Series / Edward the Seventh

Edward the Seventh is a thirteen episode British television miniseries created by ATV and broadcast in 1975. It was directed by John Gorrie, who also wrote the series with David Butler, based on Philip Magnus' 1964 biography of the same title.

The series is about Albert Edward (Timothy West), known as Bertie to family and friends, the Prince of Wales (for practically sixty years) and then King Edward VII of the British Empire (for nine years). This focus spans his entire life: from his mother Queen Victoria's (Annette Crosbie) realization of his conception in early 1841, his subsequent birth, his childhood under the stern upbringing by Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Robert Hardy), to his scandalous adult lifestyle, to his ascension to the throne, to his death in 1910.

Sharing in the spotlight for most of the series is his mother Victoria and their stormy relationship. The series was retitled in the United States as Edward The King when it was broadcast on Mobil Showcase Network in 1979.

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The series provides tropes of:

• All for Nothing: Albert had his daughter Vicky marry Prince Friedrich of Prussia so they can liberalize a new united Germany. Unfortunately, the couple's plans are thwarted by Otto von Bismarck and his influence over the reigning Kaiser Wilhelm I as well as their oldest son Willy. Their ascension to the throne is all too brief (three months) and Fritz's premature death strips Vicky of any influence whatsoever.
• Anachronism Stew:
  • Episode 3 is set in 1860-61 but features Bertie seeing a performance of the song "The Man on the Flying Trapeze," which wouldn't be created until 1867.
  • In Episode 5, the King of Prussia is referred to as "the Kaiser," despite the mid-1860s setting. This mistake is averted in Episode 6, in which the title of "Kaiser" is correctly not applied to him until after the Franco-Prussian War. In fact, Episode 6 even seems to take note of "Kaiser" being a new title for him, notwithstanding the fact that it was already used anachronistically in the previous episode.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: At the start of Episode 8, Bertie gets lost in Denmark along with Alexander III of Russia and George I of Greece. When they stumble upon a local farmer who offers them a ride, they accurately introduce themselves as the Prince of Wales, the Tsar of Russia, and the King of the Hellenes. The farmer replies that he's Napoléon Bonaparte.^note  A version of this story has King Christian IX out walking at one of his country retreats with several of his well-connected children and other regal relatives; a man was lost in the park and Christian gave him directions. When the man asked if he could know whom to thank, Christian introduced everyone. At the end, the man said "And I am Jesus Christ!"
  Tsar Alexander: I still do not understand why he didn't believe us! Does he think Kings and Princes have two heads also?
  King George: It would have been all right if Bertie hadn't insisted on calling him "Emperor" all the way home.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Kaiser Wilhelm II had a difficult childhood and relationship with his mother Vicky due to his very traumatic birth and subsequent disability, and proceeds to do a lot of making her life very difficult, from being rude, joining forces as Bismarck's willing puppet for years, forcing her and his sisters to move when his father dies, and causing her to have papers smuggled away from his ability to destroy them.
• The Antichrist: Manipulated by Kaiser Wilhelm II into believing that Edward VII intends to bring down Germany and Russia, Nicholas II calls Uncle Bertie this trope. He changes his mind.
• Arranged Marriage: Many of them.
  • Vicky to Fritz of Prussia is a Perfectly Arranged Marriage.
  • Albert and Queen Victoria set up Bertie to marry Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Victoria lampshades it earlier when she laments that Bertie is not like their daughters and they can't simply tell him who to marry... although after Albert's death this is nearly exactly what she does.
  • The marriage of Bertie's sister Helena ("Lenchen") to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein is noted as this, mainly because it upsets Alix greatly for political reasons. Unusually for this trope, Lenchen admits that he isn't what she imagined marrying and that she cried about it, then says she is so happy to be getting married at all and gaining an independent life that she is fine with it. In Real Life, the Christians were known to be Happily Married after this and Lenchen was the only one of Victoria's children to celebrate a golden wedding anniversary.
• Artistic License – History:
  • It would be very easy to mistake the number of children Bertie and Alix had in Real Life (six). Only Eddy and George are prominently featured, with their sisters in The Cameo roles or even less.
