The Young Victoria (2009)

The Young Victoria is a historical and biographical drama about the early years of Queen Victoria. It is divided into three parts. (1) In the first part Victoria is not yet queen. (2) In the second part she is queen, but not yet married. (3) In the third and final part she is queen and married.

Victoria was born in May 1819 and was proclaimed queen in July 1837. Her coronation took place in June of the following year. In February 1840 she married Prince Albert. They had nine children. Albert died in December 1861, only 42 years old. Victoria never remarried. She remained a widow for the rest of her life. She died in January 1901 at the age of 81. She was a queen for 63 years and seven months.

I like to watch historical dramas. Often the past comes alive in fascinating ways. This movie is no exception. It is, in many ways, a good drama. Several important points are presented in a very convincing way:

(a) The conflict between the young Victoria on one side and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her special “friend” John Conroy on the other side.

(b) The conflict between King William IV and the Duchess of Kent.

(c) The conflict between two prominent politicians of the day, the Whig Lord Melbourne and the Tory Sir Robert Peel.

(d) The alliance between Victoria and Lord Melbourne.

This movie is good, but it has some flaws. Historical truth is violated on several occasions. Some flaws are minor (items 1-3 below), while others are major (items 4-6 below).

The actors cannot be blamed for this. They have to follow the script and do what they are told. The responsibility lies with the director, the writer, and the producers who allowed the historical inaccuracies to remain there. 

Here are some examples:

(1) In the movie there are several references to “Germany.” When Victoria was young, there were several German states, but there was no country with the name Germany. This country was not proclaimed until 1871.

(2) In the movie Lord Melbourne and Victoria meet at Windsor Castle on the occasion of King William IV’s birthday. Victoria is not yet queen, and not yet 20 years old. The actor who plays Lord Melbourne appears to be slightly older than her, around 30 years old. In the real world Lord Melbourne was forty years older than Victoria, because he was born in 1779.

(3) In the movie the name of this politician is constantly mispronounced. He is called MELBURN, which is wrong. It should be MELBORN. Why did nobody check this? Why did nobody tell the producers or the actors to get it right?

(4) During the birthday celebration at Windsor Castle, King William IV made a speech during which he accused the Duchess of Kent of trying to keep her daughter away from him. In the movie the Duchess is seated far away from him, she gets up and leaves the room in protest over this insult. But the other guests do not really react to this. In the real world the Duchess was seated next to the king, and she did not leave the room. But Victoria cried, and the other guests were shocked by the incident.

(5) John Conroy was a bully who tried to control Victoria, hoping to use her position for his own benefit. She hated him for doing this, and she hated her mother for letting him do this without protesting. As soon as she was proclaimed queen, she banished him from the court. But in the movie it does not happen like this. Victoria wants to dismiss Conroy, but she allows him to stay out of respect for her mother. So Conroy pops up from time to time. In the movie he is not dismissed until after Victoria’s marriage to Albert, and Albert is the one who finally kicks him out.

I do not understand this change from fact to fiction. I think the movie-makers want to present Victoria as an independent person (which she was in many ways). But here they seem to say that she was unable to get rid of Conroy - her husband had to do it for her.

(6) In June 1840, while Victoria and Albert were driving through London in an open carriage, there was an assassination attempt on them. A man called Edward Oxford tried to shoot them. In the movie Albert is hit, while protecting his wife. He takes a bullet for her. He is rushed back to the palace, bleeding. Fortunately, he recovers. Later we see him walking around with one arm in a sling.

This is not true at all. The would-be assassin missed. Neither Victoria nor Albert was hit. Of all the alterations presented here, this is the worst, because it is a deliberate falsification of history. I am sure Albert was ready to take a bullet for his wife, but he never did, so why pretend that he did?

Some people may ask me: “Why do you have to complain about these historical details? Why can’t you just enjoy the movie?”

Here is my response:

I understand that there may be a situation where the producers have to use some kind of fiction, but the alterations presented here do not fall into this category. The alterations presented here are not necessary, they are not justified. Why do the producers try to rewrite and “improve” history, when the true story would be just fine, perhaps even better, and it has the advantage of being true?

I like this movie and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of them. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS. Here are some basic facts about this movie:

** Premiered in 2009
** Released on DVD in 2009
** Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée
** Written by Julian Fellowes
** Run time: 105 minutes

*****

 

The coronation of Victoria in June 1838:

Emily Blunt plays the role of Queen Victoria

*****

Victoria (season one) (ITV, 2016)

Victoria – a historical and biographical drama – is a television series (based on a true story) which premiered on British television (ITV) in 2016. Season one, which has 8 episodes, focuses on the early years of Queen Victoria’s life. Here is some basic information about it:

** Created by Daisy Goodwin

** Written by Daisy Goodwin & A. N. Wilson

** Directed by Oliver Blackburn, Sandra Goldbacher & Tom Vaughan

** Run time: 8 x ca. 45 minutes = ca. 385 minutes

The cast includes the following

** Jenna Coleman as Victoria (born 1819, queen 1837-1901)

** Tom Hughes as Prince Albert (1819-1861) (Victoria’s husband)

** David Oakes as Prince Ernest (1818-1893) (Albert’s brother)

** Alex Jennings as Leopold (1790-1865) (Albert’s uncle, king of Belgium 1831-1865)

** Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne (1779-1848) (a British politician, prime minister 1834 & 1835-1844)

** Daniela Holtz as Baroness Lehzen (1784-1870) (a member of the royal staff)

** Ferdinand Kingsley as Charles Elme Francatelli (1805-1876) (a member of the royal staff, Victoria’s cook)

** Nell Hudson as Marianne Skerrett (1793-1887) (a member of the royal staff, Victoria’s dresser 1837-1862)

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them in this review.

