It’s time again to delve into the history and the jewels of PBS’s Victoria! Today, we’re recapping the first half of last Sunday’s season premiere, “A Soldier’s Daughter.” (You can catch up on last season’s recaps over here!)

The episode opens in early 1841, with Victoria holding her newborn daughter, Princess Vicky, and wearing pearl earrings with a delicate pendant necklace.

Vicky is quickly whisked away by a nurse, while Victoria is taken out in a pushchair with Dash in Vicky’s place on her lap. The Duchess of Kent, Baroness Lehzen, Harriet Sutherland, and Emma Portman accompany her.

In another room in the palace, Albert is doing the Business of Men: helping to make decisions about the First Anglo-Afghan War, so that no one will “trouble” Victoria with such things at the moment. (Your wife’s the crowned head, kid, not you.) The war has been going on since 1839, but things are not looking good. (This part of the storyline took place in the winter of 1841-42, a year after Princess Vicky was born.)

Albert’s reminded of his place when Victoria abandons the pushchair and interrupts the meeting, doctor’s orders be damned.

The Duchess of Kent, who has apparently sworn off daytime tiaras this season in favor of doilies and brooches, is very unhappy with her daughter. Victoria doesn’t care.

Lehzen goes below stairs to inform the servants that the Queen is returning to her duties sooner than expected. (I’m including this mostly as a reminder that, once again this season, I’ll be largely ignoring the tedious plots in this section of the show. To summarize: the new cook threatens to kill one of the kitchen maids, the old chef returns, Skerrett becomes the Queen’s head dresser, a new junior dresser arrives.)

Victoria is ready to go outside and rejoin the world. But not so fast: Sir Robert Peel (who became PM in August 1841) and his private secretary, Drummond, slow her roll by reminding her that she’s not yet been churched, so she can’t go out in public.

No problem: wearing no jewelry at all, she goes straight away and gets herself good and churched…

…and then heads for the stables to finally get to go riding again for the first time in months.

She’s also keen to rekindle other parts of their relationship, but the canoodling that results is interrupted by Vicky and her nurse.

Meanwhile, Victoria is relieved to get back to work. She wears a matching earring and necklace suite, plus hair jewelry, as she returns to her desk. When Lord Alfred Paget pops in to inquire about the state of his brother’s military commission, she confesses that Albert’s been “doing the boxes” — that is, handling the state papers and decision-making — while she was in confinement. Albert even offers to keep reading and summarizing all the state papers for her (so that she won’t get too tired), but she gives him a firm no.

At least Albert gets a fancy new uniform, though.

Wearing the production’s teeny-tiny version of the Albert Brooch, Victoria expresses her approval, and then decides to help him inspect the 11th Hussars.

It’s all very colorful and pageant-y. They have a disagreement over military uniforms, though. Victoria thinks it’s most important that they’re “splendid,” while Albert just wants them to function efficiently.

While all this is going on, Peel has gotten bad news from the army in Afghanistan. No one has told Victoria, because Albert still doesn’t want to stress her out unnecessarily. Wellington thinks this is a terrible idea.

We get a glimpse of Victoria’s tiara-esque hair combs as she sneaks in to check on Vicky.

Harriet Sutherland also drops in to see Vicky one last time before she goes. Peel’s the prime minister now, so to avoid all the fuss from last time, she’s agreed to replace some of her ladies. Harriet, who is still clinging fiercely to the ferronniere trend from last season, is going to be replaced by a new Mistress of the Robes. (The real Harriet departed in September 1841, shortly after Peel took office.)

Victoria wears production-invented jewels, including a very modern brooch, to meet with Harriet’s replacement…

…the eccentric and dramatic Duchess of Buccleuch, played by Dame Diana Rigg. She wears a large brooch pinned to her dress.

She’s accompanied by her niece, Wilhelmina Coke, who is in era-appropriate coral jewelry. (Wilhelmina appears to be fictional.)

Emma Portman, inexplicably wearing a strange-looking tiara and coordinating necklace in the daytime, offers to show them to their new rooms.

Back on red box duty, Victoria burns the midnight oil. She discovers that Albert has turned down Paget’s brother’s commission. They argue about what makes a good soldier, and then Albert lets it slip that the army is retreating from Kabul. OOPS. He’s actually shocked that the Queen of the United Kingdom knows what the Khyber Pass is. Oh, come on, Albert.

The next day, Victoria has tea with her ladies. Wearing her little daytime earrings and pendant, she raves about the latest Dickens novel. (The book in question, The Old Curiosity Shop, was originally published in installments, from April 1840 until November 1841.)

