Bertie and Elizabeth

Bertie and Elizabeth
US DVD cover
Written by	Nigel Williams
Directed by	Giles Foster
Starring	James Wilby Juliet Aubrey Alan Bates Eileen Atkins David Ryall Charles Edwards Paul Brooke Oliver Ford Davies
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Running time	98 minutes
Original release
Network	ITV1
Release	4 June 2002 (2002-06-04)

Bertie and Elizabeth is a 2002 television film directed by Giles Foster and produced by Carlton Television. The film explores the relationship between King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth from their first meeting to the King's death in the winter of 1952. Bertie and Elizabeth was commissioned especially for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II and was first broadcast on ITV1 on 4 June 2002, only two months after the death of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The role of Queen Mary was portrayed by Dame Eileen Atkins, a role she again played in season one of The Crown in 2016.

Plot

The film begins with the initial meeting between the then Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The television drama then moves on through their courtship, marriage, and succession to the throne after the abdication of Edward VIII. We also see the two royals dealing with the events of the Second World War, as Buckingham Palace is hit and partially destroyed by a Luftwaffe bomb.

The film portrays Bertie's struggle to overcome his stammer, the fear he felt towards his father and the punishing stress the Duke was placed under during the abdication crisis of 1936.

Cast

• James Wilby as Bertie, later King George VI
• Juliet Aubrey as Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth
• Alan Bates as King George V
• Eileen Atkins as Queen Mary
• David Ryall as Winston Churchill
• Charles Edwards as David, later King Edward VIII, then Duke of Windsor
• Paul Brooke as Tommy Lascelles
• Oliver Ford Davies as Archbishop Lang
• Corin Redgrave as General Montgomery
• Robert Hardy as President Roosevelt
• Michael Elwyn as Lionel Logue
• Amber Rose Sealey as Wallis Simpson
• Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Lady Mabell Airlie
• David Burke as Lord John Reith
• Helen Ryan as Queen Wilhelmina
• Elisabeth Dermot Walsh as Princess Elizabeth known as "Lillibet", the future Queen Elizabeth II
• Denis Lill as Clement Attlee
• Deborah Cornelius as Thelma Furness
• Dolly Wells as Princess Mary
• Terence Harvey as Sir Clement Price Thomas
• Jeremy Child as Sir Samuel Hoare
• Anthony Smee as Ernest Simpson
• Geoffrey Beevers as Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne

See also

• The King's Speech, a film about George VI's stammer and his efforts to reduce its effect.
• The Crown (TV series), Eileen Atkins reprised her role as Queen Mary in season 1, while Charles Edwards took a role of Queen Elizabeth II's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris in seasons 3 and 4.

External links

• Bertie and Elizabeth at IMDb