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ROYAL COUSINS
AT
WAR EPISODE: 2 OF 2 “INTO THE ABYSS”
(FIRST BROADCAST ON B
...
C
...
Kaiser Wilhelm
was filmed with his cousin, King George V of
Britain
...
At that moment, these
three close relatives reigned over almost half of
the Earth’s population
...
The modern
age hovered like a spectre at the feast
...


“For Europe’s royalty, a very personal family
tragedy loomed
...
Europe’s three royal cousins would
never meet again
...
I
...
M
...
Set
an example to the whole world of masculinity
and discipline
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“On the 27th July 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II
made a farewell speech to German troops
departing to crush the Boxer Rebellion in China
...
The rest of Europe was alarmed by his
bloodcurdling rhetoric
...
MARGARET MACMILLAN
(UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD):
“The perception is that here is someone who
is out of control and you don’t know what he’s
going to do next and he’s leading a very powerful
country with a powerful army
...
DOMINIC LIEVEN
(UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE):
“German power means that, when the Kaiser
opens his mouth, people listen hard
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The son of Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter,
Wilhelm had been born with a disabled left arm
...
His emotions towards Britain and his
British family were particularly tangled
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“Wilhelm has a very ambivalent attitude
towards England
...
On the other hand, he longs to be
recognised by England
...
I
mean, I think this is crucial to his whole foreign
policy, in fact
...
Having failed to coax the
British into friendship, the naval build-up was
Wilhelm’s way of forcing Britain and his British
relatives to show him the respect he felt he
deserved
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“Wilhelm has a very ambivalent attitude
towards England
...
On the other hand, he longs to be
recognised by England
...
I
mean, I think this is crucial to his whole foreign
policy, in fact
...
Having failed to coax the
British into friendship, the naval build-up was
Wilhelm’s way of forcing Britain and his British
relatives to show him the respect he felt he
deserved
...
MARGARET MACMILLAN
(UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD):
“It made the British do what they didn’t
really like to do and that is look for peacetime
allies
...
What you
do when you have an enemy is you look for the
enemies of your enemy
...
Then, in the spring of 1903, the
British King, Edward VII, set off for Paris
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“Edward VII is conventionally seen as a lazy
king because he’s too fat and too interested in
going to parties
...
In terms of foreign policy, Edward VII
is far more active than he’s been given credit
for
...
But he was now determined to
deploy his royal charm and charisma in the
service of his country
...
”

PROF
...

Edward’s agenda is basically to turn this around
...
”

MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“Over the course of two or three days, he
sort of converts the boos into cheers
...
R
...
”

PROF
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Edward’s trip laid the ground for the
Entente Cordiale, signed between Britain and
France the following year, to the fury of the
Kaiser
...
Combined with the Franco-Russian
defence pact signed a decade earlier, it meant it
was the Germans who now felt isolated
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Paris was a city where Edward, a notorious
philanderer, had spent many pleasurable hours
over the years
...
He arrived to find the
French capital seething with resentment over
Britain’s treatment of the Boers
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“There’s a sort of atmosphere you could cut
with a knife of hostility to the King of England
...

So he launches what you might call a charm
offensive on Paris
...
It’s a great
P
...
exercise
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The anxious Germans moved quickly to try
and drive a wedge in the new Anglo-French
relationship
...
”

PROF
...
It says to the French, ‘Germany is now
trying to move in on Morocco
...
Faced with this
challenge, it was assumed Britain would fail to
support the French, revealing itself as a weak,
unreliable ally
...
But strangely, when
he arrived in Morocco, Wilhelm suddenly got
cold feet
...
MARGARET MACMILLAN
(UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD):
“And the great irony about the Kaiser was he
talked in this warlike way but when it came to
the crunch, in crisis after crisis, he was the one
who wanted to pull back
...
’”

PROF
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“On this occasion, the Kaiser’s nervousness
was compounded by a simple physical fear of
riding a strange horse with his disabled arm
...
JOHN ROHL
(BIOGRAPHER OF KAISER WILHELM II):
“Wilhelm is a good rider, but he can only ride
a horse if it’s been broken in to his very special
needs
...
In photos, an aide can be seen holding
nervously onto his saddle
...
When the French protested, the
British stood firm behind them and it was
Germany that had to back down
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The anxious Germans moved quickly to try
and drive a wedge in the new Anglo-French
relationship
...
”

PROF
...
It says to the French, ‘Germany is now
trying to move in on Morocco
...
M
...
But trust him?
Never
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The Kaiser, too, now saw Edward as his
greatest enemy
...
I
...
M
...
You can hardly believe what a
Satan he is
...
By this time, Nicholas and his wife, the
Tsarina Alexandra, had been on the throne a
decade and were living at the Alexander Palace,
just outside St
...


