5 Nigerian movies about royalty to stream on Showmax

Make way for movie royalty as Showmax presents evil queens, lustful kings, ambitious princes and princesses . . . and even a “Royal He Goat”! 

Search Showmax with the word “Royal” and you’ll find over 40 movie titles with a claim on the throne, and the vast majority of these come from Nigeria.  

Modern Nigeria has been nicknamed the Country of Kings. Inside its ancient kingdoms and emirates, there are over 500 traditional kings, 370 ethnic groups and 525 local languages. As well as presiding over traditional courts, these rulers and heirs are part of everyday life. You’ll meet the kings, queens, princes and princesses in boardrooms as well as palaces. They’re oil, construction, property and other business moguls, law firm partners, or even members of the diaspora, called home to rule following a death in the family. And since succession isn’t necessarily guaranteed from birth, many have fought their way from being small business owners to running major corporations before winning the crown.  

Hollywood could never! While movies like The Princess Diaries have had to invent little hidden European kingdoms, in Nigeria, the prince in your classroom could be a king tomorrow. Your humble policeman could become Oba of Lagos. And the lunatic who’s testing your patience as a caregiver could be a royal prince in disguise who’s looking to wife you up . . . at least at the movies. 

Here’s our royal flush of five of the most entertaining titles that take the crown, from kings to fools …

Her Royal Majesty 

Get ready for a tale of a peasant girl who brings a king to justice. A humble farm girl is plagued by terrifying visions and voices, and as the film starts, they warn that her mother is in danger. Their village has come to the attention of their witchcraft-hating king after someone claims that an evil enchantment has been cast on his arrogant son. Then her greedy uncle, the king’s best friend, accuses the girl’s brother of assault and her mother of witchcraft so that he can steal back her late father’s land, and he secretly promises the king riches if judgement falls in his favour.

As a result, the king condemns her mother to be burned to death. Watch it for the scene in which the girl fearlessly confronts the king and exposes him in front of his court, and demands the king’s life and his throne for herself. But can this new witch queen rule with more justice and mercy than a greedy old man, or will it take another witch to stop her when she lets power go to her head? 

Royal Wreck 

When the crown prince falls into a coma, his twin brother is called back from overseas to start preparing to step into his father’s shoes. But this little prince has been out of the country for 15 years. He boasts about having been to Buckingham Palace, but he can’t even pronounce the names or positions of his father’s advisors, and he looks down on his family’s “backward traditions”, boasting that he’s “new school” when his mother and sisters start playing matchmaker. He’s a right royal wreck in a hipster beanie and glasses!

As this modern prince grows better at his duties, though, a rift grows in the court over whether he could be more fit for the crown than his brother, who’s slowly recovering. Has the king picked the wrong twin to be heir? There’s much to consider, and time is running out because their city’s economic boom is attracting vultures who’re buying power from the area’s other rulers.   

Royal He Goat 

A princess falls in love at first sight with a man who washes cars for a living. Two days later, she introduces him to her parents as her fiancé and gives him every last penny she has to start his own business. There might be more than random chance at play, because it turns out their families come from the same village, his father was the king’s childhood friend. Had he still been alive, he would have been the king’s chief advisor. But the fiancé has a secret past with another daughter of the household, who was obsessed with him.

When this princess returns from overseas and comes face to face with him again, her face says it all. And when the youngest princess falls for him, too, it’ll take the wisdom of a king to sort through the ruckus in the royal house!  

The Royal Swap 

In a small rural kingdom, when the king falls ill and feels death approaching, he praises the wisdom of his son and heir, and in front of his guards, he tells him that he will be the next king. But there is evil afoot. The king has been struck down in his prime not by illness, but by the hand of his wife. And she’s manipulated the kingdom’s inner council – through bribery and promises of power and influence – to place her on the throne instead of her son. This act breaks not just the kingdom’s traditions, but her son’s trust and the faith of the people.

When whispers turn to murmurs, and the subjects turn on their usurper queen, can this kingdom still be saved and its rightful heir restored to power when all the influence and might is in the wrong hands, and the evil Queen can hypnotise people into doing her will? 

Royal Blackmail 

A king who’s also a powerful businessman in Lagos is embroiled in an affair with his chief stockbroker, an attractive young woman who brings him the sweetest deals. Let’s just say that these two take a lot of long “lunch meetings” together! The adult prince and princess are less sold on the idea of possibly having a stockbroker stepmommy, and in the palace, the staff have begun to talk, suspicious that the king’s lover is not all she seems to be.

But could she really be the one behind the growing blackmail threats to the king and a plot to estrange him from his children, or has someone found the perfect cover for their own schemes by framing someone whose hands are already dirty? PS: Pay close attention to the songs in this film, as they guide you to truths, like, “The devil that you know is better than the angel that you don’t know.” 

Now, grab a friend and a snack and settle in for all the wickedest palace gossip on Showmax…