The 3 hour long BBC television programme, "The Lost Prince" is the story of Prince John, son of and King George V (Tom Hollander) and Queen Mary (Miranda Richardson). The film begins in 1908 and covers approximately the next ten years of John's life against the backdrop of various events in British history. John's story is tragic, but the film succeeds so very well because director, Stephen Poliakoff skillfully weaves John's tragic story against other tragedies--the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, WWI, and the murder of the Russian royal family. Fans of British costume dramas will be entranced by "The Lost Prince." The elegant sets are stunningly beautiful, the acting is superb, and the story of "The Lost Prince" is haunting.

John is a small child just beginning to enter society when his epileptic fits and his decidedly peculiar behaviour begin to be a cause for embarrassment for his royal parents. Epilepsy had no treatment at this time and it carried a horrible social stigma. The royal family led very public lives, and the family tries shielding John from the eyes of the servants and visitors, but when faced with gossip, Prince John is banished from the palace and subsequently shuffled to several country homes far from the prying eyes of the public. Under the care of his loyal and loving nurse, Lalla (Gina McKee), John is promptly ignored and forgotten.

It's obvious that it is a horrible thing to shove one's child off away from home due to a medical condition (and we never know how much John's behaviour is due to social ostracism), but the decision to banish John is also based on the parents' submission to their roles. When WWI rages, it becomes perfectly clear that the royal family have worries of their own. Being a member of the royal family comes with a price--even John's brother, George is shuffled off to various inhumane treatments at a Naval Academy. John's story is told with grace, and with no blame, and so it's a tale of human foibles and imperfect decisions made in an imperfect world. The film also dallies with the idea that John's parents are more than a bit peculiar. King George V has a tendency to explode when it's inappropriate, and Queen Mary is obsessive. Thanks to their royal station, it's possible to apply the word "idiosyncratic" to the King and Queen--nonetheless, there's an implied idea that some behaviours are labeled 'unusual' and some may be labeled 'abnormal' but is there really so much difference?

There are several social occasions within the film when it is clear that the royal houses are "united" by familial ties. It is as if there's an unspoken agreement made by the human race to let this one large, extended family rule, but the assassination of the Archduke alters that perception and heralds the beginning of great change for members of various royal families--in particular, the Romanovs. One section of the film focuses on the visit of the Czar, the Czarina, and their 5 children. We know their ultimate fate, so their visit to England, and the family snapshots taken are particularly poignant. The film leaves the audience with a sense of an ephemeral, passing age. There is an elegance here that will never return, and the world that emerges from WWI will be a different, darker place--displacedhuman

The story of a very poorly Prince, who suffered what we would now call learning difficulties and epilepsy, he was much adored by his Mother, Queen Mary. Times dictated he was "shut away" to save face and keep prying eyes away. He lived most his short life in a purpose built house in royal grounds with a devoted Nanny. This film brings the story and it's contextual misery, vividly to life, the prince is played deliciously so as to display fragilty, vulnerability and misunderstanding in huge measure. Miranda Ricahrdson is fantastic as the pain racked Queen as is Gina Mackee is an intense and devoted Nanny.
It is difficult with modern eyes to see why this life was accepted but he film gives a great sense of the different time and the different value systems, morals and social order. Fabulous costumes and wonderful photography too. An absolute must since it is a brilliant telling of a true but untold story.

When I first heard about The Lost Prince, I was expecting the sad story about a young boy (albeit a prince of the House of Windsor) who was isolated from his family and the outside world. But what I gained from The Lost Prince, was a well-acted, well-written story from a "so-callled outsider's (Pince John's) point of view about the world of opulence and splendor (Edwardian roylaty) that he was born into,but never could fully participate in. Prince John, as well as Prince Georgie and Lalla serve as witnesses to this world and its disintegration with World War I .
Captivating and inspirational, The Lost Prince is television the way it should be.

