Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty,’ A Historical Look At The Royal Family

The origins of the British Monarchy trace back over 500 years, and it’s safe to say every iteration, from the House of Stuart to the modern-day House of Windsor has provided the world with endless fascination. The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty, a CNN docuseries that’s now available on HBO Max, takes a close look at a how the current royal family, the Mountbatten-Windsors, were shaped over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, from King George V to the present, and proves that the secrecy and ritual required to maintain the throne is far more intriguing than even our favorite episodes of The Crown.

THE WINDSORS: INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A Meghan Markle lookalike is getting dressed for her royal wedding day. Narrator Rosamund Pike explains the she is but the latest in a line of brides who have joined “the most celebrated royal family on earth.” The series does not portray the royals through Markle’s lens, rather, it tells the story of how we got to this particular point in royal history.

The Gist:A quick history lesson on why we even refer to the royal family as the Windsors: During World War I, the first great global conflict where Germany fought against many of its neighboring European countries, the British royal family name has been the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, owing to royal intermarriages with other monarchs throughout Europe. The King himself was a first cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, both of them the grandsons of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. But due to the intense anti-German public sentiment during the first Great War, George V changed the Germanic surname to Windsor in honor of the historic castle occupied by his family.

Now that we’ve got the origins of the royal family’s name out of the way, we must understand how the monarchs that have ruled in the 20th century even came to be. It’s widely understood that the line of succession within the British Royal Family goes like this: the firstborn child of the current King or Queen takes the throne upon the monarch’s death, and they themself hold the throne until their death, and so on and so on. King George V was your classic king. He took his role very seriously and held the title of king from 1910 until his death in 1936. He groomed his four sons to conduct themselves in the proper manner of royalty, with all the formality one would expect, and while his second son, Albert (a.k.a. Bertie) took to this way of life and adhered to the many protocols involved, his eldest son, Edward, enjoyed a playboy lifestyle, jet-setting to America whenever he could, and ultimately taking up with a divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. Upon the death of George V in 1936, despite being groomed his whole life for his role as future king, Edward VIII assumed and then abdicated the throne in the course of ten months, allowing for the coronation of his brother Bertie, who would henceforth be known as King George VI.

This is just the first episode of The Windsors, but it lays the groundwork for the rest of the series which tells the story of the modern-day royals we’re all familiar with.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty is a real-life version of The Crown, the series serves as a helpful companion to each season of the Netflix show.

Our Take: If there’s one thing I’ve learned from viewing of every season of The Crown, it’s that there are certain members of the royal family who are cut out for the monarchy, and there are others who are so stifled by royal protocol that it strangles every fiber of their being. If there’s another thing I’ve learned from The Crown, it’s that King Edward’s abdication of the throne in 1936 threw the entire royal family into disarray and still affects much of their existence even today. The Windsors, which originally aired on CNN last year, takes a factual look at the timeline of the royal family from 1910 until now, makes clear that while some shows may dramatize the goings on in Buckingham Palace, the truth is just as riveting as the fictionalized version. The contrast between the more impetuous King Edward and his staunchly rule-abiding brother Albert brings to mind the relationships between Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret, or Princes William and Harry, whose personal histories indicate that there are some temperaments that can handle this life, and some who want to be free of it.

For those of us who binged The Crown and subsequently every other show, podcast, and biography that features royal subject matter from the 20th Century, The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty is at once informative and redundant. It relies on both factual, historical accounts as well as personal testimonies that offer new perspectives on stories we may have heard before. But listen, we’re fascinated with royals for a reason. Their rules are often so strict that for us plebes, the standard they hold themselves to seems ridiculous. (See below: When Wallis Simpson was photographed with her hand on the arm of her lover, King Edward, it caused an uproar because no one was supposed to even touch the king’s corporeal body, so god-like and revered he should be.)

Sex and Skin: In 1936, Wallis Simpson was photographed publicly resting her hand upon King Edward’s arm. It. Was. A. Scandal. Alas, this is as pornographic as the series gets.

Parting Shot: We see a reenactment of what occurred on December 12, 1936 when King Edward signs a royal decree abdicating the throne. A Rolls Royce drives him away from the castle and into exile, and a voice explains “Edward leaves after just over 300 days on the throne, and in doing so, he thrown the monarchy into chaos.” Dun dun DUNNNN!

Sleeper Star: The series is primarily historians serving as talking heads. While they provide context for history, the real stars are the royals themselves.

Most Pilot-y Line: Rosamund Pike huskily narrates over decades of historical footage of the royals, saying, “All that glitters is not gold. For 100 years, this royal house has faced scandal, war, adultery, and tragedy. A family that will do whatever it takes to survive. Duty, power, and sacrifice. The Windsors.” Nothing more to add here.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’re an Anglophile or a lover of all things royal, the historical footage and stories behind some of the biggest moments and scandals will be right up your alley. There’s obviously a reason so many documentaries and series exist covering this well-worn topic of royal drama, and this version provides a newsy angle that feels less sensational and more straightforward than most.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Brooklyn. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.

Watch The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty on HBO Max