    • Alix is shown ill and pregnant with their oldest daughter Louise, the future Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife, and she is shown as a small child, but never given any lines, and only referenced by name by her Aunt Minnie when she isn't even there — although she was The Quiet One in Real Life.
    • The series omits the Death of a Child, their youngest, Prince Alexander John, who only lived a day. He is never mentioned at all, so despite the amount of history covered more-or-less accurately by the series, a true count of Bertie and Alix's children isn't possible.^note  It's also now believed that Alix was told to have no more children after his birth, which depressed her (she was only 27 and she wanted more) and gave Bertie an excuse to sleep around even more.
  • Episode 10 fictionalizes a visit by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia to England in 1897.
  • Queen Victoria's violent reaction to Bertie kissing the hand of William Gladstone's widow did not happen. Now, Victoria actually did make such a reaction, but on a different matter altogether: her household made a joint protest over serving her current favorite: the Indian Muslim Abdul Karim. Victoria reacted by flinging her objects off her desk.
  • In episode 9, Bertie grouses that his yacht Britannia is no match for Willy's Meteor leading up to the Cowes Week regatta, and later resolves to give up yachting altogether. In actual fact the opposite was true, and Britannia would continue to be used by both Bertie and his son George V for racing until 1935.
  • The series plays to the romantic story of Alix summoning The Mistress Alice Keppel to her husband's deathbed. In truth, Keppel was already in the house with an earlier summons from Bertie, and any gesture by Alix was very reluctantly done. When he died, Mrs. Keppel became hysterical, had to be calmed, and was eventually removed from the house.
• Aside Glance: Bertie has one of these in Episode 6 when a pregnant and very ill Alix tells him "You're so kind", used to indicate his pleasure-pursuing without her (not yet shown up to that point) and sudden guilt.
• Assassination Attempt: Episode 10. Bertie and Alix are traveling through Belgium. At a stop, an assassin fires at them in their train car. Fortunately he was a teenager with a terrible shot.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!:
  • As a child Bertie is bitterly frustrated and unhappy he can't memorize the amounts of arcane knowledge he's given and can only remember things when they're tied to something "real"; he also says he tries to study for exams but everything leaves his head when he's tested. As an adult he can't stand being bored, and requires other people to constantly "amuse him".
  • Alix also seems to have a bit of this. She's completely unpunctual and pretty scatterminded, but one time she summons her adult daughter only to fail to remember what she even wanted her for. She also creatively believes golf works by being the one who gets the ball in the hole the fastest.
• Avoiding the Great War: As King, much of Bertie's foreign policy is dedicated to this, earning him the title "the peacemaker," which is also the title of Episode 12. This mostly consists of keeping Russia from aligning with Germany while at the same time not antagonizing Germany too much. The series obviously ends with Edward VII's death in 1910, so we don't see what happens when this delicate balance fails.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Averted for Victoria. Realizing she is pregnant for the second time throws the Queen into emotional angst. She remembers how degraded her previous pregnancy made her feel, the illnesses, the fear of delivery, the delivery itself, and recovery from it. Eventually she learns to endure this and the subsequent seven pregnancies, albeit not without some precautions (using chloroform during a later delivery).
• Berserk Button:
  • DON'T mention to the Queen anything combining Bertie AND government.
  • And don't mention anything about Prussia or Germany to Alix after 1864, although she eventually becomes more of a Deadpan Snarker.
  • In Episode 10, Queen Victoria reads an article about William Gladstone’s funeral. She already disapproves of Bertie being a pallbearer to a man she disliked. And then she hears Bertie kissed the hand of Gladstone’s widow. Trope-time, as the Queen immediately empties her desk in a rage.
• Big Fun: Bertie is celebrated for his ability to have a good time almost non-stop, wondered about by some of the people in power, and scorned for this by Victoria. Although he takes the work seriously enough when he became King to make himself ill over it (partly by coping through eating more), he doesn't tone this down very much.