“By Romanov standards, it was modest
...
The Tsarina decorated the walls
with pictures of her beloved grandmother,
Queen Victoria… and, perhaps less wisely, of the
French Queen, Marie Antoinette… along with
countless religious icons
...
”

H
...
R
...
KAISER WILHELM II,
THE GERMAN EMPEROR, KING OF PRUSSIA:
“Dearest Nicky, it is the great task of the
future for Russia to cultivate the Asian
continent and to defend Europe from the inroads
of the great yellow race
...
”

PROF
...
’ I mean, it’s
all in those terms
...
”

PROF
...
It’s as basic as that
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Nicholas had little time for his German
cousin but on the issue of Russian expansion in
the East, their views happened to coincide
...
In 1904, war broke out between Russia
and Japan, Britain’s ally… after the Japanese
attacked Russia’s Pacific fleet
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“The immediate reaction of his uncle,
Edward VII, is to go to France and have
conversations with all the key French diplomats
to strengthen the Entente Cordiale
...
JOHN ROHL
(BIOGRAPHER OF KAISER WILHELM II):
“The Kaiser is left high and dry, humiliated
...
He
personally has stood up for Germany’s rights
...
And it’s a moment
where Germany faces its isolation as never
before
...
It was a turning
point in their already difficult relationship
...
When, finally, the
Russian Baltic fleet arrived in the Far East, it
was annihilated in a single afternoon by the
Japanese
...
”

MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“The Russo-Japanese War was an
unmitigated disaster for Russia
...
It was a total humiliation
because Russia, in the end, was beaten by what
was regarded by the rest of the world as a thirdrate power
...
On January 22nd
1905, troops open fire on peaceful demonstrators
in St
...
The German
Kaiser wrote to congratulate the Tsar
...
I
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“In contrast, Britain’s King Edward,
appalled at the slaughter, was conspicuous by his
silence
...

The Tsar, who had previously enjoyed good
relations with his British relatives, became
increasingly hostile and was soon referring to
the British as ‘Zhids’ or Jews, which he, like
most Russians, assumed to be an insult
...
”

H
...
M
...
Germany, Russia and France
should at once unite upon an agreement to
abolish Anglo-Japanese arrogance and insolence
...
The two
men agreed to meet on their yachts off the
Finnish island of Bjorko
...
Like schoolboys skipping school,
as their yachts neared, the Tsar and the Kaiser
telegraphed excitedly ahead
...
JOHN ROHL
(BIOGRAPHER OF KAISER WILHELM II):
“‘You’ll be the Emperor of the Pacific, and
I’ll be the Emperor of the Atlantic
...
Trying to persuade an
Emperor, whom he clearly regards as a kind of
retarded child
...
MARGARET MACMILLAN
(UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD):
“The Kaiser wants to point Nicholas
eastwards because he wants Russia to leave
Germany alone
...
If Russia’s
busy in the East, if it’s busy building and empire
in the East, it won’t be looking west
...
It
was a policy that would lead Nicholas to
disaster
...


MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“Bjorko is a fantasy for Wilhelm and
Nicholas about sort of what autocratic rulers can
accomplish
...
’ You
know, ‘It’s us – it’s you and me against those
democratic states, that’s what the future holds
...
’”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Acting on their own initiative, the two
monarchs signed a military alliance between
Germany and Russia – an event that would have
transformed the European balance of power
...
And they both go home and their
ministers go, ‘What?!’”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The two men had attempted to conduct
diplomacy as if they were medieval monarchs,
but they had revealed themselves as amateurs
...
DOMINIC LIEVEN
(UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE):
“The Bjorko summit fails because, in the end,
Nicholas’s advisers tell him the truth, which is
that, ‘You’ve got to choose – either you can have
this alliance with Germany, without the French
alliance, or you can stick to the Franco-Russian
alliance, at which point, you cannot sign
Bjorko
...
For both men, it was a
lesson that, at the dawn of the 20th century, royal
power was greater in theory than in practice
...


