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It’s still ‘Spring into Love’ time on Hallmark Channel, but the network’s latest movie is more of a mash-up of the ‘Winter Escapes’ The Perfect Setting and everything broadcast during 2025’s ‘Royal Weekends’. One thing the movie really has going for it is the return of former Hallmark queen Jen Lilley, following her 2020 defection to that other cable channel competitor where other Hallmark stars went (like Candace and Cameron and Danica), paired again with her 2019 Paris, Wine & Romance co-star, Dan Jeannotte. But was this the right project for their reunion?
A Royal Setting has a fairly straightforward and familiar story. Ruby, a restorer of precious gems, is known for her skills to the point she gets the cover of a magazine, ‘Gemologist Quarterly’, touting her skills. Said magazine article is spotted by Luca (or perhaps it was just the cover), Prince of Gullion (probably one of the most unpleasant sounding fictional country names ever created), who wants Ruby to restore the monarchy’s precious gems collection so they can be put on display after so many years locked in a vault, an event leading up to his coronation as King of Gullion (his mother, Queen Ivy, is still alive and seemingly in good health so it’s not clear exactly why she is abdicating the throne to her son). Seeing this as an amazing opportunity not only for Ruby, but for her family’s business, she eagerly flies across the pond to Gullion. Unfortunately her cab gets a flat on the way to the castle, but a couple of passing joggers stop to offer help. One of them tells the other to keep running while he helps carry Ruby’s luggage to the castle. Already late for her meeting with the Countess Finella, Ruby forgets all protocol and finds her way to the queen, followed quickly by the countess who then properly introduces them. Also in the room is Prince Luca … whom Ruby realizes is the man who helped her with her luggage. Awkward, but it still turns into a ‘meet cute’ moment.
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Ruby is then ushered into the room where she will be working, and despite having less than a week to complete her work on more than a thousand gemstones, Ruby spends more time cavorting around with the prince … and yet she somehow still manages to finish her work before the end of the week! But before that, the romance heats up between Ruby and Luca, but Finella and the queen have conspired to pair Luca with Finella’s daughter, Jory, unaware that Jory’s heart already belongs to Luca’s right hand man, Zander, expecting Jory to accompany Luca to the Garden Lights ceremony, which is being held for the first time — gasp — not on the royal grounds, and his coronation when she will also become queen. Luca wants his reign to be one for the people, and something like lighting up a garden should be enjoyed by their royal subjects. Much to the queen’s chagrin, it is a hit, but she still insists on clinging to centuries of history in how the royals should behave, and that includes an arranged marriage for Luca and Jory. But Luca and Ruby immediately realize that Zander and Jory have each others’ hearts, which works out perfectly for Luca since he’s totally smitten with Ruby. They arrange a secret dinner date for the lovebirds, which is interrupted by Jory’s mother, but they still manage to play it off as just a moment of Zander showing her the jewels because Jory works at the royal museum. Finella isn’t as dense as they all seem to think, and she presents her beliefs about Luca and Ruby to the queen, and since Ruby has completed her work, Finella informs her that it’s time for her to go home. Ruby also managed to step on some royal toes by designing Luca’s new crown, something he commissioned to represent what his reign would be despite what his mother expects, and not having the crown jewels designed by the royal jeweler is a big no no. Finella refuses to even let Ruby say goodbye to Luca, but she has more trouble with the cab a short way away from the castle. Will Luca be able to catch her in time before the cab is fixed? Will the queen and the countess accept they are living in a new world? Will Zander and Jory be allowed to continue their own relationship even though she is of royal blood and he is … ‘the help’? I’ll give you one guess as to what the answer is to each question.
