The Duchess and the Footman...

If there couldn't have been a better storyline to show how the show had dropped in quality in Season 3.

The real Victoria would have never allowed any woman in her household, much less a high noble carrying on an affair, with a footman no less, in her presence. She would have screamed at her to get out of her sight and never let her back into court. Certainly not scold her husband. I thought that whole arc was a chore to watch (like the fictional dragging stuff between Ernst and the Duchess of Sutherland). She was acting like a feckless idiot with a selfish servant and we are supposed to imagine she's Juliet.

I hope the fictional Sophie and that wooden football player are not back for season 4.

Honestly, I guess it's fitting that the Victorian era was boring after the initial years of her reign.