Cultural depictions of Charles II of England

Charles II of England has been portrayed many times in popular culture.

Literature

• Charles appears as Arethusius in Sir Percy Herbert's lengthy novel The Princess Cloria (1653-61), which fictionalizes his early life up to the coronation in 1660. Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, a sister of Charles II, was depicted as "Cloria".
• Charles is a character in the novel The Children of the New Forest (1847) by Frederick Marryat.
• Charles appears in The Black Pearl (1982), Volume 5 of The The Morland Dynasty, a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. This volume covers the Restoration period and Charles has family links to the fictional Morland family.

Film

Charles has been portrayed on screen by:

• Augustus Neville in the silent film Sweet Nell of Old Drury (1911), based on the earlier play by Paul Kester
• P.G. Ebbutt in the silent films King Charles (1913) and Old St. Paul's (1914), based on novels by Harrison Ainsworth
• Owen Moore in the silent film Mistress Nell (1915)
• Harry Southard in the silent film The Adventurer (1920)
• William Luff in the silent film The Glorious Adventure (1922)
• Lewis Gilbert in the silent film Bonnie Prince Charlie (1923)
• Dwight Wiman in the silent film Peter Stuyvesant (1924)
• Randle Ayrton in the silent film Nell Gwynne (1926), based on a novel by Joseph Shearing
• Cedric Hardwicke in Nell Gwyn (1934)
• Allan Jeayes in Colonel Blood (1934), telling the story of Thomas Blood
• Vincent Price in Hudson's Bay (1941)
• Dennis Arundell in Penn of Pennsylvania (1942), telling the story of William Penn
• Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Exile (1947), based on a novel by Cosmo Hamilton
• George Sanders in Forever Amber (1947), based on the novel by Kathleen Winsor, and The King's Thief (1955)
• Anthony Hulme in the comedy Cardboard Cavalier (1949)
• Curt Bois in Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950), based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini
• Lester Matthews in Lorna Doone, based on the novel by R. D. Blackmore
• Gabriele Antonini in the Italian film D'Artagnan contro i tre moschettieri (1963), about the Three Musketeers
• Peter Jones in the comedy Father Came Too! (1963)
• Mark Burns in The Wicked Lady (1983)
• Simon Callow in England, My England (1995), the story of the composer Henry Purcell
• Sam Neill in Restoration (1995)
• Rupert Everett in Stage Beauty (2004)
• John Malkovich in The Libertine (2004),^[1] based on the play by Stephen Jeffreys

Television

On television, Charles has been portrayed by:

• Barry K. Barnes in the BBC TV drama Thank You, Mr. Pepys (1938)
• David Cargill in the BBC TV drama series The Children of the New Forest (1964)
• James Villiers in the BBC TV series The First Churchills (1969)
• Simon Treves in the BBC TV drama series By the Sword Divided (1983)
• Michael York in the British TV drama The Lady and the Highwayman (1989)
• Michael Maloney in the BBC TV drama series Children of the New Forest (1998)
• Rufus Sewell in the BBC TV miniseries Charles II: The Power & the Passion (2003)
• Nathaniel Parker in the BBC drama The Private Life of Samuel Pepys (2003)
• Julian Wadham in the BBC drama documentary Wren: The Man Who Built Britain (2004)
• Michael Boisvert in the American TV series Young Blades (2005)
• Richard Druitt in the British TV drama documentary True Caribbean Pirates (2006)
• Mathew Baynton in the British TV comedy series Horrible Histories" (2010 - present)

References

1. ^ "Charles II (Character) from The Libertine (2004)," The Internet Movie Database.