Wilhelmina, wearing a hair comb, pearl drop earrings, and a cameo, enthuses about the book as well.

Buzzkill Buccleuch, however, thinks novels are silly. She also doesn’t like that a German woman is in charge of Princess Vicky’s nursery. Oh, and she doesn’t like the decor or cleanliness level of the palace. Such fun!

Victoria runs into Peel and Albert, who are deep in conversation about exciting topics like sanitation systems. She lets Peel know that she knows what’s up in Afghanistan, and because she’s “a soldier’s daughter,” she’s interested in military things. (Also, surely, because she’s the monarch?) He promises to keep her updated.

Not trusting Peel or Albert to tell her the truth about what’s going on, Victoria summons Wellington, who gives her the gory details about the defeats suffered by the army in Afghanistan. He warns her that she’ll need to be ready if the army doesn’t make it back from their mission.

As the Coburgs arrive from Germany for Vicky’s christening, Victoria lays in to Albert for failing to tell her the truth about what was happening in Afghanistan. She’s wearing a new, production-created tiara with a floral design, plus turquoise drop earrings and the teensy Albert Brooch. The Garter sashes also look different this season — they’re darker than the normal “kingfisher blue.”

Charlotte Buccleuch, who is wearing an odd tiara set with a cameo, is left holding Dash’s leash when the Coburgs storm the reception room. Wilhelmina also gets a pearly hair ornament.

Looks like the production has recycled one of the Windsor Uniform jackets for Leopold, who also wears medals galore and the Order of the Golden Fleece. His reddish-purple sash appears to be the Order of Leopold, which was founded by (and named after) him in 1832. Since he assumes Victoria’s busy with baby care these days, he offers to help Albert keep up with all the rest of the work of reigning. (Does Leopold ever remember in this series that he has his own nation to look after?)

Albert’s always-charming father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, declares that he expects them to give him a grandson by Christmas. (Ernst Sr. didn’t really attend his granddaughter’s christening.)

Ernst shows up too, ready to charm the Queen and (I’m assuming) Harriet Sutherland, since she’s coming to the christening.

Emma, wearing a monstrosity of a tiara undoubtedly created for a ’90s prom queen, informs Ernst that Harriet has left royal service and gone back to her husband.

Victoire Kent doesn’t fare well on the tiara front in this episode, either. Here’s the “tiara” she wears while they all choke down a disgusting dinner prepared by the controversial new cook. (Charlotte Buccleuch loves it, thinks they’re all just weak, and comes this close to saying the word “menopause” at the dinner table.)

Victoria wants the old chef back. (They eventually get him back.) It’s one more decision made without her, and after dinner, she and Albert have it out. He says he wants to protect her; she’s tired of that kind of paternalistic BS. She’s a queen, not a child. Albert goes off to sleep in his own room.

Albert complains about his wife as he and Ernst fence the next morning. Ernst points out that maybe, just maybe, Victoria isn’t thrilled that her husband is trying to do her job. Albert hadn’t thought of that. He tells Ernst that he’ll make a good husband one day. (Spoiler: he will not!)

Drummond drops off the army list, and Victoria reiterates that she wants to be the first to know any news from Afghanistan, good or bad.

The Siblings Coburg have a gossip fest at the palace. Victoire complains that Victoria is even less manageable now that she’s a mother. Ernst Sr. says Albert needs to get Victoria pregnant again, stat. (Actually, he says schnell, which cracked me up.) Leopold needlepoints and decides to stick around after the christening to try to manage the whole thing. (Forget you, Belgium!)

Leopold has already decided that baby Vicky should be married off to the nephew of the King of Prussia. Victoria tells him to hold his horses, and she cuts off the rest of the family’s attempts to talk about the many, many more children she should have.

In grand splendor, Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa is christened in front of her family. The show sets the christening in one of Britain’s grand churches, but the actual ceremony took place in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace on February 10, 1841. (That date was also Victoria and Albert’s first wedding anniversary.) The baby had been made Princess Royal a few weeks earlier, on January 19.

Little Vicky had six sponsors, including the Duchess of Kent and King Leopold. The Duke of Wellington stood as proxy for another godparent, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (who, again, didn’t attend). The other godparents: Queen Adelaide, the Duke of Sussex, and the Duchess of Gloucester.

Victoria really did wear the diamond diadem commissioned by her uncle, King George IV, for the christening. (You can see what all of the persons present wore in the portrait from the event.)

Harriet Sutherland is back, and she introduces her husband to Ernst at the reception following the christening.

