Royal tale needs to rein in the dialogue

One of the most striking things about By Royal Appointment is the similarity between the late Queen Elizabeth and stalwart actor Anne Reid.

- By Nancy Connolly

Hair, make-up, costume and general gait and posture is remarkably like the late monarch. Other than that, By Royal Appointment is a long drawn out affair with some great comic lines and a nostalgic look back through the decades.

Starring the momentous Reid (Sanditon, Last Tango in Halifax, Upstairs Downstairs ), now 90, the play is about the Queen’s dressers, played by Caroline Quentin (Men Behaving Badly, Jonathan's Creek, Bridgerton), James Dreyfus and James Wilby.

The late Queen’s wardrobe and signature coats and matching hats became a statement and language of their own, like when she wore a blue and yellow hat, the colours of the European flag, to a state occasion after the Brexit vote.

Or when she wore an emerald green coat on her historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011.