The Eternal Queen - DVD

Content: In 2012 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 60th anniversary on the throne. A good occasion for documentary filmmaker Sally Norris, who had already directed a special on the Queen's 80th birthday, and writer Andrew Marr to celebrate this anniversary extensively with a new production. While the documentary The Diamond Queen was broadcast on British television as a three-part series with a running time of just under three hours, the German DVD release comes under the title Die ewige Queen in a version trimmed down by just under 90 minutes. But even if there are some gaps here and there and some station in the life of the Queen is treated a little quickly, the documentary offers overall a fairly comprehensive and especially interesting overview of the life and work of Queen Elizabeth II and her everyday work.

On the basis of numerous interviews with family members such as husband Prince Philip, heir to the throne Charles or the grandchildren William and Harry, as well as with the help of numerous partly very rare archive footage, the most important stations in the life of the Queen born in 1926 as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York are traced. From her childhood, which changed drastically when her father Albert ascended the throne as King George VI, through her military service in World War II, her marriage to Prince Philip (then Sir Philip Mountbatten), the death of King George VI in 1952 and her coronation as Queen Elizabeth II in the summer of 1953, to the weddings of her children and finally her grandson Prince William to Kate Middelton in 2011. The highs and lows of her reign are chronicled, with her not always successful attempts to get close to the people (such as an arguably cramped attempt at the time to portray the royal family as a normal family in a documentary) or, of course, the death of Lady Di taking pride of place.

However, even if the documentary does take on a critical undertone at some moments, the positives naturally outweigh the negatives. All those who have their say here express themselves primarily sympathetically about the Queen, even former prime ministers who did not always have an easy time with Elizabeth II. Still, the whole thing doesn't come across as a pushy promotional piece for the monarchy. Sally Norris and her team have created a very charming and refreshingly uninhibited portrait, with the older footage in particular adding extremely to the documentary's entertainment value. And in the end, you can't help but feel a lot of respect for the woman who, upon closer inspection, is much more than a simple representative of Great Britain, more than just the head of the often doomed monarchy and more than just an icon adorning all sorts of souvenirs. And exactly this realization makes The Eternal Queen not only, but of course especially for viewers who are interested in the British monarchy, absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for testing, a rating of the final picture and sound quality can not be given at this point.

Extras: Bonus material is not included on the DVD.

Conclusion: The Eternal Queen is a good documentary that not only provides a good insight into the daily work of the British Queen, but also offers a comprehensive overview of the life and work of Elizabeth II before and during her so far 60-year reign. Even though only about half of the nearly three hours that were shot for British TV remain here, the whole is still enough for an informative and entertaining biography. If you're interested in the English royal family, you definitely shouldn't miss this documentary, which is peppered with lots of archival footage worth watching. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp