''A Royal Christmas'' is a 2014 American holiday romance television film directed by

Alex Zamm Alexander Zamm (born in Woodstock, New York) is an American film director and screenwriter. Zamm has directed such films as ''My Date with the President's Daughter'', ''Tooth Fairy 2'', ''The Pooch And The Pauper'', '' Dr. Dolittle: Million Dolla ...

and starring

Lacey Chabert Lacey Nicole Chabert ( ; born September 30, 1982) is an American actress. One of her first roles was playing Erica Kane's daughter on ''All My Children''. She was the third actress to play Bianca Montgomery, playing the part from 1992 until 1993. ...

, Stephen Hagan, and

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their Wives of Henry VIII, marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen followi ...

. Written by Janeen Damian, Michael Damian, Neal H. Dobrofsky, and Tippi Dobrofsky, the film is about a young American seamstress from Philadelphia whose boyfriend reveals himself to be a royal prince and heir to the throne of Cordinia. He brings her to his country intending to marry her, to the consternation of the Queen. ''A Royal Christmas'' is an original Hallmark Channel movie and first aired on the Hallmark Channel on November 21, 2014.

Plot

Emily Taylor (

) is a humble and kindhearted seamstress devoted to her family's business in Philadelphia. She is also in love with her European boyfriend Leo James (Stephen Hagan). As the Christmas season approaches, Leo reveals that he is in fact Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of a small sovereign country called Cordinia, which is loosely based on

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

(but amalgamates the place names,

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

). He takes Emily back to his country for the Christmas holidays and introduces her to his mother Isadora, Queen of Cordinia (

), who disapproves of the young American immediately. Wanting her son to marry a duchess named Natasha—Leo's ex-girlfriend—whom she finds more suitable than a commoner, the Queen goes out of her way to make Emily feel unwelcome at their castle. Emily tries to adapt to her new royal surroundings, but feels more comfortable with the castle's butlers and housemaids than she does with her boyfriend's royal family and friends. While in town with Leopold buying Christmas Trees, Emily befriends Poppy, a little orphan girl. Emily is then befriended by Galina, the Baroness of Newbury who she later finds out used to be a commoner like herself. Galina also takes to Poppy right away. The conflict comes to a head when the scheming Queen secretly invites the duchess to the castle for Christmas. With the help of the head butler Victor (Simon Dutton), Emily is schooled in

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

and then makes a grand entrance at the Christmas ball in a dress she designed herself out of the Queen's old gown. Her happiness is cut short, however, when the Queen discovers her talking with two of the kitchen staff whom she fires immediately. Later, when Leo proposes marriage, Emily, realizing she doesn't fit in, turns down his offer and returns to America. Sometime later, the Queen realizes all the hurt she's caused and remembers her feelings of love for Victor, whose love she rejected years earlier because he was a commoner. Looking to make up for the hurt that she caused, the Queen accompanies her son and Victor to Philadelphia and watches as Leo proposes once again—and this time Emily accepts. The movie ends with Leopold and Emily's wedding with Poppy in attendance with the Baron and Baroness of Newbury who have presumably adopted her.

Cast

as Emily Taylor * Stephen Hagan as Leo James/Prince Leopold *

as Isadora, Queen of Cordinia * Katherine Flynn as Natasha, Duchess of Warren *

Simon Dutton Simon Dutton (born 1 January 1958) is an English actor,The New York Times
best known for play ...

as Victor * Mitchell Mullen as Bud Taylor * Katrina Nare as Toni * Diana Dumitrescu as Olivia * Vlad Ianus as Will * Kate Loustau as Galina, Baroness of Newbury * Ionut Grama as Kent, Baron of Newbury * Alice O'Mahoney as Poppy * Annie Gould as Sister Agatha * Mihai Niculescu as Grand Duke of Canterbury * Olivia Krevoy as Teenage Girl

Production

''A Royal Christmas'' was filmed on location around Sighisoara,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Release

''A Royal Christmas'' first aired on Hallmark Channel on November 21, 2014.

Critical response

In her review for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', Allison Keene gave the film a positive review and found the cast—especially Lacey Chabert and Jane Seymour—all "natural and likable". Keene continued: Keene concluded that the film is "one part ''Cinderella'', two parts ''The Princess Diaries'', a dash of Wills and Kate, and a pinch of 'win a trip to Downton Abbey'".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Christmas, A 2014 television films 2014 films 2010s romance films American Christmas films American romance films Hallmark Channel original films 2010s Christmas films Films directed by Alex Zamm Films set in Europe Films about royalty Films set in Philadelphia Films set in a fictional country Films shot in Bucharest 2010s English-language films 2010s American films