Being a princess not all it is cracked up to be

Rating: 4/10 (5 December 2011)

I saw The Duchess on Saturday night, the latest English period piece (this time late 18th century) starring Kiera Knightly as a woman in a bad relationship. This time she is Georgiana, a slender, attractive, fashionable, emotional woman who is all but sold to the Duke of Devonshire, played as an ice-cold, aging, brute by Ralph (he would like you to call him "Rafe") Fiennes. The Duke of Love he is not, at one point he defends his disinterest, his rampant infidelity and his abuse of the power of his birthright by saying: "I love you in the way I understand love." As he understands it, the intent of marriage is nearly exclusive to produce a male heir which Georgiana fails to do on numerous tries. While he is waiting, he produces an illegitimate daughter and invites another woman to comes to live in the palace and attend social functions with the two of them. Georgiana takes solace in the future prime minister Charles Grey. They produce Eliza, whom she must give up or lose the children she has with the Duke. Georgiana eventually lives out her life quietly and is officially replaced as wife after her death. The movie is interesting largely because the relationship bears such a striking resemblance to the Prince Charles / Lady Diana Spencer (who is a descendant of one of the characters) / Camilla Parker Bowles affair. Diana/Georgiana are fashion icons both beloved by the nation ("the only one not in love with Georgiana is the Duke" as one character describes the common wisdom). Charles / Duke are both dull (in most ways that word can be defined), plodding remnants of a once powerful royalty who would have risen to not a quantum of the power they possessed if left to their own devices. Of course, modern divorce laws and the continued marginalization of the monarchy meant that Diana would not share Georgiana's fate. The movie, and to some extent the modern story, put the lie to Disney's princess stories my girl's favor and suggest that Prince William may not be dreamy as you might think.