Hallmark Channel
It’s the second of Hallmark Channel’s ‘Royal Weekends’, and The Reluctant Royal has a bit more drama to its story than the more comedic The Royal We, but there are still some pretty humorous moments courtesy of fan favorite Andrew Walker and his skill at tossing off some witty one-liners.
The Reluctant Royal stars Walker as a rough-around-the-edged Philadelphia auto mechanic, Johnny Payne, who right from the start we learn is commitment-phobic, stringing his girlfriend along, breaking up and fixing her car on the way out. While doing his usual karaoke routine at the local bar, a young woman named Prudence shows up and reveals to Johnny that he’s the son of the Duke of Glasswick, and as the Duke is looking to begin the process of transferring his power to the next in line, Johnny is that person … except Johnny never knew his father and he has no interest in learning anything about him or being the next Duke of Glasswick. But after learning a little more from his mother about their brief marriage which resulted in Johnny, and how William had to choose duty over love, Johnny decides to make the trip only to meet his father and have a few words. Prudence is overjoyed when Johnny shows up, especially since the Duke’s nephew Allistair — whom she refers to as a ‘title chaser’ — is poised to take the reins, but an awkward few moments with William sends Johnny packing. Prudence tracks him down at the local pub, The Pickled Pickle, where the locals get wind of any and all news before Johnny even arrives. They know more about what’s going on in Glasswick than anyone else, it seems (and they have also nicknamed the Duke ‘Old Crust’).
But Prudence convinces Johnny to stay on for the week — after challenging him to a game of darts — and he can leave after the grand ball if he so chooses. But after meeting Allistair and being unimpressed with his attitude, Johnny announces that he’s had a change of heart and will accept the title of Duke of Glasswick, leading Allistair and his mother to begin going to any lengths to push Johnny back to Philadelphia. Johnny also learns the estate is severely behind in its taxes, but when he discovers the property has apple orchards and a surplus of beets, he puts his own knowledge of juicing to work, showing his father how the land can become profitable once again (and the reason for the dire financials of the property may be in part because the Duke does not charge the tenants rent, so despite his nickname he is a rather benevolent ruler … something that would surely change under Duke Allistair). Johnny finally begins to bond with his father, and a romance seems to be developing with Prudence, but Allistair and his mother uncover the annulment papers that were signed before Johnny was born, making him just a commoner with no true bloodline to the throne. But could there me more to this than meets the eye, or will Johnny go back to Philly without his title or the girl?
The Reluctant Royal is another charming entry in the ‘Royal Weekends’ series of films, with a winning screenplay by Neal Dobrofsky & Tippy Dobrofsky from a story by Samantha Herman, that skillfully weaves family drama into the royal storyline while giving Johnny several snappy one-liners and over-the-top reactions (such as his sarcastic impression of how the Brits say ‘Jaguar’), which Walker handles with aplomb, giving us several laugh-out-loud moments. But this is far from the comedy that was The Royal We as Johnny deals with his emotional reaction to learning the true story of his parents’ love story, his growing connection with the locals, and his feelings for Prudence. Everything balances extremely well, and director Kevin Fair keeps it all moving along, never allowing the proceedings to wallow in pathos. The sweeping vistas and charming localities of Dublin, standing in for Glasswick, and the Luttrellstown Castle Resort representing Glasswick Castle just make the story all the more believable. This is Hallmark magic at its best.
Hallmark Channel
As mentioned, Walker is outstanding as Johnny, the perfect representation of a working class guy from Philly, who hasn’t met a car he can’t fix and loves karaoke and darts. He is Philly proud and he doesn’t handle some of the royal smugness too well, especially from Allistair. His blue collar background also makes him a perfect advocate for the locals, painting him as the perfect choice to take over the duchy. Walker is charming and can handle drama and comedy equally well (as demonstrated in his recent Hallmark films Jingle Bell Run and Three Wiser Men and a Boy). He also has great chemistry with Emilie de Ravin (Roswell, Lost), and she does a wonderful job of balancing her royal duties with her feelings for Johnny, and revealing that she’s actually just as working class as he is, she just had more privilege due to her parents working at the castle and the Duke taking care of her when they died. It’s nice that the writers didn’t make Johnny resent Prudence since she got to have the Duke as a father when he didn’t. But they both work well together and fit right in with both the royals and the locals.
Simon Coury is also wonderful as the Duke, looking at Johnny like he’s an alien, completely unable to connect with him because of their very different stations in life. But once Johnny takes it upon himself to fix a dusty old sports car in the garage, his father actually lends and hand and they bond more, with Coury’s performance undergoing a complete physical transformation from a man on his last legs needing the aid of a cane to walk, to a man completely revitalized because of this person that has come into his life. He also gives a very touching performance when he learns Johnny mother had written him several letters but he never replied, and the look on his face when he realizes his family kept them from him — and likely kept his letters from going to her — is heartbreaking. But he gets a nice twinkle in his eye when he gets to one-up Allistair and his mother one last time as Johnny officially accepts his place as next in line.
Everyone else in the cast playing the local residents of Glasswick and members of the royal household staff — Jade Jordan, Jimmy Walker, Michael James Ford, Ali Hardman, Michael Glenn Murphy — and Johnny’s mother Dottie (Megan Elle Day) are perfection, making you feel that they are all very real people you could run into in any small countryside town in England (or Ireland as is the case here, though where Glasswick is is unspecified). Everything works so well that no one should be reluctant to watch The Reluctant Royal. And if you did watch The Royal We, which referenced this film and the upcoming Royal-ish, there is a callback at the end of the movie that mentions the upcoming nuptials of Prince Desmond, who happens to be another of Johnny’s cousins! It would be pretty cool if all of the characters from the three movies come together at the end of Royal-ish but we’ll have to wait and see how that all plays out.
The Reluctant Royal has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – The Reluctant Royal
Hallmark Channel