MovieChat Forums > Victoria (2017) Discussion > I'm enjoying it. But why is so much it f...

I'm enjoying it. But why is so much it fiction than Fact?


Very odd thing to do in a British Drama that's based on one of our Most famous rulers

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I'm guessing to up the entertainment value? Particularly for overseas sales.

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Yes, they have to make characters attractive to our contemporary standards, and perk up their lives to keep our interest. Much as loosely scripted 'reality shows' condense hours of tape into all the 'good bits' , there have to be attractive people doing interesting things, even bringing in drama from the servants, to keep it interesting. No one really leads a consistently interesting life, long long stretches of a monarch's real life were dull, mundane. A pretty young woman becoming the most famous Queen hooks the viewers right away. Hopefully.

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I think the problem may be that like with many things, history is severely lacking in evidence and people then take what is called creative liberties with that.

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To create drama I guess. Although the creator seems to be insisting it actually happened this way in some instances where it clearly didn't (for example in one interview she said V&A disliked each other the first time they met which is clearly contradicted in V's own letters) and I wonder why.

Nothing wrong with dramatic license in my opinion, as long as one admits that that's what it is.

GRR...ARGH!

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According to Victoria's biographer Lady Longford, those letters were dictated by Lehzen and Victoria knew whatever she wrote at Kensington would have been read by her mother; she says their first encounter (1836) was in fact a bit of a disaster because he fell ill, vomited, wanted to go to bed at ten and one time he also slipped on the dancing floor and fell backwards. Plus, at the time he was not good at riding or any sport and he was a bit chubby. His family took care of most of it before trying again to convince her to marry him.

You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFLyOZc5B1k

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I know beyond any doubt that you meant 1836 and not 1936, but I just got so tickled by the image of a very old Victoria and a very old Albert trying to stay out of the way of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII. Sorry for my case of the giggles!

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Victoria's life was plenty interesting without needing to change or fictionalize anything, really. She did not "fall" for Albert until his second visit, when he had lost his baby fat and grown taller, but when she did she fell hard.
Also there is so much documentation, Victoria probably wrote more letters and journals than almost anyone. Later, of course, her youngest daughter Beatrice "edited" them, removing tons of materieal, but still, her letters to oldest Vicki and others are still available and are extraordinarily entertaining and frank.

Anyone wanting to know what V was really like should read her books of letters, they are still available. Make for compulsive reading for those interested.

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I have read them. She fell hard for him physically and that is the only reason why she proposed in four days (obviously, you don't know anyone in four days; plus, her diary is clear enough about what attracted her). Anything else came ages later, after Stockman made sure she had no other influence in her life than Albert. She was no Elizabeth and needed a man to rely on (even if the show is not really truthful on that). She changed all her personal tastes and political opinions to share Albert's ones and she concluded that women would perish without men's protection, that feminists should be whipped and that women are not made for governing (actual quotes).

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I think when Victoria saw Albert for the first time, on his second visit, she swooned.

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fixed it thanks

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I don't get it, because "truth is stranger than fiction."

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I don't get it, because "truth is stranger than fiction."


True, but it can also be a lot less entertaining.

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Was 'Melbourne' really that attractive? I think not

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And neither was Victoria.

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holchie, you're right, she wasn't.

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