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The crown,

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once the ultimate symbol of power throughout the world.

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We want the king! We want the king!

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But today,

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the very nature of royalty is under threat.

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In this landmark series,

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we use specialized archive colorization techniques

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to bring to life over 100 years of royalty.

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(dramatic music)

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And discover why over half the world's royal families

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have lost their thrones,

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while others have kept their crowns on their heads.

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I declare before you all,

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that my whole life shall be devoted to your service.

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God help me to make good my vow.

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And how royal families

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have been forced to adapt

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as they struggle to retain their people's support.

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(upbeat music)

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In this episode,

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Queen Victoria attempts to create peace in Europe,

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through royal marriages.

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Queen Victoria hopes that a network of families

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that are linked by blood

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would be less likely to go to war with each other.

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But when three cousins

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linked by Victoria's royal blood turn against each other-

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He wants their love and, at the same time,

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he wants to kind of crush some.

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Victoria's dream of peace

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turns into a nightmare.

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It was so hard for everybody in Europe

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to not only watch as their loved ones die,

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but also they didn't know what the point of it was.

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I mean, what was the point of it?

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(dramatic music)

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(explosions blasting)

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(guns blasting)

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1914, war breaks out in Europe,

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and soon the world is drawn into the bloodiest conflict

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ever seen at that time.

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{\an8}What we call World War I was then called the Great War,

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{\an8}mainly because there hadn't been a sequel yet.

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(guns blasting)

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At the time, it was seen as almost Armageddon.

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(guns blasting)

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Over 30 nations clash in a terrifying war,

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using the latest weapon technology.

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It saw the biggest armies in history,

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millions of dead in single battles

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that caused rivers of blood.

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{\an8}The trenches that men had to hide in and then rush up from

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meant that the slaughter was on a scale

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totally unprecedented in human history.

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A generation of young men fight and die

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in a war that, in reality,

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is a battle between empires and their royal rulers.

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(dramatic music)

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In this war of empires,

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the main combatants are the British Empire.

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It covers almost 1/4 of the globe

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and rules over 56 countries.

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It fights on the same side as Russia,

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the world's second-biggest empire.

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Its leader, the czar, controls over 160 million people.

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Together with France,

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these three empires all fight against Germany.

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Its empire sits in the center of Europe

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and is ruled by the kaiser.

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And Austria-Hungary, a powerful empire

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spread across Central and Eastern Europe.

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Strange as it sounds,

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the seeds of all this destruction were sewn decades earlier

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by one woman, Victoria, queen of the British Empire.

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She tries to link these royal empires

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through love and marriage, but her efforts end in disaster.

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(suspenseful music)

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Queen Victoria rules her empire from London,

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and during her reign

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sees the British Empire grow across the globe.

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Britain is on its way to being

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the richest country in the world.

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And it's got this navy that trades everywhere.

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{\an8}And this empire builds and builds

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{\an8}until Britain is really the most important

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powerful country in the world.

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And Queen Victoria is the queen of it.

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But there are limits to Victoria's power.

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Britain has what's called a constitutional monarchy.

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This means the sovereign's power

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is kept in check by the British government.

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The power is really in Parliament

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{\an8}and the prime minister and his cabinet.

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{\an8}But Victoria has this incredible image,

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and she's seen as the symbol of England.

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Britain at this time,

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is more liberal than most of Europe

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and is one of the few countries in the world

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to have an early form of democracy.

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But it's far from perfect.

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{\an8}Democracy at this point is not how we know it.

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{\an8}Most people in the country still can't vote.

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{\an8}Only people over 21 and men of a certain income can vote.

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People that had degrees,

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people that possessed a certain amount of wealth,

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or people that possessed land.

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But even so, this was already much more democratic

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than most of the rest of the world.

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(upbeat thoughtful music)

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Victoria rules with her husband, Prince Albert.

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He is also her first cousin.

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{\an8}Now we know it's pretty problematic

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{\an8}to marry your first cousin, for all sorts of reasons.

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Back then, it's simply not a big deal,

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much more important is that he comes with blue blood.

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You needed to be as pure and as royal

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and as perfect as possible.

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The couple are passionately in love,

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as is evident from Victoria's diary entry

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after their wedding night.

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{\an8}He clasped me in his arms

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{\an8}and we kissed each other again and again.

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{\an8}His beauty, his sweetness, and gentleness, really,

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{\an8}how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a husband?

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It's rather euphemistically expressed,

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but there's no doubt she really enjoyed sex.

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She underlines they were in one bed.

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And she notes in her diary, "We didn't sleep much."

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Victoria and Albert

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go on to have nine children together.

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But they don't just make babies.

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They want their children to be ambassadors for peace.

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Victoria and Albert are concerned that European countries

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have been fighting each other for centuries

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and there's ongoing tension on the continent.

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So the couple hatch a plan,

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to marry their offspring into other European royal families

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so their sons and daughters can export British ideas

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about democracy and peace.

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{\an8}They hope that their children will intermarry

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{\an8}into these different royal families,

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that they will spread these type of liberal progressive

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democratic values from the UK, across Europe,

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so that you then have a network of families

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that are linked by blood and are less likely

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to go to war with each other.

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(gentle thoughtful music)

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But their matchmaking mission is put on hold

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when Albert dies of typhoid fever when he's just 42.

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I think it's hard to over-exaggerate

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how devastated Victoria was by Albert's death.

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I mean, she basically went into mourning

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in her early 40s and never came out of it.

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She wore black for the rest of her life.

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(dramatic music)

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In tribute to her beloved husband,

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Victoria continues their plan

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and becomes the ultimate royal matchmaker.

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It started with their eldest child, Princess Vicky.

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(suspenseful music)

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Vicky is Queen Victoria and Albert's eldest daughter.

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And she is a shining example of what they want to produce.

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The closest that the British royal family

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has to an intellectual.

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She knows about politics.

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When Vicky is 17, she marries Prince Frederick,

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the future king of Prussia.

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Prussia doesn't exist today,

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but it used to be the biggest state in the German Empire.

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When Prince Frederick inherits the Prussian crown,

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he will also become kaiser of the German Empire.

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(gentle music)

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Queen Victoria has observed Germany's recent growth in power

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and hopes this arranged marriage

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will secure a peaceful bond

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between the British and German Empires.

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There's definitely an attempt to use Vicky

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as a peace ambassador.

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There's a feeling that if she can influence her husband,

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particularly in a political sense,

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particularly in a diplomatic sense,

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then the two countries will be allied together.

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The couple would prove a great match.

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And Frederick is fascinating to learn from Vicky

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how democracy works in Britain.

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He takes on her more liberal ideas

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and they plan to rule the German Empire

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as constitutional monarchs.

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(tense music)

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But the newlyweds' happiness is short-lived.

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Vicky endures a traumatic breech birth

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with their firstborn son, Prince Wilhelm.

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The baby gets stuck

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and the doctor uses excessive force to get him out.

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He has to intervene really quite severely.

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And in the course of this,

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the child's arm is ripped out of its socket

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and hangs loose, limp.

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Everybody was very thankful that they have a boy,

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an heir to the throne,

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but when the boy is not perfect, it is a huge issue.

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{\an8}Prince Wilhelm's left arm

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{\an8}is permanently damaged

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{\an8}and his family try to keep this disability

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a secret from the public.

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You never see a photograph of Wilhelm's arm hanging loose.

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It's always sort of tucked into his shirt

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or covered with a plaid or a sash.

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They make sure that you can never see it.

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Royal people are supposed to wield authority

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and they're supposed to look perfect.

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Vicky is desperate to help her son

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and puts her trust into doctors

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who attempt to cure Wilhelm's disability.

