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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Correspondent

‘Future history’: how Charles III first trod the boards of London stage

King Charles III Mike Bartlett Charles lll London Dominic West Queen Elizabeth II Harry Enfield Josh OConnor Peter Morgan Netflix
Tim Pigott-Smith in Mike Bartlett’s play King Charles lll at the Wyndham’s theatre in London in 2014
Tim Pigott-Smith in Mike Bartlett’s play King Charles lll at Wyndham’s theatre in London in 2014. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Stage and film dramas have fictionalised the lives of Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales, but rarely has Prince Charles been placed centre stage. The few writers who have imagined him as a future king have tended to portray him as an enlightened hero, a monarch who might stand up to a malign political regime in Westminster.

Eight years ago, the playwright Mike Bartlett, perhaps best known for creating the popular television series Doctor Foster, surprised London theatre audiences with King Charles III.

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