FILM · 2001 · NEW ZEALAND
Her Majesty
45 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
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Her Majesty was nominated for seven New Zealand Film and TV Awards in 2001, including Best Actress for Vicky Haughton, Best Juvenile Performer for Sally Andrews, Best Supporting Actress for Liddy Holloway and Best Film Score Contribution. The film ultimately won three awards, for Best Design, Best Makeup and Best Costume Design.
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Many people who saw Her Majesty were surprised to learn the nationality of its writer-director. They assumed filmmaker Mark J. Gordon must have been New Zealand-born, or at least have spent most of his life there. In fact, Gordon had never set foot on New Zealand soil before making this film and was an American citizen.
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Her Majesty won more than fifteen film festival "Best" awards, including five Audience Awards, the Crystal Heart award at the Heartland International Film Festival held in Indianapolis in October 2002, and the Best Live Action Feature Film award at the Chicago International Family Film Festival, also held in the US, in Illinois, in November 2002.
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The film's big parade scene featured more than 1,400 extras and background performers. About fifty years earlier, many of these people had been small children living in Cambridge, New Zealand and the surrounding areas. They had vivid memories of being among the enthusiastic supporters who lined the streets, waved flags and cheered on the actual historic day of Queen Elizabeth II's visit in 1953.
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The official publicity for Her Majesty described it as a unique feature film that appealed to families across many generations. The film had numerous screenings attended by children and grandchildren, parents, and grandparents together. One generation would see it first, then bring the other generations back to see it with them.
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With this film, Sally Andrews recently won the Best Actress award at the San Diego Film Festival as well as the Rising Star Award at the Marco Island Film Festival. Before these awards, she had received a Special Jury Prize for First Performance at the Palm Beach International Film Festival and was nominated for a New Zealand Film Award for Best Young Actor for her performance in this film.
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The screenplay was first honored in 1989 as a selection for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Workshop (SISW). It was chosen from five hundred submissions to the SISW as one of nine feature film projects. It was later named a finalist for the Humanitas Prize in the Sundance Feature Film category in June 2002.
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While searching for the story that would finally bring him back, filmmaker Mark J. Gordon came across a newspaper clipping noting that Queen Elizabeth II made a Royal Tour of New Zealand after her 1953 coronation. Gordon quickly sketched out the story of a young Kiwi girl who falls in love with the newly crowned Queen and of her small hometown, which suddenly finds itself on the Royal Tour route. Using the Queen's first visit to New Zealand as a backbone, Gordon began weaving a fictional story around this significant historical event, and this film was born.
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Writing the screenplay was only the first obstacle for filmmaker Mark J. Gordon. The struggle to bring the story to the screen began more than fifteen years earlier, when the screenplay was selected immediately and then repeatedly thereafter. After many frustrating years, when the screenplay had come to the brink of production in typical Hollywood fashion, the rights were finally returned to Gordon. At this point, according to Gordon, the only way for his story to become a feature film was for the financing to come from independent sources and for him to direct the film himself. After watching others try and fail for years, Gordon undertook the nearly impossible task of raising money to make his film.
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A four-day location scout in every town and city between Auckland and Wellington on New Zealand's North Island led to the discovery of Cambridge, an interesting and colorful community about one hundred miles south of Auckland. Cambridge seemed to embody many of the elements filmmaker Mark J. Gordon was looking for in the film's ideal setting. The production team later learned that Queen Elizabeth II had in fact made a special visit to Cambridge during her 1953 Royal Tour. Many of Cambridge's current townspeople had also been present at the 1953 Royal Parade and festivities and still had vivid memories of this historic visit. The citizens of Cambridge enthusiastically embraced the making of this film.
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As the film's fund managers had hoped, investors enthusiastically showed their belief in filmmaker Mark J. Gordon and his story, recognizing both the screenplay's unique qualities and the opportunities offered by the seriously underserved family film market. Many investors, including children who fit the film's target demographic, were willing to support a project that would be exciting and realistic for children and equally appealing to adults.
