Where to watch
Each link opens a search on that service. Checked 13 October 2026.
Streaming data from JustWatch
A Royal Affair
2012
· Movie
· 137 min
B
MEANRANK
78/100
Where it ranks
- Mean Score #960
- IMDb #1139
- Rotten Tomatoes #1003
- Metacritic #1129
- Letterboxd #1429
- Rotten Tomatoes Critics #1030
+7 more
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience #1478
- Metacritic Critics #1202
- Metacritic Audience #1098
- Criticker #746
- Kinopoisk #1096
- AlloCiné #459
- Trakt #1405
Every rating
61–92
out of 100
A young English princess is married to the mentally unstable King of Denmark. Isolated and unfulfilled, she finds intellectual and romantic companionship with the king’s progressive new physician. Together, the queen and the doctor begin to secretly influence the king, enacting sweeping Enlightenment reforms that transform the nation. Their illicit affair and political machinations unfold in a dangerous court where discovery would mean ruin for them and the ideals they champion.
Details
- Director
- Nikolaj Arcel
- Writers
- Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg
- Based on
- The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist
- Studio
- Sirena Film, Zentropa Entertainments, DR, SVT
- Released
- 29 March 2012
- Country
- Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Sweden
- Language
- Danish, English, German, French
- Runtime
- 137 min
- Rated
- R
- Budget
- $8.0M
- Box office
- $14.8M
- Awards
- 15 wins, 18 nominations
This title elsewhere
Cast
Full cast (42) →
Awards & nominations
See all 33 →2 major awards won · 15 wins from 33 nominations across 8 ceremonies
| Berlin International Film Festival 2012 | Best Screenplay | Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg | Winner |
| Berlin International Film Festival 2012 | Best Actor | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | Winner |
| Academy Awards 2013 | Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
| Golden Globe Awards 2013 | Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
| Berlin International Film Festival 2012 | Golden Bear | Nikolaj Arcel | Nominee |
| Bodil Awards 2013 | Henning Bahs Award | Niels Sejer | Winner |
| Bodil Awards 2013 | Best Danish Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
| Bodil Awards 2013 | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | Winner |
Awards from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
More like this
Beyond the numbers
All lists →
30 October 2026
Why Meryl Streep is the greatest actress of all time
The case rests on comedy, emotional precision, versatility and sustained achievement, tested against the strongest rival claims.
30 October 2026
Denzel Washington is more than an actor: a global Black cultural icon
How global visibility, artistic freedom and a commanding public presence gave his career a meaning that reaches beyond the films.
8 October 2026
Leonardo DiCaprio's films, ranked—and the performances inside them
Twenty-one selected films, with a closer look at the acting: comic timing, self-invention, wounded authority and the effort that sometimes shows.
30 September 2026
The most popular film genres? What the ratings actually show
Drama leads the total, but volume, a typical film’s attention and average score tell different stories.
29 September 2026
Do critics and audiences actually disagree?
The size of the gaps, the films behind them and why a disagreement is more useful than choosing a side.
29 September 2026
Denzel Washington: twelve films about dignity, authority and power
A route from Cry Freedom to Macbeth, through the performances and directing choices that make his authority worth examining.
Just released
See all →
Coming soon
Trailer — A Royal Affair
×Full cast — A Royal Affair
×
33 awards — A Royal Affair
×
Berlin International Film Festival
3 nominations, 2 won
| Best Actor | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | Winner |
| Best Screenplay | Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg | Winner |
| Golden Bear | Nikolaj Arcel | Nominee |
Academy Awards
1 nomination
| Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
Golden Globe Awards
1 nomination
| Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
Robert Awards
15 nominations, 9 won
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | Winner |
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Trine Dyrholm | Winner |
| Best Cinematography | Rasmus Videbæk | Winner |
| Best Costume Design | Manon Rasmussen | Winner |
| Best Director | Nikolaj Arcel | Winner |
| Best Makeup | Ivo Strangmüller and Dennis Knudsen | Winner |
| Best Production Design | Niels Sejer | Winner |
| Best Score | Cyrille Aufort and Gabriel Yared | Winner |
| Best Visual Effects | Jeppe N. Christensen, Esben Syberg, and Rikke Hovgaard Jørgensen | Winner |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Mads Mikkelsen | Nominee |
| Best Actress in a Leading Role | Alicia Vikander | Nominee |
| Best Danish Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
| Best Editing | Kasper Leick and Mikkel E.G. Nielsen | Nominee |
| Best Screenplay | Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg | Nominee |
| Best Sound Design | Claus Lynge and Hans Christian Kock | Nominee |
Bodil Awards
8 nominations, 3 won
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | Winner |
| Best Cinematography | Rasmus Videbæk | Winner |
| Henning Bahs Award | Niels Sejer | Winner |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Mads Mikkelsen | Nominee |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Thomas W. Gabrielsson | Nominee |
| Best Actress in a Leading Role | Alicia Vikander | Nominee |
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Trine Dyrholm | Nominee |
| Best Danish Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
Satellite Awards
3 nominations, 1 won
| Best Costume Design | Manon Rasmussen | Winner |
| Best Art Direction and Production Design | Niels Sejer | Nominee |
| Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association
1 nomination
| Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards
1 nomination
| Best Foreign Language Film | A Royal Affair | Nominee |