Prince Edward Takes Us on a Tour of English History

Perhaps you were swept away by “The Dig,” the new film released at the end of January on Netflix, starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, Lily James and the archaeological dig at Sutton Hoo in England.

Perhaps you’ve been transfixed by “The Crown,” and its semi-documentary recounting of several generations of the British Royal Family.

Or maybe your first post-COVID dream is to travel around England and poke around in some of the magnificent “homes” that are the setting for so many wonderful British films, modern and costume.

If those conditions apply, you might enjoy a documentary series that you can stream for free on what YouTube calls its Documentary Base. 

The series is “Crown and Country: A History of Royal Britain” and it was produced by and features Edward, the youngest of the four children of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. 

This is the part where I confess that my attention was never really captured by “The Crown,” so I don’t know to what degree Prince Edward and his lovely wife, Princess Sophie, are featured in it. I think one of the notable accomplishments of this royal couple is that they’ve done a remarkably good job of staying out of the headlines; perhaps this is why Town & Country magazine claims that Edward and his wife are Queen Elizabeth’s favorites: They are dependable, reliable and discreet. 

I’m not a huge Royal Watcher, so I have no idea how Edward is generally perceived. I do know that he takes a lot of abuse about the documentaries he produced during his nine years at the head of Ardent Productions, which he founded and then retired from in about 2002.

I personally don’t care. I think this is a really enjoyable series and I’m perfectly fine that Edward is not as funny and lively as, say, Graham Norton. He’s certainly as personable a tour guide as the popular Rick Steves.whom I also like. 

Five seasons were produced, beginning in 1998. In each 25-minute episode, the prince takes us on an informative tour of a famous site in England. 

In the first episode, we travel to and learn about Sutton Hoo, site of  “The Dig.” 

The British press are pretty vicious about Edward and his work. I came to it not knowing about the scorn and I have to say that I found Edward to be a good story teller and a good historian. I’ve watched a lot of tours of England on the internet, and I’d rank this series at the top. There are maybe a few too many Dramatic Recreations, but they’re brief and they stay largely in the background.

And yes, Edward does have a noticeably posh accent, but it didn’t bother me. In fact, it reminded me of the way the actress Honeysuckle Weeks speaks in “Foyle’s War,” and I find her diction to be very easy on the ears.

In the 30 episodes on YouTube you learn about famous properties including White Hall and Hampton Court and Kensington. 

When Edward describes the fate of their residents, you do feel as though he feels a connection to these great people, these historic events and these fabulous (and sometime excessive) examples of English design and architecture. 

After all, Edward has lived in some of these houses and if he wasn’t related to all these kings and queens, he certainly has more in common with them than I do. 

And every now and then he or someone will make a subtle joke about his royal status. 

“Not to make too fine a point of it, but this is what your lot did to my lot,” one historian says as he shows Edward the graves of paupers and criminals at Sutton Hoo; their bodies were mangled or disfigured during or before burial. 

If you’re interested in English history and houses, give “Crown and Country” a look on YouTube (Amazon Prime also has a few episodes).