Queen Elizabeth’s 5-Word Reaction to King Charles’ 1994 Documentary
TL;DR:
- The 1994 King Charles III documentary, Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role, aired in June 1994.
- Queen Elizabeth II watched an advance copy with Prince Philip, sighing and raising her eyebrows before, according to a book, saying, “So, it’s come to this.”
- Prince Philip “reportedly exploded” when he watched King Charles III’s documentary.
Long before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s sit down with Oprah and Prince Andrew’s BBC interview, King Charles III got candid in a 1994 documentary. According to a book, his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, reacted with five words. Ahead, what the late monarch had to say about Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role. Plus, how the king’s father reacted.
King Charles ignored loved ones’ advice and opted for ‘candor’ in 1994 documentary
The now-king chose to be forthcoming in the 1994 ITV documentary, Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role. Per Vanity Fair, author Kitty Kelley wrote in her 1997 book, The Royals, in doing so he went against not just “proverbial wisdom” but also advice from friends and family.
“Charles had ignored proverbial wisdom: ‘If you seek revenge, dig two graves,’” Kelley wrote. “But Charles discarded the advice of his family, his friends, and his mistress, who had warned that nothing good could come of his candor. His beloved grandmother said she would have nothing to do with the project.”
The documentary, which aired in a two-and-a-half-hour TV special on June 29, 1994, featured the then-Prince of Wales in various settings. He skied with his sons, Princes William and Harry, traveled overseas, and sat down for a one-on-one interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.
The king criticized the press, lamented about his schedule, and spoke highly of his “great friend” and now-wife Camilla Parker Bowles. Most memorably, he admitted to infidelity in his marriage to Princess Diana. The king told Dimbleby he’d remained faithful “until it [the marriage] became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”
Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the 1994 documentary: ‘So, it’s come to this’
Before Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role aired, Queen Elizabeth, who died on Sept. 8 at 96, received an advance copy. The late monarch watched the program with her longtime husband, Prince Philip. According to Kelley, her reaction started with a telling eyebrow raise and sign.
“[The Queen] raised her eyebrows when he complained about his staff’s overworking him,” she wrote. “And she sighed when he bad-mouthed her staff. ‘They drive me bonkers,’ Charles said of the Queen’s courtiers.’”
Finally, the queen’s frustration got to be too much. Per Tina Brown’s The Diana Chronicles, “pursing her lips,” Queen Elizabeth remarked, “So, it’s come to this.”
Prince Philip ‘exploded’ upon watching ‘Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role’
Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the documentary was far more subdued than the Duke of Edinburgh’s. The king’s father, who died in April 2021, “reportedly exploded when he saw” it, Kelley wrote.
“‘Oh, God,’ he said, listening to the interview. He muttered something about his son’s brain being sucked dry. Then he added caustically, ‘Maybe he’s the ‘missing link.’”
Beyond the queen and Philip’s reactions was what it prompted Diana to do. “Absent Dimbleby,” Brown wrote, “Diana would have never planned her retaliation by agreeing to give an incendiary, irrevocable interview to Martin Bashir of the BBC’s Panorama program.”
