A Royal Affair (2012)

A Royal Affair is the English title of a Danish historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered in 2012. The main characters in the drama are:

** The King of Denmark (Christian VII)
** The Queen of Denmark (Caroline Matilda)

** The royal physician (Johann Friedrich Struensee)

The story takes place in the second half of the 18th century, more precisely 1766-1772.

Here is some basic information about this drama:

** Original Danish title: En kongelig affære
** Director: Nikolai Arcel

** Writer: Rasmus Heisterberg

** Based on a historical novel by Bodil Steensen-Leth

** Language: Danish

** Subtitles: English

** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video

** Run time: 137 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Alicia Vikander as Caroline Matilda (1751-1775) – Queen of Denmark 1766-1772
** Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Christian VII (1749-1808) – King of Denmark 1766-1808

** Mads Mikkelsen as Johann Friedrich Struensee (1737-1772) – royal physician

** Trine Dyrholm as Juliane Marie (1729-1796) – Dowager Queen

** David Dencik as Ove Høegh-Guldberg (1731-1808) – a politician

** Bent Mejding as J. H. E. Bernsdorff (1712-1772) – a politician

Bodil Steensen-Leth (born 1945) is a Danish author of several historical novels. Her book Princess of the Blood (a biography of Caroline Matilda) was published (in Danish) in 2000.

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here. But the basic story is true.

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I could mention some of them in this review. But I am not going to do that. Why not? Because I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone.

What do reviewers say about this historical drama? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

** 73 per cent = Meta (the critics)
** 77 per cent = Meta (the audience)

** 75 per cent = IMDb

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 90 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

On Amazon UK there are at the moment more than 175 reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.9 stars.

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. I understand. The story about King Christian VII, his wife Queen Caroline Matilda and the royal physician Johann Struensee is an important chapter in the history of Denmark. It is a story about love and politics. A story which deserves to be told, and in this drama it is told quite well.

But the drama has one significant flaw: the language that is spoken. It is a Danish drama, and the characters speak Danish. What is wrong with that? Well, there are several problems:

# 1. Caroline Matilda is from England. In 1766, when she arrives in Denmark, she does not speak any Danish. However, this problem disappears quickly, because the Princess from England learns to understand and speak Danish very fast! This is not realistic.

# 2. The king and the people around him speak Danish. But this drama takes place more than two hundred years ago. At that time the language of the Danish court was German! When these characters speak Danish, it is not realistic.

# 3. In the drama, Johann Struensee speaks Danish. But this is not realistic, either, because he did not speak Danish; he spoke German!

# 4. Even if we accept that the characters speak Danish, because the story is set in Denmark, there is still a problem with the language. This story is set in the 18th century. This is more than two hundred years ago. But some characters - in particular the king - use modern phrases and expressions again and again. Even modern slang words! This is not right!

Foreign viewers who do not know any Danish will probably not notice this problem. Foreign viewers will just read the subtitles, which are written in a neutral and timeless English. But for a Danish viewer, the frequent modern phrases and expressions stand out like serious cases of anachronism.

I like this historical drama and I would like to offer a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of this flaw. Therefore I think this drama deserves a rating four stars.

PS. For some background information, see the following book: Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark, 1751-1775 by Hester W. Chapman (1971).

*****