The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Chronicles #45 ｜ King Charles III

00:00:00.000 Hello, and welcome back to Chronicles, where today we're going to be talking all about King

00:00:18.200 Charles III by Mike Bartlett, because I figured that after over 40 episodes of Chronicles now,

00:00:25.680 it might not be the worst thing in the world for me to actually talk about something that was written and published within this century.

00:00:34.540 So that's what I'm doing.

00:00:36.460 I have a lot of literature, as you could quite imagine, back at home.

00:00:40.460 But I honestly have so few plays written from the 21st century that really I was looking about and I was like,

00:00:48.580 well, this is definitely one of the best of them, right?

00:00:51.640 I actually, despite many of the things that I think will become apparent as we continue to talk about this play.

00:00:58.260 So it's written in 2014. It won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2015.

00:01:05.500 So it met with all of the approval from, you know, the arts institutions and we know what they're like.

00:01:11.660 So there's a lot in it, right? There's a lot in it that, you know, sort of is conformist in many ways and not that radical.

00:01:19.260 However, at the heart of it, I think that this play is asking a lot of really interesting questions

00:01:25.860 about what does the monarchy, our monarchy, which I'm sure needs no introduction,

00:01:33.240 what does it mean to have an institution that is essentially beyond ancient?

00:01:42.140 Kingship is, of course, the oldest and most natural form of government.

00:01:46.700 And of course, for our own part as well, it goes right back to the core of our Anglo-Saxon heritage and has been there throughout all of our history, apart from that one very little Cromwellian blip in the 1600s, right?

00:02:04.340 So what does it mean to have a monarchy and a king in the 21st century?

00:02:09.620 What does it mean to have a monarchy and a king in a liberal, you know, in a liberal democracy?

00:02:15.100 and I think the play asks all of these questions and perhaps my opinions on the matter don't quite

00:02:22.520 align or are not what Mike Bartlett quite envisaged when he first wrote this play but I have to say I

00:02:30.880 really applaud him for his skill in making it because it's quite an ambitious play to write

00:02:36.600 in many ways. The first and most important point to make is that when a member of the royal family

00:02:43.660 is speaking in the play, it is all written in a Shakespearean verse. It's written in the iambic

00:02:50.240 pentameter. In making that choice, Mike Bartlett himself is quoted as saying, well, first, they are

00:02:56.520 the country embodied, which is a very Shakespearean idea. And when you write about these specific

00:03:02.440 people, you are then writing about the entire country. And so I think that that's a wonderful

00:03:09.220 idea, and I think it's a wonderful innovation to have, to write basically a Shakespearean history

00:03:16.760 about our royal family in our present moment. And in that way, it feels very organic to our

00:03:25.100 own history, our own history of English literature, and obviously the titan that was Shakespeare as

00:03:32.900 well. It's doing something that is reverent to his style and within our own heritage. But also at

00:03:40.300 the same time, it manages to keep a lot of the Shakespearean formula as well. For example, when

00:03:47.480 the commoners are speaking, it's written not in verse, but in prose. There's even a sort of like

00:03:53.400 a side plot, a love plot between Prince Harry and this girl called Jess, who's a fictional

00:03:59.680 character made up for the play, where it's kind of like this comedy side piece to the larger tragedy

00:04:06.920 that is being played out with a lot of weight and gravitas. So in its formula as well, it is a very

00:04:14.060 Shakespearean kind of play. But one of the things that I think that Mike Bartlett absolutely hits on

00:04:21.240 when he talks about the fact that in some way the monarch embodies the entirety of the country,

00:04:26.660 is that when we think back to the great soliloquies

00:04:31.420 of Hengra V, for example,

00:04:34.840 in the play that takes his name by Shakespeare,

00:04:38.720 when he's giving the St. Crispin's Day speech

00:04:42.480 or when he's doing the,

00:04:44.140 once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,

00:04:47.820 all of this feels like he is speaking for England, right?

00:04:52.300 that the monarch's voice and the voices of the country itself are somehow one in the same.

00:04:59.680 And I feel like that is something that, even if not as keenly felt today as it was in Shakespeare's

00:05:07.480 time, certainly you will never catch me suggesting that somehow King Charles, the actual King Charles,

00:05:14.960 speaks for the whole of Britain would, of course, be very out of character for me.

