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I love the show Victoria (itv) because of the subtle reversing of period/historical drama gender based cliches- allow me to explain

Albert: I'm not like other boys(TM), I'm sulky and broody and wear my hair in my face. I seduced my wife by playing piano while sending her shy glances across the room. I have nothing to do but prattle about the palace all day, but everyone tells me my position will be cemented when we have a son and heir. I have taken up with a cause that it is interesting enough to be relevant to a modern audience, but is still charity based and not governmental. I would desperately like us to start having babies because I want a family. I was given a servant who I am very sure is a spy and doesn't like me. (Every female cliche in a period drama)

Victoria: I angrily ride horses while debating about whether or not to propose to Albert. My best friend in the whole world is my dog. I am too busy running the country to notice how miserable my husband is, but I try my best to make him happy with pretty gifts. I abhor the thought of children, and am also terrified of the high rate of death in childbirth, but eventually I'll cave because my spouse desperately wants babies. The writers tried to give me a character, but at some point every plotline became about my spouse. I have canonically said "all babies look like frogs to me" (Every male cliche in a period drama)

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Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s engagement, October 15th 1839.

In her journal, she wrote in her own words, what happened: ‘At about ½ p.12 I sent for Albert; he came to the Closet where I was alone, and after a few minutes, I said to him, that I thought he must be aware why I wished him to come here, – and that it would make me too happy if he would consent to what I wished (to marry me)’. (ed. Viscount Esher, The Girlhood of Queen Victoria, Vol 1, 268; Longford, 143).

What followed was a mutual embrace, with Prince Albert murmuring in German that it would make him so glad ‘das Leben mit dir zu zubringen’ [to spend his life with her].

#on this day #historyedit #victoriaedit #victoriaitv #vicbertedit #tv: victoria #british history #royal family history

To paraphrase – the duchess has jumped the footman, where did it all go so wrong for the third series of Victoria?

Spoliers.... It’s easy to blame it being up against Line of Duty but with +1 and catch up, if people really had wanted to watch series 3 of Victoria they would have, but they haven’t. With a few exceptions, social media is awash with complaints from viewers who have turned off or are about to, how has it gone so spectacularly wrong from the first series which unexpectedly beat Poldark in the ratings?

1. The endless Victoria and Albert rows – Victoria and Albert are meant to be the big love story a love so strong and pure that when Albert died, Victoria mourned for the rest of her life. The writers played up to that in series 1 and 2 but in this series, it’s been fight after petulant fight. Do married couples fight? Of course they do but the mistake here has been to make them so damn repetitive. They fight, they make up, another baby happens, on and so very boringly on! The worse thing as has been pointed out extensively on social media has been the transformation of Albert from Victoria’s serious and grounded but deeply loving protector and confidant to gaslighter in chief (Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse where people are manipulated into doubting their own feelings, memories and perceptions). It’s been pretty horrible to watch and the transformation of Victoria into a childish tantrum throwing hurler of vases and slapper of husbands has not been fun either. No one, NO ONE wants to watch this for 8 episodes.

2. Jophie falls flat – Sophie and joseph are meant to be the ship of the series, theirs is the romantic sub plot like Drumfred last year, Hernest in series 1 and 2 and skerretelli in series 1 and 2, that we’re meant to fall in love with and root for - except viewers have for the most part given it a resounding MEH. The actors who play the parts are certainly attractive enough (Lily Travers in particular is stunning) but it simply hasn’t caught on. Their lack of chemistry doesnt help (putting two pretty people together does not chemistry make) but even more is the impatient way the whole plot has been done. Whereas skerretelli didn’t kiss until episode 8 of series 2 and drumfred until episode 7 of series 2, by episode 5 sophie and joseph have already kissed and its as if the writers are standing over our shoulders looking impatiently at their watches saying “come on, come on, get on and ship them”. We know nothing about them other than she has the most Disney villain of mean husbands and joseph is a rubbish footman and likes to swim. We have no reason to really care about them as a couple at all and so we don’t. Plus of course the Victoria writers have serious form with relationships on this show; not a single one has ever survived happily. Why would we care about them when we know in all likelihood it will go wrong? we cant be bothered to make the emotional investment again - fool me once and all that. Incidentally, the abusive husband storyline could have run perfectly well without throwing in the romance with a footman even though the duke is hilariously two dimensional, he only needs a swirling black cloak so he can run out the door cackling for full dramatic effect.

