The lovely Cheryl Butler graced our doors again. Lovely to welcome her back and hear different local historical information, this time linking to Shakespeare. Cheryl kindly agreed to adjudicate our competition and set a brief to challenge our members:
Write a 500-word pitch for a film/play about any English monarch alive or dead
And the winning entry was…
First Place: The Princess of War by Sam Christie
A strong, focused story, based on historical facts, but with enough ‘wriggle room’ to be creative, I would commission this.
Cheryl Butler
From a tense love triangle between Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales, Edward the First, the King of England and Elenor de Montford, a beautiful young woman, jealously desired by both men; this film reimagines the war between England and Wales in the 12th Century through a prism of unrequited love.
Imagine if a war, specifically the war between Wales and England in the 12th Century, was simply a war of love, a war born of a burning desire for the beautiful maiden, Elenor de Montford. This might well come as a shock to those who believe that this war was a war of freedom, of identity or, most of all, national pride, but it is possible that the scenario described was indeed the case. This rewriting of the history books is audacious and controversial, especially given the tensions that exist between the two countries to this day.
Elenor de Montford was betrothed to Llewelyn and the two were said to be very much in love. In 1275 they married by proxy, but were kept apart by King Edward who was Elenor’s cousin and an enemy of her family, the de Montfords, who had risen against Edward’s father, Henry III. History tells us that Edward was opposed to the marriage between Llewelyn and Elenor because of their familial ties and his resentment at Elenor’s father Simon de Montford, but suppose it was not for these reasons; suppose it was the simple fact that Edward was madly in love with Elenor.
The action begins shortly before the Treaty of Aberconwy, when Edward, upon hearing that Elenor was sailing from France to meet Llewelyn, hires pirates to intercept the ship and capture and hold Elenor at Windsor. A tormented Llewelyn hears of this and is both angered and distraught. He is in an impossible place and fears that Edward is holding Elenor in an attempt to persuade her that she might have feelings for him.
Llewelyn has not only kept apart from his true love, been declared a rebel by Edward, but has only just survived an attempted coup by his brother Dafydd. Llewelyn is in a terrible place and faces total annihilation at the hands of Edward, who is determined to destroy Llewelyn for good, as Elenor continually rebuffs his advances. As Edward mobilises his troops and threatens to destroy Llewelyn’s army, he is forced to agree to meet Edward for a final confrontation in Worcester.
Recognising that a duel by sword would result in the death of either man, the two rivals decide to fight bare-fisted. After a tense and prolonged fight, Llewelyn dominates and agrees to a cessation of hostilities in return for Elenor’s freedom and her hand in (re) marriage. Edward reluctantly agrees, reasoning that Elenor will never love him.
The two are married in Worcester Cathedral. Will Edward leave them to live peacefully together, or does his passion for Elenor continue to haunt him?
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