When I was at school we were taught more about British history than Australian history and much of that was about the Royal houses; the Tudors, Stuarts and the like. I don't remember that we got as far as Queen Victoria and apart from knowing that she ruled more than sixty years, much of it mourning her late husband Albert and mothered many of the Kings and Queens of 19th/20th Century Europe there was not much else I recalled about her.
Assuming that The Young Victoria is reasonably factual I didn't realise that the question of her succession to the Monarchy was clouded in such intrigue and attempted manipulation. The film mainly focuses on Victoria's approaching eighteenth birthday through her coronation, marriage and first child.
Emily Blunt makes a fairly feisty Victoria and Rupert Friend happens to suit the character of a tightly wound young Prince Albert.
The Young Victoria has the grand appearance it requires, much of it achieved through clever illusion rather than actual settings. It doesn't really go into much depth. The story is presented as a series of mostly short scenes touching on incidents much like a stone skipping across a pond.
I quite enjoyed the movie as did much of the audience, unsurprising as some of them looked old enough to have been alive during Victoria's reign.
I thought it was a good movie too. I believe it was fairly factual. Most accounts of Victoria's life that have made it to the screen have focussed on her reign rather than the time leading up to it, so it was good to see a different take on it.
ReplyDeleteI do like my Queens!