Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play The life & times of Britain&s king-in-waiting from his debauched youth & two marriages to his father&s madness & his belated ascent to the throne George Prince of Wales (1762-1830) waited almost 60 years to become King despite his father George III&s long battle with mental illness In his youth the Prince (Peter Egan) is a notorious womaniser gambler & drinker who runs up huge debts with extravagant renovations of his private palace Carlton House At 21 he falls for the charms of Maria Fitzherbert (Susannah York) a twice-widowed Catholic commoner six years his senior Despite her unsuitability on almost every count he rushes into a secret marriage But his father the King (Nigel Davenport) insists he make a proper marriage with his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick (Dinah Stabb) in exchange for support in clearing his debts That marriage is a disaster as young George refuses to give up Maria & takes a series of other lovers When George III succumbs to his first bout of madness in 1788 there&s a constitutional crisis Without a King&s Speech there can be no State Opening of Parliament & plans are drawn up for a Regency Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (David Collings) reluctantly agrees with the Prince&s staunch ally & his own fierce rival Charles James Fox (Keith Barron) that there is only one suitable candidate to assume the duties of the living King But the King recovers his wits & the Regency is delayed for another twenty years Not till our own times would an heir to the British throne wait so long for his coronation