A Royal Night Out

A Royal Night Out is a 2015 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Julian Jarrold and written by Trevor de Silva and Kevin Hood. The film stars Sarah Gadon as the teenaged Princess Elizabeth, who, with younger sister Princess Margaret (Bel Powley), ventures out of Buckingham Palace to enjoy the VE Day celebrations.

A Royal Night Out
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byJulian Jarrold
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byPaul Englishby
CinematographyChristophe Beaucarne
Edited byLuke Dunkley
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • 8 May 2015 (2015-05-08) (United Kingdom)
  • 4 December 2015 (2015-12-04) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$4.3 million[2]

Plot

On VE Day in 1945, as peace is declared across Europe and London is celebrating, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are allowed to join the celebrations, against the Queen's wishes. The King, impressed by Elizabeth's pleading, asks her to report back on the people's feelings towards him and his midnight speech on the radio.

Each girl, incognito, is chaperoned by an army officer with an itinerary to be back at Buckingham Palace by 1 a.m. Soon realising the Queen's planned itinerary does not fulfil their expectations of fun and meeting the ordinary people, Margaret is the first to slip away from her escort, followed by Elizabeth.

The princesses are separated on two different buses. Margaret is befriended by a naval officer seeking to take advantage of what he believes is just an ordinary girl, and Elizabeth by an airman who is absent without leave.

Margaret is led by her naval officer into a world of nightclubs, gambling, spiked drinks and brothels. Elizabeth and her airman have their own adventures trying to catch up with Margaret, which take them far beyond the 1 a.m. deadline into the early hours of the following morning.

Cast

The character of Pryce is credited as a Lieutenant, but is shown as, and referred to as, Captain Pryce throughout the film.

Relation to actual events

The two officer escorts and the airman in the screenplay were fictional creations. In reality, the princesses in an organised group of 16 went out at 10 p.m. to mingle with revellers, and returned to Buckingham Palace at 1 a.m.[3]

Release

A Royal Night Out was released in the United Kingdom on 8 May 2015 and on DVD on 7 September 2015.[1] The film was released in the United States on 4 December 2015, and released on DVD on 3 May 2016.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 74% approval rate of critics based on 73 reviews, with an average quality rating of 5.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Undeniably slight yet thoroughly charming, A Royal Night Out uses a fascinating historical footnote as a springboard into a fun dramedy diversion."[4] Metacritic reports a 58 out of 100 rating, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]

References
  1. "A ROYAL NIGHT OUT (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  2. "A Royal Night Out (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  3. von Tunzelmann, Alex. "The Guardian". Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  4. "A Royal Night Out (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  5. "A Royal Night Out Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
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