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But their methods cause the young prince huge distress.

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Probably the most barbaric method of all,

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they rig up the young Prince Wilhelm

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into a kind of stretching system,

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a bit like a medieval rack,

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{\an8}in which they attempt to pull the arm and make it longer.

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{\an8}Vicky writes a letter to her mother

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{\an8}while the treatment's going on,

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{\an8}in which she includes a sketch of the rack treatment

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{\an8}and says, "It was unbelievably upsetting for me.

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"And it was so bad I almost cried."

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(suspenseful music)

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Eventually, the doctors give up,

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but the damage is done.

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The future king of the German Empire

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grows into a troubled young man with an inferiority complex.

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He takes out his pain on his British mother, Vicky.

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He blamed his mother for the breech birth.

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The determination to use British doctors

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when she should have used, in his view, German doctors.

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This was her fault.

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Then there was the treatment

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that was exacerbating that problem.

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And thereafter, for the rest of his life,

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you very much get a sense

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that there was a love-hate relationship,

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not only between him and his mother

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but also between him and Britain,

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which, of course, she represented.

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Although Wilhelm grows up in awe

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of Britain's empire and powerful navy,

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he develops a problematic relationship

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with his British relatives.

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He wants them all to admire him.

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He wants them all to love him.

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But he's incredibly envious of them

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because they're British and they seem to think

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that he thinks they think they're better than him.

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He wants their love and, at the same time,

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he wants to kind of crush them.

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(gentle music)

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In 1888, Wilhelm's father, Prince Frederick,

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finally becomes the kaiser of Germany,

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but he is terminally ill with cancer

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and dies just 99 days later.

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The crown is passed on to his oldest son

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who becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II.

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When Kaiser Wilhelm inherits the throne at the age of 29,

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he's paranoid, insecure.

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He's a little macho desperate to prove himself,

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especially to his English cousins.

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(pensive music)

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Wilhelm immediately cancels his parents' plan

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00:14:01,180 --> 00:14:03,680
to make Germany more democratic.

269
00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:06,840
His father and mother wanted Germany

270
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,070
to be a liberal, modern forward-looking state,

271
00:14:11,070 --> 00:14:13,330
which was pro-British.

272
00:14:13,330 --> 00:14:15,970
When he came to the throne, didn't want any of these things.

273
00:14:15,970 --> 00:14:19,620
He was bent on making the German Empire

274
00:14:19,620 --> 00:14:22,550
a rival to the British Empire.

275
00:14:22,550 --> 00:14:23,800
Wilhelm is determined

276
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,830
to make the German Empire the biggest power in Europe.

277
00:14:27,830 --> 00:14:32,017
He builds up its navy and begins to threaten war.

278
00:14:32,017 --> 00:14:36,750
Wilhelm is heavily invested in the idea

279
00:14:36,750 --> 00:14:40,060
of the monarch of the emperor being superior.

280
00:14:40,060 --> 00:14:42,510
While he's seen among the people,

281
00:14:42,510 --> 00:14:44,050
he's not pretending to emphasize,

282
00:14:44,050 --> 00:14:46,670
he's not bringing himself to their level,

283
00:14:46,670 --> 00:14:50,290
'cause he doesn't care about anyone but himself.

284
00:14:50,290 --> 00:14:53,030
Queen Victoria's dream of ensuring peace

285
00:14:53,030 --> 00:14:56,030
and tranquility through royal marriages

286
00:14:56,030 --> 00:14:58,570
has already given birth to a problem.

287
00:14:58,570 --> 00:15:01,280
A grandson who hates Britain

288
00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,873
and appears to be itching for one thing, war.

289
00:15:08,650 --> 00:15:12,360
But Queen Victoria doesn't give up on a grand plan

290
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:13,840
and begins looking for a match

291
00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:15,853
for another one of her grandchildren,

292
00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:18,543
Princess Alix of Hesse.

293
00:15:20,990 --> 00:15:24,600
But Alix doesn't want grandmother to choose her husband

294
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,080
because ever since she visited Russia for a family wedding,

295
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,260
she's been madly in love with her cousin,

296
00:15:31,260 --> 00:15:35,750
the heir to the Russian throne, Nicholas Romanov.

297
00:15:35,750 --> 00:15:38,040
They were deeply in love.

298
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,530
Queen Victoria wasn't awfully sure

299
00:15:40,530 --> 00:15:42,180
that she should let this go ahead.

300
00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:44,440
{\an8}But she had no option because they insisted.

301
00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,500
{\an8}And so they had this huge wedding.

302
00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:50,393
And Nicholas and Alexandra were like two lovebirds.

303
00:15:52,260 --> 00:15:54,720
After Alix and Nicholas marry,

304
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,270
Queen Victoria attempts to advise her granddaughter

305
00:15:58,270 --> 00:16:00,793
on how to make Russia more democratic.

306
00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,110
So Victoria writes to her granddaughter.

307
00:16:05,110 --> 00:16:07,097
She says, "No, it's very challenging,

308
00:16:07,097 --> 00:16:09,487
"the craft of ruling these days.

309
00:16:09,487 --> 00:16:10,637
"Every day," she says,

310
00:16:10,637 --> 00:16:13,150
"I worry about what my subjects think."

311
00:16:13,150 --> 00:16:16,927
To which she's batted off by her granddaughter,

312
00:16:16,927 --> 00:16:20,580
"Yeah, but Russia is not England, Granny."

313
00:16:20,580 --> 00:16:22,847
She's like, "Here we don't need to worry about

314
00:16:22,847 --> 00:16:24,191
"what the subjects think."

315
00:16:24,191 --> 00:16:26,920
(dramatic music)

316
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,610
Russia is ruled by an emperor, called a czar,

317
00:16:30,610 --> 00:16:33,930
and he expects his people to revere him like a god.

318
00:16:33,930 --> 00:16:36,680
There is no democracy

319
00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:40,680
and the czar has unlimited power over his subjects.

320
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,010
The czar is a complete autocrat.

321
00:16:44,010 --> 00:16:47,003
And that means what he says goes.

322
00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,750
He's head of the armed forces. He is head of the Church.

323
00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:53,240
He's head of absolutely everything in his land.

324
00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:54,770
He has the final say.

325
00:16:54,770 --> 00:16:57,480
And if you question him, he can kill him.

326
00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,480
Russia's royal family, the Romanovs,

327
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:05,450
have ruled with an iron fist for 300 years,

328
00:17:05,450 --> 00:17:07,960
but the world is changing fast

329
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,020
and the Russian people want more autonomy,

330
00:17:11,020 --> 00:17:14,700
but they have no way of getting their voices heard.

331
00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:16,160
People can't vote them out.

332
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,170
They can't even vote for ministers to do anything

333
00:17:19,170 --> 00:17:21,100
'cause the czar appoints all the ministers,

334
00:17:21,100 --> 00:17:22,810
the czar appoints all the generals.

335
00:17:22,810 --> 00:17:24,930
The czar has total control

336
00:17:24,930 --> 00:17:28,150
and doesn't even have to bother to inform himself

337
00:17:28,150 --> 00:17:31,053
about his starving, miserable people.

338
00:17:33,230 --> 00:17:36,630
(upbeat thoughtful music)

339
00:17:36,630 --> 00:17:39,220
When Nicholas inherits the Russian crown,

340
00:17:39,220 --> 00:17:42,730
he becomes the czar and Alix, the czarina.

341
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:45,740
The couple completely ignore

342
00:17:45,740 --> 00:17:49,213
Victoria's ideas about democratic reform.

