Jenna Coleman: The straitlaced Victorian era really just came from Prince Albert

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas continue their glamorous wedding celebrations in Mumbai

This is for all of the fans of the ITV/PBS series Victoria. I tried watching it and even *I* thought it was a pro-monarchist fantasy of Queen Victoria’s reign. But my mom loves the series, and so do millions of other people. The idea is to show “the real Victoria” at the beginning of her lengthy reign, to reclaim the image of Victoria from the dour, overweight widow as she exists in the royal zeitgeist and make her sexy, make it a story about how to maintain power over the course of decades. Jenna Coleman stars as Queen Victoria, and she’s photographed inside Kensington Palace (which was largely Victoria’s home) for Harper’s Bazaar UK. You can read the cover story & see the editorial here. Jenna is lovely, and I’m sure a lot of Whovians remember her from Doctor Who as well. She talks a lot about Victoria and some of it is really interesting. Some highlights:

How she researches Queen Victoria: She goes to Kensington Palace “whenever I can”, and obsessively scours biographies and the Queen’s own diaries for clues to her personality. Queen Victoria’s own drawings are her favourite source of inspiration. “You really feel that you are seeing the world through her eyes. Everything else has been edited – even her diaries, which were cut by her daughter.”

On being short, like Victoria: “I can empathise with that feeling of it being harder to project power. For the first series, I was put into cream dresses and bonnets – and I hated wearing a bonnet! I felt really young and girlie. Then I realised that was exactly how Victoria must have felt, surrounded by men in black suits, and having to lead.”

The Victorian era of morality: In Victoria’s case, a collection of private etchings, drawn by herself and Prince Albert and showing the Queen in what she feared was an unsuitably homely role with her children, was acquired by a reporter. “She was mortified, and thought it would damage the image she cultivated of a person to be taken seriously,” says Coleman. In fact, the reverse was true. After the scandals of the preceding eras – Victoria’s immediate predecessor, William IV, had 10 illegitimate children with the actress Dorothea Jordan – it was seen as a refreshing novelty to have a monarch who was an exemplary model of uxorious fidelity. “The Victorian era being strait-laced and buttoned-up is the first thing anyone thinks about, but really that was Albert. He came from a broken home, and it was he who was keen on the morals, and because Victoria was so in love with him she would go along with him – but only up to a certain point.”

She’s very normal: “I’m very nesty. I like patterns and textures and velvets. Books make me feel grounded. And just walking out of the door to get a coffee in the morning – the luxury of free time. I love touching base with normal life. I worked out that last year, I literally spent more time in other people’s clothes than in my own, but you’ve got to look after your own life, too, so you can come to work and bring some sense of reality to it.”

On having babies: “Half of my friends have babies, and half don’t, so it doesn’t feel like a pressure. I want to take my time. There’s a whole lot more of the world for me to see first. I’d love to have children one day. But not nine of them. I can tell you that as a fact.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

She’s probably right about Albert’s strong influence in what we think of as the straitlaced Victorian era. It’s likely true Victoria was lighter and less fussy and Albert brought that strong Germanic touch to the British monarchy, which is honestly still seen today. Also: before now, I didn’t know that Victoria & Albert were dating in real life! Jenna Coleman is dating Tom Hughes, who plays Albert in the series. Damn. Should I give this series another shot? I remember trying to watch the first season and it was like Queen Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas continue their glamorous wedding celebrations in Mumbai

Covers courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK.

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26 Responses to “Jenna Coleman: The straitlaced Victorian era really just came from Prince Albert”

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  1. Case says:

    I adore Jenna. She was my favorite companion on Doctor Who and does an excellent job on Victoria — I think she’s hugely talented, so I’m glad she’s been getting better recognition in this role. She certainly has no trouble projecting power even though she is short, haha. She’s also probably one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever, ever seen.

    • Lee says:

      Agreed! Loving Victoria! She and Tom are doing such a great job!

