Original subtitles

[dramatic orchestral music]

[pensive music]

[eerie whistling]

-[knocking on door] -Come.

Is she dead?

She wishes to write a letter to the Prince.

Your permission for pen and paper.

Give her what she asks.

You'll give permission?

In London, we were told there must be communication with no one, no one.

This is a dying woman.

She asks to write to her son.

Am I to forbid her that?

You are to see that she writes to no one,

above all, not to the Prince.

He has already quarrelled openly with his father.

Half England's been set against the King in this matter.

Patience, patience. What harm is done?

Let her write what she likes.

Afterwards, we will read the letter

and form our own judgement.

[sighs]

[Dorothea] My beloved son,

in these last hours of my life,

there is one indulgence that I would ask of you.

It is not that you should forgive what is in the past.

I do not expect that.

But only that you should read these words

and learn from them the truth.

You have grown to manhood, I know,

in the belief that your mother brought dishonour

on the House of Hanover.

[ominous music]

Hanover, the capital of the ambitious and powerful state

that bordered on my childhood home of Celle.

Politics and intrigues dominated the court there

and, without warning,

they were to alter the whole course of my life.

[dramatic music]

[ominous music]

[Count Platen] Has my wife gone to bed?

[servant] I'm not sure, sir.

If you'll come this way.

[knocking on door]

[Clara] Come.

What is it, Maria?

Count Platen, madam.

What?

Your husband, at this time of night?

Hasn't he any sense of what's fitting? What does he want?

I'll see to it.

Don't be all night, Clara, I'm tired.

I'm sorry to disturb you, Clara, but this is urgent.

Durer here has just come from Celle, with news of a betrothal.

Sophie Dorothea?

To Prince Antony Ulrich of Wolfenbüttel.

-You say the contract is not yet signed? -Not yet.

It'll be part of the birthday celebrations.

The Princess is 16 tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

We're indebted to you.

I'll see the Elector is informed.

[Count Platen] Come, Lieutenant, I'll find you rooms for the night.

You've had a hard ride.

I take it the news will not be long in reaching the Elector?

You're a lucky man, Count, to have a wife

who takes so much weight off your shoulders.

Signing tomorrow. What can I do?

What can you do? You can go to your brother.

It's no more than a few hours journey to Celle.

-Go now, tonight. -Tonight?

Offer him alliance with Hanover,

and he'll soon have sense enough to put these Wolfenbüttels to the door.

I have not spoken to Judge William for 17 years.

No time for snobbery now. Maria!

We're not so rich we can afford to snap our fingers at that girl's dowry.

But, Clara--

How can you sit back and let these lands slip through your fingers?

You with unmarried sons of your own.

George Louis?

Are you to support him indefinitely?

Am I to drive forever behind the same old pair of bays?

Wear nothing but last year's dresses? It looks badly.

It does the state no good.

The Elector's mistress down at heel like a butcher's housekeeper.

But, Clara, I tell you it's impossible.

My wife would never agree.

Put it to her the right way and she'll welcome the match.

Show me how,

and I'll give you a commission on the marriage settlement.

How much?

Five per cent.

It's a bargain.

-Madam. -His Highness' coach.

-Tonight? -At once.

We are wasting our time.

Sophie, she'd as soon burn her family tree.

[Sophia] I will not have that girl from Celle in my house.

Debase our royal arms with hers?

We might as well mix our grade with pigswill.

Come now, Sophie, I know it's a lot to ask,

but the girl is well spoken of.

She is my brother's daughter.

And the mother?

What breeding has she?

A commoner.

Charles my uncle went to the scaffold in England

rather than bait one jut of his kingship.

Judge Louis is in debt, 200,000 thaler.

A rich wife would take that load off our hands.

A girl with that upbringing?

No.

I've kept them out of my acquaintance these 17 years

and I have no mind to take them to my bosom now.

There is another thing.

With Celle in my pocket,

I carry more weight with your cousins in London.

Don't deceive yourself.

The English have no more liking

for these clots of dirt than I have.

One thing they have a liking for,

a good compact state and an ally that's of use to them.

I tell you, four regiments of guards against the French

will count for more in Westminster

than all your Stuart blood and royal breeding.

Think to the future.

You want to see your son upon the English throne.

How many years have we worked for that?

Always the same thing.

Always another step nearer.

Here is the chance to make it more secure.

Weigh that against a little plot of dirt.

[Charles] Tonight, at last, I shall know the answer.

To what, Charles?

A problem in one of my mother's books in there.

What happens when an irresistible force

comes up against an immovable object?

-There's no such thing. -As which?

But, Sophie, I didn't ask this of you.

It's no journey for a woman. Thirty miles of bad road, by night too.

If anyone is to go and succeed, I'm the best fitted.

You only waste time in argument.

You need a gift of some sort. It's the child's birthday.

We're offering these people our son and alliance.

Do you suggest that trinkets would lend them lustre?

A girl, she'll expect some trifle or other.

Besides, it might take her mind off George Louis.

Charles.

Well, Mother, would you relish him as a birthday present?

Make yourself useful for once.

Have them seal this in a packet.

Stamp our coronet large on the wax and then go to bed.

Yes, Mother.

Countess Platen, you're well, I hope?

Thank you, Serene Highness.

I trust you remain so.

You're valuable to Hanover.

[tranquil music]

[Dorothea] But Hanover's politics,

and my own father's greed and weakness,

had not yet disturbed the tranquillity of my life at Celle.

