Associations
Sep. 9th, 2022 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI seem to remember, back in the day, Prince Charles floating the idea that he might choose to reign as George VII. It didn't float. It sank. And Charles III it is,
Quite right too. The Georges (out of Hanover) were an uncharismatic lot- with the exception of George IV who was fun in a ghastly sort of way. The two Charleses, on the other hand- whatever you might think of them- are highly memorable.
Romantic even....
And of course there are resonances from outside of English history. I don't know much about Charlemagne but I know he was glorious. One of the first history lessons I ever received- in the dame school I went to at the age of four- was about Roland holding the pass at Roncevalles. O, the splendour of it!
So the first image that comes into my head when I hear the words "Charles III" is of a bearded man- not unlike the Emperor in the Rider Waite Tarot- sitting on a massive throne, in an apse of massive pillars- as at Aachen- with a massive great crown on his head. Gold, gold, gold, jewels, jewels, jewels.
And the second image is of our own English Charles I, standing on the scaffold outside Whitehall Palace, with his long hair and peaky little beard, wearing two shirts so that the January air wouldn't make him shiver and give his detractors the wrong idea.
Two iconic images of kingship- both magnificent in their very different ways...
Quite right too. The Georges (out of Hanover) were an uncharismatic lot- with the exception of George IV who was fun in a ghastly sort of way. The two Charleses, on the other hand- whatever you might think of them- are highly memorable.
Romantic even....
And of course there are resonances from outside of English history. I don't know much about Charlemagne but I know he was glorious. One of the first history lessons I ever received- in the dame school I went to at the age of four- was about Roland holding the pass at Roncevalles. O, the splendour of it!
So the first image that comes into my head when I hear the words "Charles III" is of a bearded man- not unlike the Emperor in the Rider Waite Tarot- sitting on a massive throne, in an apse of massive pillars- as at Aachen- with a massive great crown on his head. Gold, gold, gold, jewels, jewels, jewels.
And the second image is of our own English Charles I, standing on the scaffold outside Whitehall Palace, with his long hair and peaky little beard, wearing two shirts so that the January air wouldn't make him shiver and give his detractors the wrong idea.
Two iconic images of kingship- both magnificent in their very different ways...
