Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)

Charles in Charge

The late Tim Pigott-Smith on the British royal family in ‘King Charles III’ on PBS

- By Rob Lowman Southern California News Group Contact Rob Lowman at rlowman@scng.com or @ RobLowman1 on Twitter.

The near future is the setting of Mike Bartlett’s provocativ­e “King Charles III.” The 2015 play has been adapted for television and is airing today on PBS’s “Masterpiec­e.”

Written in iambic pentameter, the story imagines Prince Charles’ ascension to the British throne following Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

“He’s been in the waiting room all his life,” noted Tim Pigott-Smith, who plays the prince in “King Charles III.”

Sadly, Pigott-Smith, an acclaimed British actor, passed away last month at age 70. He talked to us for this story when he was in Pasadena for the Television Critics Associatio­n press tour in January, and he was an absolute gentleman — gracious and keenly observant during the interview.

At the time of his death, Pigott-Smith and his wife, actress Pamela Miles, had been preparing to play Willy and Linda Loman in a production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”

While having had a number of notable successes in his career — Pigott-Smith preferred working on stage — playing Charles became a capstone to his fine career.

His performanc­es in the play’s London and New York runs had brought him nomination­s for Olivier and Tony awards. Though he worked steadily since he left the Bristol Old Vic theater school as a young man in the late 1960s, it was his riveting turn as a repressed British officer in the lavish 1984 miniseries “The Jewel in the Crown,” set in the dying days of the British Raj, that people most often recognized him for.

“That’s the calling card, isn’t it?” he said with a smile about the role for which he won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA, award.

After such a long career, “King Charles III” — a challengin­g and timely inquiry into the role the British monarchy — finally brought the special attention the greatly admired actor deserved.

Bartlett’s play does not imagine Charles merely taking a seat on the throne to keep it warm for his son William. While British monarchs have little power, they still can call for a new Parliament and the new king triggers a full-blown political crisis in the country after refusing to sign a new law and dissolving Parliament.

So in the play’s world, a tank gets parked outside Buckingham Palace, and the ghost of Diana, Princess of Wales, roams the palace. Meanwhile, as Prince William wavers over what to do, his tough-minded wife, Kate (Charlotte Reilly), though born a commoner, shows she’s the one who has the royal mettle to prevent a catastroph­e.

Prince Charles had always been part of Pigott-Smith’s consciousn­ess throughout his life.

“I had the privilege of meeting him once,” remembered the actor who was awarded an Order of the British Empire, or OBE, for his services to drama earlier this year. “He was charming and easy to talk to, but that’s his public face. The Royals are very skilled in talking to people and being nice, but goodness knows what he is really like.”

Though he did enormous research for the role, Pigott-Smith still found the prince a mystery. “I suspect he is a sensitive man and has a streak of stubbornne­ss, both of those characteri­stics are on display in the play.”

The actor points to the “black spider” memos — letters so-called because of the prince’s distinctiv­e handwritin­g style — written by Charles to British government ministers and politician­s over the years. By law, the British monarch is supposed to be politicall­y neutral.

“He notoriousl­y writes letters lobbying Parliament, usually for green causes,” noted the actor. “There are quite a lot of people who resent that, because they say we pay for him and isn’t elected so he shouldn’t have a voice.”

The play kicks off when Charles decides to withhold his signature from a law passed by Parliament that would create restrictio­ns on the press. Pigott-Smith quickly observes that while no one knows just what Charles’ views on freedom of speech are, many see the prince as “an old-fashioned liberal veering a bit towards the right.”

“So when he says in the play, ‘I’m really sorry, but you can’t compromise on this. I’m going to put my foot down,’ “said the actor. “That seems to be true to his character, and I think that rings true to the audience.”

The goal in the play was not to do an impersonat­ion of Charles. Instead, Pigott-Smith chose to incorporat­e a few characteri­stics of the prince like the way he held his hands.

“I think what happens increasing­ly in the course of the evening is that people superimpos­ed their image of him on me,” said the actor, “because when I came out of the theater, people would say, ‘You look so like him,’ when, actually, I don’t, but I think it worked that way on their imaginatio­n.”

Bartlett’s use of iambic pentameter more than being a nod to Shakespear­e, also gives the play a tragic tone.

“I think Charles is judged harshly,” said Pigott-Smith. “People blame him for what happened to Diana, but who knows in a complicate­d situation ... I suspect the tragedy of his life was that he didn’t marry Camilla right off.”

Pigott-Smith wasn’t convinced Charles will even take the crown, especially if his mother — like her mother — lives to be more than 100. “That would make him close to 80.”

The actor believes Britain will have to find a new model for the monarchy. “I think William and Kate will provide that as it happens in our play.”

Still, if Charles does take the throne, “I think he really cares about the country and could be a really constructi­ve and good King,” said Pigott-Smith.

 ?? PHOTO COURTESY OF PBS; ILLUSTRATI­ON BY KAY SCANLON/SCNG ??
PHOTO COURTESY OF PBS; ILLUSTRATI­ON BY KAY SCANLON/SCNG
 ?? COURTESY OF ROBERT VIGLASKY/DRAMA REPUBLIC FOR BBC AND MASTERPIEC­E ?? Shown top row from left to right are, Richard Goulding as Harry, Charlotte Riley as Kate, and Oliver Chris as William. Seated from left to right are, Tim Pigott-Smith as Charles and Margot Leicester as Camilla in “King Charles III.”
COURTESY OF ROBERT VIGLASKY/DRAMA REPUBLIC FOR BBC AND MASTERPIEC­E Shown top row from left to right are, Richard Goulding as Harry, Charlotte Riley as Kate, and Oliver Chris as William. Seated from left to right are, Tim Pigott-Smith as Charles and Margot Leicester as Camilla in “King Charles III.”
 ?? COURTESY OF ROBERT VIGLASKY/DRAMA REPUBLIC FOR BBC AND MASTERPIEC­E ?? Tim Pigott-Smith as Charles.
COURTESY OF ROBERT VIGLASKY/DRAMA REPUBLIC FOR BBC AND MASTERPIEC­E Tim Pigott-Smith as Charles.

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