On that morning of my 16th birthday,

I was looking forward excitedly

to the arrival of Prince Antony Ulrich

and the formal signing of the marriage contract,

and it was to mean for me, as I thought,

a happy and contented future.

[whimsical music]

Nell, he's here!

They can't be, it's an hour too early.

I tell you, he's here!

Papa, Papa!

He's here, I saw the...

[ominous music]

[father] Dorothea. Dorothea! Come here.

Fräulein, close the door.

Dorothea, we are highly honoured.

A guest from Hanover for your birthday.

Where's your curtsy?

Only a child yet.

We see a few visitors here.

Dorothea, your compliment.

I thank your Serene Highness.

I'm very grateful.

I'm happy to pay my respectful duty.

[Sophia] Come here, child.

I have something for you.

A ring!

Look, Mama.

It's beautiful.

[Sophia] I had that ring from the Elector when I was to marry him.

I give it to you now on behalf of my son,

-George Louis. -No, no!

All the world knows what he is, how he lives.

-Éléonore! -She's only a child.

She knows nothing of life. Think what such a marriage would mean.

Alliance with Hanover? It means friendship everywhere.

-A recognition of-- -I care nothing for that.

-I care for you. -I won't take it, I won't!

-[father] Dorothea! -I tell you, I won't!

[father] Dorothea, you'll do as I say.

No, don't let them make me!

[father] Silence, will you?

What kind of manners are these?

And yours? What kind of manners?

Antony Ulrich on his way here, depending on your word,

and Dorothea so happy, so ready to obey.

[Dorothea sobs]

Madam,

will you not let my daughter have her happiness?

Will you not say a mistake has been made, and go?

Let us bless you.

Madam, I don't know that I will.

[dramatic music]

You... you must forgive my wife.

The child is still young and...

and we've not heard good reports of George Louis.

My son is a soldier.

When you have said that, you've said the best of him.

You'll do your daughter no service

if you teach her to look for romance in Hanover.

[fanfare plays]

[hounds barking]

Well, if mother can stomach the girl in the family,

why should I complain? How old is she?

Sixteen, little more than a child.

Remember that. Somehow keep the others out of the way.

Don't worry, I'll see that the girl makes no mischief.

Do so, we've had enough of scandal.

There'll be none.

I hear she doesn't want me for a husband.

Well, I sympathise with her. I don't want her for a wife.

[fanfare plays]

[crowd cheering]

[church bells ringing]

[priest] A wife shall submit herself to her husband, as unto the Lord.

For the husband is head of the wife,

even as Christ is the head of the Church.

-[thunder roaring] -[priest] And he is saviour of the body.

Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ,

so must wives be to their own husbands.

[rain pouring, thunder roaring]

[priest continues indistinctly]

[church bells ringing]

[distant church bells ringing]

[church bells grow louder]

[church bells clanging loudly]

[crowd cheering]

[church bells and cheering fades away]

[church bell ringing softly]

[Dorothea] The years that followed

brought much loneliness to me.

I found what happiness I could

in the upbringing of my two children.

George Louis went his own way, seeking other company.

And I was left much in the society of his mother, the Electress.

We had little in common.

"Acting in the name of the two Houses of the Parliament of England,

amongst whom there was not a fourth part,

did desire or approve such destructive changes

in the government of the Church.

Upon the rebellion and the troubles in Ireland..."

That's enough.

You understand what you read?

Something, Highness.

Use will accustom you.

We shall read again tomorrow.

Since we are on the subject of England,

there's another matter, the education of your son.

One day, God willing, he will sit on that throne.

He must begin to prepare for it.

But, madam, he's a child yet.

It is time to give him into other hands than yours.

Highness, I beg of you.

No arguments, no display.

You take even my children from me.

They mayn't have a few years to be happy in as I had.

Are you the better for it?

A little discipline sooner and you might have been more fit

to uphold the honour of this house.

Is George Louis better brought up, perhaps?

Does he uphold the honour of Hanover with his women?

I know of the Prince's behaviour.

It does him no credit.

If he can please himself, so can I.

Must I remind you that you are a Princess?

Your marriage was not my wish,

but it has made you a member of this family.

Understand your position and try to live within it decently.

Yes, Highness.

[Dorothea] Now, as every month went by,

I saw less and less of my two children.

The last consolation in my life was gone.

It was the summer of 1689,

and in that summer, in the Leinestrasse not far from the palace,

an old house found a new owner,

a newcomer to Hanover,

who soon matched the court itself in his extravagance.

[tranquil Baroque guitar plays]

[George Louis] Nine thousand thaler.

Ten thousand.

Twelve thousand thaler.

Twenty thousand.

I'll match you, 20,000.

[onlookers murmuring]

Only tens, but good enough.

You're a cool player.

I never knew a man go quite so high with quite so little.

I very nearly threw in.

[Charles] You'd better change your seat, Konigsmark.

They say you can sometimes change your cards with it.

[yawns] I've had enough.

Catherine, don't say I keep you short of pocket money.

It is well earned. I brought you luck.

Someone did.

Take your revenge another time, Count.

I shall look forward to it, Your Highness.

Thank you, Eck.

A very profitable evening, I think.

Yes, Highness.

Afraid I must ask a few days grace, Your Highness.

My bankers, I haven't advised them yet.

No hurry, tomorrow or the next day.

-Goodnight, Konigsmark. -Goodnight, Your Highness.

