Princess “Vicky,” as Albert and Victoria call their infant daughter, was born last season, and we start out this episode shortly after her birth. Victoria is ready to get back to business, and is tired of being wheeled around and pandered to.
Antiquated ideas about women and childbirth
Hold the phone, because Victoria can’t get back into her queenly duties without being churched first. I didn’t realize that was still a thing in Victoria’s time, and I am certainly not a fan. Turns out, Victoria isn’t a fan either, as you can tell when she says “I am not a woman. I am the Queen,” when Sir Robert tells her that women must be cleansed in the church before resuming real life after giving birth. She doesn’t want to, but she goes anyway, and the Archbishop blesses her for having come through the pain and sorrow of childbirth. As she’s talking to Albert afterwards, you can almost hear her eyes roll.
Me watching the churching scene
Olenna Tyrell as the new Mistress of the Robes
I don’t know what a Mistress of the Robes does, but Dame Diana Rigg makes her debut as the Duchess of Buccleuch. She’s mean and loves to throw shade about Victoria’s judgment pretty much everything…and I think we can all appreciate salty old ladies. She knows how to deliver a put-down like a champ.
Dame Diana Rigg is perfect as the Duchess of Buccleuch
Albert…what were you thinking?
Albert has also been keeping things from Victoria. Victoria would like to know why he didn’t allow the commission of a certain soldier, because every regiment needs a Paget – they are charming. He lets slip that “If Lord Melbourne understood that charm’s not the most important trait in a soldier, then perhaps we would not be retreating from Kabul!” She did not know the army was in dire straits in Afghanistan and doesn’t appreciate it; these are her people and she wants to know why she wasn’t informed of the problems. I almost feel bad for him, however, when Victoria is very dismissive of his ideas for more practical (rather than decorative) army uniforms. Almost. We find out later in the episode that all but one of the four thousand soldiers are murdered in an ambush in the Khyber Pass. Not good.
Miss Skerrett and Francatelli!
Miss Skerrett has been elevated to the position of Chief Dresser, and is now Mrs. Skerrett because she’s married to the job. She also has to get Mr. Francatelli to come back to the palace to be the chef, because the one that took over when he left is terrible. He’s not interested, so the palace gets him fired from his current job and he has no choice but to return. He’s not happy about it, and he isn’t nice to Mrs. Skerrett because of it…but you can see the attraction. He’s so going to give in to it, and I can’t wait to see it happen!
Uncle Leopold and the Duke are back
Both of these yahoos think Albert needs to father more children with Victoria right away. Uncle Leopold thinks it’s too bad that the baby is “just a girl,” but he thinks they can make an advantageous match for her already. Albert’s dad also needs more money to fix up his palace. Albert tells him he shouldn’t have spent so much money on his “hobbies,” which I think is royal-speak for women on the side, because he is a creeper when it comes to the ladies. Victoria puts them in their place, however, with one of the best lines of the episode when she says, “What England needs is a Queen. NOT a broodmare.” Go girl.
Ernest is back too..and is he hotter than before?
I was sad for Ernest and Harriett in the last season, because I thought she was going back to some old crotchety husband. Turns out…he’s damn good looking, although he refers to her as an ornament. The Duchess of Buccleuch’s niece – Wilhemina – has a crush on Ernest. I like him, but I think we can all see that this isn’t going to end well.
Albert and Victoria sexy times are back too
The part I love the most about Albert and Victoria is that they seem to really love each other. Do they communicate well? Not always. However, they always seem to come back to the fact that they genuinely like and adore each other. In this episode, we got to see some passion from Victoria when she loses her cool and throw something, and Albert makes a statement by asking “Is that an order?” a couple of times. This season is going to be a nice mix of fighting in their quiet voices and make-up sex…I’m here for it. Sometimes it takes someone else to show these two that they are in the wrong with a simple statement, but they are really good at listening to advice.
They’re in looooooovvvvvveeee
Victorians love their soirées
Victoria decides to have a party to meet all the people Albert is spending time with in the Royal Society. She seems impressed by Babbage and Lady Lovelace, but she feels she can’t keep up with all of their mathematical conversation. (I feel you, Victoria…I had to rewind it to hear what they were talking about, and gave up.) During the party, she says goodbye to Lord M and then starts to feel sick. She realizes there is already another bun in the oven, and she isn’t too excited.
Lord M and his smoldering looks have returned
I. Love. Lord Melbourne. Albert, however, does not. He feels she should completely cut him out of her life, since the Whigs are not in power. She doesn’t care. It appears that she’s moved on from Lord M as what could have possibly been a crush into him being more of a father figure. Albert and Victoria argued a lot about Lord Melbourne in this episode. He felt it was inappropriate for her to invite him to the palace for the party. She says he is a friend to her, much like Lady Lovelace is to him. Albert tells her that Lady Lovelace is a “highly intelligent woman who’s doing the most remarkable work.” Record scratch…what is Victoria, then? She’d like to know too. She asks him to please not go to dinner at the Statistical Society, and this is when he asks her “Is that a command?” and goes anyway. Ouch. He asks the same question again later that evening by messenger when Victoria sends a note to ask him to return to the palace when she is still not feeling well. When he returns, he is locked out of her chambers.
Ada Lovelace – Seriously one of the smartest women in history
Victoria visits Brocket Hall the next morning and tells Lord M that she is in a difficult place. As a queen, she must rule, but to be a wife, she must submit. She is jealous of the time Albert is spending with Lady Lovelace at the Royal Society; he’s enamored with the calculator she and Charles Babbage have created, and Victoria thinks he is enamored of more than that. Melbourne tells her that she is being silly about that – men aren’t interested in mathematicians. Not solid reasoning, but I guess we’ll take it.
When Albert returns from yet another visit to the Royal Society the day after the party, he is told by his uncle that the rumor is that Victoria is expecting. He also knows that she’s returned from visiting Melbourne and he isn’t happy about that. He wants to know why she didn’t tell him she was pregnant, and why she consistently feels the need to see Lord M. She says it is not political. He tells her “Are you so naive that you don’t realize everything you do is political?” She asks him where he’s been, and when he tells her he’s been at the Royal Society, she says “And are you so naive that you don’t realize not everything you do there is mathematical?” Score broken hearts for both of them.
Babies don’t make everyone happy all the time
When Victoria tells Sir Robert that she is expecting a child, he congratulates her with a verse from the Bible. She responds with and eye roll and comments “Sometimes I wish I’d been born a man.” She decides that she is going to go visit the place that Albert loves so much. When she sees Lady Lovelace ready to rush out the door at the Royal Society to take care of her son, who has fallen out of a tree, she tells her she didn’t realize she had children and asks her how she finds the balance between being a mother and a mathematician. Lovelace pauses for a moment and says “Sometimes… I wish I’d been born a man.”
Sisterhood
Kissing and making up
Albert and Victoria end the episode apologizing to each other and discussing the “shadow side” of marriage, with Albert declaring her his beloved. It was a nice ending to a somewhat anxiety-fraught premiere. It is going to be a good season!
Victoria season 2 continues this Sunday.