I like that she decided to go with both a tiara and a ferronniere for the occasion. (When you’ve got a signature piece…) To be fair, the painting of the christening shows lots of ferronnieres in attendance, including some paired with other head ornaments.

But the party takes a turn when Peel informs Victoria and Albert that the worst has happened in Afghanistan. Out of four thousand troops, only a single man survived. He’s just arrived in London.

The military event described in this episode is the retreat from Kabul, which took place in January 1842, almost a year after the christening. (By that point, Victoria and Albert already had two children.)

The survivor, Dr. William Brydon, is immediately summoned to the palace, where he meets with Victoria and several others. She does her best to comfort him. Brydon really was one of the few European survivors of the 1842 retreat from Kabul.

When the public hears about what happened in Afghanistan, the people are angry. Charlotte Buccleuch declares it “a bad day for the country.”

Everyone’s up in arms. The political parties are blaming each other, and Albert has decided that this is the perfect time to once again promote his ideas for a redesigned military helmet. (Come ON, Albert.) Victoria and Wellington agree that it’s time for some pomp and circumstance. She’ll attend the commissioning ceremony for the new HMS Trafalgar.

That evening, Victoria receives a letter from Lord Melbourne. (Rufus, come back!) It’s a chatty note about his orchid-growing hobby, but Albert assumes that Melbourne is influencing Victoria from afar, and they have yet another argument about control, advice, and Victoria’s ability to know her own mind.

At the ceremony, Victoria gives a stirring speech about Britain’s armed forces, even while acknowledging the recent defeat. It works — the people are moved, and even Albert is impressed. (The ship’s launch, which was attended by Victoria and Albert, really happened in June 1841.)

Back at the palace, drama is brewing: young Wilhelmina, in her coral jewels, watches Ernst play the piano.

And in the nursery, all is well. Victoria and Albert are happy once more — and she even admits that his helmet design wasn’t that bad after all.

Time for another round of the latest royal soap opera adaptation, Victoria, which is currently airing on Sunday nights on PBS in the States. It’s all weddings, Chartists, and costume balls in this episode…

Another episode opening, another view of the bejeweled Queen Victoria in a carriage. She’s on her way to the State Opening of Parliament, and she’s wearing her Uncle George’s Diamond Diadem, plus a diamond necklace that is probably intended to be the production’s version of Queen Charlotte’s diamond necklace.

Victoria wears the Imperial State Crown as she gives her speech, with Lord Melbourne standing over her shoulder. Meanwhile, in a far less glittering affair, the Chartists are protesting and clashing with armed troops. (This is the Newport Rising, which actually happened in November 1839.)

The next day, Victoria and Lord M view Queen Elizabeth I’s accession portrait and chat about Victoria’s problems. She’s got 99 of them, and her uncles are basically all of them: Cumberland is still trying to convince everyone that she’s mentally unfit to rule, and her mother’s brother, King Leopold of Belgium, is heading to England now, too. Leopold wants her to marry her cousin, Prince Albert. Victoria is not interested.

(The real life history here is basically right — Victoria did try to cancel Albert’s upcoming visit in the summer of 1839, because she wasn’t convinced she wanted to get married. However, this happened at the same time that Lady Flora Hastings died, an event that unleashed public fury on Victoria and Melbourne. Her mind was probably not really on happy marriages.)

Melbourne helpfully notes that Elizabeth never married, and Victoria’s intrigued. Victoria, who has pearls wrapped around her hair, wonders if Elizabeth was lonely. (HINT HINT, Lord M.) Melbourne remarks rather mildly that Elizabeth had, ahem, companions. (HINT HINT, Victoria.)

Victoria and her ladies wear daytime (maybe, benefit of the doubt, late afternoon?) tiaras as they wait for a special guest: King Leopold.

To welcome her uncle, Victoria’s wearing the same little tiara (not a royal replica) that we’ve seen in previous scenes, plus a diamond necklace and a bunch of pearls in her hair.

Does Uncle Leopold look familiar? Yep, that’s Alex Jennings, who we recently saw playing the Duke of Windsor in The Crown. (He also played Prince Charles in The Queen.) He has basically cornered the market on playing meddling royal uncles.

Immediately after he arrives, Leopold commits the cardinal sin of this television show: he calls Victoria short. Look out! He also points out (correctly, but awkwardly) that if his first wife (Victoria’s cousin, Princess Charlotte) and their child had lived, she would be Queen and he’d be the one living in the palace.

The Duchess of Kent greets her brother and immediately starts plotting about marrying off Victoria and their nephew, Albert. She’s wearing her Queen of the Prom jewels from the Coronation Ball.