-Goodnight, Konigsmark. -Goodnight, Sir Charles.

-Goodnight, Count. -[woman] Goodnight.

Goodnight.

Goodnight, Count. Better luck next time.

Goodnight.

Forty-three thousand thaler.

-You were unlucky. -Yes.

You've been put to some expense since you came to Hanover.

House, hospitality and now this.

Are you suggesting I can't pay?

I know you can't.

You're well informed.

Perhaps I can help you.

You are a soldier.

A good one, I hear.

There may be some military appointment

we can find for you.

I have certain influence in Hanover.

I'll use it on your behalf.

I must be very slow, Countess, I don't understand.

Understand what?

Well, I understand how, but why?

And then again,

why should you be so anxious to help me now?

For money.

Yes, that's a very good reason.

You need a position of some kind to settle your debts.

I'll arrange it.

In return, you can pay me a commission on your salary.

Fifteen per cent.

It certainly would have to be a large one?

It will be.

[Elector] Defeat or victory is beside the point here.

We fight England's enemies to gain her goodwill,

a recognition of our claims to the succession.

A political gesture, that's all.

And the English, when they learn the worth of the gesture?

The Morea Peninsula's a thousand miles from England.

Agreed, Highness, but is it wise that His Highness

should be associated with such a campaign?

That's soon answered. I shan't be.

The English will judge our force by the General who commands it.

Platen's right, and they'll expect one of royal blood.

Let Charles go then.

Or would his mother consider it too dangerous?

The Electress knows nothing of our military weakness.

She's not aware of the risks.

It is my wish that no word of it be said to her.

As to Charles, he has not the experience.

Here's his chance to get it.

We can afford to sacrifice a few hundred men to his education.

A few hundred only?

You lost 8,000 at Mannheim.

Enough, enough, enough!

-There is no question of Charles-- -There is no question also.

However much anyone dislike it, I am the heir to Hanover.

Discredit my reputation,

you damage my chances of the English throne.

You damage the one thing for which you fight the campaign.

The answer's quite simple, let Charles go.

But send with him the right man as second in command.

Who?

Konigsmark.

He's a soldier.

One that even the English will know by reputation.

And a foreigner.

A foreigner, yes, but no fool either.

Are you sure he'd accept?

Positive. [chuckles]

Tell him I refuse.

Refuse?

Why?

I don't like the campaign.

To begin with you send Charles, who's no soldier,

when you have George Louis, a fine general.

Your best troops lost half their strength at Mannheim two months ago,

and then you offer the second in command to me, a foreigner.

Why?

Because you need a scapegoat.

You know this campaign will fail and you want someone to blame

in your excuses to England when the time comes.

-Isn't that the truth? -Near enough.

But why should you be so concerned for your reputation?

You've had your hands in dirtier business than this.

I prefer dirt of my own choosing.

I don't like being pushed into it.

Why you...

No need to lose our tempers.

I admit that it may not add to your prestige,

but it's a position that pays well.

-Can you afford to refuse it? -My debts?

Yes.

That was nicely managed.

But as I'm a man of no honour, I can always run for it.

To England.

The English wouldn't listen to you,

even if you did get there alive, which is unlikely.

Those are both risks I'm prepared to take.

On the whole, I'd rather you stayed.

I'll find other duties for you.

Something in Hanover

which would pay your debts and a little over.

Would that satisfy you?

For the moment.

That's how you live, just for the moment.

Certainly.

A hired soldier knocked down to the highest bidder.

No roots, no ties.

At least nothing permanent.

The palace guards, a household appointment?

I thought you were a soldier, Count, not a flunky.

It's an honour to serve Hanover in any capacity, Your Highness,

however small.

Small? With a prince's ransom for salary?

I'm greatly indebted to Your Highness.

See that the debt's paid.

There should be no difficulty now.

Well, what is it?

Your pardon, Highness.

-Her Highness, the Princess... -I'm sorry, Your Highness.

-....and Prince John. -I didn't realise.

Are we interrupting a council of state?

No. All right, Eck. Count Konigsmark, the new Colonel of Guards.

Well, what is it?

Your birthday, Highness.

The children have learned a poem of greeting

especially for the occasion.

Sophie, George.

Not Rome, in all her happiest pomp,

could show a greater Caesar than we honour now.

God like his bounty both to kin and state,

in warfare, as in council, great.

-Er... -Domestic bliss.

Domestic bliss... Erm...

The child seems to have scant knowledge of domestic bliss.

Ask your mother to instruct you on that subject.

She has a vast experience.

I'm sorry, Mother.

Your... your father's very busy, we shouldn't have intruded.

-[door shuts] -I heard you'd come to Hanover, Count.

I'm happy to hear of your appointment.

[Prince George] Are you a soldier?

Yes, Your Highness.

So am I. I've got a new pony, six years old.

How old are you?

Sophie, your manners.

The Count comes from Sweden.

You don't want him to think badly of us.

Sweden? Is he on our side?

Yes, Your Highness.

[romantic music]

[quintet plays whimsical music]

[horse whinnies]

[Konigsmark] Clara.

I've not had the chance, Colonel, to congratulate you.

I'm glad that Hanover so quickly appreciates a man of talent.

Countess, you'll excuse me.

Certainly.

Friend of yours?

I find him useful.

I don't like his manners.

Men hate to see others succeed where they've failed.

You're a woman greatly admired.

