Culturebox: William & Catherine, A Royal Romance

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television William & Catherine: A Royal Romance In which the actor playing Prince Charles corrects the Queen's pronunciation of Kanye West. By Troy Patterson Posted Friday, Aug. 26, 2011, at 4:28 PM ET William & Catherine: A Royal Romance (Hallmark Channel, Saturday at 9 p.m. ET) opens with a tracking shot of a manservant striding through palatial halls and trotting down carpeted stairways. The building like looks a compromise between a common area at the Bellagio and a confused idea of an old-school East Coast men's club--and this probably indicates that the set is a private home reflecting a certain Orange County sort of classiness--but ye olde soundtrack toots and trills in a particular way. This is England. More importantly, it is America's England. Most specifically, it is a romance-novel idea of England but minus all the good English hokum. One longs in vain for stormy heaths and windswept moorlands and rascally earls. One gets what one ought to expect. The manservant comes upon a door flanked by two guys in quasi-beefeaterish uniforms standing sentry at a walk-in closet. He brandishes a key, walks into the closet, and extracts a jewelry box from a safe. This he delivers to a young man who sits in a capacious den watching his late mother deliver to the camera a heartfelt address regarding her hopes and dreams. It is not immediately clear whether this recording is a videotape that Diana left for her elder son in the event of her untimely death or if it is a copy of an old TV interview or what, and the success of the moment depends on that confusion. We're on a level of reality at which it's totally fine--preferable, even--that the footage of the fake Diana has the tone of a monologue delivered in a "confessional booth" on a reality show. Or of a guardian angel speaking from beyond the grave. Will opens the jewelry box to meditate upon his mother's engagement ring, and the producers whisk us hazily away to a flashback. "Dahling," Di coos to her tow-headed tot, "someday you'll give a girl a ring like this ..." To continue reading, click here. Troy Patterson is Slate's television critic. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate In the Aftermath of Irene, Brooklyn Out-Brooklyns Itself Why Colombia's President Is Making Nice With Hugo Chavez A Hotel That Offers an Insomniac's Package	Advertisement
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