Dot’s castle needs the royal treatment
When Prince Charles raises funds for his charity, the Elephant Family, does he make a trunk call?
The image of the royals getting on the phone to accept a pledge stayed with me long after Monday night’s informative doco.
The Royal Good Guys (Vibe, Monday) told the story of how Philip, Charles, Harry and Wills justify their existence by working for charity and have raised billions of dollars for pet projects ranging from African children with HIV to the World Wildlife Fund.
Charles seems to have a fascination for elephants and travels the world in a dumbo jet, trying to protect them. He’s also involved in the Tusk Trust’s attempts to prevent ivory poaching. About 20,000 elephants are slaughtered each year.
The doco was interesting but worthy. It had all the pomp and ceremony of Pippa Middleton’s wedding.
Charity begins at home or, in this case, Buckingham Palace. It started with George III who paid the debts of impoverished subjects and Queen Victoria who established a housing commission for the poor. Edward VIII’S charity was Wallis Simpson. Today, the Queen and Prince Philip are patrons of about 3,000 causes.
When they were first married, Philip was told not to interfere with Liz’s duties, so, to fill his day, he decided to help young people. The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, which has changed the lives of eight million people around the world, is one of them.
Prince Harry was influenced by his mother’s charitable work and identifies with orphans, disabled veterans and Meghan Markle. ‘‘He’s a complete natural,’’ gushed Camilla, a royal correspondent.
While the commitment of the royal four is hugely impressive, the doco lacked objectivity.
No-one evaluated their effectiveness, instead a shoal of saccharine scribes celebrated their successes. Yet the image of Wills on the phone, drumming up another £5 remains. Imagine him raising funds so the Lions could find a winning formula. I enjoy Suits (Prime, Thursdays) so Meghan Markle would get the odd quid out of me. I wish there were more people like the slightly crazed Dot Smith. The world needs Dot Smiths, but not too many of them. Dot is building a castle on the family farm north of Oamaru. It’s so impressive, I’m sure hundreds of people have booked in advance to stay the night.
While the Lions are touring and TV programmers don’t trust us to watch quality drama, reality TV and docos take over the lounge.
Dot, Queen Of the Castle (Prime, Sundays) was yet another intriguing doco about Dot and her husband Neil (Smithy) who tossed Roger and his ‘‘nomics’’ into the paddock and built an empire.
Now they own five dairy farms in north Otago, 4000 cows, a restaurant, gardens and a gift shop. It’s so full of knick-knacks it’s difficult to know what are knicks and what are knacks.
But beneath her dyed red hair, Dot’s brain has been planning a castle for many years. Now it’s being built of concrete and Oamaru stone with marble floors, and a large dungeon with a secret passage where Smithy can hide. It has parapets and keeps and sanctums, the lot.
Dot loves romance and, at 70, is ‘‘scaling up and spreading her wings’’. I can see her floating over the moat in a hang-glider. Neil’s new knees and bionic parts would probably rust in a suit of armour.
It’s a splendid programme and film-maker, Melanie Reid, has documented Dot’s dream for many years but why show it to us before the fortress is finished?
Having a 21st century castle just off State Highway 1 is a huge drawcard and I’m sure the viewing audience could wait a few more months for the drawbridge to come down. I then realised. Dot’s waiting for the royals. Finding enough money to finish the project is just what Wills, Harry, Charles and Phil do.