Durer, he wants my good favour

only because he knows that I'm powerful in Hanover.

I'm used that sort of attention.

I hope you are a little more disinterested, Philip.

What do you suppose?

What do I mean to you?

Pleasant evenings after some dull days.

A woman's company without having to watch my tongue.

A head for drink as strong as my own.

What more do you want?

A great deal more.

You're sentimental today, Clara.

Yes.

Now's not the time for it.

That young man, I'm not altogether satisfied.

Konigsmark?

The Morea campaign.

Are you sure he can be trusted not to talk?

I'm keeping my eye on him.

Charles' tastes have changed.

His mother gave it to him.

She thinks him idle, she's trying to cure him.

A daily dose of prose.

The remedy seems a little drastic.

I'm afraid he doesn't take it.

Take what?

Nothing, Charles.

Charles is a philosopher.

[Dorothea] Dear Charles.

If life fails to go the way he wants it,

he has one infallible answer, he goes to sleep.

"Sleep, that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care."

You learn poetry as well as your children.

English poetry.

I have to discover all I can of England,

since it seems I might have to go there one day.

You're not looking forward to it?

One place or another, the court is much the same.

Not in England, not if it's the same as when I was there.

What was it like?

Merry, but a little mad. The whole nation's mad,

but the sanest lunatics in the world.

What kind of madness?

A peculiar sense of what matters.

Do you know what's really changed England's history in the last 50 years?

Civil war, bill of rights, habeas corpus, not a bit of it.

It was Nell Gwyn,

the first cup of tea and the wart on Oliver Cromwell's nose.

Your Highness, they're waiting for you.

You must continue the lesson, Count,

on some other occasion.

[dramatic music]

It's a long time since I've seen you so happy.

What is it?

Nothing.

Make sure it doesn't run away with you.

You're not the only one.

I don't know what you mean.

I mean, Countess Platen.

[ominous music]

[servant] Count Konigsmark, Your Highness.

[Sophia] Forgive your reception here.

-We study our English history. -Highness.

Some weeks ago you were offered a commission

with Prince Charles in the Morea.

You refused it.

I ask you now to reconsider.

I'm sorry.

[Sophia] Why will you not go?

-Your Highness... -I want the truth.

It's difficult to speak it without offence.

Speak as you like.

Prince Charles of the royal family, madam.

If the state requires him to go on such a campaign,

he can't question the order.

I'm a foreigner, I'm hardly under the same obligation.

They told me your family had a name for courage.

Courage is one thing, madam, stupidity another.

I'll accept danger readily enough,

but why should I go out of my way to invite discredit as well?

-Discredit, to fight for Hanover? -With what kind of an army?

Tired, ill-equipped men and untrained boys?

I know as well as you do why they have to go,

but they're not fit to fight. They haven't a chance and you know it.

You can keep that secret from the English perhaps,

but not from your own officers and certainly not from the man

who has to lead the poor fools to their slaughter.

Your son goes because he must,

but don't expect me to join him in this massacre.

I understand, Count Konigsmark.

I'm obliged to you.

Forgive me, Your Highness, but you asked for the truth.

I'm glad to learn it.

You have our permission to leave, Count Konigsmark.

She didn't know, nor you?

No.

I had no suspicion.

There's no need to blame yourself.

Well, what will she do?

Nothing.

You... you mean, she'll let Charles go?

The English throne is involved.

Beside that her son is nothing.

Haven't you seen enough yet of Hanover to know that we're all of a kind here?

That we live our lives for politics.

Marry for politics, bare children for politics,

and lose them to... [her voice breaks]

I'm sorry, I shouldn't speak like that.

[dramatic music]

I've seen how it is for you here.

Please forget what I said, I was upset.

There's something I want to say to you.

Will you listen?

You're holding me.

[dramatic music]

What was it you wanted to say?

It's said.

[dramatic music swells]

You're the first man, Philip, who ever cost me money.

My commission, if you'd accepted the command in the Morea.

But I don't regret it.

Everyone knows I expect, apart from the Elector,

but no one will whisper any scandal.

No one willingly makes an enemy of me.

When I came to this court, I had nothing.

No friends, no money, just my wits.

Some women have only to show their faces to make a way in the world.

I wasn't created such a woman, I know that.

But I've succeeded in spite of them,

even at the game the others play.

The old woman at the palace.

She was a great beauty, but what has she had out of life?

That pretty little simpleton of a Princess.

She'll be Queen of England one day.

I go to the court and I curtsy low in front of them.

But I don't envy them.

I have what I want.

I've got you, Philip.

Philip?

What are you thinking of?

You.

[woman sings in Spanish to musical accompaniment]

[music continues]

Dorothea.

Why must you make it harder?

It would be so easy now.

It's so much what I want, to say everything.

But once I did, once I admitted it, even to myself...

But I'm in love with you, and you with me.

-Is that something to be frightened of? -Yes.

Listen to me. I've seen something of the world, more than you.

If you want anything badly, take it.

Take it and don't be afraid of the consequences.

Look around you, in Hanover.

So we should be like them?

Lying and cheating?

Snatching at our pleasures when there's no one by to see?

That's not what I want.

That's not how I think of you.

And I thought that you...

As you say, you've seen more of the world.

[Clara] Philip.

[dramatic music]

[man] There's only one monarch tonight!

The King of Misrule! And here we have our crown!

[cheering, drums beating]

[Maria] The whole town's at the fair tonight.

