Victoria

If you’re a reader from the UK or (possibly) other parts of the world (I’m guessing Europe) then the TV series Victoria might not be anything new to you. But here in the US the show just finished showing its first season a few weeks ago. Not a surprise that I loved it! So much so that I felt the need to write a whole post about the show!

If you don’t know what the show is about, let me give you a brief synopsis. The show follows a young Queen Victoria. The first episode begins with the death of her uncle, the King of England, and with her being the next in line for the crown she becomes Queen. As many of you know I love historical fiction so this entire series fascinated me. I found it so interesting and entertaining. Victoria becomes queen when she’s still a teenager and she spent all her formative years pretty sheltered so she has a lot of learning and growing up to do all while standing her ground and making sure she doesn’t get pushed around by people who wish to control her. The whole show is based on things that historically happened and I’m sure they use personal artifacts like diaries, letters, etc. to help shape the show as well.

The first season also sees her falling in love and marrying Prince Albert. Sure, Albert is her cousin, but seriously they’re relationship goals with how in love with each other they are. I love that they bring out the best in each other and push each other to be better. Truly a relationship ahead of their times. Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes are perfect as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Swoon!

I knew a little about Queen Victoria before watching the show. For instance, I knew that before the current Queen Elizabeth, Victoria was the longest reigning monarch. I also knew that after Albert died she wore black for the rest of her life. Serious love here guys. But like I mentioned above, I love history so as I watched the show I kept wanting to know more especially about the lineage. The family tree is all very confusing but interesting to learn about.

Queen Victoria was headstrong and was not easy to push around, which I love. Imagine, a woman in power in the 1800s and not letting men tell her what to do. Albert doesn’t try to control her either. Their relationship is pretty balanced and they learn from each other. She learns from him to be less stubborn and more open and willing to lead England into the future. And their love is just so deep for each other. One of my favorite quotes is when Victoria is pregnant with their first child and she worries that he won’t love her the same anymore. He says, “My desire for you will never fade. A love like ours can burn down a city.”

The show also reminds me how behind the times America is in some regards, even back then. In one episode, Prince Albert makes a speech to Parliament about slavery in America (he’s against it) and a lot of people are thinking “How can America still have slaves? We, and many other civilized nations abolished that years ago.”

Now onto a slight tangent. Here in the United States, PBS is the network that shows Victoria (and other shows like Sherlock and the now defunct Downtown Abbey). It’s part of their Masterpiece series. You may have heard that Trump proposes to massively cut the budget for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. These cuts will also effect PBS (public broadcasting) which could mean that I won’t be able to watch these shows! First of all, I’m a huge supporter of the arts and I think it is essential so I think it’s absurd to cut back on arts funding. But since it also means that it could effect some of my most loved shows, now I’m even more upset about this ridiculous proposal. So that’s my 2 cents about that.

Anyway, I loved the show and it’s definitely worth watching if you like history and period pieces!