“King Edward VII had almost no say in
British foreign policy, but he was a superb
ambassador and, in 1907, he invited the Tsar’s
mother, Minnie, to Britain, keen to smooth the
tensions inflamed by the Russo-Japanese War
...
(Visual
description) The ever-youthful Minnie, in black,
was the sister of the equally youthful British
Queen Alexandra
...
Petersburg, as she wrote to her
son Nicholas
...
On January 22nd
1905, troops open fire on peaceful demonstrators
in St
...
The German
Kaiser wrote to congratulate the Tsar
...
I
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“In contrast, Britain’s King Edward,
appalled at the slaughter, was conspicuous by his
silence
...

The Tsar, who had previously enjoyed good
relations with his British relatives, became
increasingly hostile and was soon referring to
the British as ‘Zhids’ or Jews, which he, like
most Russians, assumed to be an insult
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“It is very significant that, at the time of the
making of the Anglo-Russian entente, Minnie
comes to London
...
At last,
they’ve got it
...

For Russian officials, the jovial Edward proved a
welcome contrast to the bullying, hectoring
German Kaiser
...
The Kaiser’s a
nightmare!’”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Confronted with the tricky protocol issue
of who should go into dinner first – the Tsarina
or the Tsar’s mother – Edward displayed his
legendary tact
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“He had the wonderful idea of saying, ‘Well,
now I have the unique opportunity of walking
into dinner with an empress on either arm,’ so he
took them both into dinner and they were both
happy
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Far more liberal politically than his
nephew, the King startled his hosts by raising
the issue anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia
...
Tsarist Russia
and parliamentary Britain were now allies
...
”

MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“Bjorko is a fantasy for Wilhelm and
Nicholas about sort of what autocratic rulers can
accomplish
...
’ You
know, ‘It’s us – it’s you and me against those
democratic states, that’s what the future holds
...
’”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Acting on their own initiative, the two
monarchs signed a military alliance between
Germany and Russia – an event that would have
transformed the European balance of power
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“(Visual description) The oldest and closest
of these gay advisers was Count Philipp zu
Eulenburg, the bearded figure seen here with his
hand on the shoulder of the Kaiser, who is
wearing sunglasses
...
He was
married twice, had seven children and a number
of mistresses
...
”

DR
...
He is very
much interested, for example, in jewellery and in
design
...
He’s a great aesthete, he likes beautiful
things, he does flower arrangements
...
”

PROF
...
”

MATTHEW DENNISON
(ROYAL BIOGRAPHER):
“He is seen by foreigners as an embodiment
of all that is worst about a German mindset
...
The little boy with the poorly
arm, the little boy who is humiliated by being
put in a metal cage as a child to sort out the
unevenness in his shoulders takes his revenge by
becoming a caricature of a great Wagnerian
warrior
...
”

H
...
R
...
KAISER WILHELM II,
THE GERMAN EMPEROR, KING OF PRUSSIA:
“Something is missing in me that others
have, all poetic feeling in me is dead, has been
killed
...
But
now Eulenburg’s homosexuality was exposed in
the German press
...
The Kaiser was bereft and, at the end of
1908, suffered a serious nervous breakdown
...
KARINA URBACH
(UNIVERSITY OF LONDON):
“He just vanishes, he leaves Berlin and goes
into hiding and he writes a letter to one of his
friends saying, you know, ‘I’m such a sensitive
soul and how can they be so awful to me? And I
feel so hurt, the public has hurt me
...
’ He feels totally
encircled
...
I
...
TSARINA MARIA FEODOROVNA
(DAGMAR OF DENMARK):
“Everyone is so very kind and friendly to me!
I do wish you could come over here for a little to
breathe the air and live for a while in different
surroundings
...
For over 40 years,
they had striven to improve Anglo-Russian
relations and their sons, Tsar Nicholas and the
future King George V, were close friends
...
Just a few months later, Britain
and Russia signed an historic entente, resolving
outstanding colonial differences and, in the
process, completing the encirclement of
Germany
...