Crowd sweating and pushing, singing, dancing, drinking.

-Huh! Not for me. -Leave it.

-We're not so young as we were. -Leave it.

-Either of us. -Get the dress.

-Which one, madam? -There on the bed.

-[knocking on door] -Come.

-Good evening, Philip. -Clara.

[Clara] You can go, Maria.

Why do I have to send for you?

Two weeks.

What kept you away?

Oh, my house, the regiment, a hundred things.

Why have you been avoiding me?

-I haven't been avoiding you. -Don't lie to me.

You're not very clever, Philip.

It's suits your vanity to turn the head of the Crown Princess.

All right, amuse yourself. Amuse her, too.

She must need some distraction

with her husband who makes love as a pig makes fat.

The idea of George Louis disturbs you.

Don't be a fool, Clara. What's the matter with you?

We're not romantic children. We don't have to meet every hour.

I don't expect that.

I don't ask for size or...

or eyes turned up to the moon,

but I expect honesty.

What is there between you and the Princess?

Nothing.

Then what is it, Philip?

Why have you left me alone?

Kiss me.

[tense music]

Aagh!

You won't easily forget that.

Philip!

Listen to me, listen.

I'll tell you the truth. No lies, no intrigue.

Truth's a weapon, I put it in your hand.

I'm 44.

I've been a woman 44 years.

I shan't be much longer. Do you understand?

I'm getting tired, tired and old.

I cover my face with paint, but the lines show through.

I feel old, but not with you.

When you touch me, my flesh comes to life, I'm young again.

-Without you I'm nothing. -Clara, please.

It's true, I swear it!

Would I humble myself if it weren't?

Philip, I helped you once when you needed me,

help me now, come back to me!

Love me!

Let me be young again!

Philip!

Philip.

[sobbing]

[lively music, joyful shrieks]

Let's go down.

Shall I get your cloak?

I'm not going, Nell.

-Why not? -I...

I'm tired.

I'd rather stay in.

That isn't the reason.

You're afraid of meeting him.

You mustn't be like this.

You can't put an end to something by hiding from it.

Go down to them, Nell.

Make my excuses.

[soft romantic music]

[raucous celebrations outside]

[crowd clamouring]

[soft romantic music]

[crowd clamouring]

[dramatic music]

[triumphant music]

Come and see the tree man, all the way from India.

[crowd clamouring]

[woman shrieks]

[intense music]

[woman screams]

[crowd clamouring]

[cymbals crashing]

[crowd cheering]

[woman screaming]

[lively music]

[dramatic music]

[romantic music]

Philip.

[dramatic music]

[crowd clamouring, drums beating]

I'll get some more light.

I never thought I'd see you here,

in my house, in this room.

I want to see you in it.

I've been here often in my thoughts.

It's in some disorder.

I never saw it very clearly.

Only you.

And now I'm here with you.

All these weeks and months thinking about you.

It's what I've longed for, always.

To say the things I want to say.

Things I haven't the strength to hide any longer.

Even from myself.

Who is she?

My sister.

She's very beautiful.

Hers is not the only kind of beauty.

Many men have admired her. Too many.

There are four of us.

My sisters have been liberal with their favours

in half the courts of Europe.

My brother was tried for murder in England.

As for me, I know better than the others.

There's something in our blood that makes us worthless to anyone.

I know what you are trying to do, Philip.

It's no use.

I've tried for so long to fight this.

I can't anymore.

-I'm leaving Hanover. -No.

Already this has endangered you.

Tonight, I know I've done a bad thing, but I can hide my feelings.

No one need know.

All I want is to see you sometimes, to be near,

-perhaps to speak. -It can't be like that.

There's someone who knows already.

Countess Platen.

Yes.

I knew what they said, that you made love to her.

She means nothing to me.

No, no woman means anything.

You think we're all the same.

You think that's all we expect.

Listen to me.

I love you.

I love you.

I've never said just that to any other woman.

I never will.

Do you believe me?

Philip.

I'll take you back.

[ominous music]

[triumphant music, cheering]

Some fool in the future will call this campaign a tragedy.

If only he knew the comedy of it.

It's always a woman one way or the other.

[triumphant music]

A brave sight, 9,000 men under arms,

but I've seen enough.

Will you read to me, child?

Forgive me, madam.

My head aches.

The heat.

Go to your room.

We shall expect you at dinner.

I don't understand.

You stay here and read while your son goes off...

What else do you look for?

Some... compassion.

Some... some sign of heart, of feeling.

Your emotion, I take it, is on behalf of my son.

I'm making no accusation,

but you must remember,

your good name is of value to others beside yourself.

How do you think that I should live?

Without friends, my children taken from me,

my husband and his women making a laughing stock of me?

That is something no other person can do for us.

We have only ourselves to thank if we are laughed at.

It's easier for you.

What is easier?

To live with books.

To ignore the things around you.

But I'm young and while I eat and sleep, my life goes by.

And for that, you complain?

You should thank your God for it.

When the hours drag,

when each day is like a great stone that you roll uphill.

I know what I speak of.

I'm older than you.

Highness, I've seen what you have to suffer.

Receiving Countess Platen, accepting her,

shutting your eyes to the humiliation.

It's cruel of the Elector.

Have a goodness, never again in my hearing

to criticise the Elector.

Your concern is misplaced.

Please, don't go.

Forgive me, I didn't mean to offend.

I know, my dear, you've had something to bear,

but you are to remember

that royalty may not look for happiness

such as others enjoy.