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here, but the basic storyline is true.

As stated above, season one has 8 episodes. Here are the headlines:

# 1. Doll 123

# 2. Ladies in waiting

# 3. Brocket Hall

# 4. The clockwork prince

# 5. An ordinary woman

# 6. The queen’s husband

# 7. The engine of change

# 8. Young England

In season one, we follow the life of Victoria and the people around her from 1837, the year in which she becomes the queen of England, until 1840, the year in which she marries Prince Albert and gives birth to her first child.

What do reviewers say about it? Here are some answers:

** 67 per cent = Metacritic

** 82 per cent = IMDb

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes

On Amazon UK there are more than 280 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.7 stars.

As you can see, the general reception was very positive. Many reviewers offer a high rating. But not all. The rating on Metacritic is not as impressive as what we have on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. If you take a closer look at the reviews posted on Amazon UK, you will see that the high average rating includes several critical and negative reviews.

These reviewers claim that this product is highly overrated, because key characters are miscast, and because there are serious historical inaccuracies. I tend to agree with them. Let me explain:

Key characters are miscast. Here are some examples:

** Jenna Coleman was born in 1986. In 2016 she was 30. When the series begins, we are in 1837 and Victoria is 18. Jenna Coleman is 12 years too old for this role. In addition, she is too slim and too beautiful to play Victoria.

** Rufus Sewell was born in 1967. In 2016 he was 49. When the series begins, we are in 1837 and Lord M is 58. Rufus Sewell is too young for this role. In addition, he is too slim and too handsome to play Lord M.

** Three German characters – Prince Albert, Prince Ernest, and Leopold, king of Belgium – are played by British actors who speak English with a false German accent. German actors should have been chosen for these characters. German actors could have spoken English with a real German accent. In addition, they would have been able to speak German to each other. Sadly, British actors were chosen to play these roles. Why? For the benefit of the audience; in order to avoid subtitles when a foreign language is spoken.

Historical truth is violated. Here are some examples:

** In the drama, Victoria falls in love with Lord M. She falls so hard for him that she actually proposes to him. She wants to marry him! This is absurd. Lord M was her mentor. He was a father figure to her. That is all. In the drama, Lord M seems to be 10 or 20 years older than Victoria. In the real world, the age difference was 40 years. But this fact is never made clear in the drama. There is no historical evidence to confirm that Victoria ever proposed to Lord M.

** Charles Elme Francatelli was Victoria’s cook 1840-1842. He does not belong in season one which covers the time 1837-1840. He belongs in season two which covers the time 1841-1846

** In episode # 3 there are several references to the Chartists and the Newport revolt of 1839. In the drama, they appear to be a small band of crazy rebels who had some crazy demands. In the real world, the chartists were well organized and they had some very reasonable demands.

In the drama, Victoria takes pity on the Chartists who were arrested and sentenced to death. She wants to spare their lives and commutes their sentence to deportation. In the real world this never happened. Victoria did not bother to find out who the Chartists were and what they wanted. In the real world she did not do anything to save these men.

** The people behind the drama worked hard to make this historical drama look real. They tried to find good actors, they tried to dress them in the right clothes and they tried to find good locations to shoot each scene, indoors and outdoors. But they failed with regard to the language that is spoken in the drama. Only one language is spoken here: English.

German characters are played by British actors who speak English with a false German accent. They even speak English to each other. This is not realistic. The language spoken is an important aspect of the whole package, but the people behind the drama decided to ignore it. They chose the easy way: “We do not want subtitles. Let us hire British actors. Let them all speak English!”

As you can see, this drama has some serious flaws:

# 1. Key characters are miscast

# 2. Historical truth is violated several times

# 3. German characters speak English to each other

The people behind this drama present an airbrushed version of Victoria and the people around her. The Victoria that we see in this drama is not only more beautiful than the real Victoria was; she is also a better person: more human and more democratic than the real Victoria was. She cares for the poor much more than the real Victoria ever did.

That is why I have to go against the general trend here. That is why I cannot offer four of five stars for this product. I have to remove at least two stars because of the flaws mentioned above. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of three stars.

PS # 1. The following article about Queen Victoria and the Chartists is available online: Huw Fullerton, “What was Chartism? The history behind Victoria,” Radio Times, September 2016.

PS # 2. For more information about the Chartist movement and the Newport revolt of 1839, see the documentary film The Story of Wales (2012); episode # 4, “Furnace of Change.”

PS # 3. Season 2 of Victoria (with another 8 episodes) was shown on British television in 2017. ITV has announced that it will broadcast a Christmas special about Queen Victoria in December 2017.

PS # 4. You can find several detailed reviews of Victoria season one and season two in the following blog: “Enough of this Tomfoolery: A blog about British history from 1870 to 1939.”

*****

 

 Victoria, born 1819; queen of England 1837-1901

*****