Jeremy Brock's script concerns the unlikely friendship between Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and the Scottish stablekeeper John Brown (Billy Connolly), whose closeness triggered a scandal amidst a crisis of confidence in the British monarchy during the 1860s. After the death of her beloved Prince Albert in 1861, the Queen withdrew into anguished seclusion; in 1864 the brusque, outspoken Brown was summoned to Windsor to care for the royal horses, even though the Queen had long since given up riding or any other activity. The movie depicts how Brown's stubborn devotion awakened Queen Victoria from her misery--just as liberal reformers in Parliament began crying for the abolition of the throne.

The production has been handsomely mounted, and "mounted" is as good a term as any to describe director John Madden's rigid filming, which emphasizes imposing backgrounds and fixed settings even more than Victorian formality dictates. Brock's script, however, provides juicy portraits of Parliamentary intrigue, upper-crust malice, and royal infighting. There's more than a suggestion of Falstaff in Connolly's lusty, boozing Brown, who is edged out of the Queen's favor as she regains her public standing; he becomes the sacrifice she must make to reclaim her mantle.