343
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,040
There's a dark irony that Alexander

344
00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:58,040
falls hook, line, and sinker for the bible of autocracy.

345
00:17:58,390 --> 00:18:03,010
She absolutely loves the idea of being all-powerful,

346
00:18:03,010 --> 00:18:06,820
of being invested with a divine right to rule.

347
00:18:06,820 --> 00:18:09,030
And doubts, and there are many of them,

348
00:18:09,030 --> 00:18:11,930
that her little weak husband may possess,

349
00:18:11,930 --> 00:18:13,190
she helps him overcome.

350
00:18:13,190 --> 00:18:14,987
She looks him in the eye,

351
00:18:14,987 --> 00:18:19,987
"You are the man ordained by God to rule, be in no doubt."

352
00:18:21,850 --> 00:18:25,050
Nicholas and Alix believe all they need to do

353
00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:28,820
to keep that family on the throne is one thing,

354
00:18:28,820 --> 00:18:30,833
produce a male heir.

355
00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:34,820
During the first seven years of marriage,

356
00:18:34,820 --> 00:18:37,343
they welcome four daughters.

357
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:43,200
Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.

358
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,200
My father was Nicholas's eldest nephew.

359
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,000
And they were very close. My father adored Nicholas.

360
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,467
His best friends, at the time, were the daughters.

361
00:18:55,467 --> 00:18:57,880
And they all were of similar ages.

362
00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,500
They were just really good fun.

363
00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:02,393
They had a great sense of humor.

364
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,350
But Russian law means Nicholas and Alix

365
00:19:07,350 --> 00:19:10,130
are not allowed to make any of their daughters

366
00:19:10,130 --> 00:19:11,313
the heir to the throne.

367
00:19:13,245 --> 00:19:15,140
(gentle thoughtful music)

368
00:19:15,140 --> 00:19:19,853
Eventually, Alix gives birth to a son, Alexei Nikolaevich.

369
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,220
As the heir to the Russian throne,

370
00:19:24,220 --> 00:19:26,397
he is called the czarevich.

371
00:19:28,567 --> 00:19:31,910
The Romanovs finally have a male heir

372
00:19:31,910 --> 00:19:35,163
and take pride appearing all together at royal events.

373
00:19:37,726 --> 00:19:40,124
(upbeat music)

374
00:19:40,124 --> 00:19:42,250
And behind closed doors,

375
00:19:42,250 --> 00:19:44,850
they're much like any other happy family,

376
00:19:44,850 --> 00:19:47,770
as can be seen from these home movies,

377
00:19:47,770 --> 00:19:50,063
shot on Nicholas's personal camera.

378
00:19:51,340 --> 00:19:54,470
They love the holidays 'cause it was freedom for them.

379
00:19:54,470 --> 00:19:57,560
So they were able to be themselves and relax.

380
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,450
And also, the Romanovs were very keen on skinny dipping.

381
00:20:01,450 --> 00:20:02,890
My father was a great believer

382
00:20:02,890 --> 00:20:07,870
in the sun getting at the body and taking your clothes off,

383
00:20:07,870 --> 00:20:09,820
and apparently, Nicholas felt the same.

384
00:20:12,017 --> 00:20:13,830
(gentle music)

385
00:20:13,830 --> 00:20:17,230
But things aren't as perfect as they seem.

386
00:20:17,230 --> 00:20:21,020
Alix has, unknowingly, passed onto her son

387
00:20:21,020 --> 00:20:25,380
a rare hereditary disease called hemophilia,

388
00:20:25,380 --> 00:20:27,393
which stops the blood from clotting.

389
00:20:28,370 --> 00:20:32,730
This meant that whenever the czarevich injured himself,

390
00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:36,080
bruised himself, this was a major medical crisis.

391
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:37,450
He would bleed quite a lot.

392
00:20:37,450 --> 00:20:39,280
And it would be very difficult to stop

393
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:40,963
these uncontrollable bleeds.

394
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,970
Hemophilia is a genetic disease women carry

395
00:20:45,970 --> 00:20:48,190
and can pass on to their children,

396
00:20:48,190 --> 00:20:51,683
but only their sons will suffer from the effects.

397
00:20:52,750 --> 00:20:56,020
Today, it's widely believed this disease

398
00:20:56,020 --> 00:20:58,280
entered the Romanov family

399
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,570
from genes passed down from Queen Victoria.

400
00:21:02,570 --> 00:21:05,210
Hemophilia was Queen Victoria's gift

401
00:21:05,210 --> 00:21:08,860
to all European royal families.

402
00:21:08,860 --> 00:21:10,600
It is ironic that the monarchy,

403
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:15,600
which is traditionally a system which demands male heirs

404
00:21:15,710 --> 00:21:17,747
and values men more than anything,

405
00:21:17,747 --> 00:21:21,853
{\an8}and this is a disease that affects only kings, not queens.

406
00:21:22,910 --> 00:21:24,670
Queen Victoria's dream

407
00:21:24,670 --> 00:21:28,680
of marrying her children into European royal families

408
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,620
has put a ticking bomb

409
00:21:30,620 --> 00:21:33,233
into the heart of the Romanov dynasty.

410
00:21:34,620 --> 00:21:37,820
The family keep Alexei's illness a secret from the public

411
00:21:38,825 --> 00:21:41,900
and invent excuses for why the little prince

412
00:21:41,900 --> 00:21:44,423
is often at public events.

413
00:21:45,830 --> 00:21:49,320
{\an8}Alexei is constantly sick or at risk of being sick.

414
00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,040
{\an8}He's expected to for a young.

415
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,910
There is no cure for hemophilia at this time.

416
00:21:54,910 --> 00:21:59,910
And so they have this unanticipated succession crisis

417
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,693
looming over the royal family.

418
00:22:04,090 --> 00:22:05,830
The heir to the Russian throne

419
00:22:05,830 --> 00:22:07,850
is chronically ill.

420
00:22:07,850 --> 00:22:09,570
And this family secret

421
00:22:09,570 --> 00:22:12,613
will put the Russian crown into crisis.

422
00:22:14,989 --> 00:22:17,240
(dramatic music)

423
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:21,140
In 1901, the world is at the dawn of a new century

424
00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:23,863
when Queen Victoria's reign comes to an end.

425
00:22:24,870 --> 00:22:29,490
She dies of a stroke after 63 years on the British throne.

426
00:22:29,490 --> 00:22:30,990
{\an8}She's been around

427
00:22:30,990 --> 00:22:34,980
{\an8}for as long as almost anybody alive can remember.

428
00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:37,830
She was an incredibly important woman.

429
00:22:37,830 --> 00:22:41,620
The symbol of Britain and her empire.

430
00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:43,920
So it was almost unimaginable

431
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,470
that she was no longer going to be there.

432
00:22:46,470 --> 00:22:48,230
Victoria may have gone,

433
00:22:48,230 --> 00:22:50,410
but thanks to her matchmaking

434
00:22:50,410 --> 00:22:54,563
eight of her children now sit on European royal thrones.

435
00:22:55,780 --> 00:23:00,493
But will her dream hold Europe together or tear it apart?

436
00:23:02,465 --> 00:23:05,090
(pensive music)

437
00:23:05,090 --> 00:23:06,700
After Victoria's death,

438
00:23:06,700 --> 00:23:10,583
the crown is passed to her eldest son, King Edward VII.

439
00:23:12,470 --> 00:23:15,610
This man has had up, until that point,

440
00:23:15,610 --> 00:23:20,610
the longest wait in history to become the British monarch.

