Cultural depictions of Charles I of England

Charles I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.

Music

Curse My Name, a song by German power metal band Blind Guardian on the album At the Edge of Time (2010), depicts the downfall and execution of Charles I.

Literature

Jowitt views the character of the gentleman Vitelli in Massinger's 1624 play The Renegado as an allegory of the prince during the failed marriage attempt.^[1]
There is the manuscript of play entitled Charles I by Percy Shelley, started in early 1822 and left unfinished after his death.
Twenty Years After, by Alexandre Dumas, gives a highly fictionalised account of Charles I's downfall, trial and death condensed into a few days. The book's fictional villain, Mordaunt, is depicted as the king's executioner, while Athos, Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos are his secret - and unsuccessful - helpers.
The Civil War period is seen through the eyes of the fictional Morland family in The Oak Apple, Volume 4 of The Morland Dynasty, a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
55 Days (2012 - played in the premiere production by Mark Gatiss)
He makes a brief appearance in Lawrence Norfolk's John Saturnall's Feast, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
He's a character in The King's Spy by Andrew Swanston, set mainly in Oxford; the novel was published in August 2012 by Bantam Press.
In Traitor's Field by Robert Wilton, published in May 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing, the reader follows him from his imprisonment in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to his trial and, ultimately, execution in Whitehall.
Makes an appearance in Elizabeth Goudge's 1958 novel, The White Witch, set during the Civil War.

Film and television

On screen, Charles has been portrayed by:

Russell Thorndike in the British silent film Henrietta Maria; or, The Queen of Sorrow (1923)
Henry Victor in the British silent film The Royal Oak (1923), in which he also played Charles II
Hugh Miller in The Vicar of Bray (1937)
Robert Rietty in The Scarlet Blade (1963)
Stephen MacDonald in the BBC TV drama series Witch Wood (1964)
Kenneth Colley in a drama in the BBC TV series Thirty-Minute Theatre entitled Revolutions: Cromwell (1970)
Alec Guinness in Cromwell (1970)
Jeremy Clyde in the BBC TV drama series The Children of the New Forest (1977) and By the Sword Divided (1983)
Stephen Fry in the BBC TV comedy short Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988), with very similar mannerisms to the current Prince of Wales
Bill Paterson in The Return of the Musketeers (1989), loosely based on the novel Twenty Years After
Aleksei Petrenko in the Russian film Mushketyory 20 let spustya (1992), also based on Twenty Years After
Chris Kirk in the British TV drama documentary Civil War: England's Fight for Freedom (1997)
Rupert Everett in To Kill a King (2003)
Martin Turner briefly at the beginning of the BBC TV miniseries Charles II: The Power & the Passion (2003)
Peter Capaldi in Channel 4's four-part TV drama series The Devil's Whore (2008)
Mathew Baynton and Adam Riches in the British children's sketchshow Horrible Histories (2009 - 2015)

References

^ Jowitt C (2004) Massinger's The 'Renegado' (1624) and the Spanish marriage, Cahiers Elisabethains, 65, p 45–53

[1] Jowitt C (2004) Massinger's The 'Renegado' (1624) and the Spanish marriage, Cahiers Elisabethains, 65, p 45–53

[1]

v t e Cultural depictions of English and British monarchs
Kingdom of the English 886–1066	Alfred the Great Edward the Elder Æthelflæd Ælfweard Athelstan the Glorious¹ Edmund the Magnificent¹ Eadred¹ Eadwig the Fair¹ Edgar the Peaceable¹ Edward the Martyr Æthelred the Unready Sweyn Forkbeard Edmund Ironside Cnut¹ Harold Harefoot Harthacnut Edward the Confessor Harold Godwinson Edgar the Ætheling
Kingdom of England 1066–1649	William I William II Henry I Stephen Matilda Henry II² Henry the Young King Richard I John² Henry III² Edward I² Edward II² Edward III² Richard II² Henry IV² Henry V² Henry VI² Edward IV² Edward V² Richard III² Henry VII² Henry VIII² Edward VI² Jane² Mary I² with Philip² Elizabeth I ² James I³ Charles I³
Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653–1659	Oliver Cromwell⁴ Richard Cromwell⁴
Kingdom of England 1660–1707	Charles II³ James II³ William III and Mary II³ Anne³
Kingdom of Scotland 843–1707 (traditional)	Kenneth I MacAlpin Donald I Constantine I (II) Áed Giric Eochaid Donald II Constantine II (III) Malcolm I Indulf Dub Cuilén Amlaíb Kenneth II Constantine III (IV) Kenneth III Malcolm II Duncan I Macbeth Lulach Malcolm III Canmore Donald III Duncan II Donald III Edgar Alexander I David I Malcolm IV William I the Lion Alexander II Alexander III Margaret John Robert I David II Robert II Robert III James I James II James III James IV James V Mary I James VI ⁵ Charles I⁵ Charles II⁵ James VII⁵ Mary II⁵ William III⁵ Anne⁵
British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707	Anne George I George II George III George IV William IV Victoria Edward VII George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II Charles III
¹Overlord of Britain. ²Also ruler of Ireland. ³Also ruler of Scotland and Ireland. ⁴Lord Protector. ⁵Also ruler of England and Ireland. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.