00:05:20.820 and obviously demonstrably untrue as well.

00:05:24.200 But I think that that's another reason why it's a wonderful play to look at,

00:05:28.740 because we here and now are drifting more and more into times

00:05:33.840 where the monarchy has always faced a great deal of scrutiny from the left, right?

00:05:40.780 They see the monarchy as the greatest example of inequality,

00:05:48.360 of undeserved privilege and basically just by your blood giving you certain power and access

00:05:57.780 that is simply not available to us mere plebs. And all of this, of course, comes with a great

00:06:04.220 amount of envy for the institution and also, I think, as well for how beloved it is in a way

00:06:11.480 that they simply are not. But one of the other things as well is that we're seeing, as time goes

00:06:17.300 on, and this is certainly true of myself and people I talk to from around our circles,

00:06:23.880 and also seems to be borne out by polling that comes to us over the years since the

00:06:30.940 Queen passed away, a growing dissatisfaction with the monarchy generally. It's not tipped

00:06:38.800 into 50% hatred or anything like that. There's still Charles's rating figures. He's still

00:06:46.480 about he's still popular with about 65 percent of the country but that's about 20 percent less than

00:06:53.260 the queen the late queen was you know had towards the end of her reign and when i think we you know

00:07:00.260 hearken back and remember those final years of the queen's life with the platinum jubilee her

00:07:09.240 example during covid you know though i don't agree with covid or the lockdowns or any of the stuff

00:07:15.700 that was forced on us there, I suppose one of the things is that the Queen could not have claimed

00:07:21.060 to have been above the rules, right? In fact, one of the things that we saw in the late Queen's

00:07:27.060 example was that she was a greater believer in the rules than actually all of the politicians

00:07:34.560 who'd put those rules in place in the first, you know, to begin with. So there is sort of like a

00:07:41.780 moral example that monarchy can be at the best of times, and in many ways as well, because it is

00:07:49.420 elevated above the din of parliament and all of the corruption and avarice, true avarice,

00:07:56.520 that we see from those chambers and the naked self-interest that they all pursue. I think that

00:08:03.280 this endears a lot of people to the monarchy in a way that no one else could possibly command.

00:08:09.300 And one of the, I suppose, the hallmark example of this, of course, was in the late Queen's death.

00:08:17.300 And when, you know, tens of thousands of people came from all over the country to pay their respects.

00:08:25.800 And I was among their number at that time. I was living in London.

00:08:30.060 In fact, if you'll just allow me to reminisce for just a moment.

00:08:34.880 One of the things that was most remarkable about joining the queue just after the Queen

00:08:40.160 died was the fact that I went entirely alone.

00:08:43.400 I didn't have anyone just local to me at that time who could go with me.

00:08:47.800 And it was one of those things where I just knew that I'd actually be fine, right?

00:08:52.900 I knew that I would get there, I would join the queue, and alone I would meet the good,

00:08:59.180 decent, wonderful people of Britain, right?

00:09:02.320 The actual British people.

00:09:03.960 and that I would easily be able to make friends there and talk away however many hours it would be needed

00:09:11.360 until I was stood there before her vigil in Westminster Abbey, able to pay tribute to her and give my respects.

00:09:18.460 And there were so many people that I spoke with in that queue that they realized that they were doing something,

00:09:25.680 they were genuinely participating in history, right?

00:09:29.520 That's what was going on here.

00:09:31.100 The death of the Queen brought people together.

00:09:33.920 There was a unity and a common purpose, uniting the nation in a way that was not remembered

00:09:40.700 even in the few decades preceding her, and certainly not for now in the decades after her passing.

00:09:48.800 She was a very unifying figure.

00:09:51.600 And this is me saying this even as I am very aware of a lot of her shortcomings

00:09:58.000 and the problems that her quote-unquote impartiality actually presented to our nation.

00:10:07.100 But to do that and to see all of those people turning out there to pay their respects to her,

00:10:14.440 well, that frankly is a kind of power and a magic within Britain and its monarchy

00:10:20.960 that no other politician in the country would ever be able to command, right?