441
00:23:22,820 --> 00:23:25,810
He was a philanderer, he was overweight,

442
00:23:25,810 --> 00:23:28,810
he was overindulgent, and ironically enough,

443
00:23:28,810 --> 00:23:31,320
he was really rather a good king.

444
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,523
But he didn't have very long at the top job.

445
00:23:35,750 --> 00:23:39,050
A heart attack cuts Edward's reign short,

446
00:23:39,050 --> 00:23:42,013
and he dies after just nine years on the throne.

447
00:23:44,693 --> 00:23:47,680
(upbeat music)

448
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,340
In 1910, the British crown is passed on to Edward's son

449
00:23:52,340 --> 00:23:55,343
and Victoria's grandson, King George V.

450
00:23:56,930 --> 00:23:59,460
George has already, dutifully,

451
00:23:59,460 --> 00:24:02,370
married a woman his grandmother approved of,

452
00:24:02,370 --> 00:24:06,560
his second cousin, the Princess Mary of Teck.

453
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:11,240
The new king is more conservative than his playboy father.

454
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,630
{\an8}George V is perhaps probably one of the most

455
00:24:15,630 --> 00:24:19,670
boring people ever to become the king of England.

456
00:24:19,670 --> 00:24:21,450
He basically doesn't do anything

457
00:24:21,450 --> 00:24:25,670
except shoot and collect stamps.

458
00:24:25,670 --> 00:24:27,310
But now George is king

459
00:24:27,310 --> 00:24:29,700
his hobbies take a back seat.

460
00:24:29,700 --> 00:24:32,823
He has a very real crisis on his hands.

461
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,420
Although Queen Victoria thought uniting European royals

462
00:24:40,420 --> 00:24:44,560
would maintain peace, the British crown is under threat

463
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,530
from something on its own shores,

464
00:24:47,530 --> 00:24:50,403
disenfranchised members of the public.

465
00:24:51,930 --> 00:24:53,330
Britain is the richest country in the world

466
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:56,090
but, at the same time, has the poorest people in the world.

467
00:24:56,090 --> 00:24:59,930
And in 1910, this explodes into a series

468
00:24:59,930 --> 00:25:02,053
of organized labor strikes.

469
00:25:03,290 --> 00:25:05,710
Workers' unions across Britain

470
00:25:05,710 --> 00:25:08,283
are demanding better working conditions.

471
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,170
And the suffragette movement is asking fundamental questions

472
00:25:14,170 --> 00:25:17,460
about who should exercise power

473
00:25:17,460 --> 00:25:20,810
by demanding womens' right to vote.

474
00:25:20,810 --> 00:25:23,500
The suffragettes believed that men didn't listen

475
00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:26,600
to people who were quietly writing in

476
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:28,350
and acting all meek like women.

477
00:25:28,350 --> 00:25:31,530
No, they believe that men liked to fight,

478
00:25:31,530 --> 00:25:33,520
and they only respected violence

479
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,090
and people shouting loud enough.

480
00:25:35,090 --> 00:25:37,060
And so this is what the suffragettes did.

481
00:25:37,060 --> 00:25:39,870
They were little terrorists.

482
00:25:39,870 --> 00:25:42,060
They bombed certain buildings.

483
00:25:42,060 --> 00:25:44,950
They burnt down certain buildings, repeated businesses.

484
00:25:44,950 --> 00:25:47,993
They cut phone wires. They blew up postboxes.

485
00:25:50,145 --> 00:25:52,840
(gentle thoughtful music)

486
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:57,080
In June 1913, the British king and queen

487
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,110
witnessed the suffragettes protesting

488
00:25:59,110 --> 00:26:02,905
against the established order at the Epsom Derby,

489
00:26:02,905 --> 00:26:04,200
(crowd cheering)

490
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,233
the most watched horse race in Britain.

491
00:26:08,260 --> 00:26:12,200
An English teacher called Emily Wilding Davison

492
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,140
makes a game-changing act of political protest.

493
00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:17,620
Emily Wilding Davison

494
00:26:17,620 --> 00:26:19,940
was notorious in the suffragette movement.

495
00:26:19,940 --> 00:26:21,230
I mean, she was brilliant.

496
00:26:21,230 --> 00:26:22,207
You'd look at her and you'd just think,

497
00:26:22,207 --> 00:26:23,840
"Oh, there's a nice little lady."

498
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:25,430
No, not a nice little lady.

499
00:26:25,430 --> 00:26:27,803
Incredibly brave, incredibly passionate.

500
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,570
In front of thousands of spectators,

501
00:26:31,570 --> 00:26:34,648
Davison steps in the path of the king's horse.

502
00:26:34,648 --> 00:26:37,571
(dramatic music)

503
00:26:37,571 --> 00:26:39,640
I believe that Emily Wilding Davison

504
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,860
deliberately committed suicide in order to show her passion

505
00:26:43,860 --> 00:26:46,690
for the cause of the suffragettes.

506
00:26:46,690 --> 00:26:50,730
There's no way that George V didn't see this.

507
00:26:50,730 --> 00:26:54,250
When you have something as shocking as a middle-class,

508
00:26:54,250 --> 00:26:58,350
well-educated woman sacrificing herself for her beliefs

509
00:26:58,350 --> 00:27:02,020
right in front of you, I mean, you can't just dismiss that.

510
00:27:02,020 --> 00:27:06,980
So George had to be very aware and very politically savvy

511
00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:10,203
in order to negotiate these changing times.

512
00:27:14,322 --> 00:27:16,810
(suspenseful music)

513
00:27:16,810 --> 00:27:20,160
Despite George's conservative personality,

514
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:24,130
he begins to do royalty differently.

515
00:27:24,130 --> 00:27:27,913
He visits workers in industrial regions with Queen Mary.

516
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:31,640
It's the first time royals are seen

517
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,716
informally engaging with the public.

518
00:27:34,716 --> 00:27:35,740
(crowd cheers)

519
00:27:35,740 --> 00:27:37,280
So, for the first time in Britain,

520
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,090
you have the monarchy in a pit.

521
00:27:40,090 --> 00:27:42,800
I mean, literally, they went down into mines

522
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,260
and saw how the working people

523
00:27:45,260 --> 00:27:47,430
were helping the British economy

524
00:27:47,430 --> 00:27:49,633
and producing coal for the nation.

525
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:51,650
{\an8}They would smile.

526
00:27:51,650 --> 00:27:53,580
{\an8}This is something that the royal family

527
00:27:53,580 --> 00:27:56,570
{\an8}never felt the need to do before.

528
00:27:56,570 --> 00:27:59,730
They had a walkabout,

529
00:27:59,730 --> 00:28:03,613
and it made the royal family tremendously popular.

530
00:28:05,890 --> 00:28:08,610
George doesn't justice to the people,

531
00:28:08,610 --> 00:28:10,500
he gives them more of a voice

532
00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:13,250
and agrees to democratic reform in Britain

533
00:28:13,250 --> 00:28:15,630
by diluting his own power

534
00:28:15,630 --> 00:28:18,123
and giving more to the elected government.

535
00:28:19,610 --> 00:28:22,870
But can George persuade his cousins in Europe

536
00:28:22,870 --> 00:28:27,870
to contain social unrest by also doing monarchy differently?

537
00:28:31,035 --> 00:28:33,010
(gentle upbeat music)

538
00:28:33,010 --> 00:28:35,620
Thanks to Queen Victoria's matchmaking,

539
00:28:35,620 --> 00:28:39,203
George is a cousin of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm.

540
00:28:40,570 --> 00:28:43,630
And because George's father and Nicholas's father

541
00:28:43,630 --> 00:28:48,630
both married Danish princesses, they're also cousins.

