As the date of the Royal Wedding of William and Kate approaches you have to expect we are going to be inundated with movies, TV shows, magazine articles, etc about their romance. First out of the gate as far as movies go is the Lifetime production of William & Kate. This movie, based on true events, offers an imagined version of the courtship of Kate by William.
The story starts at the University of St Andrews in Scotland where Prince William (Nico Evers-Swindell) and Kate Middleton (Camilla Luddington) are students. They become friends through their classes but Kate already has a boyfriend and William is also seeing someone. Eventually their friendship becomes so strong that they decide to be roommates with two others in a flat rather than remain in the dorm. By this time both of their previous relationships have ended.
Eventually friendship turns to love and we see the further turns in their story. William wants to keep their relationship private in order to protect Kate while she wants to be recognized as the person he loves. When they do bring it all out into the open they are hounded by the paparazzi.
Both Evers-Swindell and Luddington are perfectly cast as far as their looks go. They make a gorgeous couple as do the real William and Kate. They also do a good job in the acting department. Ben Cross is properly stodgy as Prince Charles. He maintains a sort of befuddled presence.
The problem with the movie is knowing what is real and what is not. There are private conversations which no one could have been privy to, so they have to be supposition. Yet they are presented as fact. Most of the basics of the story are known to the world but the private intimate moments are not. You even get a conversation between Charles and William about the impact of Princess Diana.
As an entertainment piece William & Kate is acceptable. Both William and Kate are presented as attractive, engaging characters and their story is dramatic enough to hold your interest. It does all end rather abruptly when William proposes to Kate while in Africa. But then we all know the wedding is coming next.
Perhaps it would have been better to wait until after the wedding to present this version of the courtship. Then it would have had a perfect ending. By ending with the proposal the audience doesn't feel they are getting the total story.
However if you love all things royal then you will love this movie. It gives you an inside study, however hypothetical, of the relationship between the future King of England and his bride to be.
William & Kate premieres on Lifetime, Monday, April 18 at 9PM.