Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16588 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-11
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 309 minutes

Synopsis
Behind the scenes at Windsor Castle. Unseen footage includes the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. Also an extended tour with HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!!
A great insight into Windsor Castle, it's staff and the Royal Family. As a citizen of Windsor it gave me a priveledged behind the scene look at all and everything. My highlight has to be the Polo, because I have been to the Cartier International Day many times and it is always a memoral day. Strongly recommended!

The Queen's Castle
The Queen's Castle was first broadcast in March and April 2005. In 4 hour long programmes, we were given our first glimpse into life at Windsor - not only the Castle, but the entire estate. The DVD is a true joy, coming in a neat and well designed case. I was suprised to see that it is in fact, a two disc set with one DVD providing the original 4 episodes and the other giving over two hours of extras. The Wedding of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall was briefly shown in the fourth episode of the series, and was broadcast a day after the actual event. The first extra is about 30 minutes of footage from the wedding and focusses on the preparations. We see the florists decorating the rooms of the Castle as well as the cooks working at high speed to provide what appears to be fantastic food. A nice touch is one kitchen worker toiling over a cottage pie for the Queen's dinner. The Extra's section has one dissapointing feature - it doesn't actually have a commentary. In between footage, a black screen with white text is displayed and it's a DIY commentary. The Royal Wedding section is rather limited - we see Princes William and Harry quite a lot, but the major focus of the piece is of course the bride. The arrivals are kept to the likes of Joanna Lumley and Stephen Fry with a dissapointing lack of footage of the foreign royalty that attended the wedding. The highlight is seeing the Duchess of Cornwall kissing William and Harry as the crowds wave the happy couple off for their honeymoon.

The major advantage of the Extras DVD is the guided tour around Windsor with The Duke of Edinburgh. It is a fascinating item and the Duke shows his flair for managing the Castle. We see him wandering around the Windsor Farm Shop as well as giving a frank interview about the Windsor fire of 1992, the death of George VI and the basic management of such a historic landmark. His Royal Highness shows his amazing knowledge and seems to know all there is to know about Windsor. The tour is 'unedited' and so we see the Duke complaining about the planes that fly over Windsor and his concern for the camera crew ; "Have you got transport? Make sure you have a good lunch".

The DVD is truly the best fly-on-the-wall documentary made about the Royal Family. It isn't based around media scandal or personal problems - the focus is the Castle. From the Military Knights who live in their grace and favour apartments to the cleaners who vacuum walking backwards - we learn things about the Queen's Castle that we never knew before. The actual series itself shows exactly how stressful the Queen's job is. I was delighted to see Her Majesty coming down to the dining room to inspect the table before the guests arrived - it was a true homely touch and showed the Queen to be a caring and considerate hostess. The splendour of the Castle was also wonderful to see and the Duke of Edinburgh explains how the Royal Collection is distributed throughout the Royal Residences. For Royal watchers and those who enjoy seeing the 'behind the scenes' action, this DVD is a must. It is a well put together set but does focus more on the every day workings of the Castle. For those who like footage of the Royal Family, the 'extras' DVD provides more than the actual series DVD but has the same insider information as 'A Royal Family'. It is a great set and reasonably priced and has something for everyone.

A proud Briton, and a true subject of the Queen.
I saw the original series on television and wondered whether they would bring it out on a dvd, i was pleased to see that they have. This series is brilliant and gives a tremendous insight into the most respected family in the world. Its easy to see how stressfull the Queens job can be at times. It also gives you a wonderful look at all the priceless things our taxes go towards, i am proud to be British and of my countries heritage and ancient traditions. This is a buy for anyone.