Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, struggled for 15 years to turn her pet film project, The Young Victoria, into the true story of the rise of Queen Victoria to her throne in 1837.

"Why I had to do it, I don't know -- I just know I had to and I wanted to," Ferguson told Sun Media yesterday, before a red carpet walk for a charity cause. The Young Victoria, which Ferguson initiated and then co-produced, makes its Canadian premiere as tonight's closing gala at the Toronto International Film Festival.

It is an elegant, traditional film featuring Emily Blunt as young Victoria and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was Victoria's first cousin, a man "who became her soulmate," in the words of Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee. The film focuses on their romance.

Ferguson, who married into the current British royal family in 1986 before divorcing Prince Andrew in 1996, said she feels a powerful affinity for Victoria, primarily because of the way the young princess grew up in isolation. As a result of her upbringing, Victoria closed her heart and did not "crack it open" until she married Albert and became a mother.

In her case, Ferguson said, "I closed my heart when I was 12 and mom (the late Susan Barrantes) left to live in Argentina. I shut down and put myself in my 'house' -- in my own world -- and I wasn't going to let anyone in."

In The Young Victoria, viewers see how Victoria lets Albert into her heart, Ferguson said. "I love that: How did she let Albert into her life? But she did. And I let Andrew into mine. So it is very interesting. I feel a strong parallel to a lot of the love, really. Because the love that Andrew and I had was very strong ... is very strong. And I think that's interesting."

During the years The Young Victoria went from Ferguson's original idea to the finished film, Hollywood toyed with it. One script included an affair between Victoria and Lord Melbourne, her closest advisor in her early years.

Ferguson remembers her confrontation with the American filmmakers: "I said, 'Where in the world is it written, that?' And they said: 'We made it up!' And I said, 'Then it's not going to happen!' So I was glad that I did that. It would be so wrong, very exploitative."

This version of the story is almost all true. An exception involves the depiction of Albert's fate in a real-life attempted assassination of Queen Victoria.

"All the way along, I didn't want it to be sullied by 'filmmaking', " Ferguson explained of her campaign to ensure the film stayed accurate. "I wanted it to be really honourable to a great lady. I think Victoria would be very happy to see this film, I do. I think she would be pleased. Also, it's crucial in respect to her majesty, our queen now," Ferguson added. "I wouldn't want to displease her in any way because she is so special."

While the duchess does not talk about it, her frosty relationship with Queen Elizabeth improved significantly in 2008 when the queen invited her to spend a family weekend at Balmoral Castle to celebrate Princess Beatrice's birthday (the princess, incidentally, has a cameo in Young Victoria as a lady-in-waiting).

As for the general public, Ferguson hopes others will see The Young Victoria as she does. "I supposed I'm such a child, really. I just love everything about this film. I love the sense that it's a modern romance -- but it just so happens that it's true, 100% true. It's set in a difference period -- but what's the difference? Love does conquer all!"