"Royal Family" (1969) - Ground-breaking TV Doco about the Windsors


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Iluvbertie

Iluvbertie

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What happen on the show? I've heard of this before, but could never get any good explaination.
 
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Wasn't this the program that showed us the Queen eating cereal out of plastic container?
 
I don't remember seeing anything about the plastic container (I actually thought that that was revealed by a footman in about 2003 'Footman' exposes Tupperware secret of the Queen's table - Telegraph) although the tupperware might have been visible.

In the show we saw the family doing normal things. The scenes I remember most are the ones of the Queen taking Edward (aged 4/5) into a shop near Balmoral, the family having a BBQ cooked by Philip, also at Balmoral, and Andrew kicking a soccer ball in a game (my teacher at the time even commented to us on the Monday morning after it was shown about his technique and the boys in the class laughed - we were only a few years older than Andrew so he was able to relate the skills to our boys). It was shown here in Australia (at least in my small country town) about the same time as Charles' Investiture as Prince of Wales and as far as I am aware has only been shown the once here.

It really showed the family doing ordinary things and I do remember some of my classmates asking 'why are they special when they do the same things we do?' I also remember that we noted that Andrew and Edward didn't tend to eat breakfast with the rest of the family (although Andrew was of course at boarding school at the time).

It was groundbreaking at the time but in hindsight I do think it was a mistake as it started people wanting to know more about the private lives, whereas before that they had been content with what the family felt like giving us about them.
 
:flowers: Thank you for sharing this with us. Seems interesting. Shame it will never air again.
 
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They showed them watching "I Love Lucy."

I think The Queen was setting the table while Philip barbecued.
 
Yes, I agree. Prince Charles' first interview happened at about the same time, didn't it? I don't know whether it's possible to "put the genie back into the bottle", but I think that William would like to.


Iluvbertie said:
It was groundbreaking at the time but in hindsight I do think it was a mistake as it started people wanting to know more about the private lives, whereas before that they had been content with what the family felt like giving us about them.
Click to expand...
 
queenofthelight said:
The home movie one doesn't want you to see: Why is the Queen STILL keeping under wraps the fly on the wall film that changed our view of the Royals | Mail Online (14/01/2011).:)
Click to expand...


This article really sets out the arguments very well as to why the Queen regrets allowing this film.

I had forgotten the scene with Edward and Charles and the cello but it was actually quite a touching scene to see the nearly 21 year old Charles spending time with the 4/5 year old Edward.
 
Do they think that in these days of communication, that they could have remained in the "hut"? By now, film, or no film, everyone would have known that they were just ordinary.
 
There was also a 30+ page soft-cover book titled "Royal Family" which was produced at the same time as the film. The book is subtitled "the story in pictures from the historic documentary film".

It's actually a pretty interesting book, divided into seasons with an informative commentary accompanied by an excellent selection of pictures. There's an evident sense of humour in places - the pic of HM and Pierre Trudeau would indicate they were very pleased to meet each other while HM appears po-faced when meeting Walter Annenberg, the somewhat stiff incoming US Ambassador to the Court of St James (to be fair, they actually got on very well and I believe HM later stayed at one of the Annenberg properties during a US visit).
 
Warren said:
There was also a 30+ page soft-cover book titled "Royal Family" which was produced at the same time as the film. The book is subtitled "the story in pictures from the historic documentary film".
Click to expand...
Yes I have just found my copy - some lovely stills from the film & transcript of a conversation with Nixon when he came for an official visit. The Queen is introducing Nixon to Princess Anne & Prince Charles (who Nixon says he has seen on tv - small talk at its most awkward :D)
 
Royal family documentary revived four decades on

When the Queen agreed to be the subject of a fly-on-the-wall television documentary in 1969, the nation watched in wonder.
The resulting film, Royal Family, was a sensation. First broadcast by the BBC, and a week later by ITV, it offered the public an unprecedented glimpse into the private world of the royals.
Three-quarters of the British population watched it, and it was replayed endlessly on television that same year.
According to one Royal biographer, the Queen regretted her decision to allow the cameras in and it came to be seen as a "reinvention that went wrong".
Sir David Attenborough, then a BBC controller, allegedly told Cawston that his film was "killing the monarchy". Buckingham Palace withdrew it from public view at the end of 1969 and it has not been seen again in public.
More than 40 years on, the National Portrait Gallery has been granted permission to show part of the film in a forthcoming exhibition celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It shows the Queen sitting down to breakfast at Buckingham Palace with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne, and regaling them with an anecdote about a dignitary falling over in front of Queen Victoria.
The Palace has restricted the clip to just 90 seconds, and the majority of the documentary remains off-limits to the public. - The Telegraph
 
I would love to this.I wonder what the family is like when they are not working.
 
