Jen Lilley Sparkles In Return To Hallmark Channel’s ‘A Royal Setting’ – Review. ‘A Royal Setting’ is the second movie in the 2026 Spring Into Love event for Hallmark Channel. The movie stars Jen Lilley and Dan Jeannotte as gemologist Ruby and Prince Luca. It is directed by Bradley Walsh.
The premise of ‘A Royal Setting’ is that Ruby, a world-renowned gemologist, is hired by Prince Luca to restore the crown jewels and design his crown. This challenges tradition and complicates his relationship with his mother, the queen.
Ruby goes to Gullion to shine up and make pretty the crown jewels for Prince Luca’s coronation. He wants the kingdom to be progressive and more accessible for the people of Gullion. His mother, Queen Ivy, and her right-hand woman, Countess Finella, have other ideas. Queen Ivy wants to stick with tradition. Finella wants her daughter, Jory, to marry the prince. Jory wants to be with the house manager, Zander. The queen and the countess aren’t impressed with Ruby and the attention that Luca is giving her.
The movie follows regular Royal tropes. Commoner and Royal fall for each other. Meddling older royal interferes. Queen Ivy is fine, but Countess Finella is quite mean. Fake kingdom and accents, etc. This movie is no exception. Dan Jeannotte quite frequently puts on accents for his roles. For me, this is distracting.
The stakes aren’t terribly high in this movie. ‘A Royal Setting’ seems quite light in its drama. The chemistry between Ruby and Luca seemed completely believable. This was not the first time Jen Lilley and Dan Jeannotte have teamed up. They previously starred in ‘Paris, Wine & Romance.’
There are some shining moments. Jen Lilley has returned triumphantly. In a perfectly fine movie, Lilley does sparkle more than the gems. Jen left the channel in the 2021/2022 season, and this marks her first time back on Hallmark Channel. Welcome back, Jen Lilley. Her hair may be big in this movie, but she is all the charm that we have come to expect from her. Let’s hope there is more Jen Lilley to come.
My favorite part of ‘A Royal Setting’ is any scene where Ruby is talking with Fred/George. He is the Royal Guard assigned to Ruby. He can’t break character when she’s talking to him and being silly, and she names him Fred. When we see him finally break after she leaves the room, you can’t help but smile. Finella dismisses Ruby and makes her leave immediately after her job is done. Ruby collects herself and says goodbye to him. He completely breaks and tells her that his name is George. That was the aww moment of the film. Tim Machin plays guard Fred/George. He would be, as my husband calls it, the Santa role. There is almost always an older man who is kind and lovely, like Santa.
I am not the biggest fan of the Royal movie trope. ‘A Royal Setting’ is perfectly fine. It was a fine movie, with some distracting elements and some pure delights. I’m giving this a 3.75 out of 5 popcorn buckets just for the Jen Lilley and Tim Machin scenes.
Spring Into Love will continue next week with ‘A Season to Blossom’ starring Emily Tennant and Carlo Marks. Check out our review of the last Spring Into Love movie, ‘Two For Tee.’
Jen Lilley Sparkles In Return To Hallmark Channel’s ‘A Royal Setting’ – Review
