Musings on... Queen Victoria's Children

I am a little bit biased when it comes to this excellent documentary as I worked on it over the summer. That said, I genuinely really enjoyed it... and here’s why: 

1. The Victorian Royal Family are a seriously interesting bunch of people - loads of children, therefore loads of messed up family relationships.
2. It revealed a side to Queen Vic and Albert that I had never really heard about. The picture you get at school is of a matriarch, a great woman who did much for her country, and a long-serving Queen, ruling for 63 years. Or at least that’s the impression I got... I might not have paid attention. In this documentary, she is portrayed as a horrible mother with the worst parenting skills imaginable. Being those kids sounds pretty terrible. 
3. There was focused attention on each of her children individually, which I can’t imagine there was much of when they were alive - there were 9 of them. 
4. Showed in depth the effect that Albert's death had specifically on the lives of the children, rather than the effect it had on Victoria. Although, it becomes clear that Victoria's obsession with Albert, and her grief over his death, had more of a negative effect on the children than Albert's death itself. 
5. There were some nice location shots of palaces and parks and little children playing with toys, very British and very lovely. 
6. There was one expert called Professor Jane Ridley and she was hilarious. She was chuckling away for a lot of it and told some cheeky anecdotes about the family. 
7. There were some crazy German accents going on, and although some said it was distracting, I felt it lightened everything up. 
8. The BEST thing about it was (for me) the fact that I saw the process and was aware of what the work I did looked like on the screen. Mostly I trawled through the archives to find suitable paintings/photographs to suit the voice over (and got to go on some of the interview shoots). So, when discussing Victoria’s uncle, the Mad Kind George, I was told to look for a portrait of George looking slightly mad. It’s a lot harder than it sounds.

On the production I was working with some fab people, and was extremely jealous of their jobs as researchers/APs. Their advice was pretty invaluable. Crucially, the documentary made me doubly sure that TV Production is what I want to do... but I annoyed my family with my shouts at the TV ... “I found that picture!!!”

I didn't find this picture... but this is the royal family at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, their family home, in May 1857.