Some of the footage of the Tsar himself is
startlingly revealing
...
MICHAEL HUGHES
(LANCASTER UNIVERSITY):
“There are countless photographs, countless
footage, of the Tsar and his children playing
...
The Tsar was willing to open up that
private family life to the photographer’s lens to
try, I suppose, to capture something that was
profoundly important to him
...
They left behind numerous
albums containing thousands of images
...
Although the visits of Cousin Willy from

Germany appear not to have been the most
eagerly anticipated event of the year
...
In a constitutional role,
he would probably have fitted in very
comfortably, but he’s not in a constitutional role,
he’s in a role where everything devolves on him
...
”

PROF
...
You have a man who’s rigid in
his commitment to autocracy, but actually
doesn’t really have the kind of character, the
kind of determination to carry it through
...
His father played it
very well, Nicholas can’t do it
...
His wife
Alexandra was no more comfortable in the role
of Tsarina
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Far more liberal politically than his
nephew, the King startled his hosts by raising
the issue anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia
...
Tsarist Russia
and parliamentary Britain were now allies
...
”

“(Visual description) When well, the
Tsarevich, seen here rowing, was a feisty lad
...
But
often, after suffering attacks of bleeding, he had
to be carried in public by a large sailor
...
It
was a relationship that would have disastrous
consequences for the Romanov dynasty
...
If Queen Victoria was the
Grandmother of Europe, Edward was its genial
uncle
...
(Visual
description) And he was seen as the architect of
Germany’s encirclement by Kaiser Wilhelm, seen
here on the left, walking side by side with his
cousin, now King George V, behind Edward’s
coffin
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“Wilhelm, of course, typically dashes to
London as quickly as he can and plays a very
prominent part in the funeral procession
...

In fact, I think he was probably rather relieved
...
I
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Wilhelm was confident he could look
forward to a better relationship with the new
King
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“George V and the Kaiser were first cousins,
almost equal in age, but George V was… made no
attempt to compete or try to upstage the Kaiser
and so the Kaiser had no need to sort of show off
and be difficult
...
”

PIERS BRENDON
(HISTORIAN):
“George V felt thoroughly inadequate to
succeed his father
...
George was small, puny by
comparison
...
MARGARET MACMILLAN
(UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD):
“I mean, I think the Kaiser probably was
someone who was more sensitive and more
artistic than he could let himself appear
...
And
the terrible irony of that William partly espouses
that mindset because he believes that’s what he’s
supposed to be
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The Kaiser was an emotionally damaged
man and he knew it, as he once told Eulenburg
...
JANE RIDLEY
(BIOGRAPHER OF KING EDWARD VII):
“There’s this huge durbar in Delhi, and
George makes a sort of ceremonial entry but,
unfortunately, George, who was not very brave,
refuses to ride an elephant and insists on making
his entry on a horse and the hose is rather a small
horse
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“As he received homage from countless
maharajas and princes, George found the crown,
literally, to be a burden
...
”

H
...
KING GEORGE V:
“Rather tired after wearing the crown for
three-and-a-half hours
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The German Kaiser was dismissive of
Britain’s new King
...
I
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“It was one of Wilhelm’s more perceptive
observations, but King George’s accession did
nothing to ease Wilhelm’s own isolation
...

The wedding was held, symbolically, on Queen
Victoria’s birthday and would be the last great
gathering of the old Queen’s extended family
...
Tsar Nicholas also attended, although
both had been wary
...
”

MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“Wilhelm’s delighted that they’ve all come,
he puts on a big show, big dresses, great feasts,
but he’s also paranoid that they’re all talking
behind their backs about him
...
Now, the truth about Nicholas and
George is, you couldn’t find two men who less
want to talk about politics
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“They were the wealthiest, most powerful
royal family in Europe, but the Romanovs’ own
home movies capture their relaxed private life
...
”

PROF
...

Often quite informal, surprisingly informal,
actually
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The Romanovs were keen amateur
photographers
...
A
unique, intimate portrait of a close, loving
family
...

None of the three royal cousins would ever meet
again
...


“There, on June 28th 1914, he and his wife
were assassinated by Serb nationalists
...
The alliance system now threatened
to drag the whole of Europe into war
...
”

H
...
M
...
”

H
...
R
...
KAISER WILHELM II,
THE GERMAN EMPEROR, KING OF PRUSSIA:
“The peace of Europe may still be maintained
by you if Russia will agree to stop the military
measures which must threaten Germany and
Austro-Hungary
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“King George was appalled at the thought of
war, but had no power, while in St
...
”

PROF
...
The basic problem is, how do you
defend what are seen as essential Russian
interests without risking a war? And the answer
is, there is no way to do that, certainly in the
perception of the decision-makers
...
No-one
will believe that Russia will stand up for its own
interests again
...

