A Princess Story Made for 2025

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When both were on the air, you’d often hear that “House of Cards” was what people assumed DC politics was like, but “Veep” was actually much closer to the real thing. A decade later and an ocean away, most shows looking at the inner workings of a different goverenment institution — the Spanish royal family — are either documentaries or dramas set centuries in the past. The latest Prime Video series “Her Majesty (Su Majestad)” is told like a TV story delighting in its choice to be none of the above. 

On the surface, the show’s logline seems like it’s treading in familiar territory: When her family is caught in a scandal that damages the monarchy’s reputation, a young princess must learn how to square her carefree ways with being next in line to the throne. Threading together a royal on-the-job training story with one about someone still learning to grow up is not a radical combination. Yet, in the hands of Anna Castillo as the would-be queen Pilar, Borja Cobeaga and Diego San José’s series rejects so many of the shortcuts you’d expect. 

Wisely, “Her Majesty” doesn’t go with easy opulence. Yes, Pilar is no stranger to privilege and some of her palace briefings are surrounded by timeless works of art and architecture. By the time the show really gets going, though, she’s under enough public scrutiny that there are no wild shopping sprees, no extra obscene displays of wealth. With her father in a kind of self-imposed temporary exile, Pilar is left to do the ceremonial duty heavy lifting. That’s enough to keep her distracted, even while she tries to salvage some pieces of her more freewheeling past. 

That’s not to say that “Her Majesty” doesn’t shy away from showing the ways that Pilar is entitled. There’s a matter-of-factness to what she feels she’s owed. When someone publicly criticizes her father, she instinctively tries to dispatch the powers of the crown to squash any resistance. When she’s told that’s not really an option, she tries to find someone who will give her the answer she wants. One of the strengths of Castillo’s performance is giving Pilar an ease and comfort with cashing in on her family’s cachet without being overly bratty about it. 

“Her Majesty” keeps a healthy amount of distance from Pilar so that her failings and successes don’t automatically become those of the show overall. Sometimes the show gets ahead of Pilar, who is slow to realize just how much the public tide has turned against the institution she represents. At other points, Pilar is savvy enough to anticipate what the audience might not, showing that she’s maybe more equipped for this role than her subjects might realize. She’s neither girlboss nor fish out of water, a storytelling decision that makes “Her Majesty” harder to tell but all the more satisfying when it works. 

It also helps that a decent chunk of “Her Majesty” is a two-hander between Pilar and her secretary Guillermo (Ernesto Alterio), whose dry approach to the royal schedule has its own kind of charm. He’s not exactly a Joe and he’s too personable to be a Gary, but as far as aides to powerful women go, he gives enough flexibility to the show so that Pilar and the audience can actually gain insight without him being a total wet blanket. In fact, whenever he’s enabled to make logistical demands of his own, it’s “Her Majesty” making another case that proximity to power has its own ability to shape a person’s personality.

Fictional heirs, be they political or financial (or both), carry around at least a thin layer of sadness. There’s a burden of expectations there, even if that burden comes with a motorcade or the ability to rent out a downtown club at a moment’s notice. When “Her Majesty” shows Pilar at her most impulsive, you get the sense that she’s only enjoying it to a certain extent. Her father is mostly absent from this season, which not only makes Guillermo a fascinating replacement, it leaves a hole in the show that we see Pilar trying to fill any way she can. 

For her, that sometimes means that the process of wooing judges or meeting with protestors becomes the thing she tries to draw enjoyment from. Pilar manages to do the daily, in-person equivalent of Reading the Comments, forcing herself to feel something that either validates her choices or forces herself to change her behavior. In a real-life political landscape filled with leaders with incredibly thin skin, that helps “Her Majesty” stands out all the more, regardless of her motivation. 

This isn’t an easy, obvious Gen Z rallying cry, either. In fact, “Her Majesty” ends up being even more engaging because of how well it blends past, present, and future. Guillermo offers a link to a previous generation of standard operating procedure for the royal family. His reserved explanations of the lasting power and value of the monarchy are sincere. “Her Majesty” is also smart enough to let you realize on your own how much those explanations toss out the value of the individual in favor of an institution having to be dragged into the present. 

This first (of at least a few, hopefully!) season charts Pilar’s evolution from someone who treats her title as an accessory into someone who is defined by her place in the greater Spanish social framework. The series can still take a quick detour into her romantic life, pausing as long as Pilar can to recapture some glimmers of that old life. Castillo is so key to making all of these different Pilars feel like the same person, showing how a character in their twenties still has a right to some feeling of nostalgia, even when they have a team of dedicated personnel following their every move. Through her, “Her Majesty” makes the strong case that this is someone worth following, however messy her fate might be. 

“Her Majesty (Su Majestad)” is now streaming on Prime Video.