We’ve discussed Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837-1901, a ton on this blog. We’ve run down our top five portrayals of her, as well as numerous films and TV series that feature or include her. But we’ve never done a “here’s every single sighting of Queen Victorian on screen” post, and I love those, so I thought it was time!
Born in 1819, Victoria came to the throne because her father’s (Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, fourth son of King George III) three older brothers died without legitimate children. She was raised by a controlling mother (Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld). When she came to the throne in 1837, she was able to develop into her own person.
Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. The couple were very much in love, and had nine children, who married into and thus connected many of the royal families of Europe. Albert died relatively young (age 42), in 1861, and afterwards Victoria famously went into mourning for the rest of her very long life.
Victoria was a constitutional monarch, meaning her power was very much tempered by Parliament, but she had a strong role behind the scenes. She was a figurehead for the UK’s massive imperial empire, culminating in her being crowned Empress of India in 1876.
Victoria was one of the longest lived British monarchs, reigning for 63 years. She died in 1901, after which she was succeeded by her son, who became Edward VII.
Now, let’s count down as many appearances of Queen Victoria on screen as I can track down!
Louie Henri in Sixty Years a Queen (1913)
An early silent biopic.
Mrs. Henry Lytton in Disraeli (1916)
A silent biopic of British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of the UK from 1874-80 among other roles.
Julia Faye in The Yankee Clipper (1927)
A silent adventure film “set against the maritime rivalry between the United States and Great Britain in the mid-19th century” per Wikipedia. The film opens at Victoria’s court, with a shipbuilder being tasked with preventing the United States from interfering with the UK’s tea trade.
Margaret Mann in Disraeli (1929)
Another Disraeli biopic.
Hanna Waag in Waltz War (1933)
A German musical film “loosely based on the rivalry between waltz composers Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss I, as well as the life of the Austrian ballet dancer Katti Lanner (Joseph’s daughter) who eventually settled in Victorian Britain” per Wikipedia. At one point Victoria invites Albert to a waltz ball in the hopes that the scandalously close dance will cause him to fall in love with her.
Madeleine Ozeray in Court Waltzes (1933)
A French version of Waltz Wars.
Jenny Jugo in Victoria in Dover (1936)
A German romantic comedy about Victoria meeting Albert.
Anna Neagle in Victoria the Great (1937)
A biopic timed to celebrate the centenary of her accession to the throne in 1837, covering Victoria’s life from that year until the death of Albert.
Anna Neagle in Sixty Glorious Years (1938)
A sequel to Victoria the Great, picking up with after Albert’s death.
Beryl Mercer in The Little Princess (1939)
An adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel about a wealthy young girl (Shirley Temple) left at a Victorian boarding school. When her father dies, the evil school owner makes the girl into a servant. At some point, the girl sneaks into an appearance by Victoria to ask for permission to search for her father. Don’t ask me!
Hedwig Wangel in Uncle Kruger (1941)
A Nazi film that purports to be a biopic of South African politician Paul Kruger; Victoria is depicted as an alcoholic.
Fay Compton in The Prime Minister (1941)
Another Disraeli biopic!
Evelyn Beresford in Buffalo Bill (1944)
A Western about frontiersman/showman Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917). I’m guessing the show must make it to England and the queen sees a performance?
Pamela Brown in Alice in Wonderland (1949)
An adaptation of the Lewis Carroll novel. It’s primarily animated, but Victoria is one of the few live-action actors. The film starts with the author working as a teacher in Oxford, where Victoria visits.
Evelyn Beresford in Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
A musical comedy film that’s a loosely accurate look at performer/sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860-1926). Once again, I’m guessing she must perform for the queen at some point?
Irene Dunne in The Mudlark (1950)
A very fictional film in which a mudlark (children who scavenge for lost items in the Thames and then sells them) meets the queen, which encourages her to reenter public life after Albert’s death.
Helen Hayes in Robert Montgomery Presents: “Victoria Regina” (1951)
A TV adaptation of a popular play about the queen. Hayes had played the role of Victoria in the play as well.
Renée Asherson in Happy and Glorious (1952)
A live TV broadcast; the script was drawn from the Victoria Regina play.
Sybil Thorndike in Melba (1953)
A musical biopic about Australian soprano Nellie Melba (1861-1931), one of the most popular singers of the late 19th century.