542
00:28:49,030 --> 00:28:51,690
George and Nicholas are similar in age

543
00:28:51,690 --> 00:28:55,243
and as children, their families took vacations together.

544
00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,260
{\an8}Nicholas and George were very close

545
00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:01,117
{\an8}and there's lots of letters saying,

546
00:29:01,117 --> 00:29:04,683
{\an8}"Dearest Nicky," "Dearest George," and all that.

547
00:29:06,630 --> 00:29:09,277
George writes to Nicholas and says,

548
00:29:09,277 --> 00:29:11,857
"I really think of you as one of my closest friends.

549
00:29:11,857 --> 00:29:14,057
"And if there's anything I can ever do for you

550
00:29:14,057 --> 00:29:16,070
"do let me know."

551
00:29:16,070 --> 00:29:18,730
They spend a lot of time together when they were young

552
00:29:18,730 --> 00:29:23,730
{\an8}and growing up and they looked so alike, it was incredible.

553
00:29:25,776 --> 00:29:27,950
(tense music)

554
00:29:27,950 --> 00:29:29,620
But the two aren't as close

555
00:29:29,620 --> 00:29:33,263
to their German cousin, Wilhelm, who is several years old.

556
00:29:35,050 --> 00:29:37,810
Wilhelm really does not get on with his other cousins.

557
00:29:37,810 --> 00:29:39,760
Wilhelm is the odd one out.

558
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,910
The others, in fact, build part of their friendships

559
00:29:42,910 --> 00:29:44,710
on their dislike of Wilhelm

560
00:29:45,690 --> 00:29:49,383
{\an8}because he was so arrogant, aggressive, annoying.

561
00:29:53,644 --> 00:29:55,410
(gentle upbeat music)

562
00:29:55,410 --> 00:29:57,210
As the royal rulers,

563
00:29:57,210 --> 00:29:59,790
the three cousins govern their empires

564
00:29:59,790 --> 00:30:01,563
in very different ways.

565
00:30:02,420 --> 00:30:05,433
While George is embracing British democracy,

566
00:30:06,298 --> 00:30:09,400
Wilhelm enforces autocracy

567
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,723
and prepares to take Germany to war.

568
00:30:13,690 --> 00:30:18,690
And Nicholas believes he has a divine right to rule Russia

569
00:30:19,410 --> 00:30:21,313
and won't give up autocracy.

570
00:30:24,130 --> 00:30:26,640
He cannot see that things are changing.

571
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:27,670
Europe is changing,

572
00:30:27,670 --> 00:30:30,750
that there will be a demand for political representation.

573
00:30:30,750 --> 00:30:35,162
{\an8}That must mean he has to relinquish some of his power.

574
00:30:35,162 --> 00:30:36,850
(tense music)

575
00:30:36,850 --> 00:30:39,180
Nicholas is fearful of moving away

576
00:30:39,180 --> 00:30:41,650
from the autocratic way of ruling,

577
00:30:41,650 --> 00:30:43,713
passed on to him from his father.

578
00:30:44,630 --> 00:30:48,530
And although he eventually agrees to some political change,

579
00:30:48,530 --> 00:30:51,000
he doesn't go far enough.

580
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,730
Set up this thing called the Duma,

581
00:30:52,730 --> 00:30:55,780
which is like a parliament, it's a bit like the congress.

582
00:30:55,780 --> 00:30:59,060
And the trouble with that was Czar Nicholas

583
00:30:59,060 --> 00:31:01,200
put in these fundamental laws which says

584
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,823
basically anything that the Duma decides I get a veto on it.

585
00:31:05,740 --> 00:31:07,890
The Duma has no real power

586
00:31:07,890 --> 00:31:10,740
and the Russian public see it for what it is,

587
00:31:10,740 --> 00:31:12,820
a token gesture.

588
00:31:12,820 --> 00:31:16,853
Civil unrest has continued to build in Russia ever since.

589
00:31:18,070 --> 00:31:20,480
But Nicholas is totally occupied

590
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,423
with a family crisis at home.

591
00:31:23,550 --> 00:31:27,060
Behind closed doors, that Romanovs are struggling

592
00:31:27,060 --> 00:31:30,520
to cope with their son's declining health.

593
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,140
And this increases this ever greater divide

594
00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:36,860
between a very loving personable family life

595
00:31:36,860 --> 00:31:41,803
and an evermore harsh authoritarian political life.

596
00:31:44,364 --> 00:31:46,040
(horse hooves clopping)

597
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,310
At the same time,

598
00:31:47,310 --> 00:31:50,203
civil unrest is building elsewhere in Europe.

599
00:31:52,570 --> 00:31:56,370
The Austro-Hungarian Empire is a royal house untouched

600
00:31:56,370 --> 00:31:58,630
by Queen Victoria's blood,

601
00:31:58,630 --> 00:32:01,483
and he doesn't share her vision for peace.

602
00:32:02,490 --> 00:32:05,930
Ever since this empire had expanded to include Bosnia,

603
00:32:05,930 --> 00:32:09,170
in 1908, tension has been growing

604
00:32:09,170 --> 00:32:11,940
with its neighboring state of Serbia.

605
00:32:11,940 --> 00:32:14,230
Serbia nationalists were very worried

606
00:32:14,230 --> 00:32:19,230
that if the Austro-Hungarian Empire expanded in any way,

607
00:32:19,450 --> 00:32:22,870
it was likely to be at their expense.

608
00:32:22,870 --> 00:32:27,650
{\an8}Pressure builds until June the 28th, 1914,

609
00:32:27,650 --> 00:32:30,320
{\an8}when a Serbian nationalist terrorist group

610
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,240
assassinates the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire,

611
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:36,143
Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

612
00:32:37,300 --> 00:32:41,900
When the Austrian Archduke Franz is assassinated in 1914,

613
00:32:41,900 --> 00:32:44,450
it creates extraordinary shock waves.

614
00:32:44,450 --> 00:32:46,050
Austria is determined

615
00:32:46,050 --> 00:32:49,130
the country that's responsible must be punished.

616
00:32:49,130 --> 00:32:50,170
Austria-Hungary

617
00:32:50,170 --> 00:32:54,940
wants to avenge the murder of its heir by attacking Serbia,

618
00:32:54,940 --> 00:32:59,440
and Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm immediately offers to help.

619
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,000
In many ways, Germany is itching for a war.

620
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,960
And Germany is very keen on

621
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,530
territorial expansion in Eastern Europe.

622
00:33:07,530 --> 00:33:11,600
In Russia, Czar Nicholas puts his army on standby

623
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,700
because Serbia is a neighbor

624
00:33:13,700 --> 00:33:16,693
and he promised to defend the smaller country from attack.

625
00:33:18,170 --> 00:33:22,260
Queen Victoria's dream is quickly falling apart.

626
00:33:22,260 --> 00:33:25,470
Family ties of failing to maintain peace

627
00:33:25,470 --> 00:33:29,993
and the cousins are prioritizing their imperial interests.

628
00:33:31,057 --> 00:33:35,480
Although they knew each other well from their young days,

629
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,890
Nicholas and Wilhelm, nonetheless,

630
00:33:38,890 --> 00:33:42,660
had to put their nation's territorial

631
00:33:42,660 --> 00:33:44,563
and other ambitions first.

632
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,700
When George V hears the news,

633
00:33:48,700 --> 00:33:51,213
he doesn't want to pick sides between his cousins,

634
00:33:52,217 --> 00:33:54,830
but because Britain is a democracy,

635
00:33:54,830 --> 00:33:57,313
he has to support his government's decision.

