''The Blood of the Bambergs'' (1962) is a short two-act play by John Osborne, published in his book "

Plays for England ''Plays for England'' was the title of a double-bill of plays written, performed and published by John Osborne, released by Evans Brothers Limited in London in 1962. It comprised '' The Blood of the Bambergs'' and '' Under Plain Cover''. Plays ...

". It was designed to be shown in a double-bill with another short play, ''

Under Plain Cover ''Under Plain Cover'' (1962) is a short two-act play by John Osborne, published in his book "Plays for England". It was designed to be shown in a double-bill with another short play, ''The Blood of the Bambergs''. The play is a satirical commentar ...

''. ''The Blood of the Bambergs'' is a satirical commentary on royal weddings, in a variation on the story of ''

The Prisoner of Zenda ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in orde ...

''.

Background

The play was inspired by the popular celebrations surrounding the marriage of Princess Margaret to

Anthony Armstrong-Jones Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in '' Vogue'', '' Vanity F ...

. Osborne's wife, the journalist

Penelope Gilliatt Penelope Gilliatt (; born Penelope Ann Douglass Conner; 25 March 1932 – 9 May 1993) was an English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic. As one of the main film critics for ''The New Yorker'' magazine in the 1960s an ...

, provided him with 'backstage gossip' about the arrangement of the events, which Osborne found absurd.Heilpern, John, ''John Osborne: A Patriot for Us'', 2007, Random House, pp.287. Satire of the monarchy was still not acceptable on the English stage. Nevertheless, the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

's office, which could effectively censor plays by denying them a license to perform, felt unable to reject the play. The "devilish cleverness of this horrid play", wrote the author of the office's report, is that "If a licence is refused, this can at once be presented as a ridiculous banning of the old ''Prisoner of Zenda'' story sixty years later".

Plot

British Princess Melanie of Bamberg is to be married to Prince Willy, heir to the throne of another kingdom. On his way to the wedding, Willy is killed in a road accident. State officials do not know what to do. The marriage is crucial for the future of the nation - especially as the next in line for the throne, the prince's brother, is a flagrant homosexual, unlikely to produce an heir. They discover that Russell, a brash Australian photographer, looks exactly like the deceased Willy. Russell is none too keen to take the job, but is enticed when he is told of all the advantages he will have as Prince Consort, not the least of which is the highly desirable Princess Melanie herself. However, Melanie, though beautiful, is a bully. She is appalled by the idea that she should marry a vulgar Australian. All is resolved when it is discovered that Russell is of royal blood, related to Willy through a royal affair with a commoner.

Reception

The play has typically been regarded as a clumsy work, showing Osborne's "lack of talent for satire", as

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

said.

John Russell Taylor John Russell Taylor (born 19 June 1935) is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such figures in film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, ...

says that it is "by general consent the least satisfactory of all Osborne's plays" and "easiest the feeblest work Osborne has yet allowed to reach the stage".

, ''Anger and After (Routledge Revivals): A Guide to the New British Drama'', Routledge, 2013, p.59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood Of The Bambergs 1962 plays Plays by John Osborne