  Bertie: What's wrong with a bit of weight?
• Blackmail Backfire: In a desperate attempt to prevent his older brother's lover Edith Aylesford from getting divorced, marrying his brother, and bringing social shame on his own family, Lord Randolph Churchill tries to blackmail Bertie by claiming he will reveal the contents of Bertie's own letters to Edith if Bertie doesn't use his sway to prevent the divorce, while also claiming they are so scandalous that Bertie will never sit on the throne if they are publicized. Aside from a Did Not Think This Through, Lord Randolph makes it worse by both openly claiming he has "the crown of England in his pocket" and by bringing the matter to Alix of all people. Although Edith and her husband agree to a legal separation for the time being, the trope is accomplished when Lord Randolph ends up Persona Non Grata and having to make himself scarce in Ireland for a couple of years. Truth in Television, by the way.^note  The contents of the letters have been seen the time of the scandal. They are so innocuous (although their very existence is not a completely innocent thing) that Lord Randolph's threat was truly Hot-Blooded bluster, and gives some bolster to the theory that Bertie was interested in his wife Jennie and so Lord Randolph didn't care that he was committing social suicide.
• The Cameo: They're shown sitting with someone who's meant to be their sister Louise a couple of times when people are gravely ill, but Bertie and Alix's two younger daughters, Toria and Maud, are only given lines very briefly.
  • Toria is mainly shown as the unmarried daughter having to wait on Alix's whims, with her aunt Minnie expressing some concern. She's later shown discussing yachting with her father and chatting with Ernest Cassel at a dinner party (in a slightly acid and gossipy way, to perhaps hint at the bitter troublemaker she was later known to be).
  • Maud only speaks in Episode 12 when she appears with her husband, The Voiceless Charles/Carl of Denmark. The first time at a ball, she says he hasn't asked her to dance yet. The second time, in Denmark, their grandfather King Christian IX mentions Charles "is to be" King of Norway^note  he was Offered the Crown, and Maud also asks him if he'd tried to marry Queen Victoria; Christian replies he wasn't a serious candidate due to having no money, status, or position — then marvels at all the crowned heads he's now related to.
• The Casanova: Bertie had a way with women, having several mistresses and innumerable sexual encounters. The series portrays his major relationships with the most prominent: Lillie Langtry, Lady Brooke/Warwick ("Daisy"), and Alice Keppel.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Victoria does not like sharing Albert with anyone, especially her children.
• Contrived Clumsiness: Episode 11. Bertie and Alix look into Queen Victoria’s study, ready for refurnishing. Bertie picks up a statue of John Brown, a favorite to his mother but NOT to him. Trope Executed.
• Courtly Love: Alix and Oliver Montagu, who in this are basically portrayed as very close friends, with a little bit of subtext when Alix asks to be reminded that she is pretty and Montagu responds that she is beautiful. In Real Life both had feelings neither acted on, with Alix even confessing to Bertie, Bertie saying there was nothing to forgive, and Montagu writing cryptically about the difficulty of being her 'parfit gentil knight'.
• Covers Always Lie: Zigzagged. The poster for the 1979 US Broadcast (under the title ‘’Edward The King’’) is a collection of photographs of the characters. The “Lie” is that the pictures are of the actual Edward VII, Queen Victoria, etc. instead of the series actors.
• Creepy Uncle: Inverted and downplayed. Willy is just a little too emphatic and repeated about his "beautiful Aunt Alix", although that's all he says, he never does anything, and it's probably part of Foil-ing him to Bertie. It does, however, make him seem like even more of an ass, when even his own uncle Affie basically expressed the exact same sentiments and did not.
• Demythification: The series was the first to break the stereotypical image of Queen Victoria. Instead of the stoic, upright, asexual monarch that the country was brought up imagining, viewers saw the more accurate portrait of an emotional, tempestuous, power-hungry, arrogant control freak who clearly enjoyed the sexual aspects of her marriage to Albert (hence the nine children) but was revolted by the pregnancies, felt her children looked ugly as babies, and could be jealous of them be it popularity, marriages, etc.
