Katana VentraIP

Edward the Seventh

Edward the Seventh is a 1975 British historical drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes.

This article is about the TV series based on the life of Edward VII. For other uses, see Edward VII (disambiguation).

Edward the Seventh

Edward the King
The Royal Victorians

John Gorrie

United Kingdom

  • English
  • German
  • French

1

13

  • Cecil Clarke
  • Lorna Mason

50 minutes

ATV

ITV

1 April (1975-04-01) –
1 July 1975 (1975-07-01)

Based on the biography of King Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it stars Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria, Timothy West as the elder Edward VII, with Simon Gipps-Kent and Charles Sturridge as Edward during his youth. Helen Ryan and Deborah Grant featured as the elder and younger Queen Alexandra respectively. It was directed by John Gorrie, who wrote episodes 7–10 with David Butler writing the remainder of the series.


Only the final three episodes dramatised Edward as King (in line with his short, nine-year reign, which did not begin until he was nearly sixty years old). Annette Crosbie, who won a BAFTA for her performance, was given top billing in the series (appearing in ten out of the thirteen episodes).


It was first broadcast on TV between April and July 1975. In the United States it was shown under the title Edward the King, with episode introductions by Canadian-American broadcaster Robert MacNeil. In the UK, it is available as a four-disc DVD set, encoded for Region 0, by Network Video. It is also available for the North American market as a no-extras six-disc set.

as Queen Victoria (episodes 1–10)

Annette Crosbie

as Albert Edward ("Bertie"), Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (episodes 5–13)

Timothy West

as Princess Alexandra, later Queen Alexandra (episodes 6–13)

Helen Ryan

as Prince Albert (episodes 1–4)

Robert Hardy

as Bertie's older sister Princess Vicky, later Empress Frederick of Germany (episodes 2–5, 8, 10 and 11)

Felicity Kendal

as Fritz, later Frederick III, German Emperor (episodes 2–5, 8)

Michael Byrne

as Young Bertie (episodes 2–4)

Charles Sturridge

as Younger Bertie (episode 2)

Simon Gipps-Kent

as Young Alexandra (episodes 4–5)

Deborah Grant

as Bertie's nephew Kaiser Wilhelm II (episodes 8 and 10–13)

Christopher Neame

as Minny (young Dagmar) (episodes 4–5)

Gwyneth Strong

as Empress Marie of Russia (older Dagmar; Dagmar was the sister of Bertie's wife Alexandra and later wife of Tsar Alexander III) (episodes 6–8, 10, 12–13)

Jane Lapotaire

as the Duchess of Kent (episodes 1–3)

Alison Leggatt

as Bertie's eldest son Prince Eddy (episodes 8–9)

Charles Dance

as Bertie's second son Prince George, Duke of York, later King George V (episodes 8–13)

Michael Osborne

as Bertie's brother Prince Alfred (episodes 2–6)

Ian Gelder

Julian Sherrier as (episode 2)

Napoleon III, Emperor of the French

as Eugénie, Empress of the French (episode 2)

Chloe Ashcroft

Patricia O'Brian as Bertie's younger sister (episode 2)

Princess Helena

as older Princess Helena (episodes 3–6)

Deborah Makepeace

as Bertie's younger sister Princess Alice (episodes 3–6)

Shirley Steedman

as Princess Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary (episodes 9–13)

Judy Loe

as Bertie's youngest sister Princess Beatrice (episodes 8 and 10)

Cheryl Campbell

Anthony Douse as (episodes 4, 5 and 12)

Christian IX of Denmark

as Princess Christian, later Queen Louise of Denmark (episodes 4–6)

Kathleen Byron

Vanessa Miles as Bertie's eldest daughter (episode 10)

Princess Louise

Madeleine Cannon as Bertie's middle daughter (episode 10)

Princess Toria

Rosalyn Elvin as Bertie's youngest daughter , Queen Maude of Norway (episode 10)

Princess Maud

as Alexander III of Russia (episodes 6–8)

Bruce Purchase

as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (episodes 10, 12 and 13)

Michael Billington

Meriel Brooke as (episodes 10 and 13)

Tsarina Alexandra

Paul Greenhalgh as King (episodes 5, 8, 10)

George I of Greece

Geoffrey Wincott as King (episode 6)

William I of Prussia

Mel Churcher as (episode 9)

Princess Hélène of Orléans

""

The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze

""

Champagne Charlie

"" (Episode 10)

The Boy I Love Is Up in the Gallery

"" (Episode 12)

A Wand'ring Minstrel I

at IMDb

Edward the Seventh