History Film / ARoyalAffair

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Both Caroline and Struensee; while Caroline was sometimes described as beautiful, she self-deprecatingly described herself as at a level where she could converse with men without making women jealous, and was nowhere near as slim or modernly attractive as Vikander. Likewise, portraits of Struensee don't show him with the same kind of chiseled handsomeness Mikkelsen has.

* SympatheticAdulterer: Caroline is treated very sympathetically - her marriage to Christian is miserable and loveless and Christian treats her very poorly, whilst Struensee treats her as an equal and loves her.

* DanceOfRomance: Struensee and Caroline have one at a royal ball, complete with gazing into each other's eyes in slow motion. It's implied this is truly when they realize they are in love.

* ArrangedMarriage: Caroline and Christian have one at the beginning of the film. It turns out to be a disaster from day one.

* AdultFear:
** Caroline and Christian fear for the life of their infant son when a smallpox epidemic sweeps the city.
** Struensee can only watch helplessly as the woman he loves and their baby is taken away, whilst he is arrested for treason.
** Caroline is [[spoiler: permanently separated from her children and told of the death of her lover in a letter, whilst living in exile]].

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Neither Christian nor Caroline are faithful to each other. Christian's numerous dalliances with prostitutes is treated less sympathetically than Caroline’-'s affair with Struensee. At some points Christian brings prostitutes into the palace where Caroline can see, humiliating her in front of the court. Caroline puts up with Christian's wild and sometimes cruel behavior for years with little in the way of support and companionship, until she falls in love with Struensee. They also try to keep their affair discreet (though everyone figures it out eventually). Caroline passing off her daughter with Struensee as Christian's is treated as a necessary act to protect her children, and the lovers are punished extremely harshly for their affair in their end.

* DespairEventHorizon: Caroline seems to cross this after she learns of Struensee's death.

* TheHedonist: Christian, indulging himself with prostitutes, and possibly bondage and whipping.

* CostumeDrama

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Struensee is the father of Caroline's daughter. They contrive to have Christian share a bed with Caroline as soon as she realizes she's pregnant in order for Christian to believe the baby's his.
* ManipulativeBitch: The Queen Dowager.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Privy Council.

* RoyalBrat: Christian (though it's not entirely his fault).

* {{Manipulative B|astard}}itch: The Queen Dowager.

* NotSoDifferent: Struensee has benevolent motives about bringing the Enlightenment to Denmark, but he winds up manipulating the addled king just like the Privy Council did. He even tells Christian to "Just sign it" when handing over a document like the head of the Privy Council did--in fact he goes a step further by getting Christian to sign a decree allowing Struensee to sign laws by himself.

* DecadentCourt: The Danish royal court comes across as this, especially within Christian's inner circle, with lots if hedonism and scheming behind closed doors (and not always behind closed doors when it comes to Christian).

* Sexless Marriage: After giving birth to their son and heir, Caroline stops trying to encourage Christian to share her bed and they don't sleep together for years; she finds sex with him repulsive and he carries on affairs with prostitutes anyway, though the situation is still humiliating for Caroline. This [[PlayedForDrama becomes a problem]] when Caroline finds out she's pregnant with Struensee's child; everyone at court knows she and Christian aren't intimate, which risks her affair being exposed. She and Struensee have to persuade Christian to sleep with her so they can pass off the child as his, though some courtiers are still suspicious.

* DecadentCourt: The Danish royal court comes across as this (especially within Christian's inner circle).

* GorgeousPeriodDress: Caroline wears several.

* IceQueen: Caroline comes across as this (double points for being an actual queen) due to becoming miserable and bitter about her disastrous marriage to Christian. She [[DefrostingIceQueen starts to thaw]] once she meets Struensee.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Christian can be this, until Struensee comes along and convinces him he could actually use his power to make good changes.

* OffWithHisHead!: Happens to Struensee after he's accused of treason.
* OscarBait: PeriodPiece? Check. A tragic love story, set against the backdrop of political reform and political intrigue? Check. BasedOnATrueStory? Check. {{Angst}}? You bet.
** It was actually nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards, but lost to ''Amour''.

Set in eighteenth century Denmark and BasedOnATrueStory, the film revolves around the love affair between the liberal reformist Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mikkelsen), royal physician to King Christian VII of Denmark (Følsgaard), and Christian's wife, Queen Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (Vikander), and their attempts to bring reform into Denmark to improve the lives of the people. However, Christian's other advisors don't take too kindly to a foreign doctor attempting to curb their power and set out to stop him and Caroline, at all costs.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film is pretty accurate for the most part, but a few inconsistencies include Struensee speaking fluent Danish all the time (he actually spoke mostly German, barely being able to speak Danish, which further alienated him from the Danish court) and the letter Caroline [[spoiler: has smuggled to her children, revealing the truth behind her affair and her daughter's parentage]], which probably didn't happen and could actually have proved disastrous for Princess Louise Auguste if it had fallen into the wrong hands. However, it is generally accepted as fact that [[spoiler: Struensee probably was Louise Auguste's real father]], which lots of people at the time seemed to believe too.

* BittersweetEnding: Bordering on DownerEnding. [[spoiler: Caroline and Struensee's affair is discovered and Struensee is declared a traitor. Caroline is sent away to the country and never sees her children again, whilst Struensee is executed and all his reforms are overturned. But, on her deathbed Caroline writes a letter explaining everything to her two children and it's revealed that upon becoming king, her son returned to Struensee's reforming ways, making Denmark a better and more free country for all its people]].

* RayOfHopeEnding: The very end, where Caroline's lady in waiting smuggles Caroline's final letter to her children. [[spoiler: The afterword and history bears out that it gets better.]]

** Struensee can only watch helplessly as [[spoiler: the woman he loves and their baby is taken away, whilst he is arrested for treason]].

%%* AristocratsAreEvil: The Privy Council seem to play this straight. Averted by Queen Caroline.

* OffWithHisHead!: Happens to [[spoiler: Struensee]] after [[spoiler: he's]] accused of treason.

* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Played with. Struensee and Caroline's relationship actually helps make the realm a better place, giving more rights and freedom to the common people, thanks to Struensee's influence on Christian. But the Privy Council clearly don't see this as being a good thing and end up [[spoiler: manipulating the people to turn on Struensee so they can reclaim their power, setting Denmark back to square one]].
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: [[spoiler: Struensee is the father of Caroline's daughter. They contrive to have Christian share a bed with Caroline as soon as she realizes she's pregnant in order for Christian to believe the baby's his.]]