Cynthia Erivo has been doing great work, and especially in period dramas. She's on to appear in another. She'll play real-life African princess Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who went through the wringer in British society.
Erivo will also produce the film, which has Benedict Cumberbatch aboard as an executive producer. There's no director attached yet as this is still in development at BBC Film, but the drama will adapt Walter Dean Myers' biography At Her Majesty’s Request.
Born Omoba Aina, an Egbado princess of the Yoruba people, she was "gifted" to Queen Victoria in 1850, taken to England and renamed Sarah Forbes Bonetta. The Queen’s patronship was a thorny rose that put Sarah at the centre of British aristocracy but did not shield her from public scrutiny, personal suffering or the dangers of a capricious court that was fundamentally suspicious of her as a strong, educated Black woman.
Erivo said: "I am excited to embark on this journey. It has taken a long time to get to a point where we can even begin to realize this dream. As a Nigerian British woman, to get the opportunity to tell the story of another Nigerian British woman who until now has been erased from the history books, is an honor. Miss Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Omoba Aina, is truly a passion of mine and I’m so pleased to have been able to find partners in the incredible women, [fellow producers] Leah Clarke and Rienkje Attoh, to tell the story and finally give her a voice. I cannot wait to dive into her story. She is indeed the forgotten princess, forgotten no more."