Carrying a movie is one thing. Shouldering the weight of its wardrobe quite another.

"They were really heavy," actress Emily Blunt said of her royal robes in "The Young Victoria," opening today at the Squirrel Hill Theater.

"When she was really young, they were much lighter, then as I got older and more regal, they got heavier and more and more was put on -- more and more jewelry and bigger hair."

Blunt would take advantage of any chance to sit down. "You had to sort of yank me back onto my feet because it was just so nice to sit on a couch for a bit," she said in a recent phone call.

The movie introduces the future Queen Victoria as a 17-year-old forbidden to walk down stairs alone and tracks her ascension to the throne, early turbulent years, and romance and marriage to Prince Albert, played by Rupert Friend.

For Blunt, memorable as the neurotic assistant one stomach flu away from her goal weight in "The Devil Wears Prada," the project was an education about the monarch.

"I had quite a limited knowledge of her and what she and Albert had achieved collectively. I knew about her being this old lady dressed in black who was mourning her husband severely for the rest of her life, but I knew nothing about the reasons why, really, what a great love story that went on."

Love is all around the 26-year-old Brit these days. She and actor John Krasinski from "The Office" are engaged, and Krasinski's character of Jim married Pam in Niagara Falls in one of the best episodes of TV this year.

Still, that's far removed from the reel life that has thrust Blunt into the heart of awards season. For the Golden Globe alone, she is competing against Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren (whose shelves are groaning with awards from "The Queen"), Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe for best dramatic actress.

In recent years, movies about royals have focused on marriages despoiled by infidelity or tragedy. "Young Victoria" is refreshing in that regard, even as it allows moviegoers to luxuriate in silky gowns trimmed with real roses, formal gardens, carriage rides and palatial backdrops.

Victoria was born in 1819, became queen of England in 1837, married Prince Albert in 1840 and had their ninth child in 1857.

Her world shattered in 1861 when Albert died of typhoid fever at 42. She lived four more lonely decades before dying in 1901 at age 81.

"She was just desperate when he died, she never recovered from that. I remember reading about her, saying, 'How am I supposed to go on without him when half of my soul is missing?'

"It was the greatest love story in monarchy history so I think the perception of her is that she was always like that, but she was like that as a result of what happened to Albert. Before that, she was really joyous and vivacious, a very modern girl, a modern younger woman."

Queen Victoria was a progressive thinker, willing to sacrifice tradition for the greater good.

"She used to dance all night and laugh and sing, and so I think people have, it's almost a misconception of her true personality."

Her love for Albert happened in spite of the manipulative calculations to bring the couple together. Albert was the nephew of her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium, and was coached about winning her favor.

"There was something ... almost Machiavellian about the way they were put together and so the fact that they both realized they were being gamed and played -- they were almost both in the same boat -- they dropped the act, all the scripts that they had been encouraged to tell each other. Once they'd thrown the script away, they found a very true love."

At 5-feet-7, Blunt is more than a half-foot taller than the barely 5-foot queen who once boasted a 20-inch waistline. To make her appear shorter, the producers cast actors such as Friend and Paul Bettany, who are taller than 6 feet.

And in her later years, the monarch achieved a weight and 56-inch waistline that would have sent the "Devil Wears Prada" fashionistas into a tail spin. "She did turn to the food later on," Blunt suggested. "Nine children, can you believe that? What duress your body's under."

Her body changed but not her resolve and resilience.

"I think it's very helpful to see someone under that kind of pressure and to be that resilient and deal with it as well as she did at such a young age. Yes, I think I did find it quite inspiring in some way.

"Because I don't even quite know how she managed to be that calm and tenacious about life. She didn't have the groundwork like most people who go on to do great things. She had a very oppressive, lonely childhood, so it's remarkable that she survived it in that way to go on to greatness."

Although many modern teens chafe at parental supervision, young Victoria was smothered by those around her.

"She was just a prisoner, a complete prisoner in that house. There was no way she could have any form of independence. So, it's no wonder she hung onto it so stubbornly once she had it. She wasn't willing to relinquish anything she was striving so hard to achieve."

A real royal, whose parents had a fairy-tale wedding in Westminster Abbey (and a later divorce), turns up in the movie.

Princess Beatrice, daughter of Prince Andrew and "Young Victoria" producer Sarah Ferguson, spent a day in front of the cameras. "She came in to carry my train in the coronation scene. She was very sweet. She's a very nice girl."

Spoken like a loyal subject and a gracious leading lady.

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