Hallmark For All Seasons

“The Royal Nanny,” starring Rachel Skarsten and Dan Jeannotte aired on November 12, 2022 during Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas. It was filmed in lovely Brussels, Belgium.  Jonathan Wright directed, while Brooke Durham provided the screenplay.  Durham wrote the fabulous Project Christmas Wish while Wright has directed such notable Hallmark movies as this year’s Jolly Good Christmas and 2019’s Love, Romance and Chocolate.

In a nutshell

I had HIGH hopes for this movie, and while there were things I enjoyed (the MI5 stuff which isn’t normally in Hallmark movies), the movie as a whole felt a bit flat.

The Plot of “The Royal Nanny”

MI5 agent Claire goes undercover as the royal nanny, and must overcome the challenges of her assignment, like resisting the charms of Prince Colin while keeping the family safe at Christmas.

Actors & Chemistry

The accents were decent in this movie.  Rachel Skarsten’s and Dan Jeannotte’s experience on The CW’s “Reign” helped them out, to be sure. I thought the secondary actors all across the board were good, from Ms. Scary Poppins (played by none other than Greta Scacchi) to the MI5 agents, to Princess Rose, to the kids.  Not only that, but Skarsten and Jeannotte had good chemistry together especially in their late night walk that got interrupted.

Unfortunately, the movie took so long for Prince Colin to come around to actually liking Claire the Nanny that by the time he started showing interest, I had lost mine.  By that point I was more into the espionage storyline than the romance and the occasional Scary Poppins pop-ins.  Not only that, but this is the 4th or 5th movie in the past few weeks that, with less than 10 minutes to go (including commercials), has a LOT to resolve and wrap-up.  I’m not a fan of that at all.  It makes the end seem rushed.

Find the Tropes!

A royal movie.  A nanny. Cute kids. A Christmas market. Hot cocoa – and this time FOR REAL LIQUID IN A CUP! A tree lighting. An interrupted kiss. We saw a scene of people ice skating.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

The movie had a lot of real life references – Kensington, Frogmore, Sandringham.  Usually the royal movies create fake countries like Calstonia or Merdonia.  But this movie implies this is set in a world with King Charles and Princes William and Harry. Interesting choice.

I don’t know everything about royal protocol, but I do know that when a royal enters or leaves the room, the everyone defers to them based on rank, which means those in the employ of the royals always curtseys or bows. This includes curtseying or bowing.  And yet many, many times in this movie, there is no curtsey or bow to be seen as the royalty moves in and out of rooms.

Feelgoods

My main feel was that late night walk that Claire and Colin had.  I also appreciated the one-on-one scenes between Claire and Princess Rose, even if they were far-fetched.  No Princess is confiding in the nanny. But taking all the royalness out of it, those scenes were nicely written.

Re-watchability of “The Royal Nanny”

While there were elements that I truly liked, I’m not sure this is one I’d watch again.  That makes me sad to say because I love royal movies, and I love nanny movies.  I think I would have preferred this movie NOT be set in a real country because the issues with that intruded on a movie I probably would have liked a lot more.

The Rankings

Despite my royal issues with the movie, it did end up in my Top 15 so far for the year.

1. Ghosts of Christmas Always (air date: Oct 30) – 732 pts – weighted score: 122.4 (85.9%)
2. Lights, Camera, Christmas! (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 113.1 (79.4%)
3. A Kismet Christmas (air date: Oct 24) – 664 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
4. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
5. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
6. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
7. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
8. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
9. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
10. All Saints Christmas (air date: Nov 5) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.0 (74.4%)
11. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9 (74.3%)
12. Jolly Good Christmas (air date: Oct 29) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.2%)
13. We Wish You a Married Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 623 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.1%)
14. The Royal Nanny (air date: Nov 12) – 611 pts – weighted score: 105.5 (74.0%)
15. In Merry Measure (air date: Nov 11) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.4 (73.9%)
16. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3 (73.9%)
17. We Need a Little Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
18. Campfire Christmas (air date: July 16) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
19. Noel Next Door (air date: Oct 21) – 609 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
20. Caribbean Summer (air date: June 11) – 636 pts – weighted score: 104.7 (73.5%)
21. A Cozy Christmas Inn (air date: Oct 28) – 626 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.5%)
22. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
23. Hidden Gems (air date: Jun 4) – 611 pts – weighted score: 102.3 (71.8%)
24. A Magical Christmas Village (air date: Nov 4) – 592 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
25. Pumpkin Everything (air date: Oct 8) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
26. Autumn in the City (air date: Oct 15) – 594 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
27. Love in the Limelight (air date: Aug 6) – 604 pts – weighted score: 100.0 (70.2%)
28. Second Chance at Love (air date: Mar 26) – 585 pts – weighted score: 99.7 (69.9%)
29. Christmas Bedtime Stories (air date: Oct 29) – 575 pts – weighted score: 98.8 (69.3%)
30. Romance in Style (air date: Aug 13) – 562 pts – weighted score: 97.2 (68.2%)
31. Big Sky River (air date: Aug 7) – 568 pts – weighted score: 97.1 (68.1%)
32. Game, Set, Love (air date: Aug 27) – 552 pts – weighted score: 95.3 (66.9%)
33. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
34. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
35. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
36. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
37. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
38. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
39. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
40. To Her, With Love (air date: Sept 11) – 536 pts – weighted score: 89.4 (62.7%)
41. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
42. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
43. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
44. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
45. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
46. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
47. 14 Love Letters (air date: July 31) – 420 pts – weighted score: 73.5 (51.6%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “The Royal Nanny”?  Comment below and let me know!