• The Disease That Shall Not Be Named:
  • Hemophilia. It's never so much as mentioned in connection with Bertie's brother Leopold, although he dealt with it his entire life and finally died from it. When Bertie meets Alice's grandson and Alix's young great-nephew Tsarevich Alexei ('Alexis' here), he innocently asks if the boy is all right...and certainly doesn't get the truth.
  • Breast cancer. When Vicky is dying, Bertie mentions that she has cancer of the spine. It's not inaccurate, though, as her breast cancer had sadly and very painfully metastasized that way.
• Doting Grandparent: Bertie is this to his grandchildren such as David (the future Edward VIII), even letting them stain his expensive clothes with butter.
• The Edwardian Era: The protagonist is the Trope Namer. Only the last three episodes, though.
• Family Disunion:
  • The Danish-Prussian War of 1864 estranges Vicky (Crown Princess of Prussia) and Alix (Princess of Denmark).
  • Wilhelm II is usually around to cause disunion, either between himself and his Uncle Bertie, or manipulating his cousin Nicholas II away from England. The one time he genuinely wished the opposite was when he asked Bertie to be at his grandmother Queen Victoria’s side before she passed away.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Prince Albert. He strictly puts his son Bertie on this strict upbringing to mold him into this perfect human being for his future as King. A degree that Bertie (or any sane human being) could never hope to achieve.
• Foil: Both Bertie and Willy have extremely difficult relationships as eldest sons with their mothers called Victoria, partly due to too many expectations and not simply accepting their children. However, where Willy's father's premature death makes him Kaiser and gives a position of power over his mother, Bertie's mother remains in her position of power over him for another forty years. Willy also has to deal with a genuine "defect" and disability in his useless arm, whereas everything Bertie was berated for was a character issue... however Willy is also portrayed as a Jerkass or worse, whereas loads of people actually like Bertie. Willy also does almost everything in his power to slight and sideline his mother; Bertie acts out with his social life but is otherwise very loyal to and respectful of Victoria and repeatedly says all he wants to do is serve her and the Crown (although he continually puts himself in a position where Victoria won't allow it). Again, the differences are a mix of the power differentials and temperament.
• Foreshadowing: Very slight, but if you watch Bertie on his coronation day, he dances with his namesake grandson and his granddaughter Princess Mary, but not David, the oldest. The series was made long after 1936, when after abdicating as Edward VIII and never having a coronation, David became the disgraced, exiled Duke of Windsor — and young Bertie was the one who got the coronation as George VI, instead.
• Gilligan Cut: In Episode 9, Queen Victoria is absolutely adamant about NOT accepting William Gladstone as Prime Minister again. A cut later, guess who she begrudgingly accepts?
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Seven decades worth of it, and royalty with no expense spared. Watching the fashions evolve is practically a show in itself.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Episode 10. Shortly after her Diamond Jubilee, Queen Victoria and her daughter the Dowager Empress Vicky go to Prince Albert’s mausoleum and speak about things: her missing Albert for more than thirty years, the possibility that her end is coming soon, her popularity with the people, etc.
• Have a Gay Old Time: In Episode 1, the young Princess Vicky is nicknamed "Pussy," which is historically accurate. In the nineteenth century, the term "pussy" still referred predominantly to cats (like 'Puss In Boots')^* or even more relevantly, "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?/I've been up to London to visit the Queen", and the vulgar slang meaning had not yet taken over. The fact it was considered perfectly unproblematic for broadcast in context in 1975 versus Victoria in the 2010s, which omitted it, shows how fast this trope moves.
• The Hedonist: Bertie's years as Prince of Wales and then King are a fifty-year parade of beautiful women, extravagant meals, foreign travel, elaborate tailor-made clothes, yachting, racing, gambling, and smoking — everything done to excess. It's the smoking that finally kills him and limits his reign.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Episode 11. The dying Dowager Empress Vicky requests her brother’s secretary Frederick Ponsonby to smuggle her personal letters out of Germany (and away from her son’s clutches). Not an easy task considering the large collection of said letters. Ponsonby manages to put the letter cases with his luggage in the main hall. When Wilhelm II notices the pile, he writes it off as an Englishman’s habit of Lots of Luggage.
