Victoria: An Ordinary Woman

February 6, 2017 4:52 AM - Season 1, Episode 4

Much ado about titles, allowances and Daddy's actress friend. Tories don't want no damn Papists. Swashbuckling brothers. Albert takes notes. And, there's a wedding.

Apparently, back in the day, it took at least six weeks to make a wedding cake. One wonders how fresh the thing was.

posted by Thorzdad (9 comments total)

It's getting pretty good, now that the obvious historical plot points are getting checked off, and we can explore the details a bit. I'm not sure I understand why titles and allowances are such a Big Deal, given that Albert is effectively at the top of the pile already, but I'm rolling with it.

Shouldn't the King of Belgium be kinging in Belgium a bit more? I'm sure there are nice actresses in Brussels, too, Leopold.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:58 AM on February 6, 2017

This one came off as being oddly empty to me. A lot of quick vignettes with an anti-climactic wedding seemingly tossed in. Was Victoria's wedding really such a small, unassuming affair?

Albert requesting paper and pen to take notes at the brothel was pretty funny, though I have no clue as to its historical veracity.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:09 PM on February 6, 2017

I feel like I'm watching this for the lulz, between all the reminding Victoria of how she's a queen in case she didn't know that, and the big plot of the episode being that Albert wants to be able to pay for his own handkerchiefs, not mistresses.

Also, they're sure implying he was a virgin here. Does anyone know that one for sure?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:46 PM on February 6, 2017

I know the Victorian Age has its own special brand of prudery named after it (although Victoria's upbringing would have technically happened just before the Victorian Age), but I can't help but wonder at Victoria's naiveté about mistresses. Surely she learned some history in her preparation to be queen? Surely she was able to put two and two together?
posted by Liesl at 11:07 AM on February 7, 2017

Also, riddle me this: Albert is all whinybaby about being able to buy his own handkerchiefs and not having to be dependent on his wife for everything. But he manifests that by whining about how much his allowance is, which comes directly from Parliament by virtue of Victoria's being his wife. Doesn't that amount to exactly the same thing?
posted by Liesl at 11:11 AM on February 7, 2017

Twenty thousand pounds buys a hell of a lot of handkerchiefs.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:04 PM on February 7, 2017

Also, they're sure implying he was a virgin here. Does anyone know that one for sure?

Quick, lazy googling says yes. It wouldn't seem impossible, given a sheltered, removed upbringing, and an aristocratic-circle Romantic Era adoption of earlier chivalric codes, which is all just guesswork on my part.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:11 PM on February 7, 2017

Also remember that they're both just 20 years old.

My wife laughed in mild horror at the "crunch" when they cut into the cake.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:36 AM on February 8, 2017

I know the Victorian Age has its own special brand of prudery named after it (although Victoria's upbringing would have technically happened just before the Victorian Age), but I can't help but wonder at Victoria's naiveté about mistresses. Surely she learned some history in her preparation to be queen? Surely she was able to put two and two together?

The extent of V's innocence is almost certainly inaccurate; stereotypically "Victorian" attitudes to sex don't really kick in until the 1840s and 1850s, and what we know about V from her private journals indicates that she was never particularly "Victorian" at all in that respect. (Given her notorious male relatives, she was highly unlikely to be completely out of the loop about such matters.)
posted by thomas j wise at 10:21 AM on February 8, 2017