had issues before now. I just tried it on safari mobile and desktop and it looks totally fine so I wonder if it has something to do with firefox?
I have the same issue and I know I didn’t have it last week when I checked in. I also use Firefox on desktop.
yes, I can’t really see them properly, because they’re nearly all squished. Guessing it the size of the frame and they’re being squished to fit?
Try switching browsers! (Sorry, I know that’s annoying, but it sounds like it may be a Firefox issue)
The women’s skirts look limp around the hips. More A-line than bell shaped.
I am thoroughly distracted by Victoria’s medieval hairline
😂😂😂
You see ‘SPARKLE’ I see ‘Future Axe Murderer – Very Near Future Division’.
Also, I have just confirmed that the actress playing the future German Empress Victoria is in fact the well-beloved Felicity Kendall: those who recognise the name may well understand why I find this charmingly-unexpected.