00:10:26.420 No one who has stepped foot in the Houses of Parliament in my lifetime

00:10:31.260 would be able to summon such loyalty at the end of their life.

00:10:39.080 And so with that in mind, it's very interesting to see how Mike Bartlett handles this sort of like a fictionalised scenario

00:10:47.480 in which the Queen does pass away and Charles becomes king.

00:10:51.080 So this is very much like a pseudo future history play.

00:10:56.420 that's being written. And I will just also say that many of the depictions of real life royal

00:11:03.620 family members that you know, obviously from the news and whatnot, they are much, much more based

00:11:11.380 in their portrayal in here than they are in real life. And so that will leave many of us very

00:11:18.820 frustrated with the reality of the situation, but nonetheless there is plenty to unpack here,

00:11:26.500 so let's begin to talk all about King Charles III. During the early decades of the 21st century,

00:11:34.180 the British public marked the passing of their late monarch. The sombre pageantry of the funeral

00:11:40.020 procession dutifully proceeds, giving memory and honour to the life of Elizabeth II. By the grace

00:11:47.780 of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other realms

00:11:53.640 and territories Queen, head of the Commonwealth and defender of the faith.

00:11:59.600 After the grand service held in Westminster Abbey, a grief-stricken Charles is surrounded

00:12:04.820 by his family, Camilla, his rock and consort, William and Kate, his pride and hope, and

00:12:12.280 briefly Harry, who pathetically feigns a headache so that he might spurn his duty.

00:12:17.780 Instead, he goes to the club to live his tormented, libertine existence, when his friends introduce

00:12:25.260 him to Jess, a middle-class attendee of art school. 0.86

00:12:29.320 Studying the relationship between pornography and Islam, she embodies all that is the modern 0.98

00:12:35.460 woman. 0.96

00:12:36.460 Without any pretense for status, she starts to question Prince Harry about his role,

00:12:41.580 and how obviously unhappy he is, trapped within such a rigid institution.

00:12:47.660 is taken aback by her candour, and the two spend the night about London. By tradition's grace,

00:12:54.100 Charles is now king, and the affairs of state require his attention, and he holds his first

00:12:59.820 meeting with Mr Evans, the Prime Minister of His Majesty's Government, and leader of the Labour

00:13:06.180 Party. The new king has a particular interest in the bill that awaits his royal assent. Once law,

00:13:13.200 it would heavily subdue the liberties of the press in response to their immoral dealings

00:13:18.500 during the phone hacking scandal. You like this bill? I absolutely do. For we have seen,

00:13:25.560 and you yourself must know, too well the lasting wounds the press inflict.

00:13:30.340 We cannot risk another murder case where phones belonging to the dead are hacked. It cannot be a

00:13:35.640 right or civilised country in which, in any private place, a toilet, bedroom, might be there concealed

00:13:42.300 a tiny camera, then these photos splayed as front-page news, the consequences thrown around

00:13:48.460 the world and everlasting. So without a jury, judge or evidence, a punishment is meted out,

00:13:54.780 a life-is-ruined reputation murdered. You do not think a principle is here at stake,

00:14:00.420 that something vital to our sense of freedom, both as individuals and country whole, is being risked?

00:14:06.840 Your Majesty, of course I understand that view, and have myself considered where the

00:14:12.260 balance lay. But both within the House of Commons, and in every poll conducted across

00:14:16.980 the land, there is opinion something must be done. The law is what your people want.

00:14:22.920 They want the leaders they elected standing up, and making choices they themselves cannot.

00:14:28.780 Because they have not time, they pay their taxes well, so we, or you, may take the time

00:14:34.820 to study hard and make the right decision on the day.

00:14:39.180 I know, I have, and this is what we think.

00:14:43.200 I have to say it does surprise that with the great intrusion that they have made into your

00:14:47.660 life you'd have them left unchecked like this.

00:14:50.860 What of the pack of wolves that mercilessly did hunt to death your late and much-missed

00:14:55.100 wife?

00:14:56.100 That's bold, so soon in our relationship.

00:15:00.740 What's bold?

00:15:01.740 To utilise Diana.

