I was watching https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jun/27/my-lady-jane-review-you-know-what-tudor-dramas-are-missing-magic-animals which is sort of fun and extremely ahistorical show about Lady Jane Grey who was sort of Queen of England for 9 days. Are there any historical figures from your nations history that have had similar adaptations or you think could be the basis of a similar silly show?
Not someone who's story is too serious or important and well known making it difficult to mess around with, probably someone who has a similar vague but sort of interesting history like the 9 day queen.
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I think our former PM Mark Rutte would be a good pick. He was always lying in politics, and his world view has been schizofrenic at best. And now he’s leader of the NATO…. And he’s a psychopath. Great. FUCK!
UK – Colonel Burnaby
He was a cavalry officer, 6ft 4″, 20 stone, but got bored quickly, as there were no wars for him to fight. So he took up ballooning, and became the first man to travel the channel on a balloon.
Then he trecked thousands of miles from London, across Europe, through Russia and down into Afghanistan, avoiding both Russian soldiers and various tribesmen along his way.
He was actually highly respected by the many tribal leaders he came across. He was always encouraged to avoid them by the Russians, but instead he avoided Russian outposts and garrisons wherever he could, as the tribesmen were more hospitable than them.
Then he followed a few military campaigns as a correspondent, until taking part in the Gordon Relief Expedition, where he died at Abu Klea. His fame and respect was so great that many men cried when they heard of his death
While he is a minor figure now, in his day he was a celebrity, as famous as Brad Pitt or George Clooney.
Burnaby was much of the inspiration for Flashman, so I think he could be quite an entertaining roving soldier, womaniser, fighter, an eccentric of empire.
Maybe a person who is half mythical anyway, like John Dee or Blackbeard. You wouldn’t have to worry so much about taking liberties with the historical record.
Actually minor historical figure for NL instead of a disliked PM : Cornelis Drebbel , 16th -17th century inventor who made a actual freaking submarine, torpedoes , mines , thermometers able to regulate a oven, Solar power and claimed to have made a pepetulum mobile as well would be freaking great to have as a time traveler or even as the basis of a really anachronistic period piece where modern tech and infinite power exists.
He gets used in some comics as a sort of Q from James Bond type figure.
He’s basically a non magical wizard
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelis_Drebbel
Well, we’ve already had Braveheart. It was so inaccurate that it should be squarely in the fiction section.
The Battle of Stirling Bridge didn’t even have a bridge.
Amadeo de Saboya was king of Spain after being asked by the parlament. He gave up pretty quick after only a year of political mess. People used to call him “Macarroni” because he was Italian
There was The Prince & Me about Danish monarchy. They portrayed the monarchy in a way that mostly resembles the British one (very hung up on traditions and hierarchy, cold and cruel to strangers who don’t yet understand etc). Just very odd to choose a real monarchy and then misrepresent it when they could’ve just pulled a Genovia. The Danish monarchy is very down to earth and chill (I’m not a royalist but the portrayal rubbed me the wrong way as a teen).
Fredrick Charles I, King of Finland and Karelia, Duke of Åland, Grand Duke of Lapland, Lord of Kaleva and the North.
He was the elected King of Finland for like two months just before WW1 concluded. He never set his foot in Finland. Could be a fun show about a German prince that becomes the King of a country he doesn’t know and where population isn’t even that onboard with the whole idea.
Andrew I of Hungary (and his brothers)
After his father failed a rebellion and was excecuted by (Saint) Stephen, he and his brothers went into exile, travelling around Bohemia, Poland and Kyiv. They participated in wars, got married and converted to christianity. In Kyiv they also met Edward the Exile, an english Prince, son of Edmund Ironside and nephew of Edward the Confessor, who probably came to Hungary with them.
After a pagan uprising overthrew the reign of Peter I in Hungary, he returned alongside his brothed Béla, claimed the throne, put down the rebellion and also beat back two invasion from the HRE.
He died in battle after he passed over Béla as heir, who rose up against him.
I don’t remember the name of the guy, he done some shit and the conviction was “go live to India”. So he was sent to India.
Living in India wasn’t in his plans so he and some guys stole a small boat and they managed to return to Portugal. The “proper” boat that was sent to chase them arrived in Portugal a couple of months later…
Since it wasn’t of the interest in the crown that the other European powers knew that it was so “easy” to return from India he got to live in Portugal as long as he kept his mouth shut.
On a side note: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6697634/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk (I saw this movie as a comedy, I found it hilarious)
Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen. I’m actually still perplexed that Hollywood hasn’t made a major motion picture about her yet. She’s exactly the kind of historical figure they love.
