Film: The Young Victoria ... we were amused
On a beautiful Sunday morning in St James's, London, the cobbled street outside the gateway to Lancaster House is empty but for two men smoking cigarettes. They are soon joined by two women who, in turn, light cigarettes and join in the muffled conversation, interspersed with gales of laughter. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that the men (both of whom are sporting huge moustaches and sideburns) are wearing red and gold brocade frock coats and the women (with middle partings and ringlets over their ears) are in floor-length jewel-coloured satin dresses with full skirts. Only their cigarettes and the white Ford van that gently hoots them out of its way place them in the 21st century.
Just for today, Lancaster House (the neo-classical mansion that in the mid-19th century was home to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland) has been returned to the Victorian era. Its elaborate state rooms on the first floor are representing those of Buckingham Palace, the venue for the Coronation Ball where on June 28, 1838, the 19-year-old Queen Victoria – played in this film of her early life by 25-year-old Emily Blunt – celebrated her accession to the throne.
It is a fittingly opulent scene. Huge candelabra, their stands wreathed with lilies, send a flickering candlelight over the corniced room. In the corner a full string orchestra, its members dressed in white tie, play a soaring Strauss waltz as the beautiful new Queen, in a dress of the most luxurious satin with blood-red roses in her hair, walks down the middle of the room accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting in white ostrich-feather headdresses. As her gaze falls on Prince Albert, she is transported through the crowds towards him, her eyes never once leaving his face. He bows, she curtsies, and they begin to dance. It is a scene of gripping intensity and makes you wish you could watch the entire film, there and then.
Scripted by Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Gosford Park, The Young Victoria is a production of the highest calibre with an impeccable cast. Opposite Blunt – whose star turn in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006 earned her a Golden Globe and A-list status – Rupert Friend steps into the shoes of Prince Albert, to whom he bears a startling resemblance. Little known at the casting stage (he played Mr Wickham in Joe Wright's 2005 film Pride & Prejudice), Friend, 27, is quietly becoming one of our finest young actors. Other key cast members are Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettany and Mark Strong.
Fifth in line to the throne at birth, Princess Victoria (after the deaths of her father, grandfather and two uncles) was heiress presumptive by the time her third remaining uncle, William IV (Jim Broadbent), was crowned in 1830, when she was 14. Parliament passed an Act that stipulated that Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent and Strathearn (Miranda Richardson), would serve as Regent should Victoria succeed William IV before coming of age. A power struggle ensued with both Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), an Irish adventurer who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover, and the Whig Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) trying to exert their influence over the Duchess and her charge. Victoria turned 18 a month before her uncle died, making a regency unnecessary, but still the young girl continued to fall prey to the interferences of the men around her. It was only her marriage to Albert – an honourable, hard-working man who protected her throughout his life – that gave Victoria the independence and inner strength she needed to carry her through.
Essentially a love story that focuses on the drawn-out courtship of the teenage princess and her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, The Young Victoria is also a story of political intrigue, charting her uneasy road to the throne and the battle for power and influence that she found herself at the centre of. Particular attention is paid to her complicated relationship with a domineering mother who, until the moment of her accession, insisted that Victoria went nowhere unaccompanied or without someone holding her hand. 'Everything I have put into it is based entirely on fact,' Fellowes says of a script that bursts with romance, confrontation and political tension. 'It just happens to be a story that not many people are familiar with.'
'The story of Victoria's early years was just waiting to be told,' says Graham King, the LA-based British producer whose credits include The Departed and Blood Diamond. 'I had been looking for a UK project my whole career, and somehow this one seemed just right.'
The story of how the subject came to King's attention is not that of your average script pitch. In fact, it was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, who planted the original seed in his head. When she got engaged to Prince Andrew in 1986, Ferguson took it on herself to 'extensively research and understand the history of [her] new family'. It was that process that led her to the young Victoria. 'I have always felt very drawn to her story,' says the Duchess, a co-producer on the film, whose surprise teatime visit to the set with her daughters causes quite a stir. 'Like her, I knew what it was to be a very young girl at the centre of a huge and powerful family.' The story – which formed the basis of her 1993 book Travels with Queen Victoria – was always one that she thought would make a 'wonderful, magical film'...
