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List Price: $29.99 | | Label: Acorn Media
Salesrank: 12902
Released: March 14, 2006 |
| Our Price: $19.76 |
| Used Price: $18.93 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Royal reality in a landmark series produced for the BBC.
For the first time ever, cameras go behind the scenes at Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world and home to Queen Elizabeth since childhood. The result is an intimate glimpse of castle life above and below stairs over the course of a year that includes a historic state banquet and the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Meet some of the 300 people who live and work in the castle’s 900 rooms: the Queen’s housekeeper, grooms, fendersmiths, and military knights, to name just a few. Accompany HRH Prince Philip, the ranger of Windsor’s 15,000-acre Great Park, as he tours the grounds and speaks candidly about the ups and downs of running this amazing public space.
Bonus Footage! Includes over two hours not seen on the PBS broadcast, including exclusive new footage of the wedding of Charles and Camilla.
Description of Windsor Castle - A Royal Year:
Fans of England's royal family will eat up this amazing yearlong documentary series on the inner workings of Windsor Castle, the official residence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. The series, originally broadcast on BBC (and picked up in the States by PBS), invites viewers inside the most intimate areas of the castle, as intricate, well-choreographed preparations are undergone for occasions large (a state dinner for French President Jacques Chirac; the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles) and small (the queen's return for her usual weekend stay). The gee-whiz details seem never-ending: we meet the team of fendersmiths who tend solely to the castle's "300 or 400" fireplaces; we visit the vast Royal Collection, where the royal librarian oversees a 300,000-piece collection of books, drawings and prints--from which she and her staff hand-select appropriate pieces to display during the visit of the French head of state; we watch dozens of chefs, furniture wranglers, and etiquette experts plan and execute the truly breathtaking state dinner. The nearly 1,000-year-old castle suffered severe fire damage in 1992 (caused by a light bulb, not an error by one of the fendersmiths), so much of the private quarters has been renovated to a new level of splendor, personally overseen by Prince Philip, who points out that it was his suggestion that the rebuilt chapel feature a new stained-glass window including images of firefighters helping save the castle. Other segments feature Prince Philip giving a tour of the vast grounds and park around the castle, and other occasions during the year, including Christmas, and some footage of the wedding of Charles and Camilla. The access the filmmakers were granted makes the series compulsively watchable; who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall inside one of the world's most storied structures? --A.T. Hurley
Windsor Castle - A Royal Year Reviews:
Windsor Castle 
2009-10-04 - I ordered this dvd a while back and our post office lost it. Stephine (who I bought it through) was very concerned and made sure she contacted me very quickly. She said she was going to send out another. Windsor Castle got to me in just a couple of days. I am very impressed with Stephine and how she does business. I would oder from her again without doubt. I love the dvd and find it very interesting, I would recommend it to others. Thanks Sheri~
Delving in the Posh Life
2009-09-27 - I have always been fascinated with the lives of the royal family. In this special DVD they take you into this legendary royal castle and its entire splendor. Yes, it is certainly over the top with all the "pomp and circumstance", but since I am an American I never get to see how royalty lives. One should not take it so seriously, but more enjoy it for how the other half lives. Yes, it is very over the top, but you have to give the British Monarchy some credit...they certain know how to live.
I chose to look at it from a historical, architectural and interior design perspective and found it utterly fascinating. Since I love castles so much there is nothing about the structure itself that could deter me from disliking this DVD.
Windsor Castle
2009-04-29 - This was a gift and sent to my granddaughters so I never saw it. But they were pleased with it.
A Fascinating and Interesting Look Behind the Scenes of Windsor Castle and the Royals
2009-04-24 - Whether one is a royalist or not, one has to marvel at this magnificent castle, its history and most of all, the Queen's management of it. What she does is nothing short of remarkable, especially considering her age! If anyone deserves an award for being the best CEO of the century, it is the Queen! She has mastered the art of management and perfection with exquisite taste. Her management skills, along with the efforts of her talented and loyal staff reveal how everything comes together to make Windsor Castle and all its functions enormously successful.
Additionally, this Windsor Castle production displays a not often seen personal side of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. It also reveals his love for nature, along with his commitment to the care and preservation of the grounds at Windsor Castle.
This production, beautifully enlightens the viewer with a glimpse of what is involved in maintaining and managing this historic British treasure both inside and out.
I highly recommend this fascinating and very interesting Windsor Castle DVD for anyone who is interested in the beauty and preservation of British castles, along with various functions and traditions of the Royal family.
Fascinating.....and the British can keep 'em!!
2008-04-01 - I bought this as I am both fascinated and repelled by the British monarchy. The pomp and ceremony are quite interesting and way over the top (Christmas caroling to the queen's horses in the royal stables!). QE2 comes off as stodgy and not in touch with the real world. As an American, after viewing this DVD, I really cannot decide which is worse -- spending thousands of dollars for a toilet on a US government jet or having a guy on the government payroll whose entire career is dedicated to raising the flag once a week at the exact moment the Queen's limo is entering Windsor Castle. What a great gig! The volunteer bell ringers were also funny -- ringing away in honor of the birthdays of various members of the royal family. Very entertaining.
