Radio Times: Review by:; David Butcher

Inevitably, this absorbing portrait of Queen Mary covers some of the same ground as the previous episode's exploration of her husband George V’s reign (and includes many of the same clips). But Mary is a fascinating figure in her own right, in particular the arc she travelled from family disgrace when she was 16 (her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, were forced by debts to sell the family silver) to reincarnation as a Queen Empress. As we explore her passionate belief in duty, self-denial and the correct playing of a role, what followed later for the royal family comes into clearer focus.

About this programme

Part two of two. Queen Mary's rise from a comparatively low position within the royal hierarchy. She was selected as a potential future wife to the monarch by Queen Victoria when still a child and was first betrothed to Prince Eddy, heir to the throne. After his death she was unceremoniously passed onto his brother George, and following her husband's death in 1935 she emerged as an eccentric yet determined royal matriarch.