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.

Covers courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK.