The coming King

KING CHARLES III
Adapted by Mike Bartlett from his Tony-nominated stage play
BBC Two. 10 May. 89 minutes

Mixed reviews of the acting, horror at the apparition of the well-nigh beatified Diana who subtly caused trouble for everyone, and shock at the practically perfect Kate being portrayed as a bit of a schemer – one did wonder if reviewers of BBC’s King Charles III realised that this was not a documentary.

Perhaps what caught out Joe Public and Joanna Professional-Reviewer (other than the slightly odd Shakespearian-esque writing), were the haunting glimpses of the funeral of Elizabeth II. It did leave one thinking ahead to the worldwide changes there may be – new republics being created where loyalty to the new King may be less felt than that towards the Queen – that will put the hysteria around the death of Diana into a full-stop-sized dot in history. Stability over seven decades was all but overturned within moments of Charles acceding to the throne.