One year after this movie Ernst Marischka made his famous Sissi (1955) (the first part of a trilogy), which was also a romanticized biopic about the marriage of a monarch, about Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary. In both movies Romy Schneider played the lead. Peter Weck also appears in both movies.
Although this was not Romy Schneider's first film, it was her first leading role, and it proved to be an important one for her career. After her success in Os Jovens Anos de uma Rainha (1954) (AKA The Pursuit and Loves of Queen Victoria), she became a full-fledged star in Europe with the Sissi trilogy, also directed by Ernst Marischka, about another royal---the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Schneider would go on to star in both American and European films until her untimely death at the age of 43 in 1982.
Produced for Marischka's Erma-Film company, Os Jovens Anos de uma Rainha (1954) (AKA The Pursuit and Loves of Queen Victoria) was dubbed in English when it debuted in New York City in January 1958, distributed by Walt Disney's Buena Vista Film Distribution Company. The reaction to the film in the United States was mixed; Variety also criticized the dubbing as "not ideal" but found the film and Romy Schneider "charming."
Director Ernst Marischka co-wrote the screenplay for Os Jovens Anos de uma Rainha (1954) (AKA The Pursuit and Loves of Queen Victoria) with Sil Vara, based on Vara's 1932 comedic play, which was also a film directed by Erich Engel under the title O Favorito da Rainha (1936). The story was supposedly based on the diaries of the Queen of England, but is actually mostly fiction.
According to Romy Schneider's diary (June 9, 1954) director Ernst Marischka had already cast another actress (Sonja Ziemann) as Victoria, but when he met Romy in a hotel lobby he was so impressed that he fired Sonja (and hired her for another film) and cast Romy as Victoria all within half an hour.