In Berlin, the Kaiser’s attitude, as ever, was more
complex
...
DOMINIC LIEVEN
(UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE):
“She was not a good empress in the sense
that she didn’t enjoy parties, she didn’t enjoy
dancing, she didn’t enjoy talking to members of
high society
...
And the more she felt herself hated
and despised and condemned in Petersburg
society, the more, to make up for it, she herself
came to denounce this society as superficial,
alien to Russia
...
Their son Alexis, heir to the throne,
had haemophilia, a potentially fatal condition
that prevents the blood from clotting
...


H
...
R
...
KAISER WILHELM II,
THE GERMAN EMPEROR, KING OF PRUSSIA:
“Austria has forced Serbia to make a very
humiliating retreat
...
I am prepared to mediate for
peace
...
”

PROF
...
By the time it reaches Vienna, the
bombardment of Belgrade has already begun
...
Kaiser Wilhelm’s brother
Heinrich happened to be in London and went to
talk to the King
...
JOHN ROHL
(BIOGRAPHER OF KAISER WILHELM II):
“On Sunday morning, Heinrich turns up at
Buckingham Palace, sees George for five or six
minutes, who says, ‘I don’t really have time to
talk to you because I’m going to church, the
service is starting
...
And
Heinrich says, ‘Well, the question I have is, what
will you do if there’s a war on the Continent?’”

MIRANDA CARTER
(AUTHOR, ‘THE THREE EMPERORS’):
“George said, ‘Oh, I don’t think we will come
into the war
...
But, you know, obviously I can’t say for
certain
...
”

PROF
...
’ And now he’s all full
of strength again, thinking Britain will stay out
of the war and he can have the continental war
that he does want without fear of British
interference
...

Germany was already at war with Russia
...
”

PROF
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“George had always lived in the shadow of
his more flamboyant father
...
His father was this great,
majestic personality
...
”

H
...
KING GEORGE V:
“Fairly warm, showers and windy
...
It
is a terrible catastrophe, but it is not our fault
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Crowds surged onto the streets of Europe’s
capitals
...
”

H
...
R
...
KAISER WILHELM II,
THE GERMAN EMPEROR, KING OF PRUSSIA
(ARCHIVE GRAMOPHONE RECORDING):
“(Translation) To be or not to be, the
existence of our Reich is at stake, that which our
fathers created
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“In St
...
”

H
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“But this was a war none of the cousins had
wanted
...

The Tsar had revealed himself an inept amateur
...
But, in the end, all three cousins
were tired – very ordinary men steamrollered by
history
...
Queen Victoria’s
extended family was ripped, brutally, apart
...
11
would fight against Britain and her allies,
including the Tsarina Alexandra’s own German
brother
...
”

H
...
H
...
What evil and
suffering it means
...
The
outbreak of war happened to find the Danish
sisters – who had never forgiven the Germans for
the invasion of their native country half a
century before – together in London
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“The German Kaiser was dismissive of
Britain’s new King
...
I
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“It was one of Wilhelm’s more perceptive
observations, but King George’s accession did
nothing to ease Wilhelm’s own isolation
...

The wedding was held, symbolically, on Queen
Victoria’s birthday and would be the last great
gathering of the old Queen’s extended family
...
I
...
M
...
If they imagine in Germany
that I command the army, then they are very
much mistaken
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“Only the Tsar bucked this trend, appointing
himself Supreme Commander of the Russian
forces
...
Nicholas was
now held personally responsible for Russia’s
defeats on the battlefield
...

The mood in the army became sour, bitter
...
”

H
...
H
...
Be
firm
...
How I wish I could pour my will into
your veins
...

Crush them all under you
...
Then, in March
1917, bread riots turned into a full-scale
revolution
...

The imperial family were made prisoners in their
own home at the Alexander Palace
...


“(Visual description) In London, the Prime
Minister, David Lloyd George, seen here with the
King, was prepared to grant asylum
...

But then the Government received an
unexpected letter from King George’s private
secretary
...
M
...

