Glimpses of the unlikely action hero who would become our King: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS gives a glowing five-star review of the new Charles documentary that ‘teases’ viewers with never-before-seen clips of the Royal Family

CharlesR: The Making of a monarch 

BBC1 and iPlayer 

Rating:

At the hemline of His Majesty’s ermine robe, a tantalising flash of regal ankle – King Charles is flirting with us.

This hour-long compilation of rarely seen clips, Charles R: The Making Of A Monarch (BBC1), includes snatches and out-takes from the fabled documentary entitled Royal Family, which hasn’t been seen on television since it was given its one and only broadcast in 1969.

Unnerved by its frankness, the late Queen ordered the film to be consigned to the vault. 

The King’s willingness to release brief excerpts, including shots cut from the original and never shown before, suggests he appreciates its value as a unique historical record

Though the palace isn’t saying how many more hours exist, each snippet was seen just once – a sure sign that the producers were spoiled for choice

But fans of The Crown on Netflix have enjoyed scenes recreated from this experimental family portrait, which showed Elizabeth and Philip with their four children, aged five to 20, watching the television together, sharing meals outdoors and indulging in other ordinary activities.

The King’s willingness to release brief excerpts, including shots cut from the original and never shown before, suggests he appreciates its value as a unique historical record and does not feel forever bound by his mother’s decisions.

But rather than sanction the airing of whole stretches of footage, the palace is teasing us with glimpses. 

One snippet saw Charles, the Queen and Princess Anne decorating a Christmas tree, probably filmed by the Duke of Edinburgh, a keen amateur cineast.

‘I like to think of us more as a family rather than a firm,’ says a young Charles in the voiceover. 

‘I tend to think of my family as very special people.’ At that, Anne scratches her hand on a pine branch, mouths ‘Ow!’ and scowls at her brother.

In another shot, the family builds a bonfire in the woods, Edward and Andrew throwing branches onto the blaze, watched by a pair of corgis at a wary distance.

The extent of the back catalogue of Windsor home videos became apparent during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year (the toddler King)

Most touching of all were his memories of the Coronation 70 years ago. The Queen Mother, standing beside him in the Abbey, whispered, ‘Darling, you must try and remember this’

HRH Prince Charles aboard HMS Britannia as a child. The extent of the back catalogue of Windsor home videos became apparent during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year

Perhaps the most revealing and irreverent offcut shows U.S. President Richard Nixon, on his first official visit to Britain, laughing and joking with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as he tours Buckingham Palace. 

Meeting Charles, the oafish Nixon pumps his hand and booms, ‘I was just saying to Her Majesty, I’ve seen you on television.’

‘Really? It’s mutual,’ mumbles a mortified Charles.

Anne steps in. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen me on television,’ she declares. Nixon gapes at her, nonplussed.

The extent of the back catalogue of Windsor home videos became apparent during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year, when home movies of Princess Elizabeth as a girl with her own parents were aired for the first time.

Though the palace isn’t saying how many more hours exist, each snippet was seen just once – a sure sign that the producers were spoiled for choice. 

Since most of us, when we’re videoing our families, let the film run on and on, I suspect there’s lots more to be discovered in the unedited footage. 

We saw Prince Philip teaching Charles to cast with a fly-fishing rod, and Charles doing the same with Prince Harry.

There were shots of him when, as the youthful Prince of Wales, he was the world’s most eligible bachelor and an unlikely action hero: waterskiing, flying a helicopter, and horse-riding in the Australian bush. 

There were shots of him when, as the youthful Prince of Wales, he was the world’s most eligible bachelor (with his mother in 1968)

The King guides a Shetland pony behind his younger sister, the Princess Royal. I suspect there’s lots more to be discovered in the unedited footage

One marvellous find from the news archives saw him donning an inflatable rubber diving suit to plunge into an ice hole on a polar expedition

Charles, in full military mode, beats a tune for grandfather King George VI before his death in 1952

He protested that he was ‘not very good at being a performing monkey’. 

But that’s only half the story: the King has always enjoyed playing for laughs, possibly to deflect attention from his natural shyness. 

One marvellous find from the news archives saw him donning an inflatable rubber diving suit to plunge into an ice hole on a polar expedition.

When he emerged, he released the air by twiddling valves over his nipples, and pretended to collapse as the drysuit deflated.

Like his mother, the King is said by those who know him to have a robust sense of humour… and like her, he enjoyed am-dram in his youth. No doubt that flair for performance, though often hidden, is an essential element in the family’s success.

Comments on his character from others were few and far between, but Queen Camilla did offer one insight: ‘He’s pretty impatient, as I think everyone who works for him will tell you, but that’s how he gets things done.’

Otherwise, the narration came almost entirely from Charles himself – culled from more than 50 years of interviews, rather than being recorded for this documentary.

The King is said by those who know him to have a robust sense of humour… and like her, he enjoyed am-dram in his youth

Comments on his character from others were few and far between, but Queen Camilla did offer one insight: ‘He’s pretty impatient’

He is frustrated that for decades no one took his views on ecology and climate change seriously (a 1969 interview) 

He is also self-critical enough to recognise that part of the problem was his own diffidence, even when he knew he was right (learning to fly)

The difficulty of ‘getting things done’ is one of his constant themes. He is frustrated that for decades no one took his views on ecology and climate change seriously, though he has been proved not merely correct but visionary.

‘In those early days,’ he complained, ‘I was thought anti-science and a dreamer.’ 

But he is also self-critical enough to recognise that part of the problem was his own diffidence, even when he knew he was right: ‘I’m not somebody endowed with a great deal of confidence.’

Most touching of all were his memories of the Coronation 70 years ago. The Queen Mother, standing beside him in the Abbey, whispered, ‘Darling, you must try and remember this.’ 

But what stuck in his mind most clearly was how the Queen practised wearing the regalia, getting used to the weight of it: ‘I remember my mama coming up when we were being bathed, wearing the crown. It’s incredibly heavy.’

It is a weight that, as this offbeat biography showed, he has spent his life preparing to bear.

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