• Historical Beauty Upgrade:
  • May of Teck is mentioned by onlookers to be both pretty and homely, but while the real May was probably best described as "nice-looking" and stately, even when young, here she's played by a very pretty Judy Loe.
    • Keep in mind that until fairly recently, the British definition of "homely" was "appealingly simple; not glamorous"; however, the man using "homely" doesn't do it in anything like a admiring tone of voice, and Judy Loe is still a bit too fine-featured to be playing May, whom her first biographer went into a bit of back-and-forth about whether "anyone could agree whether she was a pretty girl or not".
  • Averted with Alix. She really was praised by everyone and considered to be one of the most beautiful princesses of Europe and a fashion icon.
• Historical Domain Character: Queen Victoria, Albert the Prince Consort, Edward VII, Leopold I of Belgium, Christian IX of Denmark and his consort Louise, George I of Greece, The Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, Otto von Bismarck, Wilhelm II, Nicholas II, Winston Churchill^note unusually for historical works, his father Lord Randolph has the much bigger part, whereas Winston is The Cameo, though It Makes Sense in Context; doubly unusually, the series never mentions that Bertie's persuasive influence is part of what allowed Lord Randolph to marry his wife Jennie Jerome, and triply unusually, the famously beautiful Jennie, one of Bertie's social associates and likely mistresses, does not appear at all... it's a historical drama involving many famous people of the age, so more of the cast than not, really.
• Hope Spot:
  • Episode 4. Albert, having learned and despaired about his son's affair with Nellie Clifden, finally visits him on the matter. Rather than rebuking him again, he acknowledges his mistake in raising him sternly, trying to force him into something he is not, and not accepting him for what he is. Maybe things will be better for the two of them from now on. Unfortunately, Albert shortly after takes ill and dies.
  • Episode 8. Kaiser Wilhelm I dies. Vicky and Fritz can now ascend the throne and implement their long-standing plans to reform Germany into a more liberal state. A cut later, Queen Victoria reveals that Fritz has died of throat cancer after 99 days as Kaiser. Their autocratic son Willy takes the throne as Wilhelm II. The dreams of Albert and Vicky are forever dashed.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Minnie and Sasha. Minnie was shorter than Alix and fairly petite in general, and Sasha was almost inevitably described as "bear-like" and was someone who, in Real Life, bent metal eating utensils for fun. The series does a pretty good job portraying the dynamic.◊
  Minnie: Come along, Sasha!
• Husky Russkie: As stated and seen above, Sasha, even when he doesn't have one of the "six possible names". Although it was very much Truth in Television.
  Bertie: I thought all Russians were devilish clever until I met him!
• Ignore the Disability:
  • Fritz mentions that Vicky will not let Willy's injured arm be spoken about, when their son is still a baby. Willy seems to have continued this; he never says anything about his obviously disabled arm and no one else does, either.
  • Averted with Alix's deafness and lameness. They get quite a lot of mention.
• Informed Ability: The real Vicky was known to be highly intellectually gifted and the smartest of all nine siblings. While she's mentioned as clever and brilliant, other than playing some chess with Albert, she doesn't actually do anything to demonstrate it.
• Jealous Parent: Victoria resents the close relationship Albert has with their daughter Vicky. Albert calls her out in this.
• King on His Deathbed:
  • Episode 10. Queen Victoria. Bertie, Alix, Beatrice, grandson Wilhelm II, and most of the rest of the family are at her side.
  • Episode 13. Bertie. Alix, George, and Alice Keppel are at his side.
• Locked Out of the Loop: This is done to Bertie by Victoria when he's the Prince of Wales, both because she doesn't trust him and she has no desire to share any power. He finds it particularly frustrating when people like his younger siblings Leopold and Beatrice are allowed in the loop.
• Loved by All: Alix. Many are seen singing her praises and no one has a bad word to say about her. Truth in Television; when her mother-in-law and husband were varying degrees of popular or not, Alexandra was consistently the most popular member of the British royal family for decades.