The King has a strong personal friendship for the
Emperor, but His Majesty cannot help doubting
whether it is advisable that the imperial family
should take up their residence in this country
...
And he felt that this
contagion was liable to spread across Europe
...
He now feared he might
be tainted by association with his Russian
cousin
...
When Lloyd George’s

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“It was the last time in European history
monarchs who mattered gathered together
...
(Visual description) Just over a year later,
the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, seen here on the left
out hunting with his friend Kaiser Wilhelm,
made a trip to the Bosnian city of Sarajevo
...
Serbia
was Russia’s ally… Austria-Hungary was
Germany’s
...
As
tensions mounted, telegrams flew back and forth
between the three royal cousins
...
I
...
TSAR NICHOLAS II,
THE EMPEROR AND AUTOCRAT OF ALL THE
RUSSIAS:
“I beg you, in the name of our old friendship,
to do what you can to stop your allies going too
far
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“At the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks seized
power in St
...
(Visual description)
Shortly afterwards, the Tsar and his family were
moved to this house in Yekaterinburg in the
Russian Urals
...


“The Tsar and his wife died almost
immediately, but the daughters had sewn the
family diamonds into their corsets
...
The Tsarevich also survived
the first volley
...


“The basement room later became a tourist
attraction for triumphant Bolsheviks
...
”

H
...
KING GEORGE V:
“I hear from Russia that there is every
probability that Alecky and the four daughters
and little boy were murdered at the same time as
Nicky
...
For poor Alecky, perhaps
it was best so, but those poor innocent children!”

PROF
...
”

PIERS BRENDON
(HISTORIAN):
“He never expressed any guilt, any sorrow,
any admission of having let his cousin down in
this way, and, indeed, he did his best to cover the
whole thing up and let Lloyd George take the
blame for it
...
By
the summer of 1918, the Kaiser, too, was
entering his last days in power
...


“As defeat loomed, revolution broke out in
Germany
...
”

PROF
...
I think he’s afraid of war and the
possible consequences, but he doesn’t want to
back down and look like a fool
...


“He says to a friend, ‘This time, I’m not going
to back down
...
’ And the friend said, ‘Really odd to hear
him repeating it
...
’ And, you know, he knew
that a lot of his army were calling him ‘William
the Timid
...
Then, faced with
the possibility of a war on three fronts – against
Russia, France and Britain – he suddenly
changed course, writing to the Austrians, telling
them to accept Serbian concessions
...
He
would live comfortably in exile in Holland for 22
years, chopping wood and writing his memoirs,
blaming others for the disaster that had befallen
his country
...
I
...
M
...
The war was lost by the
people at home, led by their incompetent
statesmen, lied to by the Jews
...
And when finally he
died, in 1941, the Fuhrer sent a huge wreath to
his funeral
...
Over the next two decades,
he and his wife, Queen Mary, would become the

pioneers of modern monarchy, converting
George’s very mundanity into an asset
...
”

ANNOUNCER:
“His Majesty the King
...
M
...
”

MATTHEW DENNISON
(ROYAL BIOGRAPHER):
“George V’s virtues as King seem to me that
he is essentially dutiful
...


“This is helped by the fact that he’s not a
very imaginative man
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“George and Mary would become the first
service monarchs – dull, diligent, dutiful and
utterly powerless
...
Never again would the peace
of Europe hinge on the eccentricities of
individuals selected by the lottery of birth
...
”

PROF
...
’ And now he’s all full
of strength again, thinking Britain will stay out
of the war and he can have the continental war
that he does want without fear of British
interference
...

Germany was already at war with Russia
...
”

THE GRANGER COLLECTION, HUIS DOORN
HUNTLEY ARCHIVES, I
...
N
...
G
...
K
...
D
...
PETERSBURG STATE PHOTO ARCHIVE
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG PHOTO
TOPFOTO, CHARLOTTE ZEEPVAT

PROGRAMME CONSULTANTS
MIRANDER CARTER
PROF
...
KARINA URBACH

CAMERA
ROB GOLDIE
YURI BURAK
RIC CLARK

SOUND
PAUL PARSONS

ARCHIVE RESEARCHERS
JAMES A
...
B
...

MARTIN DAVIDSON

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
DENYS BLAKEWAY

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED
BY
RICHARD SANDERS

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“In St
...
”

H
...
M
...
”

NARRATOR
(TAMSIN GREIG):
“But this was a war none of the cousins had
wanted
...

The Tsar had revealed himself an inept amateur
...
But, in the end, all three cousins
were tired – very ordinary men steamrollered by
history

---