00:15:03.740 I'm sorry, but in fact it's rare to have to justify the passing of a law like this.

00:15:09.840 I would have thought that of all the victims you'd feel the strongest something must be done.

00:15:14.540 As a man, a father, husband, yes I do.

00:15:19.340 But that's not who we are when sat with you.

00:15:22.140 In here, not just am I defender of the faith, but in addition I protect this country's unique force and way of life.

00:15:30.940 We are not strong for manufacturing. Politically, our sway and influence are in decline.

00:15:36.840 But still, we demonstrate the way a just society should work. Judiciary, democracy, and more.

00:15:44.240 A low corruption rate. All those who hold the strings held to account themselves in turn.

00:15:51.280 After a frosty meeting, Mr Evans departs, and Mr Stevens, a Tory leader, enters for an audience.

00:15:58.160 I do not think it right. It is too late, and so the first law passed as king will be a law that's

00:16:05.500 dangerous. I always hoped his crown I'd have some small but crucial influence upon the state.

00:16:11.900 I'd given all my working life to serve. But Mr Evans does not like me, and has made explicit

00:16:17.920 that he will not change a single thing in light of what I say. And if this is the case, then what

00:16:23.980 am I? My mother gained experience from what she'd seen. The Blitz. She sat with Churchill

00:16:30.660 and met all the most important figures of her years. But what am I? It may not be too

00:16:37.400 late to stop the law. But Houses, Parliament and Lords have cast their votes, and therefore

00:16:43.080 when I sign the bill, if you sign the bill, for surely that requirement remains your choice,

00:16:49.540 that is, the power you possess. A ceremonial right, not one to use. I hate to differ, but I

00:16:57.020 think this strikes the heart of why we have a queen or king. They are the check and balance

00:17:01.940 of our land. After days of private stalemate, the Prime Minister returns, insisting that the king

00:17:08.260 relent and sign the bill. William and Kate find him awaiting an audience in such a tense state

00:17:14.900 that he reveals a crisis to Kate, who urges William to intercede, and persuade the king to

00:17:21.200 back down. But William wishes to support his father, and so Mr Evans confronts the king alone.

00:17:28.600 You have not changed a word. It is the same. Were there solution evident that could enable both of

00:17:34.860 us to have our way, I'd take it in an instant, for I know you're acting out of conscience.

00:17:39.360 That's right, and in good conscience I have thought that, come the moment, surely I could sign.

00:17:47.360 But when the pen approaches paper thus, about to store for ever my ascent,

00:17:52.360 and tell the future generations that King Charles did let this happen,

00:17:56.360 and in proof applied the value of his name beneath, the pen dries up, my hand it cannot write.

00:18:05.360 right. For if my name is given through routine, and not because it represents my view, then soon

00:18:12.920 I'll have no name, and nameless I have not myself, and having not myself possess not mouth, nor tongue,

00:18:20.460 nor brain, instead I am an empty vessel waiting for instruction, soulless and uncorporate, and like I

00:18:28.780 saw on television when I was a younger man. I'm Charles no more the human being, but transformed

00:18:35.600 into a spitting image puppet, lying prone upon the table, waiting for some man to come,

00:18:42.140 and then inserting his own hand to operate the image of the king, pretending life, a simulation

00:18:50.680 of the outer skin with nothing in the heart. This is your role, you surely must have known. 0.90

00:18:57.740 But I'm not sure if ever in the past there was such a bill that changed the way that

00:19:02.840 speech is granted freedom.

00:19:05.320 Not since the news was born has government and state been there allowed to use the threat

00:19:10.880 of jail to stop the presses, based on what they deem is unacceptable.

00:19:15.980 The Queen did not in all her years bethroned face laws like this to pass.

00:19:21.780 I do agree, for in her time she faced a far greater revolution, when she lost an empire. 0.92

00:19:27.720 Granted that the law on homosexuality be changed, she oversaw the altercation from the unions, 0.83

00:19:33.580 mines and factories that stood for generations to a world that facturated, Reaganised, 0.63

00:19:39.180 to place a profit higher value than the pride belonging to the man who travels day by day upon the Clapham omnibus.

