Continuing our series of Netflix’s terrible holiday rom-coms, here is a handy viewing guide to the royal themed holiday rom-coms you can stream to your delight and horror.
A Christmas Prince
The movie that put Netflix’s bad holiday rom-coms on the map. A Christmas Prince is so painfully bad it’s almost unwatchable but then it crosses the line into so weirdly bad that it becomes kind of fascinating. This is a movie that has no idea how royalty works, or blogging, or just life, in general.
The Normal Girl: Amber (Rose McIver), a journalist trying to get the scoop on Aldovia’s incumbent king.
The Prince: Prince Richard of Aldovia (Ben Lamb), who should really be king because his father is dead, but he is stuck in some kind of interregnum.
Do The Leads Actually Have Chemistry: No. And Prince Richard isn’t very cute, so that’s strike two.
Tell Me About The Castle: Aldovia’s castle is the real-life Peleș Castle in Romania. It’s very ornate and disguises the low-budget nature of these movies quite well.
Fairy Godmother: Princess Emily (Honor Kneafsey), who keeps all the secrets and lets Amber continue hanging out with the royal family.
Is There A Baker And/Or Bake Shop: Amber’s dad runs a diner.
Does This Movie Have Any Idea How Royalty Works: No.
What Is The Drinking Game: Drink every time someone references journalists or journalism.
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
The sequel to A Christmas Prince makes no attempt to improve in quality, and, in fact, adds “hacking” to the list of things it does not understand. Yes, this holiday rom-com has a hacking subplot. You have been warned.
The Normal Girl: Still Amber (Rose McIver), who is now a Duchess Meghan-inspired blogger.
The Prince: Richard, now King of Aldovia (Ben Lamb).
Do The Leads Actually Have Chemistry: Still no.
Tell Me About The Castle: Still Peleș Castle in Romania.
Fairy Godmother: There really isn’t one, but Raj Bajaj plays the wedding planner, an insulting stereotype named Sahil.
Is There A Baker And/Or Bake Shop: There is a cooking baking scene in the palace kitchen.
Has This Franchise Learned Anything About How Royalty Works: No. They don’t even make Amber choose a regnal name, she’s just Queen Amber, which is hilarious.
What Is The Drinking Game: Just start drinking at the beginning, you’ll need it.
The Princess Switch
An identity-swap twist on the royal holiday rom-com formula, this is the most absurd of the royal rom-coms, and the cheapest looking. I guess all the money went to Vanessa Hudgens’ salary.
The Normal Girl: Stacy De Novo (Vanessa Hudgens), and Kevin the sous chef (Nick Sagar).
The Prince: Prince Edward of Belgravia (Sam Palladio), and Lady Margaret, Duchess of Montenero (Vanessa Hudgens again).
Do The Leads Actually Have Chemistry: No combination of couples produces chemistry, but Kevin is very cute.
Tell Me About The Castle: Romania also stands in for Belgravia, with Károlyi Castle playing the royal palace. It’s lower to the ground than Aldovia’s castle, and cannot save The Princess Switch from looking comically cheap.
Fairy Godmother: Robin Soans as the “Kindly Man”. Is he an angel? Santa Claus? It’s never explained but he seems to come from the same school of meddling magic as Rowan Atkinson in Love Actually.
Is There A Baker And/Or Bake Shop: Yes, Stacy is a baker and a contestant in a version of The Great British Bake Off being held in Belgravia.
Does This Movie Have Any Idea How Royalty Works: More than A Christmas Prince does.
What Is The Drinking Game: Drink every time Margaret says “Super!”.