• Market-Based Title: When the series was broadcast on the Mobil Showcase Network in the United States, it was retitled Edward The King (perhaps to avoid confusion that it was a sequel). This title is on every US-created media, be it novelization, VHS, DVD, etc.
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Gender Inverted. Learning his son had a premarital affair, Prince Albert travels to visit Bertie on the situation. He returns fatally ill and dies. Queen Victoria blames Bertie for the rest of her life, finally forgiving him at her deathbed.
• Middle Name Basis: Technically.
  • Victoria's first name was Alexandrina, which she both disliked and never remotely considered reigning under. She was known to the public as "Princess Victoria of Kent", however.
  • Albert was really Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel.
  • Bertie decides to do this officially when he becomes King, although it's played with since "Albert Edward" was really a double first name.
• My New Gift Is Lame: Bertie’s first Christmas is marred by Albert’s insistence that he not play with any silly toys (like a toy horse) but a really “awesome” practical item like an abacus. Even as a toddler, Bertie is not pleased.
• Nice Guy: The series leaves out a couple of his Real Life more entitled or unpleasant episodes, but essentially Bertie is this — one of his gifts is trying to treat everyone politely and well. Ironically it's about the only thing he had in common with Albert.
• No Social Skills: Prince Albert was legitimately a very brilliant, gifted, and capable polymath... who always preferred work over socializing. As the father of The Social Expert and The Charmer Bertie they completely baffle each other for the remainder of Albert's life. At one point Albert is reminded that he at least saw other children growing up.
  Albert: ...What difference does that make?
• Novelization: Two books by David Butler: Edward The Seventh: Prince Of Hearts (which covers Episodes 3-10) and Edward The Seventh: Monarch Among Men (which covers Episodes 11-13). The US publications altered the main title to Edward The King.
• One Head Taller: Victoria and Albert, although given Victoria's (lack of) height, this applied to many people.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Most dramatically invoked with Bertie himself, who chooses to reign as Edward VII against his mother's wishes, in order that his father's name of Albert should "stand alone". Whether this is solely Parental Issues or not, Bertie is very gracious and respectful about it.
  • Vicky is "Vicky" to avoid all mix-ups with her mother, although that's pretty much the way Real Life and history worked, too. It also helped she could be referred to as "The Princess Royal".
  • Averted with Bertie's sister Louise and mother-in-law Louise, who are mentioned by name, but his daughter Louise almost never is.
  • Likewise his younger daughter is Only Known By Her Nickname as "Toria", even though nobody calls the Queen "Victoria" during her lifetime.
  • Victoria herself and her mother have the same name, but nobody even calls the Duchess of Kent "Victoire".
  • There's some juggling to avoid the fact Alix has both a brother and a nephew named Willy. By the time nephew Willy becomes a major character as an adult, her brother is long established as George I, King of the Hellenes, but even when Alix references him later, she qualifies him either by his regnal name or as something like "Great-Uncle Willy of Greece" such as when the family is watching a newsreel of Queen Victoria's funeral procession.
  • Averted with Bertie's brother and great-uncle Leopold, although Bertie uses the Affectionate Nickname "Leo" for his brother once.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: As is pretty common to royalty.
  • Bertie. It's all his family and Alix call him.
  • Depending on whether you view "The Prince of Wales" or even "King Edward" as a nickname, they were all the public knew him by, too, and neither was his full birth name.
  • Vicky, Affie, and Lenchen as well.
  • Alix is basically only known as this, and barely as Alexandra.
  • Her sister Minnie is a twisting case; played straight in that her birth name was actually Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar, of which she was publicly known simply as Princess Dagmar of Denmark… but by all her relatives as Minnie. The series makes a point of mentioning it’s her nickname. Her birth name came in handy when she married the heir to the Russian throne and underwent a Meaningful Rename on converting to Russian Orthodoxy as Maria Feodorovna.
  • "Sasha" is the eventual Tsar Alexander III of All the Russias, but given how he's only ever shown with family, this makes particular sense. A couple courtiers do refer to him more formally.