Royal Family BBC 1969

Hi, Anybody know where can I see this film? It was made for BBC in 1969.

I only found a very short clip of the film in Youtube
http://youtu.be/PNgO31HUiFM

But I want to see the full movie.

Kisses and hugs from Mexico
Thanks a lot.
 
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After it was shown The Queen banned it from being shown again.
 
I would love to see it all, but it will never happen. I do love the clips we have seen of it, and how adorable they all were as a family. I love the clip of Charles playing the cello to Edward and a string pops off and hits Edward and you can see he is trying so hard not to cry. "What did you do that for?" and Charles is very apologetic, "I'm sorry, sorry!" And the moment where Anne is telling Edward to jump out of the car but he's too scared to do it so she just grabs him and pulls him out. Such a normal sibling moment; the sister getting annoyed at her brother.

I also love the Christmas scenes of them putting decorations on the tree. Very family orientated and lovely to see.
 
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Oh really? Poor Edward, Where do yo see that clip?.
 
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Part 3 of the surprisingly good 4-part documentary series "The Windsors, A Royal Family" (1994) contains a segment on the 1969 "Royal Family" documentary film.
​

Apparently, after the success of Lord Mountbatten's TV series, Lord Brabourne (married to Mountbatten's eldest daughter and a film and television producer in his own right) proposed the idea of a film showing the "domestic" side of the Royal Family with an emphasis on "getting to know" the Queen.

Philip Ziegler provides some commentary: initially he believed it was a most successful propaganda film which brilliantly achieved its aim (it was broadcast in the same week as the Investiture of the Prince of Wales).
However, he, like many others, now believes it was a mistake.

Some snippets from the original fim are shown.

"Royal Family" (1969) begins around the 44.20 mark...

 
Have they ever been released on dvd?
 
I didn't think the film was a mistake at all. I just think the royal family and other royal historians got a bit scared of the film after viewing it. Now they do documentaries all the time.
 
Royal Family doc.

Does anyone have "The Royal Family" documentary from 1969? It has been televised once only.... and cannot be found anywhere... Im assuming there are some VHS tapes out there, which probably have been converted already... anyone know where I can find it online? Or is anyone willing to upload it?
 
zactay said:
Does anyone have "The Royal Family" documentary from 1969? It has been televised once only.... and cannot be found anywhere... Im assuming there are some VHS tapes out there, which probably have been converted already... anyone know where I can find it online? Or is anyone willing to upload it?
Click to expand...

From what I understand, the program was aired once in 1969 and then stashed away somewhere in a vault never to be seen again by request of the BRF. As it was 1969, it was filmed long before VHS and VCRs were available to the general public. I looked it up and it was first available to the public in 1976.
 
It intrigues me that the Royal Family can maintain an apparent ban on this documentary in view of other interviews which surface from time to time that are extremely sensitive (I'm thinking particularly of those from the troubled years of Diana & Charles ). I have only slim memories of the programme, and as I have mentioned here before, have a very interesting booklet published to coincide with its airing. I don't recall the footage as being negative for the Royal Family, and indeed, it is increasingly becoming a significant piece of social history. The booklet I have seems to emphasise the Royals as hardworking and quite down to earth family( given their status). I think we will get to see it once the Queen & The Duke have passed on.
 
:previous:
It's not so much a "ban" but more an issue of the Crown retaining copyright and not authorising further distribution. There may be copies of the original somewhere in the world but I'd imagine the quality of the broadcast tapes after 44 years to be somewhat diminished.

The documentary itself is fascinating, the problem the Royal Family and its advisers had, and continue to have, is that it is seen to be the genesis of intrusive media interest into their private lives and therefore is held responsible for the excesses that followed.
 
So it seems that it represents to the Queen one of the rare occasions when she allowed herself to be persuaded against her better judgement. And to think there is reputed to be over 40 hours of footage locked away somewhere.
 
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