The Lost Prince (TV Movie 2003)

The Lost Prince: Directed by Stephen Poliakoff. With Daniel Williams, Matthew James Thomas, Brock Everitt-Elwick, Rollo Weeks. The true story of the British royal Prince locked away because of having epilepsy.

“Stephen Poliakoff wrote and directed this which was shown over two weekends recently here in the UK. It was certainly a sumptuous production, Iu0026#39;ve rarely seen a costume drama more lavishly dressed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is broadly about the period 1908 to about 1920 seen through the eyes of the little known Prince John, youngest son of King George V and Queen Mary. Possibly autistic or with milder learning difficulties and known to be epileptic, this play shows his childu0026#39;s eye views of his grandfather the King (Edward VII) and the visit of the Tzar to the UK, following on to his own fatheru0026#39;s succession, through the Irish crisis and on to the the First World War. His father becomes King and he is packed off to the country, as his shortcomings emerge, with his faithful nurse Lala with only occasional visits from the aloof Queen Mary his mother, who just cannot understand him or his needs. His brother George, very bright and determined, is used as a foil to explain a lot of action as is the Kingu0026#39;s Secretary, Lord Stamfordham.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMiranda Richardson is superb as Queen Mary, catching her regality and vunerability in one, though Tom Hollander did less well as the King, he was a little young, the King being in his late forties/early fifties during this time, and Michael Gambon, a Poliakoff favourite (and the new Dumbledore apparently) does little more than a cameo as Edward VII. Gina McKee excels as Lala, determined to make Johnnieu0026#39;s parents just even notice him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe King and Queen are here portrayed much younger than the geriatrics they are usually seen as in Abdication dramas. Great stuff!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd what became of them all, well youu0026#39;ll have to watch but Prince George became the Duke of Kent and was killed in an RAF aircrash in 1942, George V died in 1936 and Queen Mary died in 1953, the year Johnnieu0026#39;s niece, Elizabeth was crowned.”