Mary: The Making Of Princess won’t be a crowning glory for Ten

PLAYING a princess looks like a dream job, right? As the fairytale goes, there’s the sweeping romance with your handsome suitor, for starters.

EMBARGO SUN OCT31 Mary: The Making Of A Princess stars Emma Hamilton as Mary and Ryan O'Kane as Frederik. Picture: Ten

PLAYING a princess looks like a dream job, right? As the fairytale goes, there’s the sweeping romance with your handsome suitor, for starters.

Then comes the pumpkin coach, the satin frocks and in today’s media-friendly spotlight, the obligatory makeover from plain Jane to Hello! magazine cover girl.

Grace Kelly was the first to make it look easy, only to meet a tragic end on a winding road in Monaco.

Ditto, Diana, the late Princess Of Wales, who had the world under her spell, just not her husband who took off with an older model.

Retelling their stories for the big screen and small has proved trickier still. Just ask Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts how the royal biopic tends to play out — mock up the frocks, perfect the pout and then brace for a public flogging when you miss the mark.

Engaging...Hamilton plays Mary Donaldson and Ryan O’Kane is Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in a scene recreating their engagement press conference. Picture: Ten.

So the decision by Ten to tread into the same territory, with Mary: The Making Of Princess was always going to be a risk. Emma Hamilton, who takes the lead as Mary Donaldson, told Insider she was “very apprehensive about taking the role ... she’s such a beloved figure to Australians and the Danes”.

Ryan O’Kane, with added degree of difficulty tackling the Danish accent as Crown Prince Frederik, agrees: “There was a lot to be nervous about.”

And my fear is that fear may be warranted, with this production almost trip-wired to blow up on Twitter the instant it goes to air at 8.30pm, Sunday November 15 on Ten.

Critics are already divided on whether the casting was right. But then Princess Mary now looks nothing like Mary Donaldson then, so let’s give the girl a break on that score.

All laughs...Crown Prince Frederik and bride Crown Princess Mary of Denmark waved to wellwishers after their wedding ceremony in 2004. Picture: Supplied.

Sure, the first half-hour has some dialogue to make Crocodile Dundee blush, attributed mostly to Mary’s bridesmaid and best friend Amber Petty, but knowing her, I reckon she’s tough enough to laugh it off.

Then there’s the moment monarchists on both sides of the date line will be clutching their pearls, as the young royal buck nudes up for a midnight skinny dip at Bondi Beach. It’s certainly not protocol, but God I hope it really happened.

If one was expecting this to be a high-quality, historically accurate, docu-drama, then this ain’t it. A fun romp like the pants-wetting laughs we got from the Kate and Wills telemovie, it is.

It did miss a musical opportunity to steal a page from the INXS biopic, given the royal couple courted to a soundtrack of rocking anthems from their favourite bands Powderfinger and their Danish equivalent, Sword Sol (Black Sun).

And those expecting to relive the full-blown theatrics of that sobfest of a wedding can pack the tissues away, though there is a sweetness to this story you can’t edit out and, as the Bachie would say, it’s worth it just to recap the journey (drink!)

“Mary from Tassie,” has been on.