I’m continuing on with watching the miniseries Edward the King (1975), still in desperate hopes of ever getting to the bustle era! In this episode, Prince Bertie wrestles with the idea of getting married, which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are set on him doing; the future Queen Alexandra is introduced; and Albert dies.
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.
Princess Alix of Denmark is a historical manic pixie dream girl! She loves her family and tears around with her hair down, but is natural, unaffected, and most importantly beautiful. The English ambassador’s wife has come to scope her out, and she reports back to Vicky in Prussia the big thumbs up.
Victoria is consumed with who Albert should marry. There are several German princesses in the mix, but Alix of Denmark is most promising. She gets the full report from the English ambassador’s wife.
At army training, Bertie is becoming even more sure of himself. He and his friends continue to plot to get him to the music hall so he can carouse, while his parents think he has zero experience with The Ladies.
Queen Victoria pitches Alix to Bertie, who thinks she’s pretty but isn’t sure. Victoria can’t understand why he doesn’t just fall head over heels.
Alix is summoned to go to Prussia with her parents, and is told she needs to Look Nice, but otherwise NOT told she’s being scoped out.
A faux-casual bump-in is arranged between Bertie and Alix, with Alix being the only one NOT in the loop. But when she gets back to Denmark, her parents ask if she could LIKE like Bertie and are very portentous.
Bertie still isn’t sure — she’s pretty, but he’s met her for like 2 minutes. Victoria is aghast.
The Truth Comes Out about Bertie’s bad behavior, including shagging the actress. Victoria is even MORE aghast; Prince Albert is hugely disappointed but shockingly understanding-ish, even acknowledging that he and Victoria haven’t given much actual love to Bertie.
Albert is tired and not doing well, but the American Civil War is continuing and causing difficulties given that Britain wants to support the South but opposes slavery. Victoria tries to get him to rest.
Albert dies — allegedly of typhoid, but the modern jury is out. Everyone is at his bedside, and Victoria is NOT okay!
Stay tuned for episode 5 of Edward the King soon! Is the actress playing Alix working for you?
Find this frock flick at:
I have a hard time getting past Victoria’s top of the head hairline, which I don’t recall seeing on the real queen. Is it just the actress? And in any case, why isn’t she ever wearing an indoor cap, like most married women at the time?
Because she was the bloody queen and could do whatever she liked! But, yeah, the cap thing raises questions. Re. “dumpy,” Victoria was indeed dumpy, and she knew it, but was surprisingly unresentful of beautiful royals.
I’m quite sure Queen Victoria had indomitable self-confidence, whatever her other neuroses: when you’re THE Queen even the most pretty princess is an ornament, not a rival.
An EMPRESS, on the other hand …
1860s Evening wear is slightly less Puritan-coded than the 1840s/1850s?! Still gets a meh for the day wear!
Yes evening wear is the one saving grace of the Death of Fashion era!
Was Alix already deaf at this time, or did she lose her hearing later? I remember stories about her using her deafness to her political advantage.
She got deaf following an illness after a pregnancy. Queen V. blamed her for running around too much at night lol.
The dresses on her and Edward’s mistresses are coming up and are better than any so far and then Lilly, though she wears the famous black dress at first,
Thank god for the mistresses coming up!!
Bertie, old bean, is that you? How’s the 21st century been using your Late Majesty?
Can’t get over how big Annette’s Forhead looks in this! LOL
“Princess Alix of Denmark is a historical manic pixie dream girl!” Oh, she was! My favorite Alix story is of her visiting wounded soldiers, and assuring one poor sod that although his leg was sadly injured, he’d manage in time, and then she whipped her own leg, recently mended after surgery, right up onto the nearest table, saying, “See? I can do this now, and you will, too!”
(Victoria was charmed by her naturalness; V.R. was much less stodgy than she’s made out to be.)
I read somewhere that Alix grew up in quite poor circumstances for a royal (she sewed her own clothes, but didn’t have to wash her own dishes) – her father was a cadet branch of the Danish royal house, and her mother didn’t want to bring her family around the then-King and his mistress of whom she disapproved, so Alix and her sister Dagmar grew up without the restrictions laid down on royal girls of the time – they sewed their own clothes and did their own shopping. And not being sheltered and having to interact with people meant they developed great social skills. (One account of Dagmar who became Empress Maria noted that “everyone loved her” and she had great charisma.) So if Alix was a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, it was because it was not stifled out of her.