When i first heard that they were making a film about King George, i wondered which one of the six was about to be made into a cinematic hero.
Possibly it would be the story of the first George, a German who took the throne on virtue of being the closest living Protestant relative to Queen Anne, leapfrogging over the 50 Catholics stood between himself and the dead Queen. His wouldn't be the greatest story but a nice sideline would be how he married his cousin then had her imprisoned for 30 years until she died.
The second King George would be interesting. A hothead who often brawled with his father and challenged the Duke of Newcastle to a duel at a family Christening which saw him arrested and banished from the Royal Palace by his father. While King he spent his time fighting his son, beating the Scots led by Bonnie Prince Charles and impregnating his mistresses before gorging on fruit and dying on the toilet with a fatal bout of diarrhoea.
King George III already has a film made about him and the fifth King George was so dull that his biographer complained 'he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps'.
Not material for an exciting cinema visit but hopefully, they had plumped to make a film of my favourite King George, the fourth one.
The Duke of Wellington said that he was 'the worst man he ever fell in with his whole life, the most selfish, the most false, the most ill-natured, the most entirely without one redeeming quality'. Not a fan then.
His time as Prince Regent while his dad was barking mad involved heavy drinking, numerous mistresses, an illegal wedding and wild extravagance that saw Parliament grant him £161,000 (equal to £17m today) to pay off his debts.
More expensive extravagance and he received a second bail out of £630,000 (equal to £49m today) from his father on the condition that he married his cousin Caroline which he did then banned her from his coronation.
Instead, in their wisdom, we get a film about King George 6th whose most interesting aspect was his stutter. Bah.
2 comments:
I saw the flick the other week. Pretty good, I thought. Smart script, well-paced, and it was superbly acted all round (except possibly Guy Pearce, whose Edward VII sounds like he's spent a bit too much time on Bondi Beach)... Certainly I think it's much better than the last 'big' film about royalty ('The Queen'), which I thought was vastly overrated.
It isn't because i haven't got much time for the royals but I think i will do the same with this film as i did with The Queen and ignore it. Just sounds boring.
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