“Quietly magnificent” —on February 4, see A Royal Affair to continue our Silver Anniversary Rescreens! First screened at Scandinavia House in 2013 and nominated for an Academy Award that same year, this period drama chronicles the scandalous love triangle between an 18th-century Queen (Alicia Vikander), her German doctor (Mads Mikkelsen), and the mad King of Denmark.

As the halls of the European aristocracy struggle with the birth pangs of the Enlightenment, young Catherine Matilda of Britain feels adrift after her marriage to Denmark’s mad King, the erratic and unfaithful Christian VII. Johann Friedrich Struensee, a town physician and closet radical, accompanies the King on a year-long trip around Europe in the hope of treating his insanity, but finds himself drawn ever closer to the headstrong Catherine– and the prospect of using the King’s condition to amass power. Drawn together in the pursuit of freedom for their people, their high-flown idealism is undone by blind passion in this notorious true story of illicit love and political intrigue.

“A gripping chapter of European history is recounted with elegance, intelligence and clarity…” (The Hollywood Reporter)

“A slam dunk in the genre, satisfying every period piece craving.” (Mary Pole, Time)

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This program has been supported by the Monika and Charles Heimbold Fund for Exhibitions and Programs.