Before Westminster Abbey opens its doors on Saturday, what better way to get in the spirit than to explore the storied history of coronations in the movies? The sheer spectacle of a monarch’s formal coronation has an inherently cinematic aspect – and it’s one that motion pictures have long exploited. Here are ten films to savour before the event:
The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King (2003) – NOW, Amazon Rent/Buy
Impressive as King Charles III’s coronation is sure to be, it’s unlikely to match the crowning of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) as King Elessar in the final instalment of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. After all, Aragorn has an actual wizard (Ian McKellen’s Gandalf) place the Númenórean-style diadem on his head; Elvish girlfriend Arwen (Liv Tyler) turns up; he humbly thanks the brave little Hobbits (by taking the knee); and then he assumes the throne as 26th King of Arnor, 35th King of Gondor and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, all to the rousing cheers of the massed populace of stately Minas Tirith. And to cap it all, he gets to sing a song to his new subjects – something Charles probably won’t be attempting. ‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.’
The Outlaw King (2018) – Netflix
Robert the Bruce’s coronation was a slapdash affair; Edward I (Stephen Dillane) had nicked the Stone of Scone and the royal regalia, including the crown. The Bruce (Chris Pine) waged a successful guerrilla war against the English king’s successor Edward II (Billy Howle), concluding his reign as the undisputed ruler of Scotland. English chroniclers put it about that he died of leprosy or even syphilis, but there is no evidence to support these scurrilous claims. The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in 1996, and currently resides in Edinburgh Castle – or does it? A Glasgow pub landlord claims to have the ‘real’ Stone, believing the other to be a 700-year-old fake.
Richard III (1995) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Ian McKellen’s pared down 1930s take on the spavined intriguer proceeds at a fair clip and gives Laurence Olivier’s 1955 panto version a definite run for its money. After disposing of rivals (including a brother and nephews), Richard feels free to enjoy his coronation and begin an uncontested reign. But not for long, as within a couple of years the last Plantagenet monarch was overthrown by soon-to-be Henry VII (a youthful Dominic West) and began his centuries-long sojourn under a Leicester car park.
The Last Emperor (1987) – Amazon Rent/Buy
After his deposition in 1912, six-year-old Puyi (1906-67), the final emperor of China, lived a wandering life, briefly restored in 1917 before becoming a dissolute playboy in Tientsin (Tianjin). As a child he was installed at a 1908 ‘Great Enthronement Ceremony’ but was also to have second coronation in 1934 as Emperor of Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, the ancestral home of the Qing dynasty. In Bernardo Bertolucci’s film, Puyi (John Lone) is declared emperor in a lengthy faux-authentic Manchu ceremony under the impatient/watchful eye of his Japanese overseer General Masahiko Amakasu, played by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the excellent score.
After a prolonged spell of re-education in Mao’s communist China, the last emperor ended his days in 1967 as a gardener in Peking – in Bertolucci’s biopic, that is. In reality, Puyi was something of a pampered celebrity until his privileges were revoked during the Cultural Revolution.
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) – Disney+, Amazon Rent/Buy
File under ‘not going to end well’ as Sibylla of Jerusalem (Eva Green) and unloved, arrogant husband Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) are formally declared king and queen of Jerusalem in Ridley Scott’s Crusader epic. Against all advice, Lusignan marches his army into the parched desert of Hattin and is promptly annihilated by the wily Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). The humiliated king is later seen wearing a dunce’s hat and being led backwards on a mule before the walls of besieged Jerusalem – a degrading exhibition that is believed to have really happened.
The Young Victoria (2009) – Netflix, Sundance, Amazon Rent/Buy
The late Jean-Marc Vallée’s biopic is a re-watchable indulgence, even for the most ardent Republican. During her coronation Emily Blunt successfully conveys Victoria’s realisation of the awesome responsibilities she will carry as Queen of the largest empire the world has yet to behold.
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Rudyard Kipling’s cautionary tale of late Victorian greed and ambition was brought marvellously to life in John Huston’s 1975 movie. Two former British army sergeants, Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) and ‘Peachy’ Carnehan (Michael Caine), travel with a consignment of rifles to remote Kafiristan, in the hope of setting themselves up as kings and looting anything of value. And they very nearly succeed. In two happy accidents, Connery’s leather bandolier turns a native arrow, and his Masonic tag (gifted by Christopher Plummer’s Kipling) seems to confirm his status as the son of Alexander the Great and a living god, or at the very least demi-god. After his coronation, Dravot’s hubris leads to inevitable nemesis, with poor old Peachy paying a particularly heavy price.
Apparently, there are several candidates for ‘the man who would be king’ in real life. These include American adventurers Alexander Gardner (1785–1877) and Josiah Harlan (1799–1871), and Frederick ‘Pahari’ Wilson (1817–1883), an officer who deserted the British army and set himself up as Raja of Harsil in the Indian Himalayas, going so far as to mint coins during his decades-long ‘rule’.
Echoes from a Sombre Empire (1990)
Werner Herzog’s narration-free documentary feature explores the brutal rule of the despotic leader of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921-1996), who proclaimed himself emperor and was formally crowned on 4 December 1977. Inspired by Napoleon’s imperial coronation in 1804, Bokassa’s lavish ceremony cost one third of the poverty-stricken country’s annual budget and the entirety of France’s aid for the year. Bokassa was overthrown in 1981 but returned from exile (mostly in France) in 1986 and was tried and imprisoned (on charges including murder, cannibalism, assault and embezzlement) – but released in 1993 under a general amnesty.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) – Disney+, Amazon Rent/Buy
Another film to be filed under ‘unlikely to end well’, with the distinctly un-Egyptian Joel Edgerton assuming the throne as Ramses II (‘The Great’), soon afterwards picking a fight with adopted royal cousin Moses (an equally unlikely Christian Bale). And we know how that turns out. Ridley Scott’s (again) picture is a bit of a trudge, enlivened only by some epic Biblical scenes and sly humour courtesy of Ben Mendelsohn (Viceroy Hegep), Ewen Bremner (as an early kind of Pharaonic scientist) and Indira Varma (High Priestess). All three come to sticky ends.
The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
Of the many adaptations of Mark Twain’s 1881 novel, Richard Fleischer’s (The Vikings) 1977 picture remains my favourite. Not because of the performance of Mark Lester as Prince Edward/Tom Canty, which is more than mildly irritating, but due to the ripe turns of the supporting cast – who include Musketeer movie veterans Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch and Charlton Heston, as well as Rex Harrison, David Hemmings, George C. Scott and Ernest Borgnine. The film climaxes with the coronation of imposter Canty as King Edward VI, unless the real monarch can tum up in time… what’s the betting he will?
Still peckish for more motion pictures with coronation scenes? Then you may want to check out the multiple versions of Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda, Luchino Visconti’s Ludwig (1973) and 2019’s The King, where Timothée Chalamet’s young Henry V gets the full immersive Holy Oil treatment when anointed as monarch.
Comments