Tropes are everything. I love tropes. I love royalty tropes. Now, that being said before I dive into this movie (which made me smile the whole way through) is that women don’t always have to be the nanny in the royal household. Can we do better than that please? Give them something else to do besides taking care of kids all the time.
That being said – in this movie, The Royal Nanny, I don’t know how it could have been different. Personally, I am not sure I would want it to be. The Royal Nanny was full on Christmas cheesiness and well, give it all to me. Rachel Skarsten is an absolute gem as MI5 undercover agent, Clare, who gets placed in Kensington Palace after a credible threat is made on the heir to the throne and her children.
Prince Robert and Princess Elle are well, spirited. That’s code for prank pulling brats, but I am choosing not to judge, because well, royalty has to be a little like being in a cage. Everyone needs an outlet. They are encourage in their spirit by their uncle, Prince Colin.
Now, if you’re a The Bold Type fan, you know that Dan Jeannotte is charming as f**k. Him as a Prince, is everything. Him with an accent is the chefs kiss. Prince Colin and Officer Clare, we need more of you.
At first the two don’t like each other. The Prince thinking she’s too uptight and her thinking he’s just an ass. But she’s definitely wound too tight and he’s definitely not. He doesn’t think that she’ll last and is waiting for his sister, Princess Rose to fire her. But Clare comes from the suggesting of Ms. Lansbury, who has appointed all of the royal nannies for over three decades.
Ms. Lansbury is the real MVP here. She’s this no nonsense expert, who kinda makes me laugh with what she thinks an umbrella can do. Her nickname is Scary Poppins, which I have to admit is the best nickname ever. But what is it that I love about her? It’s that she knows about everything all the time. The woman has eyes and ears everywhere. She’s bad ass.
And she helps Clare get her in with Colin, so there is that too.
When Clare basically tells Colin that she’ll rat him out to Ms. Lansbury if he doesn’t let her in when he takes the kids, I had to laugh. It just shows how bad ass these two are together.
As time goes on – everyone (except Princess Rose’s assistant, but we don’t acknowledge her) starts to love Clare. She’s fitting in with the family, easily. She’s doing everything that she can to be there for the family – pulling strings to make sure that the children get the things that they want. And what do they want? To have time with their parents.
Clare manages to pull strings and get them time with their father on face time. Clare manages to ground their Moms flight so she has time to spend with them. She’s not expecting anything in return. She just wants these kids to have a life that she didn’t have.
Clare grew up in a group home. She was never adopted, she didn’t have a family. So, being in Kensington and around them all is the first time that she’s felt like part of a family. She’s had something awakened inside of her that she didn’t know was there.
Seeing the way that Clare is with the kids, how she won them over, and how she puts them first is endearing to watch. The way that this entire family feels at ease with her is sweet to see. Before you all start judging and going that no royal family would ever accept someone so fast, I’d like to remind you all that this is a movie, and allow yourself to escape.
I did.
Clare is spending a lot of her time with Prince Colin and the kids, working on the families Christmas charity. The charity takes donations of gifts for kids who would otherwise not have a Christmas. Prince Colin is very involved in the charity and spends all of his free time working for the charity.
MI5 has narrowed down the threat and it’s a volunteer of the charity. The head of MI5 thinks that Prince Colin could be involved and every time that Clare says that isn’t a possibility, he gets pissed at her. Yes, Clare has feelings for Colin and he has feelings for her. I can’t help but agree with her though, and think that her boss is pushing the Prince being shady too hard.
When Clare and Prince Colin take Prince Robert and Princess Elle to a group home, so they can give gifts, I love seeing the way they are all bonding. On the way outside, there is an attempted kidnapping of the kids, but Clare saves them.
Unfortunately Colin is taken, but Clare doesn’t let anything happen to the kids. She makes sure that they are brought back to Kensington and tells Princess Rose exactly who she is. Now, I woulda been pissed if I was Rose, but she wasn’t pissed.
She was understanding. Rose didn’t care that she had been lied to, she knew that she could trust Clare. That’s all that mattered to her. She forced everyone out and said that if she needed to know anything, Clare would inform her.
Now, it may be have only been a few weeks, but Clare is a part of this family. It doesn’t matter what she has to give up, she’s going to be bringing Colin home. As I watch all of these movies, all I can think is why can’t I meet a Prince and fall in love in under two weeks. Why does this shit only happen in the movies? What does a girl have to do to get herself a Prince?
Not even talking a real one, just a man who treats me with respect and love. But, oh ya, this isn’t about me. So, I need to get back on this.
Clare goes to Ms. Lansbury, who has all the 411. She is able to use her intel to find that Prince Colin’s security detail is involved and is able to furnish Clare with information to help her find him.
I guess that I should have taken the umbrella fight training more seriously, because an umbrella, and not her MI5 training helps her rescue Colin and bring him home. Might just order myself a green umbrella for the flex, but like, don’t know if anyone would know what that all means.
Clare may get the Prince in the end, but what she gets also is the family that she wanted more than anything.
Christmas and nanny magic at work my friends. Don’t even really care what kind of magic it is as long as it continues to give me all of the Christmas cheesy goodness that I live for.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Now, I am an assistant in real life, so I don’t want to say don’t trust the assistant, but don’t trust the assistant.
- I love a bad British accent.
- Now, Prince Edward being deployed and then making it home – love seeing the kids dreams come true.
- There is a lot of wrapping being talked about, but we’re not seeing a lot of it here.
- Christmas charades is something that I never want to play.
- The nannies uniform is horrible.
- They all spend a lot of time in Christmas markets.
- I want to go to a Christmas market now.
- The ball is everything. Seeing Prince Colin stumble over himself around Clare… loved it
- Seeing Prince Colin’s jaw drop at Clare in a gown and then telling her that she’s always beautiful. That’s the kinda greatness we eat up.
- Anyone up for a trip to London?
The Royal Nanny is out now on The Hallmark Channel.