We are not to have hearts, we are not to have feelings.

That is not within our province.

We have no more right to inequalities of temper

than the town clock has to irregularities of time.

The people set their lives by us.

[Dorothea] I knew she spoke the truth

out of the bitterness of her own experience,

and I resolved to take her advice.

To shut all thought of him out of my life

and to accept with patience

the futility and monotony of the life at court.

[whimsical music]

[inaudible]

I tried to outdo them all

because my life was even emptier than theirs.

Emptier than it had ever been.

[laughter]

It's true, I tell you, it's true.

The Princess has everyone at her feet.

They'll be saying it is she who neglects you.

What is it?

Dispatches, sir, from the Morea.

[tense music]

No need to look as if you were going to be hanged.

How should I look, honoured?

Send my valet to me.

You've changed, you know, changed a lot.

More spirit. I like it better when a woman has spirit.

A romance. Pity a good-looking girl like you

has to content herself with reading.

Go to bed.

-[Eck] Is his Highness here? -[servant] Yes, sir.

-[Eck] I must see him at once. -What is it, Eck?

-News from the Morea, Your Highness. -Can't it wait till morning?

-All right, leave us. -Your Highness--

-Tomorrow. -But, Highness--

I said tomorrow.

-[man] Major, there's a rumour. -[man 2] News from the Morea?

-[Eck] Yes, yes. -[man 3] Any news, Major?

[people chattering]

[Dorothea] Who was it?

Eck.

Is anything wrong?

Nothing for you to worry about.

Why did he come?

I tell you, he's a fool.

In a panic at the first whisper of bad news.

From the Morea?

We were routed. Charles is missing.

Charles?

And the others?

Temple Aufstäd says Graz.

What's the matter? Are you faint?

What is it?

What else?

Tell me...

-what else? -That's all.

A zone dispatch from Konigsmark.

He says that the Turks are...

What is this?

There was nothing between you and Charles.

[dramatic music]

[Dorothea sobbing]

[tense music]

He's safe.

[dramatic music]

[sobbing]

[poignant music]

[military drums beating]

When they heard the Prince was dead,

the men had no stomach to continue.

We fell back as best we could.

Next day, the Turks withdrew,

but before they left,

they sent four men over to us leading his Highness's horse.

The body was across the saddle.

They're... they're a savage people, the Turks,

but they respect courage.

I should be glad to know that he received my letters.

He carried them with him always, madam.

Thank you.

I'm happy my son had you for a friend.

"And we have dispatched also as our ambassador...

Sir William Colt,

that he may convey to you in person our deepest sympathy.

Our two houses sharing already the ties of kinship

are now bound together by blood shed on the battlefield

against our common enemies."

Colt?

It's not a name that I know.

The man matters little.

It is the fact that he comes now in the name of Parliament.

It means that, at last, our claims are admitted.

[church bell ringing]

Believe me, I know her. I've known her all her life.

She hasn't the skill to hide her feelings.

I'm afraid for her.

I want only one thing,

for her to be safe, whatever it means.

Even if we never see each other.

It means more than that.

One word, one hint to George Louis and he'll destroy her.

Only you can stop that word being said.

I, how?

By going back to Platen.

Did she say this?

She doesn't know I'm here.

I'm asking you for her sake.

No, no, I...

She's in danger.

Nothing else matters, your feelings or hers.

One of two things must be done.

Either you must go back to Countess Platen,

or she must mend matters with George Louis.

We only know one way to be happy, she and I.

But to be unhappy, to be in hell, a thousand ways.

How does she look?

Does she go out much, ride?

She's too full of crying.

Tell her...

tell her that whatever happens,

whatever she may hear...

She knows.

You sent for me, Highness?

There's news from England.

We are to expect their ambassador.

Our claims are at last admitted.

I am happy that Your Highness's hopes are fulfilled.

The reward will be yours when you are Queen of England.

I have no wish for it.

No wish for it?

Do you think this is a matter in which to consider private sentiment?

My son gave his life for this

and I've spent the better part of mine working for it.

An end to such talk.

I understand my duty, I've tried to do it.

Have you?

You have only one son.

When England is joined to our crown

there must be another.

-Madam! -There is nothing to be said.

Your separation is to end, once and for all.

We're going to Herrenhausen to receive the ambassador.

We shall occupy the south apartment there, together.

Have you any objection?

I will order the apartments to be made ready.

The Countess is ill.

Ill? What is it?

Measles.

That I think I might risk.

She is seeing nobody.

[Konigsmark] She'll see me.

[Clara] Who is it?

Konigsmark.

Philip.

A moment.

Maria, take this.

The curtains, and let him in.

Hurry.

Yes, madam.

Good evening, Maria.

A fine time to come.

Maria, I find him a chair.

I heard you were sick.

It's nothing, a child's complaint.

Maria, you can go.

What's that stuff she's taking out?

Cream curdled with saffron.

It gives me a clownish look so I'll... I'll keep out of sight.

Sit down.

-Had a bad time? -Oh, I managed to save my neck.

The only mark there I got from a friend.

It was a madness.

That's not the way I go to work, with shrieks and red hot tongs.

I was possessed.

Is the devil gone?

I think so, but don't reckon on it.

Wasn't there a man in the Bible?

They drove the devil out of him

and in came seven others worse than the first.

I'm still not safe.

No one's safe in love.

Philip.

Mm-hm?