  • Charles is this a couple times over. In Denmark he was called Carl. His birth name was Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel. (After becoming King of Norway he changed it to Haakon.)
  • Daisy Brooke's real name was Frances.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Bertie and Alix lose their eldest son Eddy (and their baby Alexander John, not shown). Victoria loses Alice, Leopold, and Affie (and barely outlives Vicky).
• Papa Wolf: On seeing his baby daughter Vicky become ill, Albert blames Baroness Lehzen's housekeeping decisions as the cause. He finally puts his foot down and demands from Victoria control of the household out of Baroness Lehzen's authority.
• Prevent the War: In Episode 4, a dying Prince Albert works to prevent the Trent Affair from escalating into a war between the United Kingdom and the United States. He succeeds, at the implied cost of hastening his own death.
• Princess Classic: Alix, who may very well have been the Trope Codifier for the modern age. Her beauty is famed throughout the land, she has an Unlimited Wardrobe of lovely dresses, and she's gracious and generous to everyone she meets, with beautiful manners.
• Protagonist Title: Although Bertie doesn't become "Edward the Seventh" (or "Edward the King") until the start of Episode 11, when he ascends to the throne and declares that he will rule under the name of Edward alone. This is followed by the opening credits, in which Timothy West is credited for the first time as playing "King Edward the Seventh."
• Ready for Lovemaking: In Episode 4. Victoria sees Albert tired and exhausted from his work. As they get ready for bed, Victoria is clearly intending to give her husband comfort sex. However, the plans are interrupted (indefinitely) when Albert receives a letter revealing Bertie's liaison with a loose woman.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Albert gives a couple to Victoria over the course of their marriage when he gets sick of her temper and imperiousness, especially when she hurts Vicky.
  • Bertie gets these as a matter of course from both his parents, especially Victoria (given she lives twice as long).
  • Alix gives a quiet but stinging one to Bertie around the era of Daisy Brooke that no matter how much she knows she is "deaf and not amusing" and she may "understand", his endless philandering hurts her. Bertie actually seems both sincerely stunned and ashamed she is so hurt after so long, but doesn't change his ways.
• Rebel Prince: Bertie. Not against the government or the throne, but his rebellion against Victorian social conventions as exemplified by his parents goes on his entire adult life, and is a major theme of the series.
• Ruptured Appendix: Bertie is apparently badly stricken with appendicitis just before his coronation^* he ignored his worsening symptoms because he was afraid it was cancer; Vicky and Affie having just recently died from it not helping, causing him to need surgery and it to be postponed. When he threatens to go through with the original ceremony anyway, raging "I will go to the Abbey if I die there!", his doctor immediately responds "that is exactly what will happen". In Real Life, Treves, the surgeon, discovered Bertie had a bad abscess but that his actual appendix was fine — so the popular belief that the King had his appendix removed is a myth.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: A rare case of this being used for good.
  • Bertie's financial advisor Ernest Cassel appears (along with his earlier friendship with Nathaniel Rothschild) to showcase Bertie's willing acceptance of people "polite society" didn't normally embrace, like Jews or people who had made their own money. (In Bertie's case this literally paid off, as Cassel managed Bertie's money extremely skillfully and allowed him to live lavishly and not in debt.)
  • In an earlier episode Victoria is indignant at Bertie for "running about in Society" and says the greatest danger to the country lies "in the conduct of the higher classes".
    Bertie: They'll take their tone from me.
• Silent Movie: The new technology of moving pictures appears near the end of Victoria’s reign. In Episode 10, Bertie’s family and William Gladstone watch moving picture footage of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee parade. In Episode 11, the family watches footage of Victoria’s funeral procession.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Alix about meeting the King of Prussia, although played with as a few people question her steel as stubbornness or wonder about the likelihood of it causing an international incident.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Victoria and Gladstone. Although it's worth noting that now it would cause a very serious crisis if the sovereign ever treated the prime minister with such open disdain, she detests him, he's completely incompetent at fixing that, and it makes for great comedy.
