It was Sarah, Duchess of York, who conceived the idea for a film based upon the early years of Queen Victoria. She had been interested in the queen since her marriage to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, a great-great-great-grandson of Victoria and Albert, and had written two books about her with the help of an historian. The Victoria-Albert relationship in particular drew her into the queen's history, as she believed there were parallels between their marriage and her own with Prince Andrew, as they both "fought for their love" in the midst of public scrutiny. A friend set up a meeting with producer Graham King, to whom she pitched the idea along with several others. At the time wrapping up his work on "The Departed", King, a native of Britain, had been looking for a project set in his home country for years. The producer later remembered, "she pitched me a bunch of things, and among them was a three-page synopsis of Victoria’s early life: the precise span covered in "The Young Victoria". that the film just fell into place." King brought frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese on board as a co-executive producer, as the Academy Award-winning director knew "pretty much all there is to know about British history".