636
00:33:58,870 --> 00:34:01,850
His ministers don't care about the blood ties

637
00:34:01,850 --> 00:34:05,230
between the British and German royal families.

638
00:34:05,230 --> 00:34:08,590
They're alarm by Wilhelm's aggressive pursuit of power

639
00:34:08,590 --> 00:34:11,950
and decide Britain should side with Russia

640
00:34:11,950 --> 00:34:14,220
and fight against Germany.

641
00:34:14,220 --> 00:34:16,100
Queen Victoria's grand plan

642
00:34:16,100 --> 00:34:19,490
for peace between the empires has failed.

643
00:34:19,490 --> 00:34:20,960
Queen Victoria and Albert's intention

644
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,650
was to create a system of royal families

645
00:34:23,650 --> 00:34:25,810
that were interlinked and therefore it made it

646
00:34:25,810 --> 00:34:28,270
less likely that you would have war.

647
00:34:28,270 --> 00:34:30,630
When push came to shove, blood,

648
00:34:30,630 --> 00:34:33,300
that is the blood that connected these families

649
00:34:33,300 --> 00:34:36,254
was not thicker than water.

650
00:34:36,254 --> 00:34:38,170
(dramatic music)

651
00:34:38,170 --> 00:34:41,530
Wilhelm is distraught that both his cousins

652
00:34:41,530 --> 00:34:44,473
have entered the war on the opposite side from him.

653
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,610
Wilhelm feels that Britain and Russia,

654
00:34:48,610 --> 00:34:51,903
and indeed George and Nicky have ganged up against him.

655
00:34:52,740 --> 00:34:54,180
He always takes things very personally,

656
00:34:54,180 --> 00:34:55,983
and that's exactly how he sees it.

657
00:34:59,702 --> 00:35:02,643
(ominous music)
(explosions booming)

658
00:35:02,643 --> 00:35:03,476
(gun blasting)

659
00:35:03,476 --> 00:35:06,640
A month off to Franz Ferdinand's assassination

660
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:08,563
war breaks out in Europe.

661
00:35:10,420 --> 00:35:11,600
Of course, Queen Victoria

662
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,150
would have been utterly devastated

663
00:35:14,150 --> 00:35:18,000
to know that only 13 years after her death,

664
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,530
three of her grandchildren were going to war

665
00:35:20,530 --> 00:35:21,380
with one another,

666
00:35:21,380 --> 00:35:23,530
a war that was going to cost the lives

667
00:35:23,530 --> 00:35:25,770
of some 25 million people.

668
00:35:25,770 --> 00:35:29,271
It would have had her turning in her grave.

669
00:35:29,271 --> 00:35:32,240
Although King George is no war leader,

670
00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:35,660
he shows support by visiting the front line.

671
00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:39,310
George basically spends his whole time pinning on medals,

672
00:35:39,310 --> 00:35:42,310
inspecting troops, visiting hospitals,

673
00:35:42,310 --> 00:35:45,363
and looking always incredibly melancholia and miserable.

674
00:35:46,210 --> 00:35:48,838
This is George really trying to do his best.

675
00:35:48,838 --> 00:35:51,420
(crowd yelling)

676
00:35:51,420 --> 00:35:52,830
George is also quick

677
00:35:52,830 --> 00:35:56,990
to react to the anti-German feelings growing in Britain

678
00:35:56,990 --> 00:36:00,110
and prevents a PR disaster.

679
00:36:00,110 --> 00:36:01,970
His family's surname,

680
00:36:01,970 --> 00:36:04,920
inherited from his grandfather, Prince Albert,

681
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,013
is Saxe-Coburg Gotha.

682
00:36:09,330 --> 00:36:11,660
Gotha is also the name of a bomber

683
00:36:11,660 --> 00:36:16,200
Germany is using to kill British civilians.

684
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,660
To distance his family from Germany.

685
00:36:18,660 --> 00:36:22,803
George changes the royal surname to Windsor.

686
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,310
{\an8}Let's pretend we are nothing to do ever with the Germans

687
00:36:27,310 --> 00:36:31,200
{\an8}and let's make ourselves as quintessentially English

688
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:32,740
as we can.

689
00:36:32,740 --> 00:36:35,820
And apparently, his advisor looks out

690
00:36:35,820 --> 00:36:37,560
to the round tower of Windsor,

691
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,850
the ancient citadel of the Normans,

692
00:36:40,850 --> 00:36:44,733
hearkening back to William the Conqueror, Windsor it is.

693
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,423
Windsor is, after all,

694
00:36:48,423 --> 00:36:50,373
only the name of a British castle.

695
00:36:51,910 --> 00:36:54,660
(dramatic music)

696
00:36:56,030 --> 00:36:58,410
In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm

697
00:36:58,410 --> 00:37:01,220
attempts to lead his army at the front,

698
00:37:01,220 --> 00:37:04,433
but he is immediately sidelined by his generals.

699
00:37:05,530 --> 00:37:08,590
Ironically, when his greatest fantasy,

700
00:37:08,590 --> 00:37:11,700
a pan-European mass war to prove his masculinity

701
00:37:11,700 --> 00:37:16,660
finally comes true, he gives up most power to two generals.

702
00:37:16,660 --> 00:37:20,180
They kept him out of the key decision-making,

703
00:37:20,180 --> 00:37:22,650
especially the grand strategy,

704
00:37:22,650 --> 00:37:25,553
which was just as well because he was no strategist.

705
00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:30,150
But thanks to the skill of Wilhelm's generals,

706
00:37:30,150 --> 00:37:33,040
Germany defeats Nicholas's troops,

707
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,883
despite Russia having the biggest army in the world.

708
00:37:37,110 --> 00:37:41,210
Russia is able to mobilize a huge army,

709
00:37:41,210 --> 00:37:43,680
but this does not mean that it's a good army

710
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:44,920
or that it's effective.

711
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:46,930
It is really badly trained.

712
00:37:46,930 --> 00:37:49,170
It is a construct army essentially consisting

713
00:37:49,170 --> 00:37:51,250
of under-equipped and underfed peasants

714
00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:53,810
that do not have good training,

715
00:37:53,810 --> 00:37:55,060
do not have good morale,

716
00:37:55,060 --> 00:37:56,620
and expect this war to be very short

717
00:37:56,620 --> 00:37:59,713
and want to go back to harvest their fields.

718
00:38:00,890 --> 00:38:02,910
To make things even worse,

719
00:38:02,910 --> 00:38:06,020
Nicholas takes full charge of the Russian Army

720
00:38:06,020 --> 00:38:09,313
and only takes military advice from God.

721
00:38:10,450 --> 00:38:12,680
The czar prays with his troops

722
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,090
and sprinkles them with holy water,

723
00:38:15,090 --> 00:38:18,600
but he fails to provide the ammunition, clothing,

724
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,910
and leadership they need.

725
00:38:20,910 --> 00:38:24,630
Now the Russian people get absolutely massacred.

726
00:38:24,630 --> 00:38:26,290
Literally, hundreds of thousands die

727
00:38:26,290 --> 00:38:27,440
within the first few weeks.

728
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,940
It is a tragedy beyond tragedies.

729
00:38:29,940 --> 00:38:33,000
The men they're sending to the front were all farmworkers.

730
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,460
They were largely from the country, which there was no food.

731
00:38:36,460 --> 00:38:38,663
Food started to run out really quickly.

732
00:38:40,170 --> 00:38:42,190
Although Czarina Alix and her daughters

733
00:38:42,190 --> 00:38:45,000
help nurse the wounded soldiers,

734
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,130
ultimately Nicholas's military leadership

735
00:38:48,130 --> 00:38:50,960
leaves millions of Russians dead

736
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,370
and the nation on the brink of starvation.