  Victoria: Half the time I can't understand what that man is saying. I feel as though he speaks to me as if I were a public meeting!
• Soapbox Sadie: Bertie’s mistress Lady Brooke becomes this.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: In a slight twist, Alix and Minnie talk about how their sons George and Nicky both seem to resemble "darling Papa", Christian IX of Denmark. However when the cousins are both grown-up and actually were mistaken for each other in Real Life, May and Toria do note the resemblance while looking through photos of Bertie and Alix's recent visit to Russia, but never when both are in the same room, perhaps because the actors look a little less alike.
• The Unfavorite: Bertie, especially compared with Child Prodigy and Teen Genius Vicky. However, being treated differently than his siblings doesn't come from his parents automatically disliking him but being raised with a totally different (and largely unfair) set of expectations.
  Victoria: Oh, if only Vicky had been a boy!
• Upper-Class Twit: Eddy is, unfortunately, more-or-less the poster child for this. He's mainly concerned with partying and having a good time, wants a wife who's beautiful and doesn't appear concerned with the problems that might arise if his intended is Catholic, and isn't shown taking anything seriously or even reading a book, like his brother. The series doesn't even go into his oddities of dress which led to his Embarrassing Nickname "Collars and Cuffs" from Bertie, or how he and May were only engaged so that she could "manage him".
• Victorian London: Played with.
  • The first ten episodes feature Victoria the Trope Namer and the full range of her emotional majesty, but she also refused to go to London after Albert's death, barring exceptionally rare occasions (Disraeli mentions her opening the Albert Hall) and spent her time at Windsor, Balmoral, and Osborne. Everything about the era is on display, though, and Bertie himself frequently parties in London itself, visiting music halls and restaurants from the grandeur of Marlborough House.
  • Bertie also sees just how bad the slums of the era are when he joins a commission to improve housing and visits them incognito. He's horrified.
    Bertie: I had no idea people lived like that.
• Video Inside, Film Outside: The series was mainly shot this way, except for any interior footage in a real interior building.
• The Voiceless: Maud's husband Charles, the future Haakon VII of Norway. He was very much The Quiet One in Real Life, but when you consider he had to make speech after important speech all the way up to regular radio broadcasts against the Nazis from exile in England as an old man, poor shy Charles not getting a syllable here is even funnier.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne:
  • Subverted. Queen Victoria and Albert think this of Bertie. Fortunately, he proves them wrong.
  • Played straight, however, with Eddy.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: All of Bertie's siblings other than Vicky are never mentioned or shown past a certain point. The series never even mentions the deaths of Alice, Leopold, or Affie. (Lenchen, Arthur, Louise, and Beatrice all outlived him by decades.)
• What the Hell Is That Accent?:
  • Averted with Albert. Robert Hardy goes into great detail in an interview about how he prepared with people from Germany to ensure Albert's accent was not only accurate, but Coburg.
  • Played straighter with Alix and her parents and siblings, although the relative rarity of Scandinavian accents and the quality of the performances makes it easier to overlook why everyone in the family has their own individual one.
• Why Waste a Wedding?: At the end of Episode 9, with Prince Eddy's death, Prince George not only becomes the direct succesor to the throne, but marries Eddy's fiancee May of Teck as well. Fortunately, this union proves very successful.
• You, Get Me Coffee: The conflict of Episode 1 is Albert’s frustration about his limited role. Victoria won’t share power (she will allow him to dry her signatures) and the household and rearing of his daughter Vicky is under the control of Victoria’s governess Baroness Lehzen. When Vicky becomes ill, Albert demands a change in things. Victoria capitulates with Lehzen departing, and Albert given authority of household, parenting, and be an administrative influence.
• Young Future Famous People:
  • Known to public knowledge as an old man, Edward VII is depicted as a baby, a child, a teenager, a young man, etc. Likewise, Winston Churchill (near the end) is seen as a young man.
  • Wilhelm II is depicted as a baby.
  • Child appearances of Nicholas II, George V, Edward VIII, George VI.

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