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George V’s betrayal of his cousin, Edward’s abdication, anti-German hostility – a new series reveals how the House of Windsor has ruthlessly overcome crisis after crisis for 100 years

Epic betrayals, dastardly shenanigans and underhand dealings – even within families, perhaps especially within families – do make the history books sing. When the recriminations are personal though, it offers a chilling perspective.

Princess Olga Romanoff, of the doomed Russian dynasty, breaks down in tears as she recalls something that happened nearly 100 years ago. ‘My father never said it was George’s fault,’ she says. ‘He always thought it was the prime minister – but apparently it was the king. I’m very glad my father died before the letter was found because he would have been really upset.’

Princess Olga is speaking as part of a startling new six-part Channel 4 documentary series marking 100 years of the House of Windsor. The king she’s referring to is King George V, first cousin of her great-uncle, Tsar Nicholas II, the most famous of the Romanovs – Princess Olga, who now lives in the UK, uses the British spelling of the name. At the start of the century, the two royal cousins – both grandchildren of King Christian IX of Denmark – were very close. They holidayed together, counselled each other and let it be known (and the letters exist to prove this) that they were devoted to each other. When the imperial Russian family was threatened by the Bolsheviks in 1917 then, it was only natural that Nicholas should seek asylum in Britain and his first request for help from the Government was received with an immediate ‘of course’.

For reasons that have only recently come to light, however, the invitation was rescinded. Everyone knows what happened next: the tsar, his wife Alexandra and their five children – Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei – were herded into a cellar and shot.

The full story of how they died would not be released for 75 years, but Princess Olga (whose grandmother, the tsar’s sister, was later welcomed to the UK with open arms) grew up believing that it was Lloyd George, the then prime minister, who had blocked her family’s flight. What a blow to discover it was the king himself – acting on advice from his adviser Lord Stamfordham – who was responsible. Letters revealed in a 1984 biography of George V claim that the mood in the country would not have supported the granting of asylum to the imperial family.

It’s damning proof, argue historians, that George put his own popularity, and the future of the British royals, before wider family ties. Can there be a better example of our Royal Family’s talent for self-preservation? The series asks this question, and often in brutal terms. We may love our royals, but the story of how they came to power – and stayed there – is not one that lends itself to soft-focus. Drawing on private correspondence and the analysis of an army of historians, the series charts how the Windsors became the embodiment of all things British despite being German to the core.

It opens with a devastating account of the First World War bombing of a primary school in Poplar, east London (the same area we’ve followed in the later-set TV series Call The Midwife), and the revelation that the German planes were called Gothas, similar to the reigning Royal Family’s name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a German Duchy

Earl Mountbatten with Prince Charles in Malta in 1954 dating to 1826 of which Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert was an heir. The anti-German mood was making those close to the Royal Family (who had ‘not a jot of English blood in them’ according to historian Miranda Carter on the show) nervous. A new name was required. The programme paints The tsarevich of Russia, later Tsar Nicholas II, with his cousin the Duke of York, later King George V an incredible picture of royal aides flicking through the history books seeking a new name. Tudor was rejected, as were Stuart and Fitzroy. Eventually, someone hit on the idea of Windsor which was, according to Miranda, a ‘fantastic piece of branding’, conjuring up just the required images of ‘green rolling landscapes, tea and cakes’. On 17 July 1917, George made the change of name public.

For the series, researchers were granted access to the Queen’s records George V with Queen Mary in 1914 in the Royal Archives. ‘There are a lot of personal letters from key players,’ says producer Denys Blakeway. ‘In fact the only personal letters that have not been published are the Queen’s. These are being saved for her biography after her death.’

And what stories they’ve discovered in the letters they’ve reopened. One episode sheds light on letters sent by the late Earl Mountbatten to Prince Charles, who called Mountbatten his honorary grandfather, before he married Diana, suggesting there were fears Charles would ‘go down the same route’ as Edward VIII, who abdicated. That crisis was the biggest in the family’s history – and one which, even today, they are terrified of repeating.

‘Charles received a number of letters warning him that he was going down the slippery path of his greatuncle by dating Camilla and others and not settling down, and if he didn’t mend his ways the same fate would happen to him,’ says Denys. ‘It’s a tremendous irony. Charles has always wanted to do his duty and when Mountbatten died he was devastated. Then, when he met Diana, the first thing she said to him was that she was sorry about the death of Mountbatten. He felt he should do his duty and marry the right woman – but she turned out to be the wrong woman. The ironies of history! He did the right thing and it all went wrong.’

So what will the royals themselves make of their history being so comprehensively raked over? ‘Well, they are a brilliant PR operation and control their image closely, but this series has been made outside their PR machine,’ says Denys. ‘Maybe they’ll dislike it because they don’t like being questioned, but I don’t think they’d be right to. It’s not hostile. You have to understand institutions to appreciate them.’

What of the central question – how has the House of Windsor survived for 100 years? The answer, says Denys, is straightforward. ‘By looking after its image, ensuring that those who don’t step up to the mark are expunged and by making sure the ideals of George V – duty, service and discretion – are observed, often ruthlessly so.’ The Royal House Of Windsor begins on Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 4.