''Royal Flash'' is a 1970

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the second of the Flashman novels. It was made into the film '' Royal Flash'' in 1975 and remains the only Flashman novel to be filmed.

Plot summary

''Royal Flash'' is set during the

Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. The story features Lola Montez and

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

as major characters, and fictionalises elements of the

Schleswig-Holstein Question Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its c ...

, 1843, 1847 and 1848. It is set in the fictional Duchy of Strackenz, making it the only Flashman novel to be set in a fictitious location. Other characters include: * Prince Edward * Lola Montez * Ludwig I of Bavaria * John Gully * Nicholas Ward * Lord Conyngham *

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

* Lord Palmerston * Viscount Peel *

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

The book is loosely based on the plot of '' The Prisoner of Zenda''. Flashman explains that this is because the story was plagiarised from him by its author, Anthony Hope. In a letter, Fraser wrote that during his researches into an earlier Flashman book he had discovered that in real life Bismarck and Lola Montez had been in London at the same time. He added that it had been too good an opportunity to miss.Letter from George MacDonald Fraser in the Glenn Christodoulou Collection The book's plot is anachronistic in depicting Bismarck already in 1848 striving for the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. In fact, during the revolutions of 1848 Bismarck was completely opposed to German Unification, which in 1848 was a cause promoted by radical revolutionaries that the conservative Bismarck detested. Unlike his depiction in the book, Bismarck only took up German Unification much later in his career, when he could use it to enhance the power of the Prussian Monarchy and of himself.

References