Why have you come?

Things could be as they were between us.

Do you want that?

Speak, say it.

I... I'm here, isn't that proof enough?

Where shall we go?

To your home, to Sweden?

You'd leave Hanover?

Now there's a throne at stake,

his Serene Highness will have to behave himself.

It's certain then, the English throne?

I've made it certain.

Every step.

The marriage with Celle, support for the English.

I've planned and schemed for the day

when the Elector gives me my little pension

and we say goodbye.

Only one person might have stopped that day coming, you.

You and your silly little romance with the Princess.

But you had the sense to see the folly of it.

And she's having the sense to do as she's told.

To go back to George Louis.

To give him the family he needs to make the succession sure.

[dramatic music]

England's welcome to her.

Perhaps they like that pale kind of prettiness there.

You're cured of it, aren't you, Philip?

[dramatic music]

Philip?

Philip!

He's gone, madam.

[horse whinnies]

[dramatic music]

-Major Eck is here, sir. He wants-- -Get rid of him.

Ah, Colonel, I was just leaving this for your signature.

Then leave it, leave it and get out.

I'll see to it tomorrow.

Thank you.

It should go to the Prince tomorrow.

The Prince?

What is it?

I understood you'd been informed.

His Highness George Louis leaves for Herrenhausen in a week

to meet the English ambassadors.

Acknowledgement of the succession.

The regiment plans a dinner in his honour.

This is the invitation.

Prince Charles is dead.

This isn't an occasion to celebrate.

Goodnight, Colonel.

[loud indistinct chatter]

England? Hmm!

The English have no liking for me.

I suit their purpose 'cause I'll keep them from popery.

I don't understand their language. I don't care for their manners.

When I go, I shall take German company with me.

I'll keep me own friends and drink me own wine.

[indistinct chatter continues]

Serene Highness, gentlemen.

I am a foreigner and not over subtle in your customs.

That must excuse me.

The honour of speaking tonight should have fallen to another.

I wish that it had.

Such men as his late Highness Prince Charles

are not often to be found in places of high rank.

However, the fortunes of war and politics have robbed us of him.

[all murmuring]

[Konigsmark] I am to pledge our loyalty, that is the custom.

But loyalty is not everything.

We need other things as well,

equipment and good leadership.

When I was in Dresden,

I had the luck to see something of Saxony's troops.

No cheese pairing in Saxony.

That's an army that keeps as an army should.

They're no good to fight.

Against the French, they ran.

Right, Major, for what reason?

Because generals don't fall out of the sky.

You can't make a leader as you make a marshal,

with a yard of ribbon and gilt stick.

[all murmuring]

If Dresden gave the Colonel such paragons to handle,

I'm astonished he ever left there.

I left Dresden because to stay meant serving under Prince Augustus,

a man who betrays an adorable wife

for a succession of loud-mouthed, grasping creatures out of the gutter.

[loud complaints]

[indistinct chatter]

All right, Major.

A man who sends his own brother to the Morea

to do the dying for him can't be expected, I suppose,

to defend his own honour.

If you gentlemen are finished,

I think we could find better entertainment.

Sit down, gentlemen, sit down.

A song now.

I'm in the mood for a song.

How about "The Black Brunswickers"?

[murmurs of approval]

[all singing indistinctly]

[gasps]

Is he there, Konigsmark?

Yes, I know him.

And now that I know him, I can deal with him.

I'll have him shot, shot and no questions asked.

[dramatic music]

[horse's hooves clattering]

Anders, Anders!

Here, my Lord.

How many horses have we got that can pull a carriage?

Well, my Lord, they're riding beasts, mostly.

-I shall want a dozen. -A dozen?

Yes, and the two carriages. Paint out the arms on the smaller one

and have new cushions put in, the best you can find.

And see you keep your mouth shut.

If one word of this gets out, I'll crucify you against that wall.

-Yes, my Lord. -All right.

Philip.

He knows, Philip, he knows. He'll have you killed.

He won't act till the court leaves for Herrenhausen.

I know him. No scandal that way. We're safe for 24 hours.

You'll go, you'll leave Hanover, promise me.

We're leaving together. Tomorrow night, it's arranged.

[pounding on door]

[Durer] Would you tell Count Konigsmark that Captain Durer's here to speak to him?

Durer, Countess Platen's man.

You must have been seen.

I had this, he can't have recognised me.

Oh, we'll find out. Stay here.

Oh, a late call, Colonel, my apologies.

Can I speak to you privately?

-Perhaps in... -You can speak privately here.

All right, Wils.

Well?

You spoke very bluntly this evening, Colonel.

It's possible that you underestimate the consequences.

I don't think so.

I came to warn you and to offer my help.

Help?

Do you doubt my intentions?

If you mean do I doubt your coming to my house

at this hour for that reason? I do.

Had I known you were engaged...

Engaged?

You're such a great cavalier, Colonel.

One never knows which lady will be found next under your roof.

Why don't you go and look?

I doubt if she'll be pleased, or you.

I imagine Countess Platen pays you to spy for her,

not on her.

Countess Platen?

Don't you believe me?

No, Colonel,

but I give her the benefit of my doubt.

[tense music]

[horse's hooves clattering]

-Yes? -No sign, sir. No one in the house.

From the town gate, sir.

Count Konigsmark's coach passed through about one o'clock.

-Took the road to Osnabrück. -Osnabrück?

All right.

He'll be into Holland by this time.