3. Feodora. Oh dear. Leaving aside the complete historical inaccuracy of her relationship with Victoria and when she visited England, there is simply no way that someone supposedly as intelligent as Albert is meant to be, wouldn’t see through her. Instead not only does he not see through her, but the two of them together gaslight Victoria and really its hard to know what to say other than arghhhhhh. Some attempts are made to explain Feo’s jealousy of Victoria – Victoria has the perfect life and doesn’t appreciate it, Feo could have been Queen of England but no attempt is made to explain why Victoria is putting up with this nonsense. It’s just irritating to watch people being so ridiculously stupid.

4. The whitewashing of Victoria as a mother. The problem with writing a historical drama is that people have an internet. No one expects Victoria to be a documentary but one of the most well known things about Victoria was that she hated being pregnant and hated being a mother. She resented her children for taking Albert’s time from her and she found them boring and annoying. It would actually have been a brave thing to do, to show this reality a woman who doesn’t like being a mother but obviously that’s too much and so we have Victoria the uber mother. Always stepping in to protect her children, clutching her pearls in horror at Bertie’s tutor hitting him when in reality she and albert beat their children frequently. It’s all part of the general Victoria saves the day trope the Victoria writers are so fond of – Victoria sorts the Irish famine, Victoria supports emancipation, Victoria defeats cholorea. Writers are entitled to interpret the facts as they like but they’re not actually entitled to their own facts.

5. The vanishing or where the hell did everyone go? One of the reasons Downton Abbey was so successful was that it had a group of main characters who stayed at the heart of the show as others came and went. 13 main characters in Downton stayed the entire 6 series. By contrast after only 3 series, Victoria has only 2 main characters who have made it through, Victoria and Albert. Ernest, Harriet, the Duchess of Kent, Wilhemina Coke, the Duchess of Buccleuch, Miss Cleery, have all just vanished; Mrs Skerrett has died and Francatelli has disappeared as a consequence. Lord Alfred who as one half of Drumfred had a prominent and beautiful storyarc in series 2 which viewers adored has been relegated to the background and no mention has been made of his apparent marriage or fatherhood. The ignoring of a neon lit storyline that would have been interesting – the continuation of Alfred and Wilhelmina as a married couple trying to manage their different expectations and sexualities in favour of a Disney villain sister and a tired upstairs downstairs storyline sums up this series. Any writer worth their salt should have been all over that plotline and yet here we are.

So if there is a series 4 and Im sure there will be can Victoria redeem itself? Maybe

1. Keep Lord Palmerston. The only well rounded character this year has been Laurence Fox’s Lord Pam who has gleefully chewed up the scenery with his performance. He’s cynical, populist, arrogant but can also be kind and sympathetic, showing an insight into other people’s lives and difficulties almost wholly lacking in other characters. Historically he was PM twice in the 1850s and we assume series 4 will end with Albert’s death, so just keep him

2. Do the alfred and Wilhelmina storyline – just do it, seriously, get someone else to write it if you cant, just DO IT

3. Stop with the Vicbert rows

4. Stop the Victoria saves the day whitewashing

5. If you are dumping characters from series 3, explain what happened to them even if its only one line, it makes a big difference.

Read the social media responses, understand why people are so fed up, take that on board. No one is saying you have to write a fan service series, that way madness lies (looking at you sherlock) but think about why people are saying what they are saying because those are the people bothering to say it. For every one of them, there are a 1000 people who switched off already. Think about it.

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May I present the Queen of Britain “I am so over this”

#victoriaitv #victoriaedit #victoriaitvedit #victoria spoilers #ch: queen victoria #ep: 3x01 #gifset

It’s the finale of season 3 of @itv ‘s Victora tonight here in the uk! We so aren’t ready for it, not at all. We don’t want it to end! 😭 . So here’s a throwback to @mcmcomiccon October 2018 when we first debuted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert! 👑❤️ . . 📸- @distant_lens . . #itvvictoria #victoriaitv #victoriaandalbert #albertandvictoria #princealbertofsaxecoburgandgotha #princealbert #queenvictoriaandprincealbert #queenvictoriacosplay #queenvictoriaofengland #queenvictoria #jennacoleman #jennacolemanandtomhughes #tomhughes #itvvictoriafans #itvvictoria (at MCM London Comic Con) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXiCLUAcD5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=d3avi7h3fjnm