The Young Victoria

English royalty is always the stuff of great screenplays and costumes. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I have given us the source material for many of our better movies (Anne of a Thousand Days, Man for All Seasons, Elizabeth and Essex, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Other Boleyn Girl . . . and the list goes on).

But except for Judi Dench's portrayal of the elder Victoria in Mrs. Brown, we haven't gotten to see much of this queen's life, especially her youth, until now, with this elaborate and precisely detailed look at the succession of Victoria to the English throne upon the death of her uncle, King William, a most outspoken monarch, as you will see.

Photography came into existence late in Victoria's reign, so all the photos we have of her depict a humorless dowdy old woman, always appearing to be in perpetual mourning.

While watching this movie, I couldn't help but think of the current Queen Elizabeth, and what her childhood was like . . . mainly because Emily Blunt (who plays the lead) looks very much like the young Princess Elizabeth that many of us remember from our childhood. But Elizabeth had a reasonably happy childhood.

This was not the case with Victoria, who was manipulated and controlled in her youth almost as much as the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey of several centuries earlier. The Young Victoria, with all of its court intrigue and struggles for control, is also a highly romantic story. Enter the young Albert (Rupert Friend), a German prince, with whom Victoria, after exchanging many letters with this suitor, carefully and willingly allows herself to fall in love.