12 thoughts on “TBT: The Last King (2003) Episode 2

  1. I always thought that this was the worst period for men’s clothes ever. Pepys omce wore his petticoat breeches all day with both his legs through one leg of the breeches and never noticed until he took them off. Wasn’t Villiers the one who threatened to drop the baby out the window if she didn’t get her title? The Monmouth Rebellion didn’t go well for Monmouth. There was a ditty that went: “The noble Duke of York had 20,000 men/ he marched them halfway up the hill, and marched them down again./ O, when you’re up, you’re up, and when you’re down, you’re down, And when you’re only halfway up. you’re neither up nor down.”

  2. At least the spaniels are accurate for the period. All-too-often the English Toy Spaniel (with the pushed in face) is used for Charlie’s dogs, and they are SOOOO out of period. Not until the Pug was bred with everything (including, I sometimes think, the Royal Family) did the shorter-nosed spaniel sweep the field. For a lovely look at costumes and spaniels of the period, watch RESTORATION, a very silly movie. But the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel values in RESTORATION are terrific, and Charles II is played by Sam Neill!

  3. I absolutely loved this series. I thought Sewell made a great and sexy Charles, and I loved the scene with the Cabal, where they all came in and hung their wigs on pegs! (which did happen!) I’d completely forgotten Helen McRory’s turn as Castlemaine. She’s currently starring in Peaky Blinders, and I swear she hasn’t aged a year!

    1. Rufus Sewell makes a great and sexy anything! But sexiness is absolutely required when casting the Merrie Monarch.

  4. As near as I can tell they’ve got the history right, well maybe bot Babs bedding Monmouth, but she used to tease Charles by inviting Frances to share her bed, think sleepover not sexy times, sharing a bed was a common way of indicating you were BFFs. I’m not saying sex never happened but that wasn’t the automatic assumption.

  5. So I’m confused. Is The Last King the same as Charles II – The Power and the Passion? Because I was able to select the latter for my watch list via regular Amazon Prime. However, The Last King isn’t listed there except as a pricey DVD titled The Last King- The Power and the Passion of Charles II.

    1. They are the same except “The Last King” was the edited version with a lot of the sexy stuff removed that was released in the States because we Puritans apparently couldn’t handle full frontal nudity and digital penetration.

      1. Thanks for the clarification! It looks like the BBC version is available on regular Amazon Prime now for those interested…

  6. Looks gorgeous, but if I’m honest I have a hard time accepting anyone other than Mathew Baynton as Charles II.

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