00:19:46.760 And through all this, when laws arrived from those Prime Ministers she hated,

00:19:51.520 doing things of which she never would approve, she still did sign.

00:19:56.020 Respected all the votes, empowering those elect to make the law, she always signed.

00:20:01.860 She always gave assent.

00:20:05.320 Well, I cannot.

00:20:08.220 The monarch and the minister both address a nation appealing to the British public.

00:20:13.940 Mr Evans addresses the people outside Number 10 Downing Street.

00:20:18.780 With the bill concerning privacy and statutory regulation of the press,

00:20:23.140 the king has unexpectedly refused to grant assent on grounds that he does not concur with what it

00:20:29.680 does intend. I have done all I can to ease his mind, but he is not persuaded, and despite his

00:20:36.480 certain knowledge that the royal assent is ceremonial and not at all, he has continued to

00:20:41.620 withhold his pen. We're currently negotiating still in order to progress, but here I say

00:20:47.700 importantly, that first we must defend democracy itself and leave aside our diverse views on what

00:20:54.720 the bill contains. So to this end, I will here make a pledge, that either printed with a royal

00:21:01.180 sign or standing firm without his regal sign, the measure will be law within the month.

00:21:07.180 King Charles III then speaks from Buckingham Palace to the people via television.

00:21:12.620 I'm speaking from the palace to you all, reluctantly tonight.

00:21:16.720 I had a hope my ministers and I could find a way to circumvent a public feud like this.

00:21:23.820 But, driven by my conscience, I have declined to pass a law that would give government the right and power to restrict and then decide what is acceptable to say in print.

00:21:35.600 Once fragile politicians can, while claiming public sensitivity, go censoring what's writ or not

00:21:43.960 It will be easier to govern as corrupt than bother being held unto account

00:21:49.640 And therefore I, who stand outside the rough and tumble of expedience

00:21:55.920 Do caution them, and ask they think again

00:21:59.500 So far they have refused, so now do I, as king and servant to the populace, request your understanding and your trust

00:22:09.700 that this, a rare but necessary act, is not me stepping too far from the throne, but is my duty, and fulfilling what the king or queen is sworn by oath to do

00:22:21.700 The kingdom holds its breath, tumbling into an instability unknown during the late queen's reign

00:22:28.300 But whilst high-minded questions are asked and asked again about the political unrest,

00:22:34.840 Jess has an audience with James Rees, the King's press secretary.

00:22:39.620 Her blossoming romance with Prince Harry is becoming increasingly public,

00:22:44.140 as they're ambushed by cameras and the hounds of journalists that hold them.

00:22:48.820 Jess informed James that an ex-partner has gotten into contact with her

00:22:53.080 and means to sexually blackmail her by passing materials to the press.

00:22:58.240 Meanwhile, at Buckingham Palace, King Charles III measures the mood of his subjects.

00:23:04.300 Opinion polls suggest that people are divided almost equally, as to if my non-signing is within my rights or not.

00:23:11.900 But that's how far more than I expected would agree with me on this.

00:23:15.900 Whatever many like to think, there is a wise and ancient bond between the crown and population of this present isle.

00:23:23.120 It is only in the last 500 years that politicians and democracy have led the way in policy and

00:23:29.960 meant the people vote for who they want to lead.

00:23:33.560 And this is right, but unlike countries which did build existence through the parliament,

00:23:38.980 this is to us an option added on.

00:23:42.140 Like sat-nav on a car, it does not come as standard, and the car will function well without.

00:23:48.220 It drives, protects, it normally goes.

00:23:51.740 And though it's wise to pay for extra help, and usually the voice of the machine assists

00:23:57.360 us well to get from A to B when lost, and crisis strikes, we soon mistrust these modern

00:24:04.680 ways and reach for what we know.

00:24:07.900 We seek the map from years before, and there do stabilise and rescue our way.

00:24:14.840 Mr Stevens then comes to the King and tells him that Parliament means to outmaneuver

00:24:19.660 him by passing an act that will grant them the licence to empower their own bills without

00:24:25.440 the royal signature. The last vestiges of the royal voice muted.

