Holiday Streams: A Christmas Prince trilogy of Rose Mclver, Ben Lamb is another predictable, dramatic holiday film

The trilogy also features Alice Krige, Honor Kneafsey and Theo Devaney

A Christmas Prince

It is every Page 3 journalist's dream to cover something huge, as huge as maybe a Royal wedding and Amber Moore (Rose Mclver) seems no different. A mediocre journalist working for a magazine, she gets lucky and is sent on an assignment to Aldovia to cover news about the 'playboy' prince, the next to be crowned. And as expected, she falls in love with the prince and they get married and pregnant. This story is told in three instalments with predictable twists and turns in the plot.

The first instalment A Christmas Prince (2017) focuses on their love story, misunderstandings and challenges the two face while the second part A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018) shows the planning of the royal wedding, as the name suggests, and the couple getting married after resolving a major hurdle that becomes a roadblock to the boosting economy of Aldovia. However, it was nice to see Amber standing up for herself finally and deciding to have a wedding of her choice even though she was earlier smitten by the idea of 'prince charming'.

The sequel to this film, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019), which has received the poorest ratings of all, follows the period of pregnancy of now Queen Amber and Prince Richard. But, they need to also find who is trying to sabotage the peace treaty between the kingdoms of Aldovia and Penglia and sign the treaty right before midnight of Christmas.

The film franchise is more like a Hallmark movie series where all the drama seems to happen around Christmas. In the first film, just on Christmas, when Richard is about to take over the kingdom, everyone learns that he is actually an adopted son and that he cannot be entrusted with the responsibilities of a king as the law states that it has to be someone from the king's bloodline who can become the successor. But as predicted, Amber learns about it and manages to be on time for the ceremony to stop Simon, Richard's cousin, from taking over the throne with the proof that the King had changed the law before his death. Despite all lies and dubious life that Amber leads during her brief stay at the palace, the prince forgives her and proposes to her on Christmas as the clock strikes 12. It was also way too easy for princess Emily to side with Amber though she is portrayed as someone who does not get along with new people, especially her tutor, that easy.

The film contradicts its own ideas too. While it talks about modernising age-old practices and gender equality in the 21st century, it also promotes superstitions in the name of motherhood. In the film A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby, Amber who tries to convince Queen of Penglia to take the credit for the work she does in the kingdom and co-sign the treaty, is seen believing in the superstition that if the treaty is not signed on time, her first-born will be cursed. And of course, they do find the treaty and sign it just in time, at 11.59 pm to be precise. And the Queen conveniently gives birth after signing the treaty.

Though it is a holiday movie and shows that Christmas miracles do happen, it seems a little over the top when the couple fall in love on Christmas, gets married on Christmas day, and above all, has a premature delivery of their firstborn on Christmas too. It also promotes the fantasy of 'prince charming' and a knight in armour, like many of its contemporaries. But it can make for a guilty-pleasure watch, setting aside all the odds and fantasies, the films try to promote.

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