737
00:38:54,370 --> 00:38:56,700
His leadership of the Russian military

738
00:38:56,700 --> 00:39:00,300
was not only catastrophic but also seriously destroyed

739
00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:03,220
the prestige of the Russian monarchy.

740
00:39:03,220 --> 00:39:06,110
Because if your argument is that I lead

741
00:39:06,110 --> 00:39:08,970
because God tells me how we're going to win

742
00:39:08,970 --> 00:39:13,004
and you don't win, then it is all revealed to be a lie.

743
00:39:13,004 --> 00:39:14,910
(dramatic music)

744
00:39:14,910 --> 00:39:17,170
After multiple military defeats,

745
00:39:17,170 --> 00:39:20,430
the Russian people have finally had enough.

746
00:39:20,430 --> 00:39:22,810
A violent revolution erupts,

747
00:39:22,810 --> 00:39:26,700
and it's led by soldiers within the Russian Army.

748
00:39:26,700 --> 00:39:29,480
So they turn their guns on the men giving them the orders.

749
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:31,870
And that is what happens in 1917.

750
00:39:31,870 --> 00:39:35,003
The people finally take control of their own destiny.

751
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:37,940
What makes this revolution

752
00:39:37,940 --> 00:39:42,180
so dangerous to Nicholas is it's led by a communist

753
00:39:42,180 --> 00:39:44,550
called Vladimir Lenin.

754
00:39:44,550 --> 00:39:49,023
And he won't stop until the Romanovs are dethroned.

755
00:39:51,370 --> 00:39:53,910
In Britain, King George is horrified

756
00:39:53,910 --> 00:39:56,230
to see Nicholas's subjects rally behind

757
00:39:56,230 --> 00:40:00,183
a new alternative to monarchy, communism.

758
00:40:01,161 --> 00:40:03,810
{\an8}Communism entirely makes kings and queens redundant

759
00:40:03,810 --> 00:40:07,810
{\an8}because it is an egalitarian system in which, in theory,

760
00:40:07,810 --> 00:40:11,221
every member of society has a say in politics.

761
00:40:11,221 --> 00:40:12,750
(dramatic music)

762
00:40:12,750 --> 00:40:15,750
George fears his Russian cousins are in danger

763
00:40:15,750 --> 00:40:17,500
and wants to offer them protection.

764
00:40:18,910 --> 00:40:20,590
Britain discusses a plan

765
00:40:20,590 --> 00:40:23,183
to get the Romanov family out of Russia.

766
00:40:24,530 --> 00:40:26,503
Cousin will save cousin.

767
00:40:27,350 --> 00:40:30,303
But George's government spies a problem.

768
00:40:31,210 --> 00:40:33,890
People in the UK knew what had been going on in Russia.

769
00:40:33,890 --> 00:40:36,440
England had a lot of civil unrest,

770
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,860
could it cope with also having

771
00:40:38,860 --> 00:40:41,363
Nicholas and his family on its shores?

772
00:40:42,420 --> 00:40:44,880
The British government becomes concerned

773
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:46,490
that if the autocratic czar

774
00:40:46,490 --> 00:40:49,770
is given a safe haven in the United Kingdom,

775
00:40:49,770 --> 00:40:53,353
communist ideas could gain popularity in Britain.

776
00:40:54,330 --> 00:40:56,170
{\an8}You can't have him back in your family

777
00:40:56,170 --> 00:40:58,360
{\an8}and have your family associated with him

778
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,423
{\an8}if you want some remain king of England.

779
00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:04,630
George must decide whether to save Nicholas,

780
00:41:04,630 --> 00:41:06,270
Alix, and their children,

781
00:41:06,270 --> 00:41:10,123
or leave the Romanov family to an uncertain fate.

782
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:17,130
In early 1917, communist revolutionaries

783
00:41:17,130 --> 00:41:19,780
force Czar Nicholas to abdicate the throne

784
00:41:22,310 --> 00:41:27,310
and move Nicholas, Alix, and their children to Siberia,

785
00:41:27,780 --> 00:41:29,590
where they're kept under house arrest

786
00:41:29,590 --> 00:41:32,170
in a building ominously called

787
00:41:32,170 --> 00:41:34,510
The House of Special Purpose.

788
00:41:34,510 --> 00:41:35,860
(tense music)

789
00:41:35,860 --> 00:41:39,480
While the Romanovs cling on to the hope there'll be rescued,

790
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:44,010
the girls stitch the family jewels into their underwear,

791
00:41:44,010 --> 00:41:47,400
so that when they escape they'll have means to survive,

792
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:48,773
wherever they end up.

793
00:41:53,430 --> 00:41:57,350
But what the Romanovs don't know is the British government

794
00:41:57,350 --> 00:41:59,853
has canceled the plan to rescue them.

795
00:42:01,590 --> 00:42:02,480
For years,

796
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,340
the U-turn is blamed on the British prime minister,

797
00:42:06,340 --> 00:42:08,640
but the recent discovery of a letter

798
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,580
from the king's private secretary to the British government

799
00:42:12,580 --> 00:42:16,023
has cast doubt on just who made the decision.

800
00:42:19,217 --> 00:42:21,027
{\an8}"George V must beg you

801
00:42:21,027 --> 00:42:22,777
{\an8}"to represent to the prime minister

802
00:42:22,777 --> 00:42:25,577
{\an8}"that from all he hears and reads in the press,

803
00:42:25,577 --> 00:42:27,117
{\an8}"the residence in this country

804
00:42:27,117 --> 00:42:28,627
{\an8}"of the ex-emperor and empress

805
00:42:28,627 --> 00:42:31,807
{\an8}"would be strongly resented by the public

806
00:42:31,807 --> 00:42:33,687
{\an8}"and would undoubtedly compromise

807
00:42:33,687 --> 00:42:36,637
{\an8}"the position of the king and queen."

808
00:42:37,830 --> 00:42:39,320
{\an8}It's not clear whether it was George

809
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,040
{\an8}or whether it was his private secretary,

810
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,740
but basically they both get really worried

811
00:42:44,740 --> 00:42:49,410
because Nicholas has become worldwide very unpopular.

812
00:42:49,410 --> 00:42:52,410
And here is George offering to give him asylum.

813
00:42:52,410 --> 00:42:53,450
On the other hand,

814
00:42:53,450 --> 00:42:55,757
this is his cousin who spent his life saying,

815
00:42:55,757 --> 00:42:57,457
"You're my dearest friend.

816
00:42:57,457 --> 00:43:00,397
"And if there's ever anything I can do."

817
00:43:02,180 --> 00:43:04,670
The consequence of this betrayal

818
00:43:04,670 --> 00:43:08,473
is more terrible than anyone could have ever imagined.

819
00:43:10,012 --> 00:43:12,679
(guns blasting)

820
00:43:15,060 --> 00:43:18,800
{\an8}The communists execute the czar and his family

821
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:22,030
in the basement of The House of Special Purpose.

822
00:43:22,030 --> 00:43:27,030
And we know that the daughters took a few shots to be killed

823
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,150
because all the jewels that were hiding in their clothes

824
00:43:30,150 --> 00:43:31,893
were acting as a type of armor,

825
00:43:32,790 --> 00:43:34,910
which made their killing a lot longer

826
00:43:34,910 --> 00:43:36,560
and a lot more bloody and harder.

827
00:43:38,330 --> 00:43:41,580
After 300 years of ruling Russia,

828
00:43:41,580 --> 00:43:44,050
one of the longest-running royal families

829
00:43:44,050 --> 00:43:48,503
the world has ever known, the Romanovs have been destroyed.