Romy Schneider in The Story of Vickie / Victoria in Dover / Mädchenjahre einer Königin (1954)
An Austrian musical comedy remake of Victoria in Dover.
Claire Bloom in Robert Montgomery Presents: “Victoria Regina” (1957)
Yet another TV adaptation of the popular play.
Julie Harris in Victoria Regina (1961)
Yet ANOTHER TV adaptation of the popular play.
Patricia Routledge in Victoria Regina (1964)
Yet yet ANOTHER TV adaptation of the play!
Avis Bunnage in The Wrong Box (1966)
A British comedy film adaptation of the 1889 novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne. “In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other, or can be made to have seemed to do so,” per IMDB.
Jane Connell in Bewitched: “Aunt Clara’s Victoria Victory” (1967)
“Thanks to bumbling Aunt Clara, Samantha is being visited by Queen Victoria,” per IMDB. Bewitched, of course, is about a woman with magical powers trying to seem like a normie in modern suburbia.
Joan Sterndale-Bennett in Those Fantastic Flying Fools (1967)
A British comedy/scifi film that IMDB summarizes as, “In Victorian England, an American showman uses a wealthy Frenchman’s finances to build a German explosives expert’s giant cannon designed to fire a people-filled projectile to the Moon, but spies and saboteurs endanger the project”
Terry Jones in Monty Python’s Flying Circus: “The Wacky Queen” (1969)
“Footage of Queen Victoria (Terry Jones) and William Gladstone (Graham Chapman) from 1880 show the two getting into all sorts of silent comedy mischief, narrated by Alfred Lord Tennyson (Michael Palin),” per the Monty Python Wiki.
?? in Monty Python’s Flying Circus: “Queen Victoria Handicap” (1974)
“A commentator Peter (Eric Idle) commentates a race between Queen Victorias as they run around the racetrack and jump over hedges,” per the Monty Python Wiki.
Michael Palin in Monty Python’s Flying Circus: “Poetry Reading (Ants)” (1974)
In an episode with running jokes about ants, Queen Victoria attends a poetry reading.
Christine Ozanne in The Flaxton Boys (1969)
A British historical TV series about the adventures of different generations of boys from 1854 to 1945. I’m not sure where Victoria turns up, but based on the costumes I’m guessing it’s in the first season?
Mollie Maureen in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
A “slightly parodic” look at Sherlock Holmes per IMDB. In one storyline the British Navy is building a submarine, which Victoria comes to inspect.
Perlita Neilson & Mavis Edwards in Fall of Eagles (1974)
A BBC miniseries about the ruling dynasties of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia from 1848 to 1919.
Peter Sellers in The Great McGonagall (1974)
A comedy film biopic about Scottish poet William McGonagall that includes the 1882 assassination attempt on Victoria.
Annette Crosbie in Edward the King (1975)
A bio-series about British King Edward VII, first son of Victoria and Albert.
Rosemary Leach in Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1978)
A British TV miniseries about the statesman.
Sheila Reid in Lillie (1978)
A British TV miniseries about Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), socialite and actress, who at one point is presented at court.
Jessica Spencer in Cribb: “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” (1981)
A British police drama set in the late 19th century.
Zena Walker in Number 10: “Dizzy” (1983)
A British TV series that depicts the lives of seven British Prime Ministers from the 1780s to 1920s (who, of course, lived at 10 Downing Street).
Erica Rogers in Shaka Zulu (1986)
A TV series about Shaka kaSenzangakhona aka Shaka Zulu, the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. The story is told via flashbacks by an Irish doctor, and the story is based in part upon the writings of British traders, so obviously there must be some “Queen Victoria comments on the events in southern Africa” scene.
Miriam Margolyes in Blackadders’ Christmas Carol (1988)
A parody of Dickens’Â A Christmas Carol. At some point, Victoria and Albert show up at Blackadders’ home and he insults them and throws them out. As one does!
Anna Massey in Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
An American TV adaptation of the Jules Verne novel.
Alice De Mallet De Donas in Red Dwarf: “Meltdown” (1991)
The British TV scifi show; in this episode, “When Kryten finds a matter paddle on the Red Dwarf, the crew decide to test it out and end up on Waxworld, an enormous waxdroid theme park where waxdroids modelled after history’s most famous heroes and villains are at war with each other” per IMDB.
Margaret Heale in Rhodes (1996)
A British TV miniseries biopic about Cecil Rhodes, the 19th century British adventurer, empire-builder and politician who made his fortune in diamond mining in South Africa, serving as prime minister from 1890-96 where he pushed to take land from Black Africans.
Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown (1997)
A feature film about Victoria’s relationship with her servant John Brown, which may have had a romantic element and caused scandal at the time.
Liz Moscrop in From Hell (2001)
A horror film loosely based on the Jack the Ripper murders. There’s some convoluted plot point about Queen Victoria’s grandson but my eyes are crossing trying to read the summary, and it’s been too long since I’ve seen the deeply shitty movie to remember/care.
Victoria Hamilton in Victoria & Albert (2001)
A British TV miniseries about the early lives and marriage of Victoria and Albert.
Prunella Scales in Looking for Victoria (2003)
A docudrama about Queen Victoria’s life and actress Prunella Scales’s research for her one-woman show An Evening with Queen Victoria.
Gemma Jones in Shanghai Knights (2003)
A martial arts comedy film starring Jackie Chan set in 1887 that starts in China and ends up in London.
Janine Duvitski in The Young Visiters (2003)
A fabulous adaptation of a book written in 1899ish by a nine-year-old girl. The plot is convoluted, and I don’t remember where Victoria shows up, but this is definitely one to watch!
Kathy Bates in Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
A feature film adaptation of Jules Vernes’s 1873 novel as an eccentric inventor attempts to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. Queen Victoria turns up at the end, as various ministers dispute who won.
Pauline Collins in Doctor Who: “Tooth and Claw” (2006)
The Tenth Doctor and Rose accidentally drop into 1879 Scotland and encounter Queen Victoria on her way to Balmoral Castle.
Robert Webb in That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006)
One sketch from a fabulous British TV sketch comedy show. Watch it, you’ll die laughing!
Sarah Hadland, Martha Howe-Douglas, Ellie White, & Jessica Ransom in Horrible Histories (2009-)
The British children’s TV show in which history becomes comedy.
Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria (2009)
The feature film biopic focused on the queen’s early reign.
Sylvia Strange in Hysteria (2011)
At the end of this film about the late 19th century invention of the vibrator, Queen Victoria is shown opening a box that presumably contains one.
Jenna Coleman in Victoria (2016-19)
The three-season bioseries about the young queen.
Judi Dench in Victoria and Abdul (2017)
A feature film about an older Queen Victoria and her relationship with her Indian Muslim servant Abdul Karim.
Amanda Root in The Black Prince (2017)
A feature film about Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire and the Punjab region of India, and his relationship with Queen Victoria.
Pam Ferris in Holmes and Watson (2018)
A deeply terrible comedy about Sherlock Holmes. The pair try prevent a planned murder of the queen.
Jodhi May in The Warrior Queen of Jhansi (2019)
A feature film about Rani of Jhansi who in 1857 India, she led her people into battle against the British Empire. Rani’s story is intercut with the actions of the British East India Company’s army and Queen Victoria and her government.
Miriam Margolyes in The Windsors (2020)
A British TV sitcom parody of the British royal family reimagined as a soap opera.
Jessie Buckley in Dolittle (2020)
A fantasy adventure film about the fictional Doctor Dolittle, who can communicate with animals. He discovers the queen is being poisoned and sets off to find the cure, a rare plant.
Alexa Povah in The King’s Man (2021)
An Edwardian-period action movie about a duke who runs a spy ring. Queen Victoria shows up in a flashback.
What’s your favorite portrayal of Queen Victoria on screen?
Buffalo Bill was invited to the UK to do a show for Victoria, and he did meet her: https://www.andmeetings.com/blog/post/historic-meetings-when-queen-victoria-met-buffalo-bill
… of all the various twists and turns this article took, ‘Romie Schneider as Queen Victoria’ might have been the least expected of them all (She and Ms. Emily Blunt are head-to-head in the ‘Queen Victoria would have sold at least one of her children and possibly her mortal soul to look THAT Good’ stakes), though it’s interesting to note that she appeared in an Austrian film.
A German film I could have seen coming, but if I remember correctly the Habsburgs were one of the only Mitteleuropean dynasties Queen V’s amazingly profuse brood of grandchildren did NOT marry into.
Even more hilarious was the funniest running joke in SHANGHAI KNIGHTS – the one where Lord Rathbone pretends to be a mere tenth in line to Queen Victoria’s throne (Honestly, Roy O’Bannon was probably closer to the mark with ‘somewhere between twenty and infinity’, even in jest).