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Just for today, Lancaster House (the neo-classical mansion that in the mid-19th century was home to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland) has been returned to the Victorian era. Its elaborate state rooms on the first floor are representing those of Buckingham Palace, the venue for the Coronation Ball where on June 28, 1838, the 19-year-old Queen Victoria – played in this film of her early life by 25-year-old Emily Blunt – celebrated her accession to the throne.
It is a fittingly opulent scene. Huge candelabra, their stands wreathed with lilies, send a flickering candlelight over the corniced room. In the corner a full string orchestra, its members dressed in white tie, play a soaring Strauss waltz as the beautiful new Queen, in a dress of the most luxurious satin with blood-red roses in her hair, walks down the middle of the room accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting in white ostrich-feather headdresses. As her gaze falls on Prince Albert, she is transported through the crowds towards him, her eyes never once leaving his face. He bows, she curtsies, and they begin to dance. It is a scene of gripping intensity and makes you wish you could watch the entire film, there and then.
Scripted by Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Gosford Park, The Young Victoria is a production of the highest calibre with an impeccable cast. Opposite Blunt – whose star turn in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006 earned her a Golden Globe and A-list status – Rupert Friend steps into the shoes of Prince Albert, to whom he bears a startling resemblance. Little known at the casting stage (he played Mr Wickham in Joe Wright's 2005 film Pride & Prejudice), Friend, 27, is quietly becoming one of our finest young actors. Other key cast members are Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettany and Mark Strong.
Fifth in line to the throne at birth, Princess Victoria (after the deaths of her father, grandfather and two uncles) was heiress presumptive by the time her third remaining uncle, William IV (Jim Broadbent), was crowned in 1830, when she was 14. Parliament passed an Act that stipulated that Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent and Strathearn (Miranda Richardson), would serve as Regent should Victoria succeed William IV before coming of age. A power struggle ensued with both Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), an Irish adventurer who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover, and the Whig Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) trying to exert their influence over the Duchess and her charge. Victoria turned 18 a month before her uncle died, making a regency unnecessary, but still the young girl continued to fall prey to the interferences of the men around her. It was only her marriage to Albert – an honourable, hard-working man who protected her throughout his life – that gave Victoria the independence and inner strength she needed to carry her through.
Essentially a love story that focuses on the drawn-out courtship of the teenage princess and her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, The Young Victoria is also a story of political intrigue, charting her uneasy road to the throne and the battle for power and influence that she found herself at the centre of. Particular attention is paid to her complicated relationship with a domineering mother who, until the moment of her accession, insisted that Victoria went nowhere unaccompanied or without someone holding her hand. 'Everything I have put into it is based entirely on fact,' Fellowes says of a script that bursts with romance, confrontation and political tension. 'It just happens to be a story that not many people are familiar with.'
'The story of Victoria's early years was just waiting to be told,' says Graham King, the LA-based British producer whose credits include The Departed and Blood Diamond. 'I had been looking for a UK project my whole career, and somehow this one seemed just right.'
The story of how the subject came to King's attention is not that of your average script pitch. In fact, it was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, who planted the original seed in his head. When she got engaged to Prince Andrew in 1986, Ferguson took it on herself to 'extensively research and understand the history of [her] new family'. It was that process that led her to the young Victoria. 'I have always felt very drawn to her story,' says the Duchess, a co-producer on the film, whose surprise teatime visit to the set with her daughters causes quite a stir. 'Like her, I knew what it was to be a very young girl at the centre of a huge and powerful family.' The story – which formed the basis of her 1993 book Travels with Queen Victoria – was always one that she thought would make a 'wonderful, magical film'...