The Palace

If you’re feeling a bit royally lost post wedding and Kate and Will do North America then I have the perfect guilty pleasure to tide you over until the next made for TV movie and/or delicious scandal hits.

Apparently back in 2008 ITV aired an 8 episode series called The Palace that presented a fictionalized version of the royal family doing their best Dynasty impression. I happened upon the show while scrolling through Hulu willy-nilly one night and had a serious eureka[!] moment. I’ve since been dolling the episodes out to myself as “treats” to watch at the gym. I’m on episode 5 right now and it’s so bad it’s good. Here are my top five reasons to ride this crazy train all the way to Tower Bridge:

  1. Prince Harry…I mean Prince George is seriously channeling Chuck Bass. I keep waiting for Blair to pop-up in one of the scenes sporting a headband and tights.
  2. Princess Eleanor is literally seething her perfectly coiffed head-off over the fact that her brother is crowned king after their father’s death. She dresses just like Kate Middleton and has a creepy “Cruel Intentions” like relationship with her personal secretary. She rocks the pastels hard. She’s evil and I dig her.
  3. The servants are all bumbling caricatures that I’m certain really pissed off anyone who actually has or does work at the palace in real life. They drink like fishes too, although I doubt they could drink Queen Charlotte under the table. She’s into the gin, you know….
  4. The king is the kid from Hellboy!
  5. The sets seem really authentic, or at least they do to me — a mere American mortal.

All in all it’s spectacular. If you’ve seen the episodes what’s your favorite part or nutty character? And more importantly, what else have I been missing on British television? The trashier the better!