Also scheming: the Cumberlands, naturally. (Who were off reigning in Hanover at this point, not giving a fig about much of this.) Still wish that Frederica, who is wearing rather modern pearls here, was narrating this show.

As Lord M explains why he thinks first cousins shouldn’t marry, Victoria wears a VERY assertive, tiara-esque hair comb. This sort of reminds me of a Tudor hood silhouette, which could be an interesting link to all of the Elizabethan referencing in this episode, I suppose?

Here’s one more look at the comb. Melbourne also fills Victoria in about the Chartists. This episode makes it seem like Victoria was personally involved with the government’s decisions after the Newport Rising, which is not accurate.

That evening, everyone goes to see Lucia di Lammermoor, which had debuted in London in 1838. (Conveniently, it’s about a madwoman who has a not-so-great experience with marriage.) Victoria wears her tiara and necklace to sit with Grand Duke Alexander.

The Cumberlands dispatch another royal cousin, Prince George of Cambridge, to go and try to woo Victoria. While he and the Grand Duke peacock in front of the Queen, Lord M and Lady Portman talk about Victoria’s marriage prospects. Emma’s wearing her Coronation Ball tiara.

Uncle Leopold warns Victoria not to get too close to Melbourne, but she brushes him off. As she and Lord M go out riding together and talk about the Chartists, she wears another gorgeous riding habit. (Note, of course, the Elizabethan ruff-style collar.)

The Duchess of Kent asks Leopold for money, claiming that she’s living like a pauper while wearing a tiara-esque hair comb and standing in a royal palace. Not great optics, Victoire.

Victoria goes to unveil a memorial to her father, but the ceremony is interrupted by a Chartist protest. Victoria is escorted away, but Uncle Leopold decides this is the best moment to chat with Melbourne about Victoria’s future husband. Leopold wants her to marry as quickly as possible; Melbourne thinks she should wait.

Victoria tracks down Lord M at his country estate, Brocket Hall, to basically tell him that she loves him.

He lets her down as gently as he can.

Victoria wallows in her sadness, but the Duchess of Kent and Uncle Leopold are still all over her about Albert’s visit. Victoire has really taken her hair jewelry to new heights in this scene.

For the fancy dress ball being given in honor of Uncle Leopold, Victoria dresses up as — you guessed it — Queen Elizabeth. The outfit and jewels are based on the accession portrait shown earlier in the episode.

The crown’s a little strange — shades of Albania’s goaty tiaras — but it’s supposed to be a costume, so I’ll give it a pass.

Lady Portman notices that Lord M has sent Victoria orchids from Brocket Hall and makes observations.

Lord M shows up dressed as the Earl of Leicester, one of Elizabeth I’s paramours. Emma’s face says what I feel: that’s kind of a jerk move, Melbourne.

Uncle Cumberland (in a hilariously small little “crown”) and Cousin George Cambridge (as Lancelot, NOT Galahad) argue about George’s wooing. Victoria overhears him calling her short, which obviously seals his fate. In real life, George ended up marrying an actress, Sarah Fairbrother.

Lord M and Victoria waltz wistfully, talking about the orchids. There’s a lot of back and forth about Elizabeth and Leicester and marriage, of course.

Victoria manages to give Conroy the heave-ho during this ball, too. (In real life, he was already gone.)

Grand Duke Alexander heads back to Russia, where he will marry a German princess and eventually become the tsar. Before he leaves, he offers Victoria a little parting gift: a box with their initials, VA, set in the lid. (Ha.) Alexander and Victoria would cross paths again: their children, Alfred and Maria, eventually married.

The Cumberlands schemes have been foiled again! But never fear: Frederica (looking very much like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus here) consoles her husband by reminding him that women die in childbirth all the time. Lovely. They finally decide to decamp to Hanover, which they did much earlier in real life.

Victoria asks Melbourne to commute the sentences of the Chartists from the Newport Rising. Their sentences were commuted in real life, but Victoria apparently played no part in it.

The Duchess of Kent wears forehead jewelry as she discovers that Conroy has agreed to leave.

Victoria wears another hair comb as she copies the portrait of Queen Elizabeth. Melbourne hangs out nearby and tells her that the Coburg brothers are due to arrive any day. (In real life, Albert and Ernst showed up in October 1839.) Lord M has changed his tune: he thinks it would be better if Victoria did marry Albert after all.

Victoria wears simple jewelry as she plays the piano, just as we get our first glimpse of…

Albert, of course. The scene was directed very dramatically, which was effective for TV — maybe a little more than their real meeting in October 1839, which took place on a staircase at Windsor Castle. Albert was still seasick from the trip across the channel. Romantic!