What is Mary & George, the scandalous royal series worth watching on Canal +? (critical)

A delightful chronicle on British Royalty, which recounts the rise of the real Duke of Buckingham, far from the Dumasian icon.

Yes, that's him. The famous Duke of Buckingham who caused so much trouble to Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. But do you know its history? His real story? Mary & Georgea prestigious British mini-series – which begins this evening on Canal + – tells the story of his improbable rise to the court of King James I, inseparable from that of his mother, a provincial nobleman with infinitely long teeth…

Mary Villiers quickly understands that her second son is as beautiful as God. If he will not inherit titles and lands, his physique and his natural charm give him exceptional assets with women, as much as men… It is moreover by noting the excitement of Sovereign Jacques d England towards him, that Mary will push her boy into this royal bed. Thanks to their affairs, the mother-son duo will gradually enrich themselves and become one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom…

Certainly, Mary & George has something of a great historical fresco, in costumes and everything… But the British series is less ecstatic about the facts than about the passion that bubbled up at the English court in the 17th century. Taken by a Julianne Moore in great form, incisive and elusive, the mini-series takes on the air of a resolutely scandalous naughty and political chronicle.

Deliberately irreverent, Mary & George has fun telling the History of the crown through a scathing, almost nasty and obscene prism. As an anti-The Crown. A refreshing carnal approach, which doesn't care a bit about outright accuracy. If she narrates a true page in the History of the British nobility, she does not make truthfulness an obsession, or reconstruction a road map. Playing on slightly crazy characters with limited grandiloquence, the series continues with delightful verbal jousts. The dialogues are particularly tasty – even if it sometimes borders on anachronism – and allow the series to take a welcome step back. After that you won't see anymore The three Musketeers with the same eye!

Mary & George, in 7 episodes, to watch on Canal + in France from Monday June 3, 2024.