Aug 26, 2022
Victoria Regina: Summer (1.2, Granada, 1964)
"We can't share everything, Albert. Some things I shall have to do alone: affairs of state in which it would not be right for you to concern yourself."
"So?"
"Yes, dearest, you must take great care. The English are jealous, and to them you are still a foreigner."
"And to you?"
"To me you are everything. Life, happiness, peace and comfort."
#victoria regina#summer#1964#granada#classic tv#laurence housman#peter wildeblood#stuart latham#patricia routledge#joachim hansen#jolyon booth#geoffrey dunn#jennie linden#james ottaway#barbara couper#john brooking#paul williamson#patricia greene#tom payne#john raven#where part one concentrated on Victoria's ascension to the throne‚ part two is a closer examination of the relationship between her and#Albert. it's both a loving and turbulent relationship‚ complicated by disparate factors: the traditional gender roles of victorian era#marriage in conflict with Victoria's position as Queen over Albert‚ their different nationalities and approach to customs and behaviours‚#as well as the pressures of external influences in politics and court members. this is very much a theatrical piece but it speaks to the#quality of both the writing and the performances that it is very easy to forget that this is basically just 50 minutes of conversations in#a series of different rooms. one aspect of the plot is Albert's (illegitimate) parentage‚ and I do wonder if this is an addition for tv#whilst the theory is not unknown (but unproven) and i believe featured in the more recent Jenna Coleman series‚ I'd be surprised if Housman#had included it in his original play (which appeared after all only 33 years after Victoria's death‚ and required special permission to#even be staged‚ as stage depictions of recent monarchs were considered taboo; it took King Edward VIII himself to overturn the rule).#not having a copy of the play in my collection i unfortunately cannot check but it does seem unlikely to me