This documentary was entitled "Victoria and Her Nine Children" when it aired on PBS, so I expected this to be a documentary about her children. A better title would have been "Victoria and Six, Maybe Seven, of Her Children." Vicky, the eldest child, is hardly discussed, and Affie and Arthur are barely mentioned at all.
This program was even more of a mess than Dan Jones awful "Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets". It seemed all over the place with the narrative and what it did and did not explain or reveal. Albert, the future Edward VII, is portrayed as a problem child who just gads about London, much to the dismay of his long-suffering mother. Very little, if anything, is said about how he was bullied and abused by his parents practically from birth because he was not as smart and quick as his older sister, Vicky. There is a brief, passing mention in the final episode of the fact that his parents refused to let Albert be involved in affairs of state or anything that he should have been learning in order to be a future king, yet that is a huge factor in his behavior.
This documentary seemed to be more interested in the sex lives of the children than anything substantial about their existence. I've read books about the daughters and about Edward VII that provide much more information about the children's broader lives than simply who had an affair with whom. Even as pandering titillation, this documentary fails to deliver. I gave it three stars because at least the photographs were interesting to see.
What a huge disappointment this program was, because it really could have been an interesting look at the children living in the shadow of a formidable woman and her husband's ghost. One commentator stated that Victoria made everything about HER at the expense of her children, taking focus at their weddings and even their funerals. Well, she's still doing it over a century later in a documentary. A sad re-hash of highlights of her life at the expense of an in-depth look at her children.
