WE ARE NOT AMUSED!
The honeymoon is over in the new series of Victoria, as Jenna Coleman explains
Having given birth to her first child at the end of the last series of Victoria, the young Queen couldn’t wait to get back to work.
However, having been forced to lie in bed to allow herself a full recovery, she’s not best pleased at having to temporarily relinquish control. In fact, at the beginning of this new series, we find her in a very bad mood!
“She hated being pregnant and wrote in her diary in capital letters that It’s the only thing Id read,” says Jenna Coleman, who plays her. “Basically she’s been in confinement since her baby, Victoria, was born because in those days they believed that women who had just given birth should lie horizontally for a month and not move. So when we meet her, she has been fussed over for a month, unable to do anything for herself and she is not in the best of tempers.
“When she does return to her duties she finds her husband Albert has effectively taken over in her absence and she doesn’t like it. The first series was all about her relationship with Lord Melbourne and Albert arriving, the proposal and the wedding but we hadn’t really delved into their married life.
“Series two gives us the opportunity to really get into the love between Victoria and Albert and the shifting of power as well as her keeping firm hands on the crown while being a mother.”
Despite their love for each other, Albert’s jockeying for a worthwhile role in life and Victoria’s determination to make the decisions causes friction that occasionally explodes!
“There is a real thunderous clash of horns there!” laughs Jenna (31), who is dating Tom Hughes – who plays Prince Albert – in real life. “In one scene I had to throw a hair brush at him and it hit him so hard that it broke!
“Their relationship is interesting to play because although they have a passionate love for each other they have opposing temperaments. He is scientific, logical, methodical and shy; she is emotionally led and impulsive. Put those two together and there are fireworks.
“I am not naturally an argumentative person or confrontational so it’s interesting playing a person like that. It’s one of those things about Victoria that is very opposite to me.”
Jenna, who first came to prominence as Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale, says that knowing Tom so well helps in playing husband and wife on screen.
“There’s an experience there, a history that you can really work off together and challenge each other. We are trying to recreate one of the greatest love stories there has ever been and you never want to lose their passionate love – but at the same time, their occasional complete annoyance with each other. The power struggle between them ebbs and flows.”
This second series covers a lot of ground. Despite hating pregnancy, Victoria gave birth to nine children. Within three months of having their first child she was devastated to find herself pregnant again… and she blamed her husband!
“We cover nearly six years and by the time of the Christmas special she is
“There is a real thunderous clash of horns between Victoria and Albert!”
pregnant with her fourth child.
“Later in life she said to Albert, ‘You ruined my first couple of years of marriage, do you know that?’ She explained that if she hadn’t been pregnant she would have been free to enjoy the first couple of years of honeymoon and marriage. But there is a misconception that she didn’t like her children. In her diaries she talks about them a lot and you can see she was a doting mum. It was being pregnant that she didn’t like.”
Before her royal role, Jenna played Clara in DoctorWho, opposite first Matt Smith, then Peter Capaldi. She is very much looking forward to watching the first female Doctor, Broadchurch actress Jodie Whittaker.
Capaldi will leave in the Christmas special of DoctorWho when we will glimpse Jodie as the Time Lord regenerates for the 13th time. We won’t see her again until the new series later in 2018. “I’ll be watching the Christmas specials of both Victoria and DoctorWho,” says Jenna. “I’m very pleased for Jodie. She is an incredible actress and a lovely person.”