Documentary branding Queen Camilla a ‘wicked stepmother’ panned as ‘needlessly tacky’ and a ‘ranty mess’ by critics
A new documentary that brands Queen Camilla an “evil stepmother” has been branded “tedious”, “unnecessarily tasteless” and “boring”.
Critics have slammed the programme, which aired on Channel 4 last night, speaking to journalists and insiders about the royal family’s past – as well as its reportedly fraught relationship with Prince Harry.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, appeared to expose family tensions last year when, in an interview with Anderson Cooper to promote his memoirs, he described Camilla as “dangerous” and a “bad guy.”
He said: ‘She was the bad guy, she was a third person in the marriage, she had to rehabilitate her image.
‘That made her dangerous because of the connections she was forging within the British press.
“And there was an open willingness on both sides to share information, and with a family built on hierarchy, and now that she was on her way to becoming queen consort, that would leave people or bodies on the streets.”
Hours later, however, Prince Harry told Good Morning America that he doesn’t consider Queen Camilla an “evil stepmother.”
The documentary, titled Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother?, asks the following questions in a synopsis: ‘How did Camilla Parker Bowles rise from the most hated woman in Britain to Queen Camilla, the national treasure? And was her transformation at the expense of Prince Harry?’
A new documentary that labels Queen Camilla an ‘evil stepmother’ has been branded ‘tedious’, ‘needlessly tasteless’ and ‘boring’
The documentary, titled Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother?, asks the following questions in a synopsis: ‘How did Camilla Parker Bowles rise from the most hated woman in Britain to Queen Camilla, the national treasure? And was her transformation at the expense of Prince Harry?’
However, with two stars across the board from major critics, it was poorly received, largely because it rehashed old material with little new insight, and did so in a ‘tacky’ way.
The Guardian found the program ‘tedious’ and ‘weak’ and claimed that there was no real need to broadcast the documentary.
Elsewhere, The times branded Channel 4’s offering a ‘ranty mess’ that ‘serves no-one’.
The Telegraph‘s Arts and Entertainment Editor, meanwhile, said the film was a “needlessly tawdry deep dive” into Camilla’s past.
In September it was reported that Channel 4 was a documentary about it was broadcast Camilla which portrays the royal family in a negative light.
According to the sunthe film – would it be titled Camilla: Harry’s ‘Wicked’ Stepmother? – was to portray the 77-year-old as Prince Harry’s “bad mother” and argue that Camilla spent some three decades creating a positive image, but that the late Queen Elizabeth II never wanted her to would sit on the throne.
According to anonymous sources, the broadcast of the documentary was postponed after King Charles revealed his cancer diagnosis.
Because of his illness, it was feared that the anti-Camilla documentary could cause a backlash, the sources said.
Charles and Camilla pictured on their wedding day, in 2005, in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle
Camilla pictured in 1997. Critics have labeled the documentary charting the life of the royal family as ‘tacky’
They added that Channel 4 was aware that the documentary ‘will make serious waves’, and that many people, especially at Buckingham Palace, ‘won’t like it’.
Reports claimed that documentary producers had contacted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to contribute.
MailOnline contacted representatives of the couple for comment at the time.
A Channel 4 spokesperson told MailOnline in September that the documentary ‘will look at Camilla’s biography and background as she is now the Queen’.
THE GUARDIAN
Lucy Mangan of the Guardian has dismissed Channel 4’s ‘tedious’ and ‘weak’ show, which simply talks about the same facts that even the most ‘disinterested among us have absorbed by osmosis over the years’.
The TV critic said she couldn’t place who the screening was actually for, or “why anyone thought it was necessary.”
She stated that it’s probably just “cheap” to “sweep the editing room floor and throw all kinds of stuff together to make a new program that’s as old as time.”
Lucy also explained that although the final 20 minutes tackle ‘Harry’s hostility towards his stepmother’, the focus does little to make the show feel relevant.
“Is anyone really interested in a documentary about Camilla’s development from cheerful schoolgirl to Diana’s nemesis and then queen?” she asked.
THE TIMES
The times has branded Channel 4’s offering as a ‘ranty mess’ that ‘serves no-one’.
Vice TV editor Ben Dowell said that ‘it wanted to deflate the Queen’s balloon but rather fell flat on its own face’, repeating old information that viewers are all too used to seeing.
He added that while Prince Harry’s “apparent belief that Camilla was running Palace briefings” seemed to be the driving force behind subsequent questions about her “evilness”, even that struggled to take hold.
“As most actual hacks told this program, that reasoning demonstrated a somewhat vague understanding of how news stories are created,” he concluded.
“While you can sympathize with Harry… this was a messy mess that was of no use to anyone.”
THE TELEGRAPH
The Telegraph‘s Arts and Entertainment Editor called the program a “needlessly tasteless deep dive” into Camilla’s past.
And although, Anita Singh writes, most contributors were on the Queen’s ‘side’, they still spoke of her in ‘tacky’ terms.
Despite criticizing the repetitive nature of the stories described in the documentary, the writer said there was interesting information offered by journalists.
Overall, though, Anita felt like the show was just about “filling space.”