Duchess of Buccleuch

As the new queen's household takes shape, the Duchess of Buccleuch presides as a senior lady of the bedchamber, all decades of protocol and unbending posture. She regards young Victoria with the cool appraisal of someone who has outlasted several reigns, doubtful that a teenage girl can command a court, let alone a nation.

Diana Rigg plays imperiousness as comedy and threat in the same breath, arching an eyebrow like it's a verdict. The part hands her little beyond hauteur and put-downs, but Rigg turns every clipped line into a small, delicious act of aggression, making the Duchess a formidable obstacle simply by refusing to be impressed.