CS Parnell would be another one, but Hollywood HAS actually made a movie about him with Clark Gable; it was just bad, apparently (he didn’t even grow the trademark beard). As Parnell led a movement that sought (successfully) to counter the power of corrupt money-grubbing landlords via legal means *and otherwise*, all while carrying on an affair with a married woman, that shit would write itself.
Ludwig II, king of Bavaria (he was the guy who had Neuschwanstein castle built). Eccentric, gay, spent so much money on fancy castles he was declared insane, mysterious death. Could make a good show I think.
Germany – **Otto Witte** (1872–1958):
He was A circus performer who claimed that he was briefly the King of Albania.
According to Witte’s own accounts, in 1913, he learned that the people of Albania were seeking a Muslim prince to become their king after gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. Noticing that he bore a resemblance to the chosen prince, and with the help of a friend who was a magician, Witte claimed they traveled to Albania and managed to convince the population—and even the military—that he was the expected prince. As a result, Witte said he was crowned king and enjoyed several days of royal power, during which he lived in the palace, commanded the military, and even had a harem.
However, after five days, Witte’s deception was discovered, and he had to flee. He escaped with the help of his friend, along with a portion of the royal treasury. Although no reliable historical evidence supports Witte’s claim, he insisted on the veracity of the story throughout his life. He even had “Former King of Albania” listed as his occupation in his passport.
Artur Virgílio Alves Reis. This dude comitted fraud by creating banknotes, and it was on such a scale that it negatively affected our currency and caused a major crisis in the government.
Alma Mahler. Late 19th/early 20th century socialite, artist and general celebrity of the Vienna intellectual scene. She rubbed shoulders with everybody who was somebody, was everybody’s muse and married several famous artists. High soap opera drama, including one of her exes making a lookalike life-sized doll of her because he couldn’t handle the separation. Finally a spectacular escape from the Nazis in 1938 and a new beginning in L.A. and New York.
Amedeo Guillet known as the Commander Devil. A colonial cavalry officer, during the World War II in East Africa he directed a colonial unit composed of natives, to whom he apparently gave great respect and was reciprocated with deep loyalty. After the British occupation and the end of the fighting, he managed to avoid capture for years by all kinds of tricks. He posed as an Arab laborer, memorized the Koran, tried to cross the Red Sea to Arabia but was thrown overboard by smugglers he had relied on, became friends with a camel driver, and posing as his nephew obtained a pass from the British themselves to Yemen.
The ruler of Yemen heard of him, took a liking to him, and kept him a year at court as grand farrier and instructor of the royal guards. Later he managed to return to Italy on a Red Cross ship pretending for months to be an unnamed Italian civilian made insane by the war.
He is in Italy at the time of the surrender, crosses the front line under the noses of the Nazis, and goes into the service of Italy and the Allies. He devotes himself primarily to investigating and recovering the Ethiopian imperial crown, which was stolen by the Nazis and came into the possession of communist partisans.
After the war he was a diplomat in the Arab world, gaining great acclaim and sympathy because of his equestrian skills. He died at 101, having continued to breed and ride horses well into his 90s.
I am sort of obsessed with Maria Francisca de Sabóia, who managed to marry one king, decide she didn’t like him and then marry his brother.
The queens we had coming from House Savoy were always interesting, but I think this one takes the crown for the most scheming and interesting.
It would make incredible TV.
Robert Emmet, minor student revolutionary. He is lauded for his oratory but seems to have fucked up everything he did, resulting in his execution at 25. It could be a comedy of errors contrasting his ideals with his abilities.
He died not so long ago, but Guy de Meuyser. A Luxembourger that during WW2 was Enrolled by force into work camps in Germany, after the war he became a diplomat and was for a long time the Ambassador of Luxembourg in Soviet Russia, which did put him in the eye of various Secret services on suspicion of Spying.
He was a great man, I’m happy to have met him
Jack Churchill. If an accurate film was made about his life, people would criticise it for being ridiculously over the top and unrealistic.
Ivaylo of Bulgaria. He got the imperial title through an uprising, held it for only one year and was killed by the Mongols as an enemy to the Byzantines. The guy’s origins alone can serve for 2 movies. On one side he’s called a pig farmer, his nickname implies cabbage or radish and during the communist times he was hailed as a villager who raised against the oppression of the nobility 😋. Nobody really knows his reasons to lead an uprising to the point of taking the title and marrying the Empress consort of Bulgaria at the time.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivaylo_of_Bulgaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivaylo_of_Bulgaria)
For Denmark, [Peter Freuchen.](https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5c5349189922c254df56d625/master/w_2240,c_limit/Syme-Irving-Penn.jpg)
Arctic explorer, man of the world, salty sailor, and one complete unit of [a badass.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Freuchen)
Lost his leg to frostbite, after being lost in the arctic, trapped under ice, that he survived by making a pick from his own frozen feces. He had to amputate his own toes with the same tool.
