Great news! If you crave movie clichés about Christmas, about royalty, or about stuffy Europeans and free-spirited Americans then you only need to watch one movie this year!
Better news! Take the phrases "Christmas at the Palace", "skating pageant" and "single-parent king" and now you don't even have to watch that movie, 'cos you know every single thing which is going to happen.
We know that Christmas movies will demand a wide-eyed acceptance from the audience - of course they will - but other ones made a modicum of effort to earn this. Here they put the keywords into the slot, pushed the button and accepted unaltered the story and dialogue which fell out the other end.
Actual dialogue:
Cardboard cut-out king: "What are you watching?"
Princess: "Christmas movie."
Cardboard cut-out king: "Well, we both know how that's going to end!"
Yes, yes we do. But this is not witty self-awareness: it is an admission of the film makers' laziness.
There were positives: young India Fowler as Princess Christina (whom I hadn't seen before) is an actor, and may have a lot of potential. Okay, there was one positive.
Let's be generous and assume that the people reviewing this highly are pre-teens who haven't seen a Christmas romance movie before, and say no more about it.
Review of Christmas at the Palace
Christmas at the Palace
(2018 TV Movie)
The Only Christmas Movie You (Don't) Need to Watch This Year
1 December 2019