15 Pieces of History That Victoria Did Differently

Nell Hudson as Miss Skerrett

(C) ITV Plc

Miss Skerrett is Nothing Like Her Namesake

So the Victoria storyline involving the queen’s young dresser/personal hairstylist Miss Skerrett is…kind of weird. She’s spunky and kind, but she’s also an identity thief with a dark past. Her name isn’t even Skerrett, it’s just the persona she’s borrowed from a friend of hers. Or cousin. Or sister. Whatever, the show hasn’t been super clear on this point. Anyway, Fake Miss Skerrett ends up taking her friends job at the palace, and just assuming her identity at the same time. Because the original Skerrett had a baby out of wedlock and couldn’t work there afterward.

Suffice it to say, none of this bears any similarity to real life.

The real queen’s dresser was named Marianne Skerrett, but a last name is about all these two have in commons The young woman’s burgeoning relationship with palace chef Charles Francatelli and their various adventures together are basically completely made up. And she certainly didn’t spend any time working in a brothel or smuggling cash to long-lost relatives in the city slums.  The real Skerrett was Queen Victoria’s dresser for 25 years. And she was extremely well-bred and well educated. She spoke three languages and handled a range of personal and administrative activities for the queen. She not only managed the work of ordering all the queen’s clothes, she also kept all the wardrobe accounts. Basically, she devoted her life to serving Victoria. And the real person seems a far cry from the woman we see bearing her surname on TV.

This isn’t meant to pass judgment on the Skerrett storyline. (Though, personally, I’m not a huge fan.) It’s more to express confusion that the show would choose to give such a different character a familiar name and position in the first place. Why even bother?