Royal romance, on and off screen

eye colour right and for browneyed Coleman, that meant trying many different coloured contact lenses before they settled on the right shade of blue.

‘‘I think we tried about seventy pairs and had different camera tests,’’ says Coleman. ‘‘It was Nic Collins, our head of makeup’s idea, which was great because if you look at any of the portraits of her, the first thing you see is her eyes. They pop out at you. And it was great for me to look so different. And in terms of comfort, the lenses were fine other than when we shot by candlelight and everything became very dream-like … which wasn’t unpleasant really!’’

While the ‘‘upstairs’’ life in the eight-part drama, which starts on TV One on Sunday, is based on real events, the ‘‘downstairs’’ escapades and characters ‘‘below’’ are mostly fictitious.

In the opening episode, a messenger races to Kensington Palace to inform young Victoria that her uncle, William IV has died in the night and she is to be Queen. She then prepares for her coronation and moving into Buckingham Palace.

But not least of her problems is her mother, the Duchess of Kent (Catherine Flemming), who plans to reign unofficially through the young monarch, with the help of scheming Sir John Conroy (Paul Rhys), the ambitious controller of the Duchess’s household. 8.30pm, Sunday,