I agree, the portrayal on tv is a bit odd. Much has been written recently about Prince Albert , and even though he did exercise a lot of control over Victoria and his children ... (too much by today's standards we might say ) he is well documented as being the one who brought the palace mandarins to heel (a bit like the Duke of Edinburgh at the start of QE11's reign). Victoria comes across as a bit of a precocious child in the series, which I'm sure she was, and the parliamentary mutterings about the British tax payer supporting a penniless minor German Prince is very interesting. Its a bit of froth for Sunday night viewing, but what's wrong with that?