A WOMAN'S BRIDGE
  • Home
  • Who We Are and What We Do
  • Women, Culture & History
  • Literature, Fashion & Film
  • Variety
  • Donate to Women's Services
  • Events

The Young Victoria

4/30/2015

 
Begins with the sound of 19th century British royal guard calling out the Royal Salute while in formation. The long line of men in red jackets and tall black hats buckled in gold under the chin; all carrying guns evokes a sense of authority, power, protection and mystery, all in one as the scene fades to a blur and then clears again to a young Queen Victoria, in a red thick velvet cape with black and white fur-like trimming, who is with her beloved King Charles Spaniel, and her lady in waiting. Emily Blunt begins the voice over, "Some people are born more fortunate than others," and so ensues a look into the life and lifestyle of the eventually to be Queen Victoria, who was ruled as a young child by the Kensington System, whereby she was disallowed to do anything on her own and even had to walk down the stairs while holding the hand of an adult at all times. She tells that every little girl wants to be her own princess, even the princess herself. 

This system of rules, created and run in junction by Victoria's mother and her lover by insinuation, Sir John Conroy, seems to cover a two fold purpose: one that since Victoria is the only child with claim to the English throne, she has to be duly protected in all possible ways and therefore lives without peer. The second reason being that disallowing the future Queen any sense of autonomy will break her down into signing a regency agreement giving her German born mother control with Sir John controlling her mother. 

There is a fluid variation in time sequence and it is now June 28, 1838. Queen Victoria is coronated as her feet cannot touch the ground, (her real life height was slightly under five foot tall). The time goes back to when Victoria is an ill teenager, refusing to bow to Sir John's pressure that she sign the regency order. The glow of a fire gives a warm orange-yellow illumination upon the ill girl, as she lies in bed, and her seeming captors. Sir John responds to Victoria's refusals to sign the order with violence, by taking the pen and forcing it into her hand. "I say you will," says he. The pen is thrown on the ground by her. "I say I won't," says she.  This  scene is thankfully interrupted by Victoria's lady in waiting who has come to give the princess her medicine.

At King Leopold's (who is the brother of Victoria's mother) palace in Belgium the politics of Victoria's stance are discussed between Leopold I and an advisor. It is Leopold who insists quite strongly of the marriage of Victoria to her first cousin, Albert of Germany. He is uncle to both of them. 

Victoria continues to hold the hand of her lady in waiting as she walks down the stairs, skipping the last couple with childlike spirit. Meanwhile Albert is drilled by his advisor as to what novels the princess likes, what she is and is not allowed to do, as well as the types of her various recreations. It is strongly in Leopold's interest for Albert to marry Victoria, as this would solidify alliances among Europe's nobility to his favor. The film talks about Leopold's "survival" being based on having increased access to British resources, yet none of the characters in the film act as if they have survived a day in their lives, though they all have their own battles and sorrows.  

Albert and his brother visit Victoria where she is staying in a palace belonging to the King of England. Albert attempts a sales pitch upon initially meeting the princess by claiming to have read Sir Walter Scott. The visit awkwardly continues as Albert, with his brother and Victoria, with her surrounders; play chess while they are gazed at to see if their relationship is developing. 

It does, as the turning point is when Victoria asks Albert, "Do you ever feel like a chess piece yourself in a game being played against your will?" He does not say he does but asks her if that is how she feels. She replies, "Constantly," and that, "I see them leaning in and moving me around the board."
"The Duchess and Sir John?" he inquires, coldly referring to her mother as the former. 
"Not just them," she says, referring to King Leopold and others. Albert tells her, "Then you had better master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can."

She asks him, "You don't recommend I find a husband to play it for me?"
"I should find one to play it with you, not for you." 

Their friendship progresses and continues after the King has died and the new Queen is on the throne. The film implies Victoria is more spirit than strategy at times in ruling her Kingdom and that some members of parliament did not react well to a little woman on the throne with female advisors which lead to general confusion as to outsourcing decisions in order to help the populace of England at large. By accounts the Queen proposed to Albert and their marriage despite ups and downs and squabbles related to the authority as well as the ruling of the Kingdom, was a uniquely happy one. When Albert died at the age of 42, from illness, Victoria spent the rest of her life in mourning. They had nine children together whose descendants live throughout the world. 


