"The Lost Prince" Wins Three Emmy Awards

The Lost Prince, played here by Daniel Williams, won the 2005 Emmy Award for Best Miniseries and was also honored by the Epilepsy Foundation.

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RELATED FEATURE: Read about epilepsy in the days of 'The Lost Prince' compared to today.

By Adam Modzelesky
EpilepsyUSA staff
Posted: September 20, 2005

"The Lost Prince," a British-made drama that chronicles the life of 20th
Century England's Prince John, won all three Emmy Awards it was up for on Sept. 18: Best Miniseries, Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special and Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie.

For Best Miniseries, it beat "Elvis," " Empire Falls" and "The 4400." For Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, it beat "Conquest of America," "Elvis," "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and "Warm Springs." And for Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie, "The Lost Prince" outdid "Empire Falls," "Faith of my Fathers," "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and "Warm Springs."

Written and directed by Britain's Stephen Poliakoff, a Peabody Award winner for a previous work called "Almost Strangers," the television show first aired in the United Kingdom in 2003. It received very good reviews and eventually made its way across the Atlantic to PBS's Masterpiece Theater. The two-part documentary aired in America Oct. 17 and 24, 2004.

Poliakoff could not be immediately contacted for comment on his Emmy Awards, but he stated in a previous interview that it had been an honor just to have "The Lost Prince" nominated along with such distinguished company.

"It was obviously very gratifying to be nominated for an Emmy because it's difficult for a subject like this," Poliakoff said after learning of the nomination on July 14. "And also, there's a co-production with WGBH, and British dramas aren't often nominated for Emmys unless they're HBO with the massive budgets they've got. So, I was thrilled. Obviously, very, very thrilled. It was great."

"The Lost Prince" is a deeply moving story of a child with epilepsy in an age when people with the disorder were hidden from society and, as in this tragic case, even isolated from family and friends. The youngest child of George V and Queen Mary, Prince John's short life spanned the political build-up to World War I and the maneuverings of European royalty in the early 1900s.

The show possesses some potentially offensive references to epilepsy and those afflicted with it, but these remarks are forgivable in that they're in keeping with the documentary-nature of the production. Prince John lived during a time when seizures were regularly called "fits," and people with epilepsy were constantly called "epileptics." Although not used often in the United States, these terms are still sometimes used in European countries. They are considered "labels" that define a person by one trait, which is powerful in creating negative and limiting stereotypes.

"The Lost Prince" - A Summary

Due to time constraints, the production is spilt into two parts. The first episode opens with an extravagant party celebrating Prince John's grandmother's birthday. It's here that the audience gets their first look at the boy, and it's clear that he's a charming and attractive child who has an uninhibited, eccentric view of the world. He's quite imaginative and rather frank in his opinions, which his grandfather, King Edward VII, loves about him.

It isn't long before John's epilepsy is introduced. It comes to pass that King Edward VII falls ill and dies. At the king's funeral, John experiences a seizure. Upon hearing of this incident, his mother, Queen Mary, summons doctors to examine him. Their diagnosis confirms her worst fear - John is "an epileptic." The queen immediately considers sending John to a mental institution, but his nanny, Lalla, prevents such a move by promising to look after him. Throughout John's life, it has always been Lalla who's been supportive and loving. She's the one who constantly tends to John while he's having a seizure.

Ultimately, the queen sends the two away to Sandringham - a home out in the country. The queen's feelings of shame and embarrassment lead her to order that no outside visitors may encounter him. Only his closest family members may see him. Despite the abandonment, seclusion and loneliness, John maintains an optimistic view on life and he begins to have less seizures. Because of this, he's eventually summoned back home. However, while there, John has another seizure - the first his mother has ever seen. As a result, John is again banished to the country again.

In the second episode, the trauma of war envelops the royal family. The German ancestry in the British royal family comes into question, and this forces John and Lalla to live in increased seclusion. Once trouble starts in Russia, the Russian Tsar is forced to abdicate and is to be exiled in Britain. Being that he has Russian cousins, John is excited at the opportunity to see them. Tragically, the Romanovs are executed and this devastates King George and Queen Mary. As the war continues to cover Europe, they both are weighed down by its effects.

The program ends on a rather sad note, however, as John dies prematurely. Though John's brother George and Lalla are cloaked in sadness due to his death, the audience knows that both will at least take great pleasure in remembering John's tremendous character and love for life.

"'The Lost Prince' did very well [in the ratings], but I'm not sure if it being about epilepsy was the sole reason for that," said Olivia Wong, a spokesperson for WGBH productions, which produces Masterpiece Theatre. "The reason for its success was probably a combination of it being about epilepsy and about a prince no one ever really knew existed. Not to mention it had a very good cast."

Writing and Directing "The Lost Prince"

Poliakoff began writing "The Lost Prince" a few years ago, and because John lived in such seclusion during his life, Poliakoff said finding information about him was nearly impossible - to the point where he actually abandoned the project "for a time."

" Really there is very little about him, and much of what you'd find about him is inaccurate," Poliakoff said. "I had to piece it together from the fragments I read. And there's really nobody alive that knew him, other than one or two servants on the royal estate who met him. There was a really old woman who met him who I was able to talk to. She was at the very end of her life - she was nearly 100. But there was nobody who truly knew him. All I can say is that my portrait of him has been largely accepted by a large cross-section of the royal family to the general public, as well as various historians and experts. Nobody has said that I got it wrong."

Poliakoff was drawn to write about John's condition because he harbors a fascination with people who live with some form of disability, like learning difficulties or with a condition like epilepsy, and how they overcome it.

"I thought this was a chance to celebrate a child who was different," he said, "and it was also a chance to portray an interesting bit of history - in terms of his short life and how the world changed in that time."

According to Poliakoff, John's problems weren't limited to epilepsy. He not only had epilepsy, but he had a learning disability that hindered his speech.

"We have to be careful because people with epilepsy are perfectly normal in every other respect, but Johnnie had two problems," Poliakoff said. "The first was his epilepsy and the second was what we now call learning disabilities. The nature is still in dispute. Some say he was severely autistic, which we know is an incredibly wide spectrum, and he wasn't autistic in the way the general public understands the word. He was a very social boy, but he had a problem with language which was totally independent from his epilepsy."

In the midst of researching these details for his story, Poliakoff made an incredible discovery. After being allowed entry into the royal archives, which Poliakoff said was quite hard to do, he was able to read John's old letters to his mother and father. Not only were they in pristine condition because they had probably not been read since his mother and father held them, but he also found preserved pressed flowers from John's garden in the country.

"It was very touching," Poliakoff said. "The flowers were stuck to the page; the page had never been disturbed since his parents first received them. It was incredible."

The Lost Prince Honored by Epilepsy Foundation

The three Emmy Awards are not the only honors "The Lost Prince" has received. The Epilepsy Foundation presented an award to the show for its quality of production, the realistic portrayal of a child with epilepsy and the social attitudes prevailing at the time toward people with seizures, and also for its contribution towards greater public awareness of seizures and epilepsy.

This award was presented at the Epilepsy Foundation's 2005 Distinguished Journalism Awards held in Phoenix.