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Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family

Sally Barnden Orcid Logo

Shakespeare Bulletin, Volume: 39, Issue: 1, Pages: 75 - 91

Swansea University Author: Sally Barnden Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1353/shb.2021.0013

Abstract

In 1944, members of the British royal family attended a private screening of Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Henry V in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. Henry V has a long history of appropriation for patriotic and monarchist purposes, particularly in times of war. Olivier's f...

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Published in: Shakespeare Bulletin
ISSN: 1931-1427
Published: Project MUSE 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64321
first_indexed 2023-09-07T11:07:22Z
last_indexed 2024-11-25T14:13:51Z
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spelling 2023-12-22T11:16:50.7872404 v2 64321 2023-09-02 Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family a657184d4afcb1c588202ebc2428d803 0000-0002-6186-5572 Sally Barnden Sally Barnden true false 2023-09-02 CACS In 1944, members of the British royal family attended a private screening of Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Henry V in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. Henry V has a long history of appropriation for patriotic and monarchist purposes, particularly in times of war. Olivier's film was conceived as propaganda and dedicated to the "Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain, the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture," inviting the viewer to read Henry's English army as a celebratory remediation of British troops in action in 1944.The private screening invited an even more ideologically-loaded telescoping of history, asserting continuity from Agincourt to Waterloo and on to the D-Day landings. This article reads Henry V against the space of the Waterloo Chamber, which was decorated by George IV to celebrate victory at Waterloo, then temporarily re-decorated in the 1940s while its valuable oil paintings were evacuated to a slate mine in North Wales. In this space, Olivier's Henry became haunted by other historical figures, including the Duke of Wellington, while Olivier's own "royal body" was appropriated as an avatar for the contemporary army's symbolic leader, George VI. Historical and Shakespearean examples were used strategically to accentuate the film's propagandist ambitions and to cultivate a royal body invested with the military successes of previous generations. Journal Article Shakespeare Bulletin 39 1 75 91 Project MUSE 1931-1427 Henry V, Laurence Olivier, Royal Family 1 1 2021 2021-01-01 10.1353/shb.2021.0013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/shb.2021.0013 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University Not Required 2023-12-22T11:16:50.7872404 2023-09-02T12:18:18.1520219 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Sally Barnden 0000-0002-6186-5572 1
title Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
spellingShingle Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
Sally Barnden
title_short Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
title_full Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
title_fullStr Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
title_full_unstemmed Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
title_sort Agincourt, Waterloo, Normandy: Screening Henry V and Re-organizing British History for the Royal Family
author_id_str_mv a657184d4afcb1c588202ebc2428d803
author_id_fullname_str_mv a657184d4afcb1c588202ebc2428d803_***_Sally Barnden
author Sally Barnden
author2 Sally Barnden
format Journal article
container_title Shakespeare Bulletin
container_volume 39
container_issue 1
container_start_page 75
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 1931-1427
doi_str_mv 10.1353/shb.2021.0013
publisher Project MUSE
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/shb.2021.0013
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description In 1944, members of the British royal family attended a private screening of Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Henry V in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. Henry V has a long history of appropriation for patriotic and monarchist purposes, particularly in times of war. Olivier's film was conceived as propaganda and dedicated to the "Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain, the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture," inviting the viewer to read Henry's English army as a celebratory remediation of British troops in action in 1944.The private screening invited an even more ideologically-loaded telescoping of history, asserting continuity from Agincourt to Waterloo and on to the D-Day landings. This article reads Henry V against the space of the Waterloo Chamber, which was decorated by George IV to celebrate victory at Waterloo, then temporarily re-decorated in the 1940s while its valuable oil paintings were evacuated to a slate mine in North Wales. In this space, Olivier's Henry became haunted by other historical figures, including the Duke of Wellington, while Olivier's own "royal body" was appropriated as an avatar for the contemporary army's symbolic leader, George VI. Historical and Shakespearean examples were used strategically to accentuate the film's propagandist ambitions and to cultivate a royal body invested with the military successes of previous generations.
published_date 2021-01-01T08:32:21Z
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score 11.048216

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