00:24:32.280 Mr Stephen suggests His Majesty reacquaint himself with the reign of King William IV

00:24:38.120 and his decisive example in 1831. As a fateful decision awaits Charles, both he and William

00:24:46.380 are separately visited by the ghost of Diana, who tells them both that they will be the

00:24:52.060 greatest kings.

00:24:54.160 On the day of the vote, the Speaker of the House addresses a commons.

00:24:58.260 Order! Order!

00:25:00.600 This house will come to order now at once.

00:25:03.860 We here discuss a move to raise ourselves out from the overseeing shadow that for centuries

00:25:09.680 has held us to account, and so it's not the moment to become a bunch of children stamping

00:25:15.420 up and down. Both major party leaders will now speak, and then will vote at once and

00:25:21.880 there forthwith, if passed, by special measures made, the bill will straight go to the House

00:25:27.740 of Lords, who wait upon us even now to take this vote.

00:25:32.480 So first, the Leader of the Opposition.

00:25:36.200 I thank you, Mr Speaker, and because we know the facts upon the matter well, I will unusually

00:25:40.980 be very brief.

00:25:41.800 Our parliament exists to make sure that the people of our country do decide the codes and principles by which they live.

00:25:49.280 It is a contract made between a man or woman and the state, by which both sides must there agree.

00:25:55.560 That citizen does have a voice and in return will keep the law.

00:26:00.360 And so an intervention in this way, that so removes a voice but keeps the law, is absolutely wrong.

00:26:07.100 And in this House, we must every vote support this vital bill.

00:26:13.000 He sits, and there are cheers.

00:26:15.780 I make assumption that we all will vote in favour of this Bill,

00:26:19.540 for we all here now have made a choice to come and represent constituents

00:26:23.480 to have their say in this, their House,

00:26:26.180 and give their weight and influence to the shaping of the government and law.

00:26:30.640 Although we have the Crown as Head of State,

00:26:32.900 both history and precedent do hold him in his place.

00:26:35.800 And now he oversteps we must act, and not impertinent or rude, or out of disrespect,

00:26:41.920 but since we have no other choice than to protect our democratic British way of life.

00:26:48.740 More cheers.

00:26:49.740 And the Prime Minister sits.

00:26:51.440 And now, by ancient process, we divide the House and...

00:26:57.080 We will divide the House to vote eyes to the...

00:27:02.340 Please will someone, before we vote, go see what causes this infernal knocking there?

00:27:07.700 King Charles III walks into Parliament, without a crown but regally dressed and with his sceptre.

00:27:14.700 The Members of Parliament stand, and Charles stands opposite the Speaker.

00:27:19.580 Empowered by ancient decree, I do, as King of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland,

00:27:26.960 Use my royal prerogative to here dissolve the parliament at once.

00:27:32.200 Parliament erupts in protest.

00:27:35.260 Order! Order! I will have silence now.

00:27:39.160 This noise demeans you all.

00:27:41.300 Is this a space where public will is spoken, heard, or just a stand for juvenile and selfish squall?

00:27:47.800 Through petty theft and fighting here amongst yourselves, you've lost the population's trust.

00:27:53.720 And I am not prone to certainty, but you have drawn that measure in my unsure heart.

00:28:00.120 Unlike you all, I am born and raised to rule.

00:28:03.640 I do not choose, but like an Albion oak, I am sown in British soil,

00:28:08.720 and grown not for myself but reared, with single purpose meant.

00:28:13.780 While you have small constituency support, which gusts and falls,

00:28:18.200 as does the wind, my cells and organs constitute this land devoted to entire populace,

00:28:25.500 of now, of then, and all those still to come.

00:28:29.760 And in their interest, in their voice, the Speaker knows it is within my right

00:28:35.660 to sack my ministers and call a fresh election.

00:28:40.840 The King then dissolves Parliament, before long, from the denizens of Durham

00:28:45.760 Till the people of Penzance and the masses of Manchester

00:28:49.040 Allegiance is asundered

00:28:50.860 If you enjoyed this piece of premium content from the Lotus Eaters

00:28:54.360 Head to our website where you can find more

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - May 02, 2026

PREVIEW： Chronicles #45 ｜ King Charles III

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