Masterpiece Theatre on KCET aired this two-part movie only weeks ago. It is a well-made and highly engaging historical movie with strong cast and touching human expression. Gina McKee (of the earlier "Forsyte Saga" series, plays the nanny and nurse to the sickly, epileptic and eternally childish Prince Johnnie, who was kept hidden from public eye during the years before World War I. The Royal Family of England, Queen Mary (played superbly by Miranda Richardson) and King George V, are portrayed with a human touch and do not come off as distant historical figures. The movie is rather long but worth watching. Prince Johnnie is treated as the hero of the movie, as the voice of reason, despite his illness and his position as the weak one. The plot follows historical fact accurately. European monarchy was shaken off its foundation with the outbreak of World War I. King Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assasinated by Gavrilo Princip, a radical, and war erupted. Further revolutions in Russia as the Communists take over and slaughter the Romanov family- Czar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra and their daughters including Anastasia. This movie has beautiful locations, cinematography and a great musical score. Other than the original music for the film, excerpts from classical music are presented as Johnnie listens to a phonograph, among the works he hears is Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 finale- the allegro con brio. A great movie. On DVD, there is commentary by the director Stephen Poliakoff and insight on the time period of World War I "The King, The Kaiser and the Czar", a look at the three powers in Europe- the king of England, the German Kaiser Wilhelm and the Czar, who all make appearances within the context of the film.

This is a very touching tale of a lost 'footnote' from history - some histories of the British royal family come with handy genealogy charts, showing the progress of royals through the ages in graphic format. Often, the younger children, the 'also rans' of the royal story, are left off the charts, unless they attained fame some other way, or unless they married well. For those royal children who died in infancy or childhood, history is most unkind - they aren't even in the footnotes or indices. Such is often the case for young Prince John - born with a disability that presented like epilepsy, he was (according to the custom of the time) kept out of the public eye. Being rather low on the pecking order, he likely never would have attracted much attention, but with his disability, in a world that did not quite know how to regard those with disabilities, he was indeed an outcast, however royal.

The teleplay shows an interplay of the private life of Prince John and his caregivers, particularly the deeply devoted servant and nanny, Lalla, and the public life of the royal family, as their lives became increasingly complex and involved in public duties due to the outbreak of the first world war. The private life concentrates both on John and Lalla, as well as John and George, another of the younger royal children, close in age to John. George went through the typical royal upbringing of boarding schools with a military emphasis; he was as out-of-place in that world as John was in the stuffy, rigidly-controlled royal world. The camaraderie between George and John was touchingly portrayed in two different age brackets - one of early childhood (Daniel Williams playing John, and Brock-Everitt-Elwick playing George), and one of early adolescence (Matthew Thomas playing John, and Rollo Weeks playing George). John, with his lack of inhibitions and oversized features (part of his disability) would occasionally make a truthful-if-not-quite-diplomatic statement, sometimes to a visiting royal, sometimes to the Prime Minister or other such dignitary.

John's expression in life was done through art, music, and physical movements and expression. He made paintings that showed a rather unique way of looking at the world, often over-emphasising details (such as crowns). He also cared passionately for his gardens, working for hours at a time among the flowers and other plants. Lalla (lovingly portrayed by Gina McKee) encouraged him, seeing in him more substance that doctors could with their brief examinations, and more than could his own parents, who rarely exhibited affection to John (or each other, or anyone else).

It was a tense time in the world. King George V (Tom Hollander) and his wife, the regal and inflexible Queen Mary (Miranda Richardson) tried desperately to navigate through a world becoming distinctly unfriendly toward royalty; just a generation prior, their family through Victoria's connections reigned in almost every major and many minor countries in Europe, which at that time through colonialism dominated the world; by the end of World War II, few monarchies were left, and those that were had no power or authority of their own. One of the mistakes of the monarchs, brought out in this teleplay, was the assumption that they still had power. In actual fact, they rarely even had influence.

The scenes with the Russian royal family are interesting to note the similarities and differences between the ideas of royalty; the political leaders, too, are portrayed in somewhat flat but interesting characterisations. Yet, as one other commentator has mentioned, the truly outstanding moment of the drama comes near the end, when John gets to give his performance for the family, and causes the family to reflect on their fortunes - after all, they were still there, silly. Unlike the Russian royals, dead from the revolutionaries; unlike the German and Austrian royals, driven from office by the war; unlike countless other royal persons throughout Europe, dead or in exile from the aftermath, the British royal family (with its newly-minted British name) survived intact, if not in power. One does indeed doubt the historicity of John's final performance for the family, but one can hope that it, or something like it, did indeed occur.

The sets, costumes, and music are very well crafted and appropriately selected for this teleplay. This is a programme I shall revisit again and again. Despite all life's troubles, after all, we're still here, silly.