A Royal Scandal (1997)

A docudrama about the future heir to the British throne who treats his wife the Princess of Wales appalling and attempts to smear her to damage her in the public's eyes so that he can instate his mistress as Queen in his long held ambition to be King of England. Sounds familiar? Well, in this case it's George IV in the 1800's, who only marries his cousin Caroline of Brunswick in order for his father (the long reigning George III) to pay off his debts. The marriage is a disaster and when King George III becomes too ill, the Prince of Wales takes his opportunity to divorce and banish his wife and instate his mistress Maria Fitzherbert - who he had married illegally when young - as his new consort as he plots to become King. What he didn't consider was the popularity of Caroline with the British public, so he plans to use a smear campaign to diminish her in the public's eyes... Starring Richard E Grant, Susan Lynch, Michael Kitchen, Denis Lawson, Frances Barber, Irene Richard, Oliver Ford Davies, Stephen Boxer and Amanda Elwes. This was based on the actual true story of George IV and his marriage to Caroline of Brunswick, and has clear parallels with another Prince of Wales and the way his wife was treated by the monarchy. Indeed, this was made in 1996, but was broadcast on October 10th 1997 - just two months after the death of Princess Diana. I may add that this video is not from my own collection, but found on Youtube just by chance uploaded by member Mick's Nostalgia Channel, so all credit goes to him for this video. I upload this only because it features the actress Amanda Elwes in one of her later roles before she eventually retired from the business in 2004. As for Mick's Nostalgia Channel and the video itself, it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHL2wPVt1Hw. Many thanks to Tirdad Derakhshani for notifying me of this channel, as Mick has a wonderful array of old videos on there well worth checking out - that is, if Youtube don't suddenly decide to delete them, that is!