Back home in Denmark, he was part of the resistance against the German occupation, and his way of dealing with anti-Semites was to claim he himself was Jewish (he wasn’t) and “what are you gonna do about it.” He was 2 meters tall, and built like a brick house, so no one was gonna do anything.
He worked as a consultant in Hollywood and even won [“The $64,000 Question”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cILSmxWowOg) on TV.
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
Prime for an adaption and you could easily throw in some magical Welsh Mythology to make it ahistorical version
They’d probably get Jodie Comer to put on a Welsh (the wrong one) accent to play her though
A comedy about Michał Drzymała outmaneouvering the housing restrictions imposed the prussian authorities by living in a wagon and insisting that it is in fact not a house so it does not fall under said laws. I imagine a decent writer could write something fun based on that.
I watched My Lady Jane. I thought we could have a similarly feminist historically inaccurate show based on Juana La Beltraneja, Isabella of Castille’s aunt and rival to the throne. She was forced into marriage with Afonso of Portugal at age 12 but since we’re ignoring history we can have her be 17 and him 25 and have this be a teenage love story where she doesn’t lose the war as much as just flip the finger at the Spanish noblemen who used her against her aunt, move to Portugal and live happily ever after as a cat lady.
I’ve always been fond of Queen Désirée, even though it’d be an insult to call her a “minor” character in Swedish history.
She was the wife of French Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who, as you may or may not know, was offered to become Swedish Crown Prince to stave off a succession crisis and took it.
Well anyway, his wife, Désirée, was a typical Parisian socialite. She loved Paris. There was no world outside of Paris. She supported her husband’s ascension to princehood because all the other socialite Parisian women had kings for husbands, so of course she’d have one too.
Then she hears she has to move to Stockholm. “Lol, fat chance,” she goes “I’m staying here.” For context, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was already prince of Ponte Corvo in Italy, and since neither she nor him ever had to visit Ponte Corvo, why would she have to visit Sweden!?
“No but Your Highness, you *have* to go to Stockholm.”
She’s not even asked to go live in another French provincial town, she’s asked to go to the very asshole of Europe – ***Sweden*** – and live in that Godforsaken place for the rest of her life?
She finally relents and comes to Stockholm. She hates it. The Swedish court doesn’t really seem to much like her or her entourage: One court lady in particular – Élise la Flotte – became infamous for openly making sarcastic jokes about the general cultural poverty that seemed to greet them in Sweden. It went so far that la Flotte earned the nickname “la Flotte ennemie” – *the enemy navy* – by Swedish courtiers. (La Flotte also initiated an affair with Swedish nobleman [Gustaf Löwenhielm](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_L%C3%B6wenhielm) who consequently was given the nickname “l’amiral de la Flotte”.
Anyway, Désirée, the new crown princess promptly returns to France ***and stays there for another 19 years*** until her husband the fucking CROWN PRINCE OF SWEDEN becomes king in 1830 and she begrudgingly has to relocate to Sweden.
Back in Sweden again, she earns a reputation of being an eccentric/impossible person. Through what the court says about Désirée you kinda also get an impression of typical *Swedishness,* the complaints about the Queen included:
* A habit of “turning night into day and day into night”. She apparently went to bed at 8 in the morning and showed not a speck of shame when greeting the newly risen court and ministers with a “good morning!” before retreating into her bed chamber.
* A complete inability to be on time. She often arrived so late to operas that she could only catch the last act.
* Her complete shamelessness in her feeling of entitlement to the King’s time. She’d apparently hijack intimate conversations between the king and one of his ministers and just… Lounge around for company, and then berate the King if he told her to go somewhere else.
* A habit of visiting people unannounced right before they were going to bed (related to her inverted sleeping schedule)
* Telling people how surprised she STILL was that Josephine de Beauharnais became Empress of France (and not she herself).
She was, however, very well liked by her personal staff, as she was apparently very kind and mindful about her servants’ needs (and tbf, she seems to have been a person you’re never bored around).
Anyway. She reminds me of my mother in law.
[Marcellus de Niveriis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_de_Niveriis?wprov=sfla1) was a 15th century *Catch Me If You Can* Frank Abagnale of sorts, getting arrested several times for fraud and identity theft in connection with the church in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia, including pretending to be a monk, a knight of St John, and a papal and royal advisor. He ultimately managed to have a direct relation with the Pope and was even given the position of Bishop in Iceland, before drowning under mysterious circumstances at sea.
Hereward the Wake is a historical figure who became the stuff of legends in later centuries and many of the romances about him exaggerate or add to his deeds, making him a legendary hero.