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Fans were super excited for the re-teaming of Lilley and Jeannotte in A Royal Setting, and judging from comments online everyone was extremely happy with the film. I have to wonder if those comments are from genuine viewers or ChatGPT because there is nothing really special or extraordinary about the movie. In fact, the writing by W. Stewart and Ansley Gordon, feels quite lazy as it cribs completely from A Perfect Setting, The Royal We and Royal-ish. Besides just being too overly-familiar, the story also suffers from an exaggerated more than usual timeline, throwing one scene after another at us at a rather hectic pace, making us wonder if Ruby will get her work done, and then baffled by how she did it after she literally lists the thousands of gemstones she still has to work on after what can only be several days already spent in Gullion. You have to wonder if the royal guard, whom she names Fred because he just stands at attention and never speaks, who never seems to leave his position (we’re literally left to assume the poor guy has stood in that one spot for a week) was actually the one who worked on the jewels since Ruby is rarely in the room. The whole point with the queen and the countess insisting on sticking to tradition even though Luca will be taking over also gets a bit tiring. Let the lad do what he wants instead of living like it’s still medieval times. The film is competently directed by Bradley Walsh, but if I have to see that same stock shot of a castle again I’m going to scream. A couple of other annoyances include the much too obvious fact that the palace’s main room, or Great Room, or whatever it is, is the hotel lobby of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier where it was filmed (I swear those ‘extras’ in the background walking aimlessly about are actual hotel employees and/or guests). Someone please tell me why a castle would have a display of the family jewels in the middle of the room, one jewel placed in a glass display box by each new king, with velvet ropes seen at a bank or special event … or hotel … to make people keep their distance. The castle is not open to the public, number one, and the ropes are right up against the table so they aren’t keeping anyone away from the jewels … and even Luca just leaves the top off of the box after he places his own jewel in the display and walks away with Ruby. What?!? My biggest complaint, though, is the music, which sounds like the same measure just played over and over and over and over again in an attempt to manipulate your feelings whenever a moment is supposed to be romantic or precious or sad or hopeful … it all sounds like the same piece of music! It became quite maddening by the final scene.
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As for the cast, Lilley and Jeannotte are fine as Ruby and Luca (Jeannotte gave me a lot of Hugh Grant vibe and his Gullionite accent was perfect for a Canadian … considering he just sounded British, though being from Quebec he should have gone with a French Canadian accent). They at least have some chemistry so even though the entire romance part of the story is extremely rushed, they still manage to be charming and likable. Jeannotte in particular has to really humanize Luca, and he has a great relationship with Zander — even though they come from two different stations in life — and he is always kind and sympathetic to Jory, especially after he realizes she likes Zander. Unfortunately, as prince he can’t really put his foot down with his mum or the countess, even though he really should as he keeps proving his ideas are changing their subjects’ perception of the royals. Lilley also seems to be having fun when she gets to help in the matchmaking for Jory and Zander, and her connection to ‘Fred’ is actually one of the highlights of the movie even though he never says a word. But there are some subtle moments — that she doesn’t see — where she makes him smile, and when he finally speaks to her as she is leaving, revealing his real name, it’s actually the most heartwarming moment in the movie.
Ed Pinker and Ferelith Young are even more delightful as Zander and Jory. Pinker’s Zander, while in the employ of the royal family, always remains on a friendship level with Luca. Young is also wonderful as Jory, really showing a twinkle in her eye when Zander is around, also a good friend to Luca, and she hits it off with Ruby as well. These two get the film’s most heartwrenching moment when they both realize that she is pretty much betrothed to Luca, and they have to accept that this is how things work, but Jory tells Zander he will always be in her heart, and he says she will always be in his. Young also gets a really nice moment when she stands up to her mother and tells her that her heart belongs to Zander regardless of her and the queen’s intentions. Love prevails and there’s nothing Finella can do about it. Hurrah! Laurie Paton brings the right amount of imperiousness to the countess, a stern extension of the queen, the one who is really running things, keeping a death grip on royal protocol, refusing to give an inch until she has no choice, at which point she finally softens and accepts time has moved on and now it’s time for her to also see things in a new light. Sarah Orenstein is fine as Queen Ivy, also a stickler for tradition, exasperated by her son’s flouting of those traditions, horrified that he wants to open parts of the castle to the public, upset but ultimately pleased that his ideas are making people feel better about the royals, and finally becoming truly human when she realizes that having Finella send Ruby away was absolutely not the right thing to do. Also turning in a very nice and joyful performance is Robyn Stevan as Maggie, Ruby’s cab driver and a vendor at the garden lighting ceremony. She just makes everyone around her smile with her ebullient personality.
A Royal Setting was not my favorite Hallmark romance by a long shot with its derivative story and other annoying production touches like that music, but it does have a winning cast that manages to make the viewing experience pleasant at best, but it’s not something I’d sit down and watch again.
A Royal Setting has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, is rated TV-G, and is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview | A Royal Setting
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