March 2025 Hallmark Channel Movies Are "Royally" Delightful!
- Roma
- Mar 18
- 7 min read
Hallmark Channel premiered three movies during March 2025 that fell under the "royal" genre.
While many fans, weary of royal movies, groaned at the announcement of three, back-to-back movies about princes, kingdoms, and commoners, the stories were charming and appealed to the inner princess in all of us.
If you haven't had a chance to catch the three new movies about down-to-earth royals, you can check out my short reviews faster than your fairy godmother can say bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
Review: The Royal We
If you are confused by the meaning of the movie title and missed where it's explained in one of the scenes, it's this: The "royal we" is referred to as "majestic plural" or "royal plural." It's used by monarchs when they are speaking in an official capacity. Rather than using first person singular, such as "I am going to take you on a date and wow you with my hotness," a prince using the royal we would say, "We are taking you on a date where we will wow you with our hotness."
Starring Mallory Jansen and Charlie Carrick, this charming story is about a princess, Beatrix, who has tried to live her own life in America, operating a S.T.E.M. foundation for girls, without revealing her true identity to even her best friend.
To ease tensions between two feuding kingdoms, Bea's sister, Princess Coralina, agrees to marry Prince Desmond of Androvia, hoping the union will de-escalate the political conflict. Coralina breaks protocol by ending the engagement, however, and follows her heart--she elopes with a plumber, who just so happens to be drop-dead gorgeous.
Princess Bea is next in line for a betrothal to the prince, and against her better judgment, she agrees to fulfill her duty.
After living on her own for so long, Bea rebels against the imposed standards of the aristocracy. She convinces Desmond to ditch his security detail to run out for pizza, bowling, and beer, she serves him tea in place of staff, and she encourages him to mingle with his constituents rather than remain aloof.
Although the tabloids are initially harsh towards her, she quickly becomes a "people's princess" and wins everyone's hearts, including Desmond's. As the couple plans their wedding, the main characters from The Reluctant Royal and Royal-Ish are included on the invitation list, which is a very cute way to cross-pollinate the Hallmark lineup.
The Royal We is my favorite of the three March 2025 Hallmark royal movies, although all of them are entertaining. Jansen and Carrick have the best onscreen chemistry of the featured couples.
Review: The Reluctant Royal
Although all three royal movies include a healthy dose of humor, Andrew Walker's wit shines in The Reluctant Royal.
When William Duke of Glassick decides to step down from his royal duties, he and his advisor, Prudence, discover that the duke has a son--Johnny Payne, a Philly mechanic.
The backstory is that William had fallen in love with Johnny's mother, Dottie, and married her after just three weeks. His family annulled the marriage (or so he thought) and strong-armed him into returning to the kingdom to fulfill his obligations. He despised his own weakness but did what was expected. Although both he and Dottie corresponded, they discovered their mail had been intercepted, so the duke never knew that he had a son.
Johnny only agrees to meet the duke to learn why his father had abandoned him and his mother. He has no intention of becoming the next duke--until he meets his cousin, Allistair, the next in line, who is a royal snob and undeserving of the title.
When Johnny learns the estate is plagued with financial woes, he introduces ideas for turning things around, including using the unsold crops for producing juices that will be branded "Common Ground Juice."
If you don't know, in real life, Andrew Walker, along with his wife Cassandra, co-founded Little West--a brand of cold-pressed juices that their website attests are "packed with 2 to 4 pounds of produce to help boost immunity, reduce inflammation, promote better digestion, and increase energy levels."
What an inventive way to thread Walker's personal business venture into a Hallmark movie!
Johnny connects to the local community to become the "people's duke" just as Beatrix does in her capacity as princess in The Royal We.
The Reluctant Royal includes several humorous lines and scenes. The best one is when Johnny accepts the challenge to ride horses along with Allistair, who hopes to humiliate him since he has no experience. Johnny pretends his horse's masculine name is Rambo, even though it's actually one that is far more effeminate--Cream Puff.