Also, the fact that Ms. Cathy Bates has played Queen Victoria and nobody seems to have batted an eye delights me.
I spy the Bucket woman!
From Hell uses one of the more ludcrious theories behind Jack the Ripper’s identity; namely that Prince Albert Victor entered into a secret marriage (and fathered a secret child) with a common woman and in order to deal with it without a scandal, Queen Victoria orders her royal physician Sir William Gull to dispose of the woman and the child. As for the rest, I’m going to copy directly from the film’s Wikipedia page because it is too wonky bonkers to try and distill into a reasonable summary:
“Gull was instructed to dispose of all witnesses [the five sex workers killed by Jack the Ripper] to the forbidden marriage of painter Walter Sickert [an actual person, also theorized to be Jack the Ripper’s true identity] to Ann Crook, the mother of his legitimate daughter, Alice. Sickert is revealed to be Prince Albert, grandson of reigning Queen Victoria. Albert is dying of syphilis, which makes baby Alice the soon-to-be heiress to the British throne. Gull boasts to Abberline that he will be remembered in history for giving “birth to the 20th century.” Abberline draws his gun, vowing that Gull will never see the 20th century, but before he is able to shoot Gull, he is knocked out by Ben Kidney, another Freemason.
The Freemasons try to eliminate Abberline without leaving any witnesses, but Abberline fights back and kills one of the assassins by overturning a carriage. Next, he rushes to save Mary but arrives too late, and blames his superior for not helping him or Godley on the cases. Going through the gruesome murder, Abberline discovers a brunette lock of hair differing from Mary’s red, concealing this evidence to protect her. Gull’s increasingly sinister behaviour lends insight into his murderous, but calculating mind. Rather than publicly charge Gull, the Freemasons lobotomize him to protect themselves and the royal family from the scandal. Gull defiantly states he has no equal among men, remaining unrepentant until the operation, which renders him an invalid like Ann.”
Just to be a completionist, she also made a brief appearance in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. :)
Terry Jones’s performance is the definitive Victoria. (Although I’m rather fond of Judy Dench as the Queen, and would also like to see Prunella Scales.)
I’m also a fan of Miriam Margolyes in Blackadder’s Christmas Carol?
Wow – so much to cover. I had completely forgotten about Monty Python’s Victoria Handicap, but it gave me the giggles when I originally saw it (they also had a great little video with ancient philosophers playing footie). I also did not have Romy Schneider on my bingo card – the poor women must have been fed up with being forever laced up and having to balance sparkly headgear. Saw Mrs Brown, saw Victoria & Abdul, loved Blackadder’s Christmas Carol (Jim Broadbent was a dopey Albert – damn!). I have to say my favorite recent project was The Young Victoria – Emily Blunt was superb in the role, and I liked Rupert Freund as Albert, as well is Miranda Richardson as the Duchess of Kent. Paul Bettany made a delicious Lord Melbourne (the guy who was thrown over by his wife, Lady Caroline Lamb, for mad, bad and dangerous to know Lord Byron). The less said about Jenna Coleman and the cheap-a$$ costumes and even cheesier tiaras, the better. Yes – Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show made it to England – three times – and entertained the Royal family, starting with the Prince and Princess of Wales, then Queen Victoria a few days later in 1887. Annie Oakley (Annie Get Your Gun) was one of the featured sharp shooters. Did love Pauline Collin’s take on the Queen in Doctor Who – Tooth and Claw was one of my favorite episodes from that particular series. I’m not even going to try to catch up on most of these selections, although I am curious to see Amanda Root’s take on the role – I don’t think I’ve seen her in anything since the version of Forsyte Saga she did with Damian Lewis.
As I recall, she was warm and motherly. Kind of a nothing role, though. I did a review of that movie
Miriam Margolyes is my favourite Victoria, although I will have to check out the Bucket woman’s turn at playing her.
Seriously, it might be worth doing an article on Patricia Routledge at some point. She’s best known as Hetty Wainthropp and Hyacinth Bucket, she was my favourite Mrs. Jennings and was also in David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby.
The Wrong Box is worth seeking out as well. It’s a very good film with Michael Caine, Peter Sellers, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore that somehow fell into a memory hole.
For the record: Victoria apparently never said, ‘We are not amused.’ in fact there are a number of entries in her diary where she writes ‘I was very much amused!’