Find 'Lost Prince'

A sumptuous new production of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre," "The Lost Prince" is not an epic but a more intimate look at a historic figure the world forgot.

Prince John of England, born in 1905, was the youngest child of King George V (Tom Hollander) and Queen Mary (Miranda Richardson) and the uncle of Queen Elizabeth II. He suffered from epilepsy and an unidentified learning disability and was ultimately sequestered on a royal estate with his nanny, Lalla (Gina McKee, "Forsyte Saga").

Prince John is played by two actors, Daniel Williams as the younger, more vacant-eyed Johnnie, and Matthew Thomas as the older, more mischievous Johnnie. Both young actors turn in excellent performances and hold their own with the loving empathy that flows from McKee and the icy cold reserve spat out by Richardson.

The royal family tolerates John's unusualness for a time, even as it braces to be embarrassed. At one dinner, he points to a guest and observes, "Look, the silly man's got food stuck in his beard." Then he accuses his doting grandfather, Edward VII (Michael Gambon), of being off his game because of his advanced age. The guests gasp.

"The boy is right," says his sympathetic grandfather, puncturing a tense moment.

But his more uptight, class-conscious parents can't abide Johnnie's unpredictable outbursts. At the suggestion of doctors, he's sent away.

"No visitors at all should be allowed to see him, for their sake and his," Queen Mary instructs Lalla.

Johnnie receives support from his elder brother, Prince George (Rollo Weeks), who, as Edward VIII, will abdicate in 1936.

This two-part production (Sunday and Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. on Ch. 7) was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, who researched the story in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, even gaining access to Queen Mary's diaries.

"I had to ask for which days I wanted to see before I was allowed to see the books, so I sort of had to guess what days certain things happened," Poliakoff said. "Obviously, like all dramatized history, some speculation has gone on. But by and large, all the public events are completely true."

The writer/director did not get access to Prince John's medical records, but it was documented that the boy suffered from epilepsy from birth, and it worsened as he got older, particularly around the age of 6 or 7, just before he was banished.

"He also had, simultaneously, what we would call learning difficulties. He had a problem expressing his thoughts in fluent language," Poliakoff said.

"But he was not autistic in the sense that the general public most understand that word."

Poliakoff's biggest challenge was the relationship between Lalla and Queen Mary, a repressed woman thought of in England "as quite a battle-ax."

"I just love the whole thing about a chaotic element coming into one's life that you can do nothing about," Richardson said. "And it happens to be in human form, the form of this child. And that rocks their whole world."

It's not just Prince John who brings chaos. World War I erupts, and world events begin to mirror strife within the royal family in this lavish and engrossing production.