A Royal Christmas Crush (2023)
Quebec Nordic Ice Palace Christmas… sorta
It is an unfortunate reality that in every edition of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas there are entries that are not really Christmas movies, but rather just happen to take place at Christmastime. A handful of Christmas trees does not a Christmas movie make!
Worse than that, this was such a missed opportunity!!! I get it, licensing to use real places is difficult (read: expensive) but this was filmed at the Hotel de Glace in Quebec City and in Ottawa, including at the Chateau Laurier! The rationale for a prince to be visiting his nondescript nordic nation’s showcase ice hotel isn’t clear, but neither is it clear how there is also a palace(?) castle(?) in close proximity. Sure there are some common tropes like sleigh rides and a royal-commoner romance, but what if they’d really doubled-down on the locations to really sell it?!?
A royal-commoner romance isn’t out of the realm of possibility, and neither is the idea that they would meet in relatively “normal,” circumstances. There are myriad European royals (not the Brits) in particular who have met their spouses at public events. So why not use the locations to their full extent. A European royal on vacation at an ice hotel? Totally plausible.
Of note - a rare occasion where alcohol is seen on screen in a Hallmark Christmas movie. Typically it’s all hot cocoa and nothing else. But here they managed a chartuterie picnic with wine in front of a roaring fire. If this was on any other channel this could have gotten spicy quickly. But this is Hallmark, where many of the male protagonists are just… Kens.
You’ll like this if…
You don’t need Christmas in your Christmas movies and you’ve always wanted to see an ice hotel on screen.