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It was decided to raise this financing, which was believed to be attainable thanks to filmmaker Mark J. Gordon's passion and persistence, by creating a venture capital film fund designed primarily to attract the interest of individual shareholders from the Silicon Valley area. The fund was founded and managed by executive producers Lisa Gordon, the writer-director's sister, and Susan Hailey, two of the project's most passionate and determined advocates, together with Gordon.
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As filmmaker Mark J. Gordon researched New Zealand's history more deeply, he discovered a country with a colorful and controversial past. He soon found another layer of depth and content to enrich the story in the history of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people, their struggles against Colonial settlers in the late 19th century and their fight to come back from the brink of extinction. Their proud heritage and determination to survive against all odds became the story's central theme.
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The town of Middleton in New Zealand is fictional and does not exist in real life. Ironically, it is the maiden name of Catherine, Princess of Wales and former Duchess of Cambridge, the future Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, also known as Kate, whose full birth name is Catherine Elizabeth Middleton. She therefore shares the name "Elizabeth" with the film's character Elizabeth Wakefield (Sally Andrews), and both share the same name as Queen Elizabeth II. In the film, Middleton is portrayed by the New Zealand town of Cambridge; Cambridge in England gives Kate/Catherine her Duchess title.
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The hardest role to cast was Hira Mata, the elderly Maori woman whose relationship with Elizabeth Wakefield (Sally Andrews) is at the center of the story. There were many obstacles to finding this important performer. Filmmaker Mark J. Gordon believed that, for fairness to the plot and out of respect for indigenous Maori culture, a Maori woman had to play the role. Despite extensive searches on both the North Island and the South Island, it proved nearly impossible to find a woman of the right age and with the acting ability to play the character. Hira Mata's age in the screenplay ranged from seventy-five to one hundred twenty, and there was no elderly woman, professional actress or otherwise, with the experience and stamina required to play this demanding role. The most impressive audition for the character was Vicky Haughton's. The indigenous Kiwi actress was younger than Hira Mata's age in the screenplay, but she was by far the most talented Maori actress capable of portraying such a significant role. Fortunately, thanks to the creative expertise of makeup supervisor Debra East, Haughton was soon transformed into the venerable Hira Mata.
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At the time the film was shot, a trend was developing in which more American and international film companies were going to New Zealand to shoot feature films. The reasons were varied: exotic locations, experienced and talented film crews and a favorable exchange rate. This film had another compelling reason: the story was actually set in New Zealand. Although this film is specific to New Zealand in time and place, the themes and ideas depicted in the story, such as tolerance, identity, standing up for what you believe in and justice, are timeless and universal, present in every society and something everyone can relate to.
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Because native Maori history and culture played such a complex role in the story, it was crucial that all material depicting the Maori people be portrayed accurately. Don Selwyn was contacted and appointed as cultural adviser to the film's producers. Selwyn was a highly respected member of the Maori community as well as one of the leading voices of the Maori film community. Securing his support was an important and necessary part of making this film. His involvement in the production helped reassure the Maori community that the story and the film would depict this sensitive aspect of New Zealand history with care and respect.
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The previous feature film in which Vicky Haughton, the native Maori actress who plays Hira Mata in 'Her Majesty' (2001), had appeared was Jubilee (2000), a film whose title is usually associated with the monarchy and the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Golden Jubilee (the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne) in 2002, the year immediately after the initial release of 'Her Majesty' (2001), and indeed the picture was still in cinemas and going out into worldwide distribution in 2002, Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee year.
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Despite her limited acting experience, the newcomer Sally Andrews proved to be a natural talent on screen. New Zealand crew members compared her instincts and composure on set to those of a young Anna Paquin. She too was discovered in Wellington and became known worldwide for her debut performance in The Piano (1993).