The performances and the accents are excellent, but the chemistry is lacking between Walker and de Ravin. Walker normally leaves viewers weak in the knees after vicariously experiencing his passionate final scene kiss, but in this movie, the climactic kiss is underwhelming. It's puzzling that de Ravin is two years younger than Walker, but she appears too old to be cast with him in The Reluctant Royal.
If you like eye candy, there is also a shirtless scene with Walker, which causes de Ravin's character to become so distracted that she runs into the door on her way out of the room.
The Reluctant Royal is well-paced, fun, and keeps the viewer engaged.
Review: Royal-Ish
Author Teri Wilson's book, Once Upon a Royal Summer, comes to life in this Hallmark movie adaptation.
Lacey Pope holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, but to save enough money to pursue her master's, she works as a princess at Emerald Park's Once Upon a Time Land as well as a waitress.
Prince Henry is a single father who is continually criticized by his mother for not conducting himself appropriately for a man who is next in line for the throne. He angers the queen once again when he whisks his daughter, Princess Rose, to America to visit a theme park based on fairytale princesses.
Princess Rose is expected to ride a horse in the traditional procession, the Order of the Lily. Having experienced a recent fall, Rose is now too afraid to ride. When she meets Princess Sweet Pea (Lacey), who shares tips on overcoming anxiety and learning to act bravely, Rose quickly forms an attachment to her.
A smitten Henry hires Lacey to travel to his castle and stay for three weeks to prep Rose for the upcoming royal procession. Lacey is down-to-earth and encourages Henry to pursue his own vision for his country's future rather than adhere to the dictates of his mother, who refuses to break tradition.
The queen's closest advisor warns Lacey that she will have no happy-ever-after ending with Henry and that her influence will only harm him. After the harsh scolding, Lacey flees home, where she finds she's also out of a job.
When the queen has a change of heart (which flips a bit too quickly to be believable), Henry rushes to find Lacey, like a Prince Charming pursuing Cinderella.
The movie gives viewers a glimpse of six months into the future, and, as you'd expect, it includes a fairytale ending.
William Moseley is quite princely and the right choice for the role of Henry. Social media comments on Nichole Sakura are mixed. While most agree she possesses acting talent, many aren't charmed with her in a leading role. She may be someone who is best relegated to the supporting cast, like the "bestie" role she played in Hallmark's 2024 movie The Finnish Line. One commentor on Facebook judged her as "goofy-looking," and she does seem to lack onscreen finesse. Her mother is Japanese, and her father is Irish-American, so that could account for her not fitting the leading lady stereotype.
Royal-ish stands out from the white noise in the royal movie genre, likely because it's based on a book, so if you haven't seen it, it's worth the watch.
Commonalities Among the Three March 2025 Hallmark Royal Movies
The Royal We, The Reluctant Royal, and Royal-ish are charming and unique stories even though they share overlapping themes:
The royals reject the mystique of remaining disconnected from their subjects, choosing, instead, to connect with the plebians on common ground. The royals attempt to conduct themselves in a manner due their office while still allowing themselves to act like "regular" people.
In classic fairytales, a woman's dream is to get married and grow a family, but Hallmark rejects convention. In the new royal movies, the princesses have career aspirations that are realized after marriage. Beatrix continues helping girls through S.T.E.M., Prudence holds onto her position as advisor, and Lacey pursues a career in children's therapy with equine assistance. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this arrangement, Hallmark seems to be quietly slamming those who embrace traditional marriage and celebrate a woman's place in the home where she finds nothing more honorable than tending to her family.
All three movies include royal characters who choose mates who are outside of the aristocracy.
A great deal of humor offsets the stuffiness of the pomp and circumstance.
In this latest batch of royal movies, Hallmark builds bridges between the common and the majestic so the viewer feels like a happy-ever-after is attainable for them, too.
Even if you're not a fan of royal movies, these March 2025 releases are entertaining for everyone.
Enjoy Some Royal Trivia
If you follow our Facebook page, you may have already played along with our trivia posts from these new royal Hallmark movies. If not, now is your chance!
Below are three graphics with trivia questions from The Royal We, The Reluctant Royal, and Royal-ish. See how many you know! The answers are included under each picture.
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