No more to be done except report to the Prince.

I'm glad you'll have the pleasure.

What the...?

[horses' hooves clattering]

[Eck] What is it?

Nothing.

Go on, go on!

The coat of arms on Konigsmark's coach was painted out.

Anybody escaping would do the same.

But the coach is still here.

It was in his second coach that he escaped.

The smaller, faster one he left behind

and with it the faster team of horses.

Well?

It would seem that he expects someone to follow him.

So perhaps it might be yourself.

When?

The court leaves for Herrenhausen tomorrow.

[dramatic music]

If she's going,

it'll be tonight.

[Elector] Ninety.

Eighty.

Two hundred and ten.

Five hundred.

The game to me.

Another?

It's late.

You'd best go to bed, child.

I'm not tired.

You look it.

And we have more than piquet to play tomorrow

with the English ambassador.

You have to make an impression.

Yes, Highness.

-Goodnight, Highness. -Goodnight.

-I think you were wrong. -I was.

-She's not going then? -He's come for her.

-[Nell] He's here. -Philip?

He didn't go. He wasn't in the coach.

Don't listen to him, he's got some wild plan.

Leave me with him.

No, I don't trust you.

I'm afraid you haven't the strength to send him away.

Leave me, Nell.

Philip.

Why do you do this?

-Risk your life and... -To take you away.

It's not possible.

I can't go.

This morning when I heard you'd gone,

I felt part of my life was ended

and I knew I could go on...

live the rest of it,

because you were safe.

You'd given me the courage.

Don't make me a coward now.

Help me and go, please.

I won't go without you.

You knew before, why didn't you tell me?

I wanted to be certain.

I wanted them caught without a shadow of doubt.

They will be.

Wait.

Open scandal is not the best way.

-Keep your own hands clear of it. -How?

Trust my discretion, you have before.

Let me make the arrest.

Give me four men of the guard to obey without question.

We've not much time.

We can go through Westphalia to Holland.

From Amsterdam we take ship for Sweden.

Sweden.

I've not told you about my house, have I?

All this time and I haven't told you about my home.

It's big and rambling.

You'll be mistress of it.

You'll like it, you'll see.

The people are good.

My grandmother knew them all for ten miles around and doctored them.

There's a great book in her handwriting

that my nurse was frightened of because it had spells in it.

Stop trembling.

Oh, Philip, Philip.

I'll be 15 minutes, no longer.

I want nothing from Hanover except what hold dear now.

You'll hear the coach below, then come down.

I'll be ready.

[suspenseful music]

[soft click]

[sabre rattles]

[sword whooshes]

Aagh!

Stay where you are.

[groans softly]

[soft clatter]

[clattering]

[man screaming]

Captain?

Captain?

Where's the lantern?

Fetch us some light.

Uhh!

[groans softly]

[dramatic music]

Dorothea.

[Clara screams]

Oh!

[dramatic music]

[Clara sobbing]

[church bells ringing]

[cart rumbling]

You have taken money, maintained spies.

Your excesses have been the shame of this court.

Now you have blood on your hands.

You have dishonoured our house.

Your house?

Who do you think built it?

Do you think that now that the English succession is sure

that it was done by you, sitting still and looking like a picture in a gallery?

It was done by me.

And when your son is on that throne,

George the First of England, Scotland and the rest of it,

my wits will have set him there, not your pedigree.

God's will may be done by an unworthy instrument.

We owe you no debt.

Do me this service then.

Dispatch me and let me rest.

I fear nothing but sleep,

that and... and growing old.

Why are you such a fool

as to suppose that to run out of life is to escape judgement?

When the axe falls, you will be in God's hands.

I'll pray for you.

[knocking on door]

Come.

From His Serene Highness.

Your Highness is requested to make ready to go to him

in the council chamber.

Nell, where is he? What have they done? Have he taken him?

I don't know.

I didn't speak.

But they know.

I don't know how, but they know.

A statement by Her Highness,

the Princess Sophie Dorothea of Hanover

before this tribunal and dated this day,

September the 20th, 1694.

"I make known my desire to separate from my husband,

His Highness, Prince George Louis,

withdrawing from my conjugal duties.

I request His Serene Highness the Elector,

that he will return to me the Castle of Ahlden

that was part of my dower,

that I may retire there to live

under the care and guard of an officer

whom it shall please His Serene Highness to appoint,

and to submit to such conditions

as His Serene Highness shall require.

I undertake in no ways to communicate by letter

or by other means with any person outside the castle.

Secondly, I will at no time leave the castle,

save to walk in the garden between the two moats.

Thirdly, I hereby renounce in perpetuity

all those styles and titles to which my..."

[ominous music]

[speaker continues softly]

He's dead.

"I further undertake to accept all conditions

that His Serene Highness may from time to time

see fit to impose."

[quill scratching]

My child, God knows what is within us,

both of strength and... of weakness.

[Dorothea sobbing]

There is much happiness in this world.

The secret is to abandon hope of it.

At once all things come to your aid.

Nature is wiser than ourselves.

Little by little, she takes away desire,

and then, with the body at rest,

comes hope of quiet lastly.

[Dorothea's sobs echoing]

[poignant music]

[Dorothea] That same day,

as they left for Herrenhausen,

I came to Ahlden.

[dog howling]

That was 30 years ago,

half a lifetime.

I have grown old.

I have nothing to wait for now,

except...

[dramatic music]

[orchestral music]