      • kim says:

        I love this series!!! When Victoria and Albert squabble cracks me up. They truly love each other and I love how frustrated they get with each other lmao

    • Mia says:

      I love this series. This season Lord P, grew on me and poor Bertie.

    • Alyse says:

      I like Jenna, but she was one of my least favourite companions… I felt like she was too much of a Mary Sue!
      I’m Team Ponds 🙂

  2. Elisabeth says:

    Albert’s father was a notorious adulterer. He was almost pathological in his morality with his lifestyle. Sex was only for procreation. Albert was extremely uptight.

  3. Jilly says:

    I remember the rumors of the brief filing she had w Prince Harry…I felt like it was the beginning of his switch to brunettes lol!

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3112913/amp/Prince-Harry-Jenna-Coleman-spotted-cosy-chat-polo.html

    • Molly says:

      I was all in on that relationship! I think Meghan’s wonderful, but Jenna would have been a great Duchess.

  4. JadedBrit says:

    The straight-laced concept of Victorianism is infinitely more multifaceted than Albert-the-Moraliser and predates him; the decline of Regency mores began post- the Napoleonic Wars and can be traced, partially, to the redefinition of masculinity that was popularised by both clerical and medical thinkers (not to mention the gradual (over several centuries) and near total restriction of women to the wholly domestic sphere as self-policing arbiters of virtue – Amanda Vickery’s “The Gentleman’s Daughter” is a good introduction to the imposition of societal constraint as a consequence of industrialisation/capitalism). If I can dig up a link to a thesis on said developments later, I’ll post it.

    • Jessica says:

      Thank you for this informative comment!

    • Nanea says:

      Very late to the party, but thank you for the enlightenment and for sharing that link!

    • DS9 says:

      I would think the imperialistic expansion into areas with less stringent definitions of morality also played a part. Straight laced Victorianism served to help further delineate between “civilized” white society and “barbaric” native/Asian/Indian/muslim/African ones.

      It’s one way in which white women actively supported white supremacy.

  5. Lolo says:

    I watch it. It’s amazing what a DVR can do for your viewing habits because if I didn’t have one I definitely wouldn’t make time for this show. But I can set a season record on a show and have it just sit there for weeks which is what happens to me with this show. Then I watch it when I run out of other things. I find it kind of boring, honestly, but the performances are good. Someone somewhere wrote that the show would get better if Albert would just die already and I actually think that’s true. He is SUCH A DRAG.

  6. Suz says:

    Give the series another chance. If nothing else, for Rufus Sewell playing Lord Melbourne. That man is like a fine wine.

    • Anare says:

      Right? I didn’t know Rufus Sewell before this show but fell in love with Lord M immediately. Swoon!

  7. Jessica says:

    Jenna is marvelous. She was also great in a BBC miniseries last year, The Cry. Superb acting.

  8. Andrea says:

    Reportedly, she turned Prince Harry down for Tom Hughes!

  9. SJR says:

    I am watching Victoria. Yes, Rufus Sewell is getting better looking with age, and the relationship with QV was very sweet. Season 1 in which the scheming Mother tries to have Victoria choose between Albert and his Brother was full of beautiful men in finery. I love a well done period BBC/Masterpiece Theater show. 🙂

    That green dress in the upper pic is hideous, btw.

  10. dare says:

    When I was in England for college years and years ago, I was hooked on watching the brit soap Emmerdale where she played a wild child character before she had her big-league makeover (seriously, do a Google search and marvel – her stylist, derm and trainer deserve a shout-out!). She was great in that too and always had x-factor.

  11. Jessica says:

    They both are doing a great acting job on the show. Tom especially is nailing it – his super German/moral/uptight interpretation translates into Hot Albert. His accent really drives is home!

  12. DS9 says:

    I also think the oppressive manner in which her mother and whats his face raised her made it easy for her to fall mostly in step with Albert’s ideals.

  13. Anare says:

    I have watched every episode all 3 seasons and love it. I’ve learned a lot too because I keep going to google to look things up see if it really happened or get context.