King George and Queen Mary: The Royals who Rescued the Monarchy is a 2012 British documentary series produced by the BBC.^[1] The programme premiered on BBC Two and consists of two episodes, each an hour long.^[2] The first episode, King George V, premiered on 3 January 2012, and the second, devoted to Queen Mary, premiered on 4 January 2012.^[2] Rob Coldstream produced both episodes, and Denys Blakeway served as the executive producer of the series.^[3]

The programme explores the lives of King George V and Queen Mary, and their attempts at modernising the British monarchy in response to the massive social changes during and following World War I.^[3] The first episode recalls how, fearing anti-German sentiment, the royal house name was changed by King George from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor.^[4] The series also examines the personal lives of the couple, delving into their relationships with their children, and with each other.^[3] The marriage between George and Mary was an arranged marriage, occurring only because Prince Albert Victor, George's brother and Mary's original fiancé, died from influenza.^[5] George V is presented in the series as a disciplinarian, who strictly punished his children, but was known to be much more loving to his granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.^[3]

Reception

John Crace of The Guardian criticised the documentary, remarking that it "repeated familiar mantras about how the royal family cared a great deal more for the country than they did for each other" without ever "asking if we might not have been better off as a republic." Crace notes that the series was one of many programmes about royalty released in 2012, taking advantage of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.^[6] Patrick Smith of The Daily Telegraph was more positive, praising the first episode for its "eye-opening, and at times amusing anecdotes about George's private persona, which were in sharp contrast to the warm description of his public one."^[4]