One thing I have learned from keeping a blog dedicated to film, for five years running, is that there is a story for everything.  The one behind this review is that I had to stoop to a new low for watching a film that I was not looking forward to: I sat through A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019) on my phone.  Why would I put myself through such relative agony?  There are two reasons.  First, I am a stickler for seeing something through to the end.  This includes absurd Netflix Christmas trilogies.  The second is a little more complicated.  I am in the process of moving into my new house, and earlier today I switched my Netflix account over to that location.  Because of streaming services controls and other techno mumbo-jumbo I do not care to explain, I opted for the most convenient platform for watching it.  Thus, with not a little hemming and hawing and sighing, I made it through this last entry in the series.

If there is any reason for Queen Amber Charlton (Rose McIver) of the fictional European country of Aldovia to sigh at the beginning of A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby, it is for joy because she and her husband, King Richard Charlton (Ben Lamb), are expecting their first child.  Because there is a neat year between each of these films, since we saw them get married, they have completed their honeymoon and continued modernization reforms upon returning to their country.  Despite her delicate condition, there is one more function of state to perform before the royal family can retire for the Christmas season and prepare for the birth.  It just so happens that it has been 100 years since the signing of a treaty between Aldovia and another made up nation, this time in Asia, called Penglia.  Six centuries ago, they had fought a war, signing the document that ended the hostilities on Christmas Eve, and renewing it every century.  Because of this momentous occasion, Queen Amber and King Richard are out in front of the palace to greet Queen Ming (Momo Yeung) and King Tai (Kevin Shen) of Penglia when they arrive for the ceremony.  During the customary balls and other events leading up to these official events, there are a few revelations that come out that have the potential to disrupt the proceedings.  First, the Aldovian royal family’s resident black sheep, Count Simon Duxbury (Theo Devaney), has brought over from the United States Queen Amber’s best friend, Melissa (Tahirah Sharif), for the upcoming baby shower.  That is not the only surprise as it appears that Melissa and Count Simon have become a couple.  While Count Simon has been on his best behavior since trying to overthrow King Richard, his cousin, the family does not trust him.  This seemingly happy pairing is imperiled, though, by the presence of Lynn (Crystal Yu), the assistant to Queen Ming and King Tai.  Lynn had gone to college with Count Simon, and Melissa feels threatened by their easy camaraderie.  The last issue comes up in conversation between the two queens.  In Queen Ming’s view, her counterpart is far too progressive, which becomes a bigger issue when Queen Amber suggests they also sign the document.  This would be a major break with tradition, which is an anathema for Queen Ming.  This last bit becomes a moot point when on the appointed day, they open the elaborate box containing the parchment, only to find it missing.  It gets worse when it comes to light that if the signatures are not complete by midnight of Christmas Eve, Aldovia and Penglia will again be at war.  Neither of them seems to have a standing army, but nonetheless, it could be a messy affair.  Princess Emily Charlton (Honor Kneafsey), the king’s younger sister, makes it worse when she reveals to Queen Amber the existence of an ancient curse.  For whichever country is responsible for the disruption of the treaty, in this case it being Aldovia, the first born of that ruling family will be cursed.  Unsurprisingly, the search commences immediately, with Queen Amber using her skills as a former investigative journalist to follow leads and look for other clues, largely against the advice of her physician, Dr. Magoro (Madra Ihegborow).  If you are in a Christmas movie whose story seems to have nothing to do with the Holiday, but you have time to kill while the MacGuffin is searched for, what would you do?  If you are in this one, you would fill it with as many supposedly Aldovian specific seasonal traditions that can be conjured.  To be fair, they also manage to have the baby shower.  What it does for the plot is that it convinces Queen Ming to be a little more open to the loosening of traditions, particularly as she sees how much Queen Amber’s people appreciate their American monarch.  Despite the progress made in the relationship between the women, there has been none made in finding the treaty.  Melissa, though, begins to suspect that Lynn and Count Simon are co-conspirators in the heist.  At one point, Melissa catches the old mates sneaking off together, later finding bank statements that seem to confirm that they are concocting a plan to profit from the breakdown of relations between the two countries.  It appears obvious, but something is not quite right about the situation for Queen Amber.  Of course, the fact that she goes into labor on Christmas Eve hours before the deadline is a factor in her uneasiness.  As she tries to remain calm, she sends Princess Emily and her mother-in-law, Queen Helena Charlton (Alice Krige), into the dungeons on a hunch.  They manage to locate the missing documents, but get locked in a cell.  By the time they get free, there is barely ten minutes to spare.  All the same, it is enough time for Queen Amber to unravel the mystery, point out Mr. Little (Richard Ashton) as the thief, and sign the treaty.  She then gives birth to a girl who she names after her late mother, Count Simon proposes to Melissa, and they all live happily ever after.

I will live happily ever after if I do not have to watch another movie like A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.  However, that is not likely, and I should not tie my happiness to such an outcome.  At any rate, I am also being too harsh.  The critic/cynic in me cringes at the saccharine tone of the film, but that is to be expected of the majority of movies during the Holidays.  It is for this Catholic reviewer to find something to latch onto in this overly sweet story.  Given that this is a trilogy, there is not much left to do since each one builds on its immediate forerunner.  What I can talk about is the supposedly at odds notions of being progressive and having respect for tradition.  The common conception of Catholicism is that it is all about the latter, and cares nothing about the former.  This is, like most stereotypes, largely untrue.  Looking at Pope Francis is a good way of understanding this issue.  He is the first prelate to come from the New World.  Though part of his family comes from Italy, he was born in Argentina.  Like Queen Amber, he crosses the Atlantic as an outsider, though perhaps less so since he has been made the head of a Church that he had served for decades.  Among Catholics, and I can count myself in this category at times, some of the things he has discussed have been deemed a little too forward thinking.  He has spoken on modern issues like the environment and homosexuality, topics Church has usually steered clear of in recent memory.  The typical knee jerk reaction amongst the most ardently conservative Catholics has been to denigrate what he has had to say, much like how Queen Ming treats Queen Amber’s ideas at first.  Yet, if you truly listen to Pope Francis, or maybe just read past the headlines, you will see him circle back to soundly Catholic principles.  Ultimately, like Christmas itself, it is about loving people.  I guess one can say this is where the movie lands in the end.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby is also the end of this trilogy, thankfully.  There is nothing wrong with it, though I think Queen Amber could be a little more respectful of tradition.  My main critique, as I have said so often for the past six weeks, is that you have already seen this movie.