Released in 2014, four years before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding, "A Royal Christmas" follows a commoner and a European prince who begin a courtship.
Before the engagement, the couple is introduced to the Queen who will make life impossible for the young woman and complicate her arrival into the family. Without a doubt, romantic comedies that tell love stories between commoners and nobles are the audience's favorites, especially when they are too close to reality; like the Hallmark classic, A Royal Christmas, which predicted, in 2014, the romance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
"Emily Corrigan, the only daughter of a skilled Philadelphia tailor, is a kind-hearted young woman proud of her working-class background. She's a devoted seamstress in the family business and madly in love with her doting European boyfriend, Leo. But as their first Christmas together approaches, Leo drops a bomb on his unsuspecting bride: he's actually Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Cordinia, a small sovereign country. The prince's mother, Queen Isadora, is less than thrilled about her son's relationship with a commoner and makes Emily feel anything but welcome at the castle, which makes Emily feel even more at home among Isadora's staff of butlers and maids," reads the film's synopsis.
And adds: "As Emily struggles to adapt to her new royal surroundings, the situation becomes complicated when Isadora invites Duchess Natasha, Leo's ex-girlfriend, to spend Christmas with them. In an attempt to stay true to herself in a world where she clearly does not belong, Emily wonders if love will be enough to prevent her new royal relationship from falling apart before Christmas morning."
Starring Stephen Hagan and Lacey Chabert, the story does not have much to do with that of the Dukes of Sussex although it has several points in common such as the beginning of the relationship hidden from the flashes, the origin and condition of each of the two; and the reluctance of the royalty towards the young commoner, something that Meghan Markle had to deal with from her arrival to the royal family until her mediatic exit from it with Harry and her son Archie.
Although there is no physical resemblance to the Duke and Duchess, it is true that both actors bear a certain reminiscence to the couple thanks to some of the gestures and physical features they possess and which make the story even closer to that of the Sussexes.
With a score of 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb, A Royal Christmas (available on the Hallmark app and for free on YouTube) has a total duration of 105 minutes, making it the ideal title to watch this weekend.
