The ice Queen
Stars Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes tell how the Christmas special of the series will show the royals were hugely influential
VICTORIA star Jenna Coleman had to get her skates on for the programme’s Christmas special.
Viewers are transported back to the 1846 and, as well as having three little ones running around, Victoria and Albert are expecting their fourth child.
But that doesn’t mean the former Doctor Who can’t take to the ice rink.
Jenna, 31, said: “Victoria refuses to let being pregnant stop her pretty much doing anything, to the shock of those around her. She ice skates with her bump.”
Prince Albert, meanwhile, is obsessed with staging the perfect family Christmas and transforms their home into a winter wonderland.
It was great fun to film, said Tom Hughes, who plays the prince.
The 31-year-old said: “I enjoyed it all. The smell of pine needles on set was very welcome.”
However, the show was filmed in summer and Tom added: “It was odd to walk outside from that to June sunshine.”
He needed a bit of skating practice though, as the rink was synthetic.
Tom said: “I’d been on skates before but getting used to skating on plastic is a completely different kettle of fish.”
Victoria’s willingness to tackle controversial topics – including postnatal depression and the Irish potato famine – has been applauded. There will also be plenty of Christmas cheer in
store, but we can also expect some emotional moments.
The festive period reminds Victoria of her lonely childhood spent at Kensington.
But then the monarch takes in an African orphan called Sarah. As she tries to help the abandoned little girl, she “eases the wounds of her own childhood experience”.
Jenna said: “Victoria’s interest in Sarah is two-fold. She is a princess from another world and throughout Victoria’s life has always been curious about other cultures and traditions.
“Sarah enters Victoria’s life as an orphan – abandoned and alone – and Victoria can see something of herself in Sarah. It becomes an almost cathartic experience.”
In true Christmas style, much of the episode revolves around the importance of family and Jenna calls the life that her character and Albert built together a “safe haven”.
She said: “As Victoria and Albert are both from broken homes and dysfunctional childhoods, it makes a lot of sense in understanding the importance they place on family.
“In many ways, the traditional image of family and Christmas stems from them.”
The royal couple’s children rushing in to open their gifts were Jenna’s favourite scenes from the special.
She said: “The set really felt inhabited in those familial scenes, and you begin to feel like you are in a home, not a palace.”
However, it isn’t always plain sailing for the family. Tensions are set to rise between Victoria and Albert after he invites some unwelcome house guests to join the celebrations. Exactly who that is though, we’ll have to wait and see.
Prince Albert has another important part to play in the Christmas episode. And how he, and Victorians in general, helped shape our present-day festivities is a running theme throughout writer Daisy Goodwin’s script.
It’s something Tom wasn’t aware of until undertaking the role.
He said: “Once I began researching his life and times, it became apparent – not only the prominence of Christmas in their lives but also the many similarities in tradition between an 1840s Christmas and a modern-day one. Many of these traditions were introduced in the period and set the trend which has endured until today.”
Jenna added: “They kind of invented Christmas as we know it. We have a brilliant scene with a Christmas card and she’s like, ‘Why would we need to send the card, people know it’s Christmas?”’
Talk soon turns to the things Tom and Jenna – who are rumoured to be dating in real life – always make sure they do at Christmas off-screen.
Tom said: “I’m not really a man for tradition. Certainly not a stickler for it, anyhow.”
A moment later though, he has a change of heart.
He added: “You can’t beat Christmas pudding.”
Jenna is more definitive in choosing her favourite festive tradition.
“Drinking Baileys,” she said, “while wrapping presents in front of an open fire on Christmas Eve.” ● Victoria’s Christmas special is on ITV on Christmas Day at 9pm.