Posted on 02/15/2021 4:38:59 AM PST by C19fan
I must admit I have never read a biography of Queen Victoria. My knowledge of her as a person has been accumulated by reading articles, mentions in non-fiction books, watching documentaries, and listening to podcasts. As a side note, if you are interested in the Victorians the “Age of Victoria” podcast is excellent.
Let us get the two major items of artistic license out of the way. The first is William Lamb, Lord Melbourne played by Rufus Sewell. 2nd Viscount Melbourne was 59 years old when the 18 year old Victoria became Queen. No source I have been exposed to state there was some romantic interest between the two. Melbourne was a father figure to Victoria. She grew without her father, the Duke of Kent. The only constant male in her household was the manipulating Sir John Conroy. But I guess creative minds in order to sex up the story cannot help themselves. The same artistic license was used in the 2009 move “The Young Victoria” with Paul Bettany playing Melbourne. Despite the ladies swooning over Sewell’s Melbourne, the real William Lamb was at best a mediocre Prime Minister. He was notoriously lazy. Despite being a Whig he was anti-reform. He opposed every major piece of reforming legislation including the Great Reform Law of 1832, and the repeal of the Corn Laws. On top of all that he was pro-slavery. But I guess we cannot have the ladies be turned off by this so none of that was mentioned in the series. It seems the screen-writer transferred all of Melbourne’s faults to the Duke of Wellington.
The other is this fictional nefarious plot by the Victoria’s uncle the Duke of Cumberland to gain power by hook or crook. When William IV died, the now King of Hanover left England immediately and assumed his title. He did not linger in London plotting to de facto dethrone Victoria. He would only set foot again in England in 1843. Victoria becoming Queen instead of Cumberland probably saved the monarchy. Rumors above Cumberland’s immoral behavior was widely known including an incestuous affair with his sister Princess Sophia. His unpopularity does get a mention in the series.
The social setting is bifurcated. Of course, we see the heights of British society in Victoria and her entourage. We have the “Downstairs” part with the household staff where one gets exposed to the seedy side of Victorian England. The complete absence of the rising Middle Class is noticeable.
Two character in my mind stand out. The first is the Tory leader Sir Robert Peel. Poor Sir Robert, definitely not a charming ladies’ man when compared to Melbourne. I like how the series gives him a Northern English accent as he was originally from Lancashire, his father becoming wealthy in cotton manufacturing. But despite the inauspicious start, the series starts to build him up especially when he starts to bond with Prince Albert. You see Sir Robert attending a convention of abolitionists, he has a railroad on his estate, and despite being a Tory he is embracing the changes that are taking place. The series hints at how he is a different type of Tory from the landed gentry types straight from a Jane Austen novel.
The other is Prince Albert played by Tom Hughes. I felt what I learned about the man has come to life. He was a Romantic figure who enjoyed the natural world. He had great musical talent including composing pieces for Victoria. He did embrace the changes of the era personifying the optimism and belief in progress. On top of that was his strong moral center, some would deride him a prig.
One thing I loved about the series was little slices of life that pushed my Victorian geek meter to red. There was a scene of Victoria reviewing the new coins struck with her portrait. I like to collect coins from the era and I have several with the “Young Head” side.
Another was when I believe Rowland Hill was showing the new penny post stamps to Victoria and Albert. Albert immediately recognized what a revolutionary change this was going to be. Before the stamp, the receiver of a letter paid for postage. One might notice in some Jane Austen adaptations when a mail carrier shows up with a letter the housekeeper would get the money purse and pay the rider. This system was very expensive as many recipients would simply refuse to pay for delivery. If you look at letters from the era, every piece of space would be used including writing diagonally. Letter writing was a luxury item. Mr. Rowland say the waste in the system and came up with the idea if the sender paid for post the individual cost would be dramatically cut. Thanks to Mr. Rowland, letter writing would be democratized.
Finally, the Victorian geek meter hit 15,000 bonnets, a reference to “Chernobyl”. Albert defying his wife’s wishes goes to Sir Robert Peel’s estate to see a railroad locomotive for the first time. My jaw dropped to the floor as I beheld a working early locomotive. I could feel Sir Robert’s and Albert’s excitement as they took it for a ride. Victoria would pay a visit the next day and one could see the joy on her face as the farm workers cheer her on and she does a royal hand wave back.
Despite the historical inaccuracies, I enjoyed this season 1. I look forward to catching up with season 2 and 3. On my scale of 1 to 5, bonnets I give this 4 bonnets.
There were some inaccuracies, but they nailed Conroy as a scheming little twit. Victoria rid the court and herself of him by giving him a title and a pension. She basically paid him to go away. Season 4 seems to be in some sort of limbo.
CC
The show is decent, reasonably accurate but ends on a cliffhanger.
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Prince Albert collapses at the end of season 3, but any history book will tell you he lives, but then dies at age 42.
I did find the fictional downstairs parts entertaining at times.
Particularly when the poor young maid discovers she has (Yea!) inherited valuable property from a cousin in America...
Oops, it’s 10 slaves...
Cue moral dilemma.
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