his 2014 play King Charles III
. He showed the new monarch, even before his coronation, refusing to give royal assent to a bill restricting the freedom of the press. The decision provokes a constitutional crisis, sparks civil conflict and leads to Charles’s deposition by William and Catherine, who jointly ascend the throne. Given the pomp and pageantry surrounding Charles’s accession and the crowds thronging the Mall, Bartlett’s script now looks fanciful. Over the last fews days, TV has also endlessly replayed an interview with the then Prince of Wales who was asked, on his 70th birthday, whether he realised he would lose the freedom to express his personal opinions on becoming king. “Of course,” he replied as if pained by the question.
As an ardent Shakespearean, King Charles also knows that the transition of power in the past was always fraught with danger. Bartlett himself invokes the Westminster Hall deposition scene from Richard II, which I always find intensely moving. It is about Richard’s acknowledgment that he must surrender power to Bolingbroke and his reluctance to make the final gesture. “I thought you had been willing to resign,” says the impatient Bolingbroke.
Looking back at the history of drama, it is fascinating to see how often plays deal with the transition of power, whether it be political, social or economic. One haunting example is Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s 1635 Spanish classic,, which explores the fate of a Polish prince who has been imprisoned since birth because of prophecies that he would grow up to be a tyrant.
ie, we're seriously running out of ideas for royal stories.
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