830
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:53,793
They wiped out a whole generation of Romanovs.

831
00:43:54,780 --> 00:43:57,900
When George hears about the family's murder,

832
00:43:57,900 --> 00:43:59,053
he's horrified.

833
00:44:00,050 --> 00:44:02,850
In his diary, George says

834
00:44:02,850 --> 00:44:05,490
that it's absolutely awful what's happened

835
00:44:05,490 --> 00:44:07,703
to poor Nicky and Aliki and the children,

836
00:44:08,698 --> 00:44:12,290
but he never acknowledges any responsibility

837
00:44:12,290 --> 00:44:14,910
for failing them.

838
00:44:14,910 --> 00:44:16,780
In fact, he and his private secretary

839
00:44:17,620 --> 00:44:19,953
have a sort of willful amnesia.

840
00:44:21,270 --> 00:44:23,940
For the surviving Romanov descendants,

841
00:44:23,940 --> 00:44:26,910
many questions remain unanswered.

842
00:44:26,910 --> 00:44:30,420
Could more have been done to save the family?

843
00:44:30,420 --> 00:44:32,040
They could have gone to one of their other

844
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:33,653
many cousins in Europe.

845
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,760
I mean, England wasn't the only place they could've gone to.

846
00:44:39,060 --> 00:44:41,760
I don't expect anybody thought they would be murdered.

847
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:45,958
God willing, it'll never happen again.

848
00:44:45,958 --> 00:44:50,106
(wind whistling)
(gentle somber music)

849
00:44:50,106 --> 00:44:53,280
(crowd cheering)

850
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:55,760
In November 1918,

851
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,692
World War I comes to an end,

852
00:44:58,692 --> 00:45:00,803
when Germany finally surrenders.

853
00:45:02,250 --> 00:45:05,120
The entry of millions of American soldiers,

854
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:08,080
fighting alongside the British and French,

855
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,823
is credited with helping to tip the balance against Germany.

856
00:45:13,260 --> 00:45:15,470
After four years of bloodshed,

857
00:45:15,470 --> 00:45:18,690
countries across the globe mourn their dead

858
00:45:18,690 --> 00:45:23,260
and begin to question the royals who took them to war.

859
00:45:23,260 --> 00:45:24,900
So you had entire towns who lost

860
00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:27,270
an entire generation of men.

861
00:45:27,270 --> 00:45:31,280
It was so hard for everybody in Europe

862
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:34,773
to not only watch as their loved ones die,

863
00:45:35,670 --> 00:45:38,730
but also they didn't know what the point of it was.

864
00:45:38,730 --> 00:45:40,380
I mean, what was the point of it?

865
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:42,930
In Germany,

866
00:45:42,930 --> 00:45:47,490
Kaiser Wilhelm's beloved military turns on him.

867
00:45:47,490 --> 00:45:48,630
Ordinary Germans,

868
00:45:48,630 --> 00:45:52,090
{\an8}especially those fighting in the Navy and the Army,

869
00:45:52,090 --> 00:45:55,800
were furious with the kaiser, in particular,

870
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:58,990
for having taken Germany into a war

871
00:45:58,990 --> 00:46:00,463
that they subsequently lost.

872
00:46:01,690 --> 00:46:04,300
Wilhelm is forced to give up the throne

873
00:46:04,300 --> 00:46:06,430
and escapes to the Netherlands

874
00:46:06,430 --> 00:46:08,930
where he spends the rest of his life.

875
00:46:08,930 --> 00:46:12,246
He never sets foot on German soil again.

876
00:46:12,246 --> 00:46:15,300
He lived extremely comfortably.

877
00:46:15,300 --> 00:46:17,540
And most evenings were spent

878
00:46:17,540 --> 00:46:20,500
complaining about how everybody betrayed him.

879
00:46:20,500 --> 00:46:22,920
I don't feel very sorry for him.

880
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:27,557
He lived to a reasonable age amongst enormous wealth.

881
00:46:28,972 --> 00:46:31,170
(dramatic music)

882
00:46:31,170 --> 00:46:33,730
Germany isn't the only empire to fall

883
00:46:33,730 --> 00:46:35,930
at the end of World War I,

884
00:46:35,930 --> 00:46:39,000
the monarchs of Russia and Austria-Hungary

885
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,033
all lose their thrones.

886
00:46:43,230 --> 00:46:46,310
But the British Empire not only survives,

887
00:46:46,310 --> 00:46:48,480
it grows in size,

888
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:52,343
and George V now rules over about 1/4 of the planet.

889
00:46:55,260 --> 00:46:57,360
On the last day of war,

890
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:00,370
the crowds came to Buckingham Palace

891
00:47:00,370 --> 00:47:03,030
and cheered the royal family,

892
00:47:03,030 --> 00:47:05,810
given that all over Europe

893
00:47:05,810 --> 00:47:08,113
kings were falling like nine pins.

894
00:47:08,950 --> 00:47:12,150
Although it helps to be on the winning side,

895
00:47:12,150 --> 00:47:16,493
what did George V get right to hold on to the crown?

896
00:47:18,375 --> 00:47:20,960
(suspenseful music)

897
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,100
Perhaps the key factor in George's success

898
00:47:24,100 --> 00:47:28,440
is the fact he dilutes his power by embracing democracy

899
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:31,373
and relies on his military to run the war.

900
00:47:33,070 --> 00:47:35,350
The reason he keeps his throne,

901
00:47:35,350 --> 00:47:38,270
frankly, is that he didn't have much power.

902
00:47:38,270 --> 00:47:40,710
So he wasn't able to make the kind of mistakes

903
00:47:40,710 --> 00:47:44,170
that his cousins did because they had proper power

904
00:47:44,170 --> 00:47:47,250
and they wield it very, very badly.

905
00:47:47,250 --> 00:47:49,903
George was basically mainly ornamental,

906
00:47:51,070 --> 00:47:53,703
and that worked very well for the British system.

907
00:47:55,381 --> 00:47:58,250
(crowd chattering)

908
00:47:58,250 --> 00:47:59,470
The war tested

909
00:47:59,470 --> 00:48:03,050
Queen Victoria's royal matchmaking experiment,

910
00:48:03,050 --> 00:48:03,883
and it failed.

911
00:48:06,130 --> 00:48:09,570
Her dream of peace turned into a nightmare,

912
00:48:09,570 --> 00:48:13,363
and overthrowing monarchies has become the new normal.

913
00:48:15,100 --> 00:48:17,470
To survive in this post-war world,

914
00:48:17,470 --> 00:48:21,300
some royals begin to pay attention to a new movement

915
00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:25,913
that begins in Italy and soon spreads to Germany, fascism.

916
00:48:28,090 --> 00:48:29,730
In the aftermath of World War I,

917
00:48:29,730 --> 00:48:33,190
militaristic, fascistic, and extreme right politics

918
00:48:33,190 --> 00:48:34,910
are very attractive for many monarchies

919
00:48:34,910 --> 00:48:37,710
because they promise to bring about a natural order.

920
00:48:37,710 --> 00:48:39,930
And of course, many kings around Europe

921
00:48:39,930 --> 00:48:41,030
believe, quite naturally,

922
00:48:41,030 --> 00:48:43,453
that a natural order means monarchy on top.

923
00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:46,690
Will George give in

924
00:48:46,690 --> 00:48:48,843
to the temptations of fascism?

925
00:48:50,500 --> 00:48:54,600
And how far will the remaining royals of Europe go

926
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:56,667
to hold on to their crowns?

927
00:49:00,664 --> 00:49:03,497
(dramatic music)