By Sarah Bahl
Picture

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All
    70s
    80s
    90s
    Adoption
    Africa
    Age Of Innocence
    Agnes Grey
    Alice Walker
    All American Girls Baseball League
    American South
    Amit Peled
    Ancient Egyptian Fashion
    Angela Lansbury
    Anna Sewell
    Anne Bronte
    Annie Hall
    Art
    Asia
    Audrey Hepburn
    Australia
    Ballet
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Bastard Out Of Carolina
    Beauty
    Beauty From Omo Valley
    Bell Jar
    Black Beauty
    Black History Month
    Blue Jasmine
    Born Into Brothels
    Brand New Life
    Bronte Sisters
    Canada
    Cancer
    Cate Blanchett
    Catherine Deneuve
    Catherine Frot
    Catherine Mcgraw
    Catherine The Great
    Cats
    Center For American Progress
    Charlotte Bronte
    Cheongsam
    Child Marriage
    China
    Christmas
    Cinderella
    Civil Rights Movement
    Civil War
    Classics
    Cleopatra
    Coco Before Chanel
    Coco Chanel
    Communism
    Dangerous Liaisons
    DC Film Festival
    Dennis McGraw
    Dian Fossey
    Domestic Violence
    Doris Lessing
    Dorothy Allison
    Edith Head
    Edith Wharton
    Edwardian Era
    Egypt
    Elizabeth Taylor
    Emily Blunt
    Emma Thompson
    England
    Europe
    Execution
    Fanny Price
    Farewell My Queen
    Fashion
    Film
    Flamenco
    Food
    France
    Fried Green Tomatoes
    Geisha
    Genji
    Gibson Girl
    Giselle
    Global North
    Global South
    Gone With The Wind
    Gorillas In The Mist
    Grace Kelly
    Great Depression
    Halloween Costume
    Hans Silvester
    Harriet Beecher Stowe
    Heian
    Help
    Her Name Is Sabrine
    History
    Hitchcock
    Hong Kong
    Horses
    Iberian Suite
    India
    In The Mood For Love
    Ireland
    Islam
    Jane Austin
    Jane Eyre
    Japan
    Jean Craighead George
    Josephine Baker
    Julia Alvarez
    Julie Of The Wolves
    Jung Chang
    Kar Wai Wong
    Kathryn Stockett
    Kennedy Center
    Lady Audley's Secret
    League Of Their Own
    Lesbian
    Liberia
    Lion In Winter
    Little Women
    Long Walk Home
    Lost German Slave Girl
    Louisa May Alcott
    Lucy Kemp Welch
    Madeleine Albright
    Magdalene Laundry
    Magdalene Sisters
    Maggie Cheung
    Mansfield Park
    Margaret Mitchell
    Margarita
    Maria Rasputin
    Marie Antoinette
    Marie Arana
    Mariinsky Ballet
    Marilyn Mccully
    Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
    Marta Casals Istomin
    Mary Mcgraw
    Memoirs Of A Geisha
    Mental Illness
    Middle East
    Mineko Iwasaki
    Movie
    Mozart's Sister
    Mursi Tribe
    My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    My Fair Lady
    Nancy Price
    Napoleonic Era
    National Velvet
    N.C. Wyeth
    Nia Vardolos
    Odette Toulemonde
    Ounie Lecomte
    Pablo Picasso
    Particularly Cats And Rufus
    Patricia Highsmith
    Persepolis
    Persuasion
    Photography
    P.L. Travers
    Politics
    Potiche
    Pray The Devil Back To Hell
    Psychological Abuse
    Pulp Fiction
    Queen Victoria
    Race
    Rasputin's Daughter
    Rear Window
    Russia
    Ruth Schell
    Sabine Bonnaire
    Sandrine Bonnaire
    Sara Baras
    Saving Mr Banks
    Sense And Sensibility
    Sex In A Cold Climate
    Simplon Pass
    Sisters
    Slavery
    Sleeping With The Enemy
    Spanish Civil War
    Sports
    Stacy Schiff
    Surma Tribe
    Sylvia Plath
    The Color Purple
    Their Eyes Were Watching God
    The Talented Mr. Ripley
    Tony Leung
    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Victorian Era
    Viva Laldjerie
    War And Revolution
    Wild Swans
    William Zhang
    Wings Of The Dove
    Woody Allen
    WWII
    Yearling
    Zana Briski
    Zora Neale Hurston

  • Home
  • Who We Are and What We Do
  • Women, Culture & History
  • Literature